planting at the highest house in the south east

High up in the South Downs, we are creating a garden for a new eco home. This site is the most exposed we’ve ever worked on. You only have to look at the landscape here and you instantly see how it is ravaged by the strong winds that can rip across the hills. So our garden is hunkered down behind flint walls in terraces that have been carved into the chalk hills.

 

 

We have just planted the prairie garden avoiding any taller grasses or perennials that might fall victim to the wind, but this is experimental for us and we will see how our plants progress. Our trees are Crataegus – highly wind resistant and echoing the scrub that stretches across the downs in this area.

 

 

 

The chalk means we have excellent drainage  and elsewhere we will use native species to match the rare and precious chalk grasslands of the South Downs.