Page 18 - Garden News

Garden
OF THE
WEEK

Gardener Margaret Arnott and
Terry Bartholomew
Location Cobham, Surrey
Been in garden Since August, 1988
Size of garden One third of an acre
Soil, situation and aspect North-
facing with very sandy, light soil
Open For the NGS on Sunday, July
22, and Sunday, August 12 (1-5pm).
Private visits for snowdrops and at
other times of the year
More info Contact m.a.arnott@
btinternet.com.

A paradise

of snowdrops

Despite having a garden for all seasons, Margaret Arnott’s passion
lies with the 75 varieties she grows of this delightful spring stunner

WordsVal Bourne I also had mare’s tail and ground
PhotosMarianne Majerus elder running riot.”
It was a labour of love,
argaret Arnott is however, because as a child
besotted with Margaret was given her own tiny
M snowdrops and grows plot by her parents, who were
about 75 named varieties in her both keen gardeners. “I got to do
beautiful Cobham garden, fun things, like sowing packets
skilfully aided by her partner of seeds, not the weeding,” she
Terry Bartholomew. says. “Looking back, I wish I’d
When she moved in there gone into horticulture, instead of
wasn’t a great deal in the garden, working for an airline as cabin
but the bungalow stood on a crew,” she adds rather wistfully.
wide plot. She says: “The Once Margaret got on top of
top part was given over to the weeds and cleared the
Yellow-marked snowdrops vegetables and the grass garden of weedy, unhappy
team well in a planting
was in a terrible mess, so rhododendrons, she planted two
scheme with creamy-yellow there was lots of work to slow growing conifers, Thuja
hellebores and primroses
do. My first job was to get occidentalis ‘Holmstrup’. “They’re
rid of a very large clump tall and thin and now they look
of dead bamboo and I had to absolutely gorgeous, particularly
dig it out a little bit at a time. in winter.”

18 Garden News /January 27 2018