Shepherd House and its one acre garden form a walled triangle in the 18th century village of Inveresk in East Lothian. It was here that Charles and the botanical artist Ann Fraser moved when they needed to be within easy reach of Edinburgh and wanted a garden large enough for their four sons to play in.

Ann explains: ‘For the first 25 years the garden was a playground. Charles did the garden, I put in the odd plant, but once the children had left home we got started.’ They built a south-facing conservatory overlooking the garden where they could sit and make plans – something they have been doing ever since. Meanwhile Ann enrolled at the Edinburgh College of Art, later taking a course in Botanical Painting at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh. Here she developed a passion for tulips that developed when she studied the work of the botanical artist Rory McEwen (1932-1982) whose paintings were exhibited at the RBGE in the late 1980s.

Designing the garden

When she started designing the garden at Shepherd House tulips soon became a central part of the theme, echoed in the graceful tulip shaped Dutch gables at either end of the late 17th century house. Ann explains: ‘There was no overall plan. Hard landscaping and planting schemes evolved slowly, one at a time, as the ideas came. We were inspired by visits to other gardens, which taught us a lot.’ The main garden is situated to the rear of the house, but the intricate box edged parterre laid out in the tiny triangle at the front of the house sets the tone. To the rear a central door leads out to the stone terrace laid out in a formal geometrical design of herb and bulb filled beds set around a stone bowl filled with creamy T. ‘Verona’.

Here, the parterre theme established in the front garden is echoed in the second, herb parterre that flanks the terrace forming an intricate backdrop for different bulbs. A set of stone steps set in an alpine wall, inspired by visits to the RBGE, leads up to the main garden. Here the focal point is a stone edged rill, inspired by a visit to Granada, which runs under a tunnel of arches from a stone fountain at the far end of the garden into a rectangular pond above the stone terrace. Backed with beds of shrubs and herbaceous plants the rill neatly divides the garden into two large beds where the planting is dictated by the alkaline soil.

Rhododendrons and azaleas do not flourish, except for one Rhododendron ‘Loderi King George’, while pittosporum, acers and cornus thrive among others in an almost frost free environment near the Firth of Forth.

Careful planting

In the spring the tulips take centre stage in a display that draws on traditional techniques of botanical painters. Overall harmony is achieved by dividing plantings of bulbs into cool and warm colours, with the blue of irises or forget-me-knots used to link the scheme. Ann explains: ‘All the pinks, blues and purples are planted in one area of the garden with the oranges and bright yellows in another.

I might occasionally mix yellow or white with a cool blue.’ Although she tends to paint her own bulbs she points out that her pictures often consist of imaginary borders with flowers added as they come into season. Borders are much easier to compose on paper than they are to plant in the garden.’ One or two different kinds of tulip are often combined with herbaceous plants. Every year a double row of ‘White Triumphator’ underplanted with purple Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding’ lines the pond and white tulips are also included in the parterre where, late flowering ‘Maureen’ complements the pattern of box, and a simple bowl of purple pansies.

Help in the garden

When asked how much help they have in the garden, Sir Charles, who grows a small selection of vegetables inspired by a visit to the late Rosemary’s Verey’s garden at Barnsley, jokes: ‘We have ten gardeners; seven of me and three of Ann.’ And they also have the help of octogenarian- Jim, who comes in to help rake and tidy. They also keep hens, which are allowed free run of the garden. The original Chinese blue silkie bantams were eaten by a fox and were replaced by fluffy white silkies. ‘We have been told they won’t scratch, but only time will tell,’ Ann muses. The garden is a work in progress.

A stone potting shed was built last year to match the ornamental sheep’s fank on the right of the pond, and the couple are always mulling over new ideas and making plans. ‘The main mistake we made in this garden was planting too many trees too close together when we started,’ Ann says: ‘We were recently encouraged by Roy Strong to take out 12 trees along the back border. This has let in a lot more light and has allowed more opportunity for replanting.’

fieldfacts

Shepherd House, Inveresk, Musselburgh, East Lothian EH21 7TH. Open for Scotland’s Gardens Scheme on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1.00pm- 3.00pm, 17 February -5 March, and 2.00pm-4.00pm, 1 April-30 June. www.dutchbulbs.co.uk

The bronze sculpture overlooking the pond is by Gerard Ogilvie-Laing 01349 861 485 www.geraldlaing.com