Waltham Place in Maidenhead is one of my favourite gardens of all time. The philosophy is to garden with nature, rather than against, so improving the soil and growing a diverse range of plants is placed at the heart of how to manage the space.

Through the European Boxwood and Topiary Society I arranged a talk by the garden team at Waltham Place. It has been recorded and put on Youtube so if you missed it live, you can watch it there and get a feel for what they are doing.

There are some extraordinary photos of the garden alongside those who have worked in it (as well as those who didn’t care for it at all!) and it is all soundtracked by the birds in the garden, who were singing the whole time the talk was going on.

Just to prove that this way of gardening enhances life for so many creatures.

Do watch the talk on Waltham Place here on Youtube.

During the talk the garden team spoke about plants that were able to resist being predated by rabbit and deer. This is based on the list the designer and plantsman Henk Gerritsen (another favourite of mine, for his brilliant book Essay On Gardening) made when he came to work on the garden and give it some direction.

The list is below, so do take a look if you are after plants that are resilient to animals nibbling them…

• Cornus sibirica
• Romneya coulteri
• Euphorbia palustris
• Rheum palmatum ‘Atrosanguineum’
• Helleborus argutifolius
• Aconitum
• Bergenia
• Thalictrum
• Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Roseum’
• Cephalaria gigantea
• Miscanthus ‘Malepartus’
• Ranunculus aconitifolius
• Salvia glutinosa

Do visit Waltham Place if you get a chance (they do a walk with the gardener one day a week.) It is an extraordinary place.

And for more about me, see  my topiary work here.