Le Jardin Hollandais
Le Jardin Hollandais
The Jardin de Hollandaise is our main formal garden, with a manicured lawn and beds brimming with flowers and divided by ornamental box hedges.
The beds are a rich mixture of purples and pinks with splashes of white. The purple-blue Lavendula angustifolia “Hidcote” and the now emerging Verbena bonariensis, also known as purple top vervain, are established perennials and now joined by rich purple digitalis and Cirsium rivulare “Atropurpureum”, also known as the plume thistle. These are beautifully accented with pink cosmos and white Leucanthemum, or shasta daisies.
Purple Top Vervain
Verbena bonariensis
A tall herbaceous perennial with erect, branching stems to 2m in height, bearing sparse, oblong leaves. Numerous branched clusters of small, lilac-purple flowers appear from summer to autumn, a good nectar source for pollinating insects.
Botanical details
| Stem | Flower | Foliage | Fruit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring | ||||
| Summer | ||||
| Autumn | ||||
| Winter |
Such a dense and varied planting is extremely interesting for the Gardening Team to care for. Their hard work is rewarded by the ever-changing beauty of the gardens and presence of wildlife. Such planting strongly encourages biodiversity that attracts a range of bumble bees, butterflies and small birds.
Please move to the Pergola in the garden.
The Pergola and Wedding Garden offers a sheltered and picturesque space for outdoor occasions, with Matfen Hall as its historic backdrop. A blank, but not un-interesting canvas, here sits a towering Douglas fir while a mature Juglans regia, or English walnut tree, looms over the yew hedge. Believed to have been introduced to the UK by the Romans to harvest the nuts, nowadays you would be lucky to beat the birds to them.
Now at the edge of our grounds, what more is to come? As Matfen Hall continues to grow and develop, the gardens will follow suit. There have been discussions and hopes for a herb garden, a walled orchard, a willow grove by the water, bee hives and perhaps a wrought-iron bandstand. At present nothing is set in stone, but we keenly look forward to what is to come, and we invite you to join us again when it does.
Learn more about our gardens
Explore our grounds to discover more QR code panels. Scan with your phone camera to learn more about out beautiful gardens and mature woodland.