Tom Stuart-Smith's Garden in Hertfordshire
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This year I was lucky enough to join the team from Inner Temple Gardens on a garden visit to Tom Stuart Smith’s Plant Library and Orchard Project in Hertfordshire.
Tom Stuart Smith is an english landscape architect and one of the UK’s leading garden designers.
He is famous for several gold medal gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show as well as many landscape designs around the world.
The Orchard Project began in 2020 and is a non-profit that will offer resources to local schools and residents who want to get involved in gardening.
Overseen by head gardener Millie Souter, the garden is situated on a one-acre site at Serge Hill in Hertfordshire with the majority of the garden dedicated to the expansive Plant Library.
With the goal to create an educational resource and interactive catalogue for anyone in the community interested in plants and garden design, the Plant Library planting begain in autumn 2020.
To find more inspirational gardens to visit, check out my guides:
Designed in a grid system, the Plant Library has more than 1,200 different varieties of plants that are organized into groups of plants that suit similar conditions.
It is a gentle slopping site and a large collection of drought tolerant plants are planted in 12 inches of sand and sit at the top of the slope.
At the bottom of the slope near the tall trees that border the Plant Library sit a group of shade-loving woodland plants that prefer the clay soil characteristic of the area.
Running through the middle of the site are plants that can manage more general conditions (as seen in the photo below).
As we walked around the garden, you could see that the Plant Library offers a unique chance to study the plants from all angles and appreciate how their forms and textures contrast against other plants in the library.
The collection will be an evolving library of plants as the team plans to work towards trialing unique plants under various conditions.
How to visit the Plant library
From April to October you can book a ticket to visit the Plant Library and nearby Barn Garden on the first Tuesday of each month.
All money raised will go directly to Sunnyside Rural Trust, a local charity that the Plant Library is partnering with to develop a propagation nursery in the Orchard to grow a range of perennials for commercial sale, while providing horticultural training to people with learning disabilities.
Tom Stuart Smith’s Plant Library Garden in Hertfordshire Location
The Orchard and Barn Garden, Sergehill Lane, Abbots Langley, WD5 0RZ.
Inspired to learn more about Tom Stuart-Smith’s gardens?
Check out his beautiful book. It is the first major overview of his works.
Looking for more gardens inspiration around London?
Check out my guide The Best Gardening Courses in London.
