Nothing could be more English than the herbaceous border, usually a riot of different coloured flowers. Gertrude Jekyll may have planted drifts of gentle colours and Vita Sackville-West may have had her white borders, but black in the garden is a relatively recent design phenomenon.
Derry Watkins of the Special Plant Nursery near Bath fell in love with black plants when a few years ago she created a special garden at the Chelsea Flower Show "What's Black and White and Red only occasionally?"
Corinne Julius visited Derry Watkin's hillside garden in the company of plant historian Caroline Holmes to see a little black magic and fall under its spell.
The garden is open on the third Thursday of every month, June- September, plus Wednesdays July-September. The nursery is open daily to the end of October
