Exterior design: preserving a beautiful Borders garden

In late-February, I found myself making a promise I was determined to keep. My fit, never-ill, sharp-as-a-pin, 84-year-old mother had died suddenly. It was a “swift heart attack” (what she always said she wanted), and within hours of arriving in hospital she was gone.

I didn’t get there in time and, instead, made her the promise: “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure your plants go to a good home...”

Her beautiful garden and conservatory at Beech Cottage in the Borders village of Ayton were her life – especially since my father had died, eight years previously.

She would stand at the large living room window, deciding which beds needed more height, and which plants should be moved for better colour harmony. It was an endless labour of love, and it showed in the results.

Beech Cottage, High Street, Ayton, near Eyemouth

On her trips down on the train to London to visit me, she would always bring cuttings or plants in what she called her Perhaps Bag, because she would “perhaps” buy something from my local garden centre to take home.

She made my garden – I knew nothing until she cleared it with me, showed me how and when to prune, and taught me plant names that I struggled to remember, such as Japanese anemone. All I could think of was Japanese encephalitis – which it forever became known as between us.

Inspired by visits to the Chelsea Flower Show and the Physic Garden, we’d both go through plant-crushes together, from Allium schubertii with their massive heads, to jaunty pink Salvia and deep purple Amistads.

The almost fluorescent Lychnis coronaria had been our latest crush.

Beech Cottage, High Street, Ayton, near Eyemouth

By the time she died, I was a fully formed gardener – perhaps that was always in her mind – and back at Beech Cottage, although Mum was no longer there, life continued in her plants.

The shelves of the conservatory were lined with trays of seedlings she was bringing on, and outside by the patio doors were her pots of tulip bulbs – her favourites were orange-hued “Prinses Irene” from Sarah Raven. The garden was pushing itself towards spring, a time she loved as it all started up again after the hiatus of winter.

On the day of her funeral in early March, the ground thick with snow, there was blossom on the cherry tree and each neat bed glistened with promise. The memorial card for the service had a photograph of Mum with a montage of the garden. It read: “Constant Gardener, 84 years young.” She would have liked that.

A neighbour offered to mow the lawn and weed the paths and, on my visits up there over the spring and summer, I tried to keep upMum’s high standards. I deadheaded her many hydrangeas, Chelsea-chopped her sedums and phlox, and often stayed out until after 10pm on the light evenings, weeding and tidying beds.

Beech Cottage, High Street, Ayton, near Eyemouth

Before each return journey home, I filled the Perhaps Bag with a few plants to take on the train.

On each visit north, there would be something new to see – her myriad phlox, the tall bearded irises, the huge poppies, the superb white potted agapanthus. She was gone, but her garden still zinged with colour – all her handiwork.

She loved showing visitors her garden and surprising them with the Tardis of her house, with its huge basement (provoking storage envy).

Also unexpected is the sunny galleried conservatory, which she filled with Yuccas, bougainvillaea and Jasmine.

Beech Cottage, High Street, Ayton, near Eyemouth

The 1830s house, with its thick walls, has deep window sills that are perfect for plants.

In the dual-aspect dining room, the view depends on where you are seated. At one end, the sash window looks into the conservatory and its tropical plants. At the other end is a view of the enclosed front garden, carefully planted with shrubs and perennials.

I know you can’t be choosy when selling a house, but I wish I could be. Ideally, I’d walk prospective buyers round the garden and test them on plant care. Better still, ask them to provide photos of their own garden before an offer is accepted.

Hot tubs? Artificial grass? Pub-style hanging baskets? Forget it.

A buyer can tear out the kitchen, steam off the wallpaper and put a cinema in the basement for all I care. But the garden – that’s different.

I want one careful gardener who knows their Bishop’s Weed from their Bishop of Llandaff.

Beech Cottage, High Street, Ayton, near Eyemouth

It’s not too much to ask, is it?

Cottage inventory

Address Beech Cottage, High Street, Ayton, near Eyemouth.

Description 1830s terraced cottage set over four floors.

Area Located in the historic county of Berwickshire, Beech Cottage is a six-minute drive to Reston railway station which connects to Edinburgh. Berwick station is eight miles away and offers train services to London. Ayton has a shop and pub.

Interior Four bedrooms, dining room, sitting room, dining-kitchen, sun room and an extensive basement, which includes an office space.

Exterior Enclosed garden to the front, planted with shrubs, and a beautiful mature garden at the back, designed for a year-round colour with a patio overlooking lawns with flowerbeds, shrubberies and a greenhouse.

Price O/o £290,000, call Aitchisons Property Centre’s Berwick office on 01289 307 571.