We noticed that Betula thrive in this part of Dorset and after a donation from The Ladies of Parkstone Golf Club were able to develop this area of lawn into a grove of trees that will show off this interesting Genus.

Named after the first and longest serving employee who worked here at the gardens when it first opened, this area is bursting with colour throughout spring. Floral interest varies from the delicate papery flowers of Hamamelis (Witch Hazel) and Helebores through to big blousy blooms of Rhododendron and Camellia. We will continue to add to the spring collection to create a diverse collection of plants for this season.

This area at the top of the pond was once overgrown with perennial weeds. Once we had cleared the area, it seemed to be an ideal part of the garden to introduce a collection of Acers. The colourful spring and autumn foliage, lighting up this waterside area.

This is a collection of Roses laid out in a Yew hedged garden room. In the centre is a fountain pool stocked with ornamental fish, but it’s the Roses that are the stars of the show. Wander through this part of the garden on a warm summer morning when the flowers are in full bloom and you will be treated to a heady fragrance that fills the air.

Late 2025 saw the selection of Roses in this area refreshed to provide a freshened scent and new view for regular visitors.

This border is split into islands with a variety of moisture loving plants. Our team, with help from EMA student are slowly clearing the weeds that invaded this part of the gardens. Early 2026 the team dug down into the grounds of this area to make it deeper. Before this, the height of the ground meant water didn’t sit in this area for long so didn’t provide the best conditions for the plants and shrubs growing here.

Here, you will see the sharp spears for the Yellow Flag Iris alongside the Shuttlecock Fern and the Royal Fern which has been known to grown to around two meters! These are framed under the canopies of the Taxodium Distichum (Swamp Cypress) and Willow.

After clearing an overgrown nook in this corner of the Gardens, we felt that the sheltered, dappled position might lend itself to experimenting with a jungle style planting scheme. Here we have plants that will have architectural foliage, palmate leaves of the Fatsia Japonica and the big arching leaves of Dicksonia antartica (Tree Fern), you’ll also spot the Persicara ‘Red Dragon’ within this very shaded area.

This deep south facing border runs almost the length of the ornamental gardens and has an interesting collection of cottage style plants. As part of our aim to increase the collection of plants in the gardens we have continued to add new plants to complement those that are already there.

This border is positioned such that at one end it is exposed to full sun and at the opposite end it falls into shade for the latter part of the day. This gives the opportunity to introduce a planting scheme that runs from hot vibrant colours into cooler hues. The Long Border is due to have a refresh in 2027.

This is the second of our Yew hedged garden rooms. In 2025 we began the restoration of this square ‘room’ with plants laid out in concentric circles radiated out from the sun dial. We have removed shrubs that had self-seeded and will be restoring the symmetry where it has been lost.

Unfortunately, in the past much of the borders were under siege from perennial weeds. Our Gardens team have been taking their time to clean the soil to get the Square Garden back to it’s prime. During this work the team plan to add lots of different varieties of annuals grown by the students.

The is a lovely south facing area of the gardens, the border behind the Pavillion was cleared of thuggish ground cover plants and a wider selection of plants introduced, giving a longer season of interest. In the past, we had hosted weddings in this area, though is currently not part of our offering. Also known as The Grass Border, it’s host to some really striking grasses such as varieties of Stipa and Molinia alongside the vibrance of Rudbeckia and Echinacea flowers.

The small alcove of borders enveloping an octagonal patio, with the old stone font as its centrepiece, is home to topiary box, sprays of Stipa gigantea, and colour pops of Salvias and Cistus some newly added Olive trees. Our team are looking to add more structure to this garden and further enhance its Mediterranean feel by adding terracotta pots and replacing the tiles for gravel in the near future.

Once an overgrown, almost impassable part of the gardens, this is now the Main Entrance into The Gardens. Once we had brought this area back into shape, we were able to see how this corner of the garden came into its own in the autumn. As you walk from the main lawn through to the Kitchen Garden on a fine autumn afternoon, you are treated to a wonderful display of autumn foliage, the Acer Rubrum ‘October Glory’, Viburnum species, Bamboo and Euonymous Alatus appear to glow as they reflect the fading light of the day.

This was originally laid out in 2015 and is utilised by our EMA students, alongside the garden team. Here they grow a diverse range of fruit, vegetables and cut flowers. Once grown, this produce is used in our student kitchen or sold to staff and visitors. It has occasionally been used in The Dovecote Café too.

While the whole garden site is used by students to gain experience and develop skills, the Kitchen Garden is key to many of their study programmes and plays a huge part in their time at EMA. The Kitchen Garden received a huge re-vamp in early 2025, and it’s now growing more produce than ever!

Once we had given shape back to the trees and shrubs in these borders, we found that there seemed to be a theme of winter interest plants such as the fragrant flowered Mahonia, Sarcococca, and Osmanthus Burkwoodii. We will continue to develop the area to give visitors an interesting display from early to late Winter.

In more recent time, we have planted in Snowdrop bulbs. These provide a little glimpse of mid-winter colour in our darker areas.