The year-round gardens  at Bressingham in the Waveney Valley

It’s the dogwoods, backlit by the winter sun, that stop you in your tracks when you first enter Adrian Bloom’s Winter Garden. Here the amber stems of Cornus ‘Midwinter Fire’ surge into sizzling red behind the creamy white trunks of the birch ‘Grayswood Ghost’.

Meeting Adrian at the entrance to the famous Bressingham Gardens in the Waveney Valley, we’re all togged up for a tour with his all-season Foggy Bottom our destination. I recall, decades ago, taking cuttings in Alan Bloom’s Dell Garden while doing a stint of work for Blooms Nurseries. What a legacy the world-renowned horticulturalist and steam engine enthusiast left after his death in 2005. And who better to carry it on than his son, Adrian, gardener, nurseryman, and author of 10 books and counting. Bressingham Gardens now extends to 17 acres with thousands of species introduced by Adrian, many from his North American travels.

Here in the Winter Garden, I’m captivated by the frosty-blue of the smooth Arizona cypress 'Blue Ice', the intense gold of the willow Salix alba ‘Hutchinson’s Yellow Bark’ and, at ground level, the crimson clumps of Nandina domestica ‘Fire Power’. The shapes and vivid colours are already lifting my spirits which is just how Adrian intended it when he created the garden at the start of the new millennium.

Adrian Bloom in the Winter Garden at Bressingham. (Image: Richard Bloom)

“It’s a spectacle and you would like to say ‘well now’s the time to stop’, he laughs, “but things keep growing so you have to adapt. You plant for a certain period of time, but you know you are going to have to change it in time. The main thing, really, is to keep the centre part open and not put too many shrubs and trees in, because light is very important in a winter garden.” He points to the value of a mix of conifers, bark and stems right down to ground level where there’s an impressive group of a golden-leaved Acorus with the black mondo grass Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens', a plant I’ve never personally warmed to but I’m becoming convinced.

“It’s a good contrast plant,” says Adrian encouragingly. With some 8,000 plants, how can he possibly have a favourite? “Well it’s difficult. There’s certainly ones I wouldn’t want to be without,” he says cautiously, as we admire the peeling amber bark of an Acer griseum. Plants he’s selected and grown here are clearly a passion for him and, as we linger among so many beauties, he is understandably challenged to name just one. 

The white birch ‘Grayswood Ghost’ stands out next to the red osier dogwood ‘Cardinal’ and the Lawson’s cyprus ‘Aurea Densa’ with the Chinese fountain grass 'Hameln' and the white pine ‘Reinshaus’ in the foreground. (Image: Richard Bloom)

In the low winter light, a weeping giant redwood is charmingly heading for the path at ground level. “I intended them to form an archway but I didn’t train them,” Adrian explains. “I let them have their freedom so to speak.” Another eye-catcher is a Nootka cypress 'Green Arrow', a slim conifer with flat, weeping branches that can swoop upwards like arms waving madly in the air. But that’s the thing about this garden. You have the space to show off all the unusual and bizarre shapes without them dominating.

Heading out of the Winter Garden into where the Summer Garden is being prepared for the next season, Adrian reveals that he has a new vision for a section known as the Fragrant Garden, mainly due to the deer's fondness for the roses last year. “It’s going to be the late show with late flowering perennials and grasses, which will create something really interesting,” he says. 

Silky red tussock grass contrasts beautifully with elephant’s ears Bergenia 'Bressingham Ruby' in late Winter. (Image: Richard Bloom)

After admiring some impressive 50-year-old conifers and a Douglas Fir planted by Alan Bloom in 1960, we enter the Dell Garden where Alan pioneered the use of hardy perennials in island beds, breaking away from the traditional border backed by a wall or hedge. Remarkably, he bred and introduced some 200 varieties of perennials. It's easy to see why both Alan and Adrian Bloom were awarded the Royal Horticultural Society’s prestigious Victoria Medal of Honour for services to horticulture – the first time it was awarded to members of the same family.

The witch hazel ‘Pallida’ rises from clumps of the heather ‘Myretoun Ruby’ with the sweet flag Acorus gramineus ‘Ogon’ in the foreground. (Image: Richard Bloom)Adrian had no intention of following his father into horticulture, instead heading off to North America, aged 18, where a series of jobs included selling encyclopaedias. The plants he saw on his travels must have made an impression because, later on, when his father asked Adrian and his brother, Rob, to help out with winter interest in the Dell Garden, he developed a specialism in dwarf conifers and heathers, while focusing on the bigger idea of a year-round garden.

Helleborus x hybridus, the Lenten rose with the vivid blue Scilla sibirica, pictured in March. (Image: Richard Bloom)

Ahead of us now is a handsome Serbian spruce ‘Pendula Bruns’, a very fine tribute to Rob who lost his life 27 years ago, aged 56, tragically due to a car crash by a drunken driver. But gardens are great healers and, Adrian just past his 80th year, looks forward to each season. This month (Feb) it’s snowdrops with a mass of the scented ‘S. Arnott’ contrasting beautifully with the reds of cornus. He’s no galanthophil, though - “people pay ridiculous sums for something that’s hardly different from anything else” - and is keen to promote the wider use of plants, including snowdrops, by the average gardener, especially in achieving year-round colour and interest. Further on, there’s an Italian cypress that would be a good candidate, called ‘Swane’s Gold’.

“These narrow, upright forms do fit into a smaller garden and they are important to draw the eye.” Onward to Adrian’s Wood where giant redwoods, planted by Adrian from seed in 1964, soar well above the 60ft mentioned on the entrance board. “Now over 100 feet,” he laughs, and reveals plans for his wood as an educational experience. “Hopefully in the next couple of years, we can share where the plants were discovered, who discovered them and their history, plus the uses the native Americans put them to.” 

A grove of conifers has been planted from seedlings taken from cones he brought back from one of his many dozens of trips to America “some of them named after our kids,” he says. His three grown-up sons all contribute to the family business in different ways. Richard is the award-winning garden photographer, whose pictures accompany this feature, Matt is a highly-skilled carpenter whose work is featured in the gardens, and Jason heads up Blooms of Bressingham Nurseries, propagating the Bressingham plants for mail order and wholesale customers. Adrian also has four grandchildren, he tells me as we arrive at six-acre Foggy Bottom, with his spectacular planting using conifers, grasses and perennials in a series of big island beds.

. A group of beautiful Japanese birches Betula apoiensis ‘Mount Apoi’ are a spectacular feature of the Winter Garden with the dogwood ‘Midwinter Fire’ lighting up the background and a selection of conifers at ground level, among them the Caucasian fir ‘Golden Spreader’ (Image: Richard Bloom)

Adrian’s extensive knowledge of plants helps him decide what goes where but there will still be weeds to control, sunny areas becoming shady and tree roots competing for moisture. More astonishing is his admission “I never write anything on paper”. Even the island beds here have simply been marked out with canes. Oh, and he takes out his camera at all times and in all seasons, recording, learning and planning “right place, right time” as he has for the past 50 years. “Getting up early you can catch elements that most people wouldn’t see.” And feeding? “I don’t feed anything. Most plants don’t need feeding once they get going, or if you have bad soil, or you sometimes have to bring a bit more moisture in.”

Here in Foggy Bottom, Adrian is more willing to name some favourite trees, among them a golden Scots pine and, further on, the stunning snake-bark maple. He’s chosen well as there are too many beautiful specimens to mention. I’m drawn to Sorbus ‘Pink Pagoda’ looking utterly lovely with fading pink berries lingering amid delicate pinnate foliage, and there’s a gorgeous little acer 'Tsukasa Silhouette'.  Lower down there are silky plumes of pampas, the enduring heads of Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’, and the shiny fronds of the grass Miscanthus sinensis 'Silver Castle'. 

. The noble fir ‘Glauca Prostrata’ in February makes a stunning contrast to Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’ and the heather ‘Springwood White’. (Image: Richard Bloom)

A series of Betula 'Mount Apoi' frames a walkway, looking fabulous in the brief glow of winter sunshine underplanted with snowdrops. There’s so much to catch the eye and to draw you in. No wonder the garden has long attracted national media, being featured twice on BBC Gardeners World and, more recently, Channel 5’s Great British Gardens. 
At the far end of Foggy Bottom is our final destination which is Rosemary’s Wood, the perfect way to honour Adrian’s wife Rosemary who died in 2014.

“It’s a woodland garden because her favourite time was spring so there are lots of snowdrops, blue scilla, and other spring-flowering plants in here,” Adrian explains. There’s also a tall wooden spire, created by Matt Bloom for his mum. Before leaving, Adrian guides me into the summer house, also built by Matt. “You can see his handiwork and attention to detail”, he says proudly. “We come in here to get the view.”

On our return, we pass the beginnings of a Japanese garden before reaching a handsome tree house, also built by Matt. “This will be a treat,” promises Adrian as we climb to the top. And it is. We're looking at the sweeping curves round the island beds and a dazzling display immediately beneath - a fine variety of purple moor-grass 'Strahlenquelle', its dark base lightening upwards to bronze as the light goes through, contrasting with the orange foliage of the heather ‘Boskoop’. In the other direction is a river of the black ophiopogon and from here it looks almost navy blue. I have definitely warmed to this plant.

A clever combination of vivid red dogwood Cornus alba ‘Siberica’ and Helleborus nigercors with red tussock grass Chionochloa rubra, Bergenia ‘Bressingham Ruby’, and golden Luzula sylvatica. (Image: Richard Bloom)

“I’ll have snowdrops coming through it as well so you’ll have a contrast,” says Adrian. “I’ll have a complete river of it so the idea is to have a bit of fun and have it running under here as a stream would and down to the pond.” He’s already enthusiastically looking ahead to late summer and the purple Verbena bonariensis he will plant among the pampas grass for contrast. “And then maybe some geranium ‘Rosanne’ in front as I know that geranium will do better than almost any of the others.”

His encyclopaedic knowledge of plants is truly extraordinary. “Well that’s built up over time,” he says modestly. “I feel there’s a lot to pass on, if possible, like perennials and grasses and where they come from . . . but that’s another book,” he laughs.