A garden photographer's flower-filled garden in the Welsh borders

Sabina Rüber has a very special relationship with plants. As a garden photographer, plants are her subjects and she values each one for its unique artistry and personality. She is also a grower, working with the seed company Chiltern Seeds to sow, grow and photograph flowers for its catalogue. In addition, she cultivates tulips to trial for her own Flare & Flame bulb collections. As you would expect, her garden in Presteigne, Wales, is jam-packed with plants. ‘I do have an addiction,’ Sabina admits, laughing. ‘In a small space, one should really be more rigorous, but I find I just can’t be. I’m not good at eliminating things that pop up and I am always coming back from shoots with a car full of plants.’

When she moved here seven years ago, she was faced with a long and narrow expanse of lawn, 70 metres by seven metres, entirely devoid of any trees, shrubs or flowers. This culminated in a small area of woodland at the far end. ‘It used to be a burgage plot,’ explains Sabina. In medieval times, burgage plots were long, thin strips of land behind terraced houses that were used as both a home and a workplace, providing a commercial opportunity for whoever lived there. ‘I really like the circularity of the fact that I am returning the property to its original intent,’ she adds. Within a year, she had turned the space into a flower-filled haven, building a studio-cum-greenhouse a third of the way up the garden, positioned centrally with a small courtyard area in front and the main garden beyond.

Sabina’s life is completely tied up with the seasons. She says her mood is inextricably linked to the garden and what is going on in nature at the time. ‘The year starts off with tiny, early spring bulbs that I raise up on tables, then there are the tulips, annuals and dahlias, followed by the amarines. These are the plants that make my heart sing.’

The tulips bring the first true fanfare of colour to the garden. Most are planted in pots, with different varieties trialled every year. As a rule, Sabina puts a single variety in each container rather than mixtures. ‘What I want is impact,’ she explains. ‘By mixing the varieties and colours in a pot, you are diluting them. Doing it this way, I create blocks of colour that I can rearrange to produce the effects I want by moving the containers around. The other advantage of pots is that you can plant early and late varieties in order to get a succession of colour. As the early ones fade, I hide the pots away and replace them with later-flowering varieties.’

She grows only a few tulips in the borders, choosing the more naturalistic-looking ones, or varieties that will reliably come back, such as the fosteriana types. The borders act as Sabina’s photography backdrop, so they are filled with more permanent perennial or self-seeding plants, which provide a background of subtle colour and texture rather than strong drama. In spring, various forms of honesty and geums provide this effect. The purple haze of Lunaria annua ‘Corfu Blue’ sets off the brilliant fireworks of ‘Orange Emperor’ or ‘Prinses Irene’ tulips, while a pot of purple-hued Tulipa ‘Bleu Aimable’ is framed by a cloud of white honesty

Geums are another of Sabina’s great loves, her passion fuelled by House & Garden’s commission to photograph the extensive collection at East of Eden Nursery in Cumbria (featured in the June 2020 issue). In shades of apricot and crimson, geums create cushions of soft colour through which late tulips, alliums and camassias can grow and are invaluable for bridging the gap between spring and summer.

This lively, colourful space is like a stage set, changing with the seasons and skilfully manipulated to be looking its best at all times. ‘I am constantly looking at my garden, moving things around and wondering how I can get a new shot out of it,’ Sabina enthuses. ‘Sometimes, you see things through the camera lens that you wouldn’t have seen with the naked eye. Each photograph is an exploration of a plant’s beauty – and that makes me happy’.

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