The traditional rose terrace was originally designed by Sir Milner of Percevall Hall in circa 1930. Sonja based this scheme on an Elizabethan embroidery so as to capture the spirit of the age in which the Grade II Listed Elizabethan Hall was built.

 

The result was a bold painterly planting scheme, with traditional cottage annuals and perennials peppered throughout rigidly formal rose planting.

 

Sonja contrasted this with softer, textured grasses such as panicum, which she specified for its year-round interest and native appearance. The inclusion of panicum- alongside the cottage-like annuals and perennials- provided an arresting juxtaposition between the traditional linear terrace fluffy cottage border.