7 The lower border

Dense planting along the southern boundary of the gardens include Aloysia triphylla – the lemon verbena, which is cultivated in southern Europe and North Africa for the fragrant oil extracted from its leaves.

Other plants along here include Quercus acuta (the Japanese evergreen oak) and Nandina domestica, known as the Chopstick Plant or ‘Heavenly Bamboo’. Its slim canes are used as toothpick and chopstick, though it is not a bamboo at all, but a near relative to the berberis family. Its heavenly powers are thought to dispel bad dreams, so it is often planted near doorways in Japan so that when you wake from a nightmare, you can step outside and tell the shrub your dream so that no harm will follow.