Enthusiasts who have filled their Welsh garden with a collection of distinctive blossoms, focusing on the uncommon and unique
Highfield Farm Garden in Monmouthshire Opens Its Doors to the Public
Highfield Farm Garden, a historical garden located in Penperlleni, Monmouthshire, Wales, recently opened its gates to the public in 2025. This garden, with its diverse horticultural layout, offers a variety of garden areas, including a town garden and a vegetable area, making it suitable for both aesthetic and practical pursuits.
While the complete history, key design features, or notable plants of Highfield Farm Garden are not extensively documented, its classification as a historical garden indicates its significance, either due to its age, design heritage, or previous ownership.
The garden's inner plot showcases a vertical theme, with grass paths meandering through bold blocks of grasses and perennials in various mixtures. The garden also boasts two large-scale perennial planting experiments. The inner one is enclosed by beech and white rugosa roses, while the outer one is fenced off from open pasture.
One unique feature of the garden is the presence of the giant hog-fennel, Peucedanum verticillare, with its growth preferred over the vicious giant hogweed. The outer rectangular plot, the garden's most experimental area, emphasises 'horizontal' planting and umbelliferous flowers, featuring variegated forms of Cornus controversa and C. alternifolia.
The greenhouse within the garden is filled with succulents and aromatic pelargoniums, while the small kitchen garden houses a polytunnel for tomatoes and an apricot. As the garden matures, Roger and his team are focusing on introducing shrubs and small trees, with a particular interest in "seriously cool shrubs".
The inner plot is adorned with sentinel pillars of copper beech and plants like Althaea cannabina and Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea 'Transparent'. The garden also boasts one-off rarities such as Aralia elata 'Variegata', A. cordata, A. continentalis, Tetrapanax, and Schefflera.
A notable feature of the garden is a wobbling knee-high mound of green coral, identified as Baccharis genistelloides, a shrubby member of the daisy family. Roger, the gardener, is particularly fond of his Cornus hongkongensis, a flowering dogwood that is hardy to -10oC and opens green before turning pure white.
For those seeking more detailed insights about Highfield Farm Garden's notable plants, its founding history, and special features, visiting local garden registries or contacting Welsh heritage garden organisations may provide additional information.
