Great Dixter

 Great Dixter, nursery, Cephalaria alpina J sidewalk, grass roof tops, 15thc timber frame hall house, Lutyens 1912, fergus, sounds of school girls, tractors, workmanship, gardeners, roof, hedges and topiaries, orchids, exotic garden, giant fennel, roofer, experiment, colorful long border, Briza maximum, path guards,high garden, narrow paths, sambucus trained as small tree.

Great Dixter

Great Dixter

We decided to end our tour with the garden we saw first in 2012, Great Dixter.  This time the season is solidly summer with the dahlias in crescendo.  

William Robinson, The Father of Natural Gardens

    William Robinson was an Irishman born into the Victorian garden age of colorful exotic bedding and mock Italianate gardens. In his early 20's, he was appointed head of the Natives Plants section at Regent's Park. Here his exposure to the native and 'wild' plants of the English countryside heavily influenced his opposition to the current Victorian garden aesthetics. He spent many years traveling around England and visiting the continent, inspiring him to advocate for a change in English garden style. He was a prolific writer, starting the magazine, The Garden, and writing the book, The Wild Garden. His writing promoted the ideas that natural gardening was less costly to maintain with less replanting of tender annuals. He also advocated more closely planted beds, less showy beauty, and the naturalization of exotic perennials and annuals planted in a manner in which they will thrive. He believed in the natural succession of plants to provide year round interest and beauty in the garden. He was more an advocate for the natural garden style than an actual garden designer. His work was not a restoration effort of native ecosystems, but rather the creation of something more than that, something picturesque which looked natural.

Hedges

Before this trip to England in 2012, I didn't have much to say about hedges other than banality. There are a few things I retained from this experience and to have fun with hedges is one of those ideas. The gardens at Hidcote pushed my edge. In the top photo we see two different plants hedge into a single plane. I think those are Yews with a Boxwood silhouette.

Astonishing. (If you haven't noticed, this trip has also made me learn more superlatives.)

 


One comprised of deciduous Copper Beech and evergreen Holly.

Great Dixter

This charming garden was the first proper garden on our tour.   After seeing Chelsea Garden Show, Kew and Hyde Park in London, we hired a car and spent the afternoon in Sussex.   This garden turns out to be in the top 5 most amazing garden we saw in England.  Utterly Charming!  After Great Dixter, we raced the sun to see Derek Jarmin's garden on a stark jetty called Dungeness Headland along the Kent coast.