A Visit to Great Dixter Garden

Sometimes I find myself spending more time on my laptop than I’d like, having started a predominately flower based business. So my goal this Summer was to visit more gardens, and last week I finally took the day off and headed to Great Dixter in East Sussex.

Great Dixter is a well known house acquired by businessman Nathaniel Lloyd in 1909, but what really makes this place special is the garden. Nathaniel’s son - Christopher Lloyd, who we can thank for making this place famous, created one of the most abundant gardens with a diverse range of plants in varying forms and colour combinations.

Today we have Fergus Garrett to thank for maintaining this space, after working closely with Lloyd until 2006, Fergus is now head gardener and oh my goodness - it does not disappoint.

I’ll start off by saying the nursery and cafe don’t require a ticket, but the house and gardens do. But it’s a 1000% worth it, I highly recommend for anyone remotely interested in gardens, plants and flowers.

FIG. I One of the best nurseries displaying plants from the garden itself

I’m not totally sure what I was expecting when I approached the entrance to Great Dixter, but immediately I was stunned by the sheer volume of plants taking up space. Nothing is small and perfectly pruned, plants are encouraged to grow as tall as they want and as wide as they want. It’s not like anything I’ve seen before.

FIG. II The approach to Great Dixter House

Most of the paths (of which there are many) around the gardens have been taken over by plants, which if you’re into being fully immersed into a space - will be very much up your street. Rows and rows of flowers almost hug you as you make your way through.

Despite this being a fairly busy place, thanks to the layout of garden spaces and narrow pathways it was easy to step away from the crowds, and find pockets to tuck myself away in. Just sitting in silence listening to the birds and the breeze, taking all the flowers and plants in.

A few things I’ve taken away from the garden, that I’m hoping to translate to my own (currently under renovation) garden.

FIG. III There is actually a path in the middle of this

1. Create pockets of space rather than one huge garden

My garden is a rectangle, so I’d like to try and create some spaces in-between that can still be used to add more interest. It’s also a nice opportunity to break up different planting types and create a sense of privacy. There were so many examples of this here, and almost not seeing out from all the plants is a lovely feeling.

FIG. IV Most of these plants were towering over my head

2. Let plants grow taller than you think

The height of some of the plants was really incredible, and unfortunately photos will never do it justice. Knowing now, that not everything needs to be at hip or knee height, I’m going to encourage things to grow much taller for maximum impact. Things like alliums, rudbeckia and so many others that you usually see tall anyway, were towering above my head.

FIG. V A place to relax in the shade

3. Shade can be just as calming, if not more calming that sunny spots

Next to the tropical garden was a big barn like building that had been made into almost like a viewing point. It didn’t show the whole garden but more of a picture like view of the lower garden. It was cool, breezy and you were immediately met with a sense of calm. I’m not sure yet how I can add this into my space but our garden is a sun trap and needs something to break it up.

FIG. VI Some of many dried out plants left in the boarders

4. Leaving dried plants in for structure and interest

I feel like I always intend to do this but end up pulling things out because they look too tatty. There were lots of dried plants left in the boarders here and it added so much to the already overflowing displays. They’re also great to insects, so this is my firm reminder to keep things in longer!

And as for the flowers themselves, it’s inspired me so much to try some new colour combinations over the next few weeks, after seeing what is doing so well here at Great Dixter. I’m also excited that the next Edit for you, will be at a time in the season when colour is really at its best.

FIG. VII Purple and yellow, just some of the colour combinations at Great Dixter

I’m also just a bit obsessed with this idea of height (as you can tell). So I’m interested to see how I can incorporate this into my client work over the next few weeks, the new season is inspiring me to shake things up a bit. And with the Edit boxes being big enough, maybe it will be a test to see the longest stem I can find.

Thanks for reading, and see you next week.

Jess x