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Gardening with the RHS

Gardening for the RHS

For many years I have been an enthusiastic but very much an amateur gardener and, since retiring from full time employment, I frequently help a professional gardener friend, Cathy, on her larger projects. For many years she has been working regularly as a volunteer gardener at Great Dixter in Northiam, East Sussex. I am sure many will know of the house which, until his death, was the lifelong home of the innovative and well-published gardener, Christopher Lloyd. I was delighted to be asked by Cathy to accompany her on one of her volunteer days - even though it meant leaving home in Buckinghamshire at 5.00 a.m. to avoid being delayed in traffic!

	We arrived early on a cold but bright morning before most had arrived to work and wandered around the grounds and gardens with only the birds for company. Set on high ground the historic house, surrounded by peacock topiary, has a wonderful view of the rolling countryside beyond.
	There are many different gardens. The Meadow Garden is a delight at this time of year with its many spring flowers - daffodils, primroses and the little jewels of fritillary. The Horse Pond shows the promise of the water lillies to come later in the year and here the old Gunnera leaves are used to cover the new shoots until the frosts have finished.

The Sunk Garden, with its backdrop of old barns, is a sheltered and tranquil area which, in a few weeks will be bursting with foliage and colour as all the creepers and climbers come into leaf. Even at this time of year, there was colour and interest to catch the eye everywhere, daffodils, primroses, hellebores, camellias, magnolias and aubretia spilling down an old stone wall.

The staff began to arrive and they are all so friendly, enthusiastic and obviously love the time they spend working in the nurseries and gardens. Cathy and I started work that day by pruning and tidying clematis, MadameJulia Correvon and Abundance – just two of more than 90 varieties of clematis grown in the nurseries and this left me more confident about pruning my own clematis than I have been in the past.

Tea and lunch breaks are taken in the “Mess Room” in just one of the many old Barns and outbuildings which seemingly have changed little over the years. The potting shed, where we worked in the afternoon, is a delightful old building with sloping walls, earthen floors and low beams. We were potting on Patrinia scabiosifolia (greeny yellow flowers) which Christopher Lloyd (mentioned in his book on “Colour”) was fond of planting with the mauve Verbena bonariensis at Great Dixter. All the plants in the nursery are grown in Great Dixter's own soil based composts based on John Innes formulae.

During the afternoon, I was shown around the house, the oldest part of which is 15th Century and contains a splendid medieval Great Hall which is the largest surviving timber-framed hall in the country.

In the early 1900's the architect, Lutyens, added the domestic quarters and a further wing which dates from 1500 being a hall house which was dismantled piece by piece from nearby Benenden and re-erected at Great Dixter. For all its splendour and history, it is still very much a home. I noticed that Fergus Garrett, the head gardener, holds a number of Study Days in the house in Spring, Summer and Autumn at Great Dixter House – for example, “Succession Planting in the Mixed Borders” and “Preparing Your Border for Spring and Summer” - to name just two.

I left feeling very inspired as the gardens are not formal but both simple at times and exuberant in their planting. Above all, one feels encouraged to experiment with planting and colour and create a garden to give pleasure to the eye and senses albeit on a much smaller scale for most of us. I am looking forward to returning in the summer to see the Exotic Garden and the herbaceous areas in all their full and glorious colour. Earlier than that, I can imagine the colour which will shortly be provided by the abundance and variety of tulip planting will take one's breath away.

Everyone thanked us and were so grateful to us for helping but I felt I had to thank them and Cathy for such an enjoyable opportunity.

Lynda from Buckinghamshire