Garden to visit
Visit this historical garden in April to experience the magnificent magnolias and a sea of spring bulbs, says Melissa Mabbitt
Nymans reveals its enchanting magnolias in spring
The countryside south of London is dotted with horticultural gems, including Sissinghurst and Great Dixter in Kent; Surrey’s flagship RHS Wisley and Kew; and historic Nymans in West Sussex. Although less famous than its high-profile neighbours, Nymans is home to one of our most botanically important gardens. With its connoisseurs’ collection of rare plants and a dramatic history, it makes a fascinating place to visit. The story of this English country garden began in 1890, when it was bought by Ludwig Messel, a German who had made his fortune in stockbroking. His family became passionate plant lovers, filling the garden with unusual exotic specimens. For decades the Messels and their gardeners were at the forefront of horticulture, responsible for many new plant discoveries and exciting hybrids. Nymans was also designed beautifully, and became the quintessential Edwardian pleasure garden. Magnificent magnolias were a speciality. Magnolia loebneri ‘Leonard Messel’, ideal for smaller gardens, was first cultivated at Nymans and is named after Ludwig’s son, while ‘Anne Rosse’, with relaxed large pink flowers, is named for his granddaughter. Today the gardens are home to one of the country’s best magnolia collections. Visit in spring when the large buds shed their furry casings and open into fleshy white or pink goblet-shaped flowers. Nymans’ impressive Magnolia veitchii is a ‘champion tree’, meaning it’s the largest specimen in the UK, and produces exquisite elongated pale pink blooms in March and April. Magnolia ‘Cecil Nice’ (named for a former Nymans’ head gardener) has elegant pure white upright flowers that burst from dark buds, giving a striking monochrome look.
Nymans was designed with spring and summer in mind, since the Messel family were usually away for the rest of the year. The current National Trust gardeners continue with the style and in 2016 reinstated lost borders created in 1910. Located in the roughly circular walled garden, the beds form a cross shape, meeting in the middle. One was planted as a spring border and the other for summer interest. To cut back on maintenance, they were grassed over in the 1980s, but after a huge amount of research, they re-dug the beds and planted an authentic Edwardian spring border walk, with delicate herbaceous potentillas, pittosporum for structure and tulips ribboning through the planting. This walled garden also contains a collection of slightly tender Chilean plants, grown along the walls for winter protection. They form the backbone of a large collection of rare plants, which is steadily being expanded under head gardener Stephen Herrington. There are original collections from famous plant hunters George Forrest and Frank Kingdon-Ward. Harold Comber, son of Nymans’ Edwardian head gardener James Comber, also became a notable plant collector, sending back plants from The Andes and Tasmania. The garden team now works closely with Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden to maintain these internationally important collections.
Manor house ruins
After walking through the walled garden you come to the ruin of a stone manor house. This has taken on the look of a gothic folly, its walls swagged with creeping wisteria and roof conspicuously missing. Inside, the shelter provided by the ruin makes an ideal spot for more exotic plants. This is no architectural conceit, but the remains of the Nymans house, which burned down in 1947. An adjoining house, which you can also enter, remains intact, but the ruins remain a romantic sight and, despite their catastrophic creation, have become an asset to the garden. They are surrounded by the eccentric topiary for which the garden is renowned. A yew hedge of tall pyramids, nicknamed the ‘Toblerone’ hedge by the gardeners, is imposing at any time of year, and other trimmed shrubs take on the amusing form of chess pieces or collapsing blancmanges.
“They re-dug the beds and planted an Edwardian spring border walk”
ECCLECTIC MIX (clockwise from above) The heather garden in April; thousands of fritillaries and narcissi are naturalised in the lawns; rhododendrons take up the baton in late spring; Nymans is renowned for its eccentric topiary
Spring interest continues with azaleas, rhododendrons and flowering cherries. Weeping Prunus pendula ascendens ‘Rosea’ makes a wonderful sight surrounded by hundreds of golden daffodils. Continue along the sweeping paths and you’ll arrive at an unexpected spring highlight – a heather garden filled with swathes of pink and white flowers in April. There’s almost every type of garden style at Nymans, from formal to fairytale, via rock gardens, wilderness and romantic meadows. April is one of the best months to visit and because this gem is surrounded by a constellation of other star gardens too, why not make a long weekend of it?