12 KEY PLANTS
5 7 9 10
‘Peachy’ Sunset-coloured, floriferous toadflax with glaucous foliage and two-toned trumpets that flower all summer. 90cm. RHS H6, USDA 5a-9b†.
2 Trifolium rubens Upright clover with clusters of downy-silver buds, turning to wine-red flowers in late summer. Rich in nectar and suited to informal schemes. Grow in sun with adequate moisture, not too much heat. 60cm. RHS H7, USDA 3a-10b.
3 Sanguisorba Massed sprays of maroon, bobble-like flowers on upright wiry stems that are held clear of foliage. Offers low mounds of pinnate, blue-green serrated leaves with a faint chocolate red midrib. 1.2m. USDA 4a-8b. Ballota pseudodictamnus Low-growing, evergreen shrub with soft, felted grey-green foliage on long, pale, curving stems. Pink flowers appear on whorled spears in late summer. Loves a hot dry spot and poor soil. 60cm. AGM*. RHS H4, USDA 7a-10b. Stipa tenuissima Fine, bright-green foliage turns sandy-tan in autumn and stands throughout winter. 60cm. AGM. RHS H4, USDA 7a-11b.
6 Lotus hirsutus Soft, silver-leaved sub-shrub that will form a spreading mat in gravel gardens or rockeries. Arching stems bear pale-pink pea-flowers at their tips in summer. Brown, starry seedpods last the winter. 60cm. RHS H4. USDA 7b-10b. Penstemon ‘Raven’ Deep pink-purple flowers with white throats draw the eye when planted among pale-flowered companions. Will attract plenty of pollinators. Deadhead regularly and flowers will persist until first frost. 1m. RHS H3, USDA 7a-9b. ‘Russell Prichard’ Prolific magenta blooms offset by attractive grey-green foliage. Fantastic edging plant that flowers from May to November. Prostrate but will scramble up neighbouring plants. 40cm. AGM. RHS H4. 9 Briza maxima Tufts of smooth, grey-green leaves bear delicate, heart-shaped spikelets on slender stems that shiver in the wind. This greater quaking grass is a beautiful annual grass that can become a prolific self-seeder on light soils. Happy in both sun or light shade. 20-50cm. RHS H6, USDA 4a-8b.
10 ‘Cerro Potosí’ Magenta-pink flowers offset by fresh green, aromatic leaves. An exceptionally long flowering and hardy form. Popular with bees. Evergreen. Flowers from June to November. 90cm. AGM. RHS H4. Eremurus isabellinus Bottle-brush spikes of burnt-orange flowers appear in early summer. Glaucous, sword-like foliage dies back before flowers appear. Tubers like to bake in the sun after flowering. 1.2m. RHS H6, USDA 5a-9b. 12 Dianthus barbatus ‘Barbarini White’ A pretty, white sweet William that Alison admires most when it is in bud. 50cm. RHS H7. 1 8
xx11 6 8 12
x lucidrys, a bushy, aromatic sub shrub, and domes of ‘Ruby Star’ mimic the loosely clipped, rounded forms of Phillyrea latifolia. Cenolophium denudatum umbels form a horizontal contrast. Spires of x ‘Cleopatra’ and
‘Milk Chocolate’, help direct the gaze towards distant hills.
FERGUS GARRETT
PHOTOGRAPHS ANDREW MONTGOMERY
The garden at Great Dixter has a reputation for being loose. Christopher Lloyd believed in plants coming first, inspired by his mother he championed a semi-naturalistic touch flowing through the veins of his garden, filtering through the borders, brushing the skirts of the hedges, walls and topiary pieces, lining the edges of the paths and running through the cracks in the floor and walls. Known for his swashbuckling style of cannas and dahlias, bright colours and endless experiments, Christo was lesser known for this softer side. Nonetheless, he was deeply in tune and respectful of life in the garden and the woodlands around him were his solace. When he died in 2006, I continued to garden in very much the same manner except I sprayed less and didn’t use as much inorganic fertiliser, phasing these out altogether within a few years. I allowed the edges of the garden and car parks, to become blurred, encouraging the hedges to billow out, and stopped mowing the verges. The place became more charming, bulging in vegetation, alive and humming with life. This, along with badgers in both woods, a dawn chorus to deafen you, and with great crested newts thriving in the Sunk Garden Pond, we felt content.
Aware of the decline of pollinators, my assistant Sarah Seymour contacted Dr Nikki Gammans to survey the bumblebees at Dixter, and a group of lepidopterists led by the late Tony Harman set up regular moth traps. Both showed impressive and fascinating results. Spurred on, I asked the British Arachnological Society to visit the garden. They seemed reluctant – not expecting an intensive, well-known garden such as Great Dixter to offer anything interesting. I realised that gardens were often regarded as sterile spaces by ecologists – much in the same way wildlife gardens were thought to be weedy bramble patches by gardeners. Once with us, the arachnologists realised what an extraordinarily rich site Great Dixter was, and soon after their visit we were on the front page of the British Arachnological Society newsletter with several pages of text outlining the great diversity of spiders including some nationally scarce species.
But our efforts seemed fragmented and incomplete – various ad hoc surveys here and there didn’t give us a handle on the overall picture. Biodiversity isn’t about just a few select species, but an integrated world with one element impacting on the