BRITAIN’S GOT GARDENS
The fier y Cottage Garden at Sissinghurst is a melting pot of cheering, vibrant colours
Hot colours such as orange, yellow, and red can be hard to place in a border. They dominate the paler flowers around them, upsetting the scene, and so, many gardeners use them sparingly. Vita SackvilleWest’s solution to this was to create a garden filled with nothing else! The late gardener and writer, who created the famous Sissinghurst Castle Garden in Kent with her husband, Harold, planted a collection of fier y flowers that provide warm cheer for months. It is especially spectacular in spring and late summer.
Known as the Cottage Garden, it is an intimate south-facing plot, in front of the gorgeous cottage where Vita and Harold slept. All around it, the larger, iconic gardens of Sissinghurst extend, but it isn’t surprising that this is the garden Vita created for private, personal use – because, of all her spectacular gardens, this is the one you’d want to spend time in.
SUNSET WARMTH
Vita intended it to reflect the colours of a sunset, and the effect is wonderful. During the day, the tapestr y of tangerine, gold, and scarlet flowers is ignited by sunshine and manages to blaze even under grey skies; then at sunset, it takes on a breathtaking glow.
In April and May, the Cottage Garden is a gorgeous mixture of flame-coloured wallflowers (including ‘Fire
King’) and tulips (such as ‘Cassini’ and ‘Annie
Schilder’), set of f by limegreen Euphorbia epithymoides. The result is an uplifting show that brings you joy. Vita’s rule of thumb was, “Plant boldly, always.” She has cer tainly done this here.
The burning colours of the garden continue throughout summer, but reach another impressive peak in August and September. As if forbidding the joy of summer to end, the garden is packed with late-flowering plants, such as sneezeweed, red hot poker, canna, tithonia and dahlia that maintain the blaze into autumn.
The layout of many small beds, divided by paths, and the unashamed use of flaming colours en masse, make this an intimate, feel-good garden that people love.
● nationaltrust.org.uk/ sissinghurst-castle-garden