November 2007

The House and gardens have closed for winter after an amazing year. We had 42,362 visitors who saw the gardens looking at their best.

Fergus and the team have begun work in the Exotic garden removing tender plants and storing them. Elsewhere areas of perrenials are split and replanted incorporating tulip bulbs.

In the nursery, Michael and Kathleen are busy taking orders for mail order plants and tools.

The gardens will next be open for the Christmas Fair on the 1st and 2nd of December. This will give visitors a rare opportunity to see the gardens in winter.

December 2007

Now that the colour and foliage has gone from the borders for the winter months, the strength and beauty of the architecture at Great Dixter comes into its own. Not only with the house but the topiary, york stone paths, dry stone walls, brick arches, yew hedges and rustic out buildings.

It really is a garden for all seasons and the preperation for spring is still in progress. Tulips and lillies are still being planted, with self sown Forget-me-nots being thinned so they don't crowd out other plants.

Tom and Matthew are carting Hornbeam and Ash firewood with our vintage Massey Ferguson tractor, to make sure the open fires at Dixter keep burning.

January 2008

Despite a considerable amount of rain (134.25mm), work in the garden continues. Tara has planted cyclamen under Hydrangea villosa in the barn garden. The Brunswick figs, a signature plant of Edwin Lutyens on the back wall of the north barn have been pruned.

In the nursery Michael has been taking hardwood cuttings of Sambucus (Elder), Viburnum, Ligustrum and Perovskia. Michael has researched a number of new plants for sale in the nursery and use in the garden.

Fergus, Kathleen and Michael have now completed updating the nursery plant catalogue for 2008. This list contains approximately 70 new additions, and is available by post. If you would like one please send a request along with 5 first class stamps. Alternatively the catalogue is available online from the nursery page.

February 2008

The garden is pregnant with anticipation, as fresh green shoots begin to peep out of the soil in response to light and warmth. We also realise we don’t fall about anymore in darkness like drunken sailors come the end of the working day.

The battered remains of dead plants are cleared away to make way for emerging young foliage. Heleniums and Phlox stems snap off like cheese straws. We lift, split and before replanting, nourish the soil generously with compost. A well-prepared bed looks and feels good enough to lie on

It sounds sacrilegious, but we have almost become accustomed to snowdrops, though not yet sated by the sight of crocuses lighting up the meadows. It’s only a matter of time before the daffodils break out of their straight jacket. Right now the clumps look like green blisters on the landscape.

March 2008

Except for a couple of broken Dutch lights, the storms which swept through southern England the first week of the month have not adversely affected the garden. This is fortunate considering the fact that the house and garden will be open for the first time this year on Good Friday March 21st 2008, the same day BBC Gardeners’ World features Great Dixter.

March sees Narcissi merrily lighting up the fields and flower beds, injecting vigour into a colour scheme which have so far remained calm and collected. Preparations for the opening are proceeding at a frantic pace, as we repair worn areas with new turf, weed under the hedges as well as finish the last of pruning and cutting down of spent vegetation.

April 2008

Walking through on a sunny spring morning it’s hard to believe only a week ago the garden was looking more like a Christmas scene. Spring bulbs bowed their heads under caps of snow as we wondered if they would ever recover. Now they are coming into their own as the tapestries of colour reveal themselves. Young fresh foliage making fantastic foils for the tulips rich hues; as purples, pinks, reds and yellows light up the borders.

The cherry blossoms add to the spring exuberance, in the barn garden Prunus tenella makes a pretty pair with delicate Narcissus ‘Hawera’. The globes of Magnolias give an air of elegance as the primroses, our native woodlanders peep out from below, hopeful that spring is finally here.

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