GREAT DIXTERFriends’ newsletter Spring 2016

MoneyIn 2016 we are fundraising for the following:

Re-thatching of the link between the two barns, £15,000 (£7,000 received to date)•A teaching glasshouse, £12,000 (£1,495 received to date)•Support for a gardener’s wages, £20,000•Restoration of Christopher Lloyd’s cold frames, £4,000•Repairs to the Exotic Garden hovel, £4,000•RepairstobrickworkintheSolarfireplace,£500•Studentsponsorshiptolearntraditionalskillsinlabour-intensiveflowergardening,•£17,000Apprentices: for the garden, nursery, woodworking and estate £14,000 p.a. each•

A Fund has been set up to enable Dixter Students and Gardeners to expand their knowledge, experience and skills. Contributors so far are:

The Hollman Fund set up by Barbara Hollman in honour of her parents, Arthur •and Catharine £1,000 p.a.Northiam Horticultural Society •Suzie Nicholson towards the Students Volunteer Weekend £200 p.a.•Variegated Plant Society Bursary £500•

Individual donors include Friends: Judith Hogg, Zuleika Moosajee-Harrison.

Front cover: thisbravelittleplant,Anemonexfulgens,hasbeenfloweringinthesamespotevery April for as far back as anyone can remember, the Lutyens bench behind is where the nursery folk take a break on sunny winter days. Photo by Carol Casselden.

Our US Friends gave funds of over $90,000 (£61,500) in the year starting 1st April 2015:

Linda and Frank Smith; Eleanor Briggs; Anne H Bass; Marla C. Angermeier; Nancy and Bill Hallman; Kyle Landt; Kimberly Peterson; Laren and Lawrence Kurland; John Gwynne and Mikel Folcarelli; Sid Jones; Amy Burnes; Linda and Bill Cobb; Madeline and Ian Hooper; Deb Wiles; Susan Drews; Alice Reilly; Barbara Paul Robinson; Martha Doerr Toppin; Charlotte Mathey; Alice Bickers; Tom Cooper; Addie and Ted Kurz; Nancy Lee Sweet; Mish Tworkowski and Joseph Singer; Ilona Ontsherenki; Allen Bush; F. Hochberg; Sarah Hathaway, Michael B. Gordon; Charlotte Hamlin; Marco Stufano; Cleo Raulerson; Bert Cooper; Lynden B. Miller; Cynthia Rossetti; Pria Graves; Irene Williams, plus those who wish to remain anonymous.

Succession Planting by Fergus Garrett

The trick to this is not to do too much toosoonbutthinklowkeyfirst.Justafewsnowdrops under a hosta will do the trick and then if you have a Welsh poppy seeded grabbing the moment as the snowdrops melt underground and the hosta has yet to cover the space. The Welsh poppy can put itself there and be surprisingly tolerant of the shade that follows.

The plants are interchangeable and can all be scaled up. There could be one hosta and ten snowdrops or twenty hostas and 200 snowdrops or you could pair a crocus with a cranesbill like Geranium Rozanne, the self sower could be a forget-me-not or Lunaria, or a sweet violet that hits the target between April and May.

You are in a way mimicking the sort of hustle and bustle that happens within the plant communities in the natural world. One layer takes over another and sometimes one plant kills another. The latter is a real danger if you cram too much in, remember alliums, camassias, and large daffs have long strap like leaves that will squeeze out everything in close proximity. Some plants though, are superheroes, like Kirengishoma palmata (as above) - not only beautiful and elegant carrying itself with grace, but also with the inner strength to rise up through the baddest of leaves.

Winter Work by Michael Wachter

Winters in England are wet and muddy. I can understand why many students come to Dixter during the summer. But really the magic happens in winter. If you want to understand how the beds work winter is the time to come! In the High Garden we have our biggest stock bed. It used to be all vegetable garden to supply the needs in the house. Then, before containerization in the nursery the stock used to be lined out there ready for being wrapped in newspaper and sold directly. Now you can see plastic pots in the nursery where the plants are grown directly to be sold. But still the bed in the High Garden is strongly connected with the nursery. It still supplies plant material for the nursery. When Fergus came to the garden he suggested instead of growing the stock plants in rows to group them together. This changed the bed from a simple functional bed to a highly ornamental design where you combine stock and ornamental horticulture.

Before we start working in the beds in late autumn Fergus discusses with Michael, the nursery manager, about which plant material needs to be lifted and split for the nursery. Let’s say Phlox x arendsii Luc’s Lilac did not sell very well last year, we might not need to split and divide it this time. We may even consider dropping it from our list. (Don’t get me wrong Phlox Luc’s Lilac is a lovely scented pale lilac pink gem!) The way we sell plants in the nursery dictates how the bed looks.

Thesecondinfluenceishowwecanworkwiththeseplants.Phloxyoucanpropagateby root cuttings, tip cuttings and splitting them down to a 3 ½ litre pot. So you don’t need many plants to make a few hundred in one year. While Aconitum carmichaelii Arendsii is very hard to split down to a single and keep in a cold frame over winter. So maybe you need a bigger stock of those in the bed.

The great thing at Dixter is that you follow plants through their life. We grow, stake, water, cut down, lift, divide and look after them all year through. Observing and workingwithaplantfromroottofloweristhevaluablehands-on-trainingthatisbecoming rare in horticulture. Putting the bed back together with all its complexity and layers is such an exciting process which I would never want to miss.

All photos on inside pages by Carol Casselden.

Dixter Diary

Behind the Scenes is a monthly series of Monday afternoon explorations of the borders to examine the plants that are looking good and explain the work involved in making them so. Led by talented Rachael Dodd.

Clocks - movements from two long case clocks are being repaired (£1,500 each) paid for by US Friends Greg and Mary Moga. The one in the entry hall is an early 18th century walnut marquetry clock with a brass dial made by Roger Panton (see right); the other on the firstfloorlandinghasanoakcasewithbrassfaceandwas made by Edward Whitehead of Wetherby in the late 18th century. Photo by Carol Casselden.

First swallowswereseenflyingoverthenurseryon14th April 2016.

The 10th anniversary of Christopher Lloyd’s death is being marked in a number of ways:

First Editions of Christopher Lloyd books are being •offered for sale from Dixter’s online shopthe Great Dixter Journal 2016•the new • Meadows at Great Dixter and Beyond, Christopher Lloyd’s classic out-of-print 2004 book with a long and interesting introduction by Fergusa Gardens Illustrated Day on 20• th June with Anna Pavord and Fergus Garrett celebrating Christopher Lloyd’slegacyandreflectingonthegarden’songoing evolutionan exhibition of photographs of Christopher •Lloyd’s Garden 1954-2006 will be in the Great Barn from 6th August to the close of the seasonRoy Lancaster will be giving the Christopher Lloyd •Lecture 2016And lastly in November a special event to wind •up the year including a talk by Fergus entitled ‘Ten Years On’.

Tony Harman died 29th September 2015, his enthusiasm, deep knowledge and generous nature made moth lovers of all he met at Great Dixter. Nice blog by a friend of his: http://dylan-wrathall.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/a-good-day-yet-tainted.html

TherhubarbpatchatGreatDixterisatthefarendofthevegetablegarden,firstplanted when the Lloyds came to Dixter, around 1911. It receives no more attention than a mulch of compost in the winter.

Rhubarb upside-down cake by Maria Castro Topping: 75g caster sugar; 50ml maple syrup, 50g butter; zest and juice of ½ an orange Cake: 150g butter; 150g soft light brown sugar; 2 eggs, lightly beaten; 1 tsp vanilla extract200gplainflour;1½tspbakingpowder;75gchoppedpecans;125mlwholemilk; 400g rhubarb cut into 3-4cm pieces

Butter a 23cm cake tin. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Heat sugar syrup •and orange slowly and watch till caramel. Don’t stir; take off heat; add butter; stir till melted. Pour into tin.Creambuttersugar;addeggsalittleatatime;addvanilla.Siftflourandbaking•powder into the bowl and fold, with pecans, into the batter adding milk a little at a time. Arrange rhubarb on top of the maple caramel mix in the tin. Spoon the cake •batter on top and bake for 35-40 minutes. Photo by Carol Casselden.

CalendarFri 24th June Open Garden Fundraiser at Brightling 3pm-5pm and 6pm-8pm £10Mon 18th July Friends Event 6pm-8pm FREE for Friends

Sat 6th Aug Christopher Lloyd’s Garden photograph exhibition opening 11am-1pm FREE for Friends

Sat 17th Sept Christopher Lloyd Lecture by Roy Lancaster £50Mon 26th Sept Daisy Day with Marina Christopher and Fergus £100Weekend 1st & 2nd Oct Plant Fair FREE for Friends

Sun 30th Oct House and Gardens close for the winterWed 16th Nov National Garden Society event noon to 3pm Fergus talk and garden tours £50Behind the Scenes 20th June, 18th July, 15th Aug, 26th Sept 17th Oct, 14th Nov, 12th Dec £45Sat 26th & Sun 27th Nov Christmas FairWed 7th Dec Friends Event

Compiled by Linda Jones, tel: 01797 254048, friends@greatdixter.co.uk. Designed by Joe Rodriguez.Great Dixter, Northiam, Rye, East Sussex, TN31 6PH. Tel: 01797252878. Web: www.greatdixter.co.uk.© Great Dixter Charitable Trust - Ltd. Co. No. 7181964 - Registered Charity Number 1134948.