The Generosity of Great Dixter
A series on Great Dixter and it's influence on North American Gardeners
“The great thing is not to be timid in your gardening, whether it's colours, shapes, juxtapositions or the contents themselves. Splash around and enjoy yourself. If you buy a banana, it'll not be for its fruit (go to the greengrocer for that) but for its huge leaves. There are some fantastic kinds around with wonderful colouring and markings: expensive, most likely, but then tell yourself how few vices you have, thereby saving thousands of pounds annually. That feel-good reaction will see you proudly bearing home a splendid banana.”
Christopher Lloyd
Making Dixter
Great Dixter is a six-acre garden that was developed and tended by Christopher Lloyd after the death of his parents, Nathaniel and Daisy Lloyd. Christopher made it his life’s work to garden and write about growing at Great Dixter after attending horticultural college at Wye College in Kent.
Nathaniel and Daisy Lloyd assembled some very old bits together for the house:
“Great Dixter is made up of three houses, one built here in the mid-15th century with slightly later additions, the second a yeoman’s house from Benenden, across the border in Kent, built in the early 16th century and moved here in 1910, and the third combines the two with additional accommodation, completed in 1912.”1
Great Dixter’s gardens contain many beautiful architectural elements in its walls, terraces, walks and benches all designed by Edwin Lutyens. On top of these good garden bones, Daisy and her youngest son, Christopher, added a symphony of plants.
Garden writer
Of Christo’s famous writing career, his biography on Great Dixter says:
“Christopher Lloyd spent his whole life, from childhood until his death aged 85, at work in the same garden and almost fifty years writing about it
Twenty five books were the result, beginning with The Mixed Border in the Modern Garden (1957) and ranging from authoritative gems like Clematis (1965) to the encyclopaedic Christopher Lloyd’s Garden Flowers – Perennials, Bulbs, Grasses, Ferns (2000) and the very personal The Well Tempered Garden (1970) with its broad appeal to novice and experienced gardeners alike.
His writing style, honed over the years, was witty and entertaining, sometimes acerbic, sometimes eccentric, but always informative. It was also very disciplined. In 1963, Lloyd began writing a weekly column in Country Life magazine which he continued to deliver on time every week without fail for the next 42 years. There were besides, other long standing journalistic commitments to Popular Gardening, The Guardian, and The Observer magazine. All of this combined to make Great Dixter the most written about garden in the country and Christopher Lloyd one of the most celebrated of gardeners, both here and abroad.”
Christo’s books
Thankfully of that long list of garden classics, The Cottage Garden and Christopher Lloyd’s Flower Garden both found their way into my small town library. His enthusiasm and wit completely won me over at the impressionable age of 23 years, and I seem to not have been alone in that. Christo was famous for his dinner parties and the way he would invite new gardeners into the life of his garden at Great Dixter. So Dixter became known for its hospitable atmosphere of learning and experimentation, and it remains so to this day thanks to the continuants of this mission by Christopher’s head gardener, Fergus Garrett.
Influence by Christopher Lloyd
When I became obsessed with plants and gardens, I was fortunate to find the wonderful books of Christopher Lloyd. I was completely mesmerized by his garden schemes and his way of succession planting, layering plants into the same area to create beauty throughout the year.
It is no surprise then that my personal favorite of Christopher Lloyd’s books has been Succession Planting for Year-Round Pleasure, as it gives such a detailed view into Dixter’s method of succession planting. I use layered planting schemes a great deal in my own garden making, as well as in garden designs for my clients. This kind of planting can only be done well with a lot of observation and knowledge of plants. And twenty years into my journey I can say that I have learned so much, but there is always more to learn, and that is the joy of plants!
Where is Great Dixter?
Great Dixter House & Gardens is in the village of Northiam and the country of East Sussex, UK. It is about 60 miles southeast of London, and only 11 miles to Hastings on the coast of the English Channel. Dixter is surrounded by ancient farms, hedgerows and woodlands.
“Many gardeners will agree that hand-weeding is not the terrible drudgery that it is often made out to be. Some people find in it a kind of soothing monotony. It leaves their minds free to develop the plot for their next novel or to perfect the brilliant repartee with which they should have encountered a relative's latest example of unreasonableness.”
Christopher Lloyd, Well Tempered Garden
My journey to Dixter
After over a decade of studying Dixter long distance through the many books of Christopher Lloyd, my husband and I were able to attend a seminar day at Dixter in 2017. We met head gardener Fergus Garrett along with his assistants, Michael Wachter, and Coralie Thomas, and enjoyed hearing all about their recent experiments with the conifer plantings, and more about the exotic garden.
The abundance and generosity of Great Dixter is what is most striking upon first visit. This is a place where they like plants to grow! Enjoying “plants that grow” seems like it should be an essential character in any garden, but a true fierce love for growing things is something that is shockingly and sorely lacking in many gardens, both public and private.
Four things
The are innumerable lessons about gardening that I have gleaned from reading and observing Great Dixter over the past 20 years. I will probably continue to unpack these lessons here for myself (and you too of course!) in the coming years, but for now here are four things that impressed me about Dixter which I have carried with me back to my own garden in Pennsylvania:
Eagerness to experiment, and not just do the things that are safest.
The belief that beauty and good ecology can go together—they need not be adversaries
The commitment to making the most of every growing space by planting in layers throughout the seasons.
Not being afraid of plants, but judging each one according to how it behaves in each space.
“Gardens that give space to self-sowers have a comfortable, personal feel. These plants fill a gap and are wonderful accessories in our overall aim of keeping the show going.
Many people are frightened of self-sowers, thinking that, if allowed, they will lose control and that their garden will look a mess. So they apply thick mulches to prevent this. What they are missing!”
Christopher Lloyd
The man himself
Describing Christopher Lloyd and his influence on gardening is one thing, and listening to him is another. I hope you can enjoy at least a few minutes of this wonderful look at Christo and Great Dixter:
“Every gardener nurses prejudices against certain plants or flowers. It is not a bad idea to examine our own, from time to time, and to decide whether they have sufficient validity to be taken to our graves.”
Christopher Lloyd
Have you heard of Great Dixter before? Love to hear!
Series on Great Dixter's influence on North American Gardeners:
https://www.greatdixter.co.uk/Pages/News/Category/house-tour
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© All photos by Julie Witmer, 2017
Map and film c/o Great Dixter
No, I had not heard of it but he sounds like a man after my own heart! I love that generosity of love and spirit, and his discipline and commitment. I tend to be like that when I get obsessed with something. I particularly appreciated his comment about weeding as I like doing it also and ruminating on conversations, with my end of them always being much wittier in my imagination! His gardening approach reminds me to be less nervous and stuck in my own self-imposed borders - no pun intended. I like the sound of The Well-Tempered Garden, I will go and look for it.