Contrasting garden styles in Sussex countryside

Press, 22 April 1986, Page 22

Contrasting garden styles in Sussex countryside

By

Thelma Strongman

In England, the county of Sussex to the South and West of London abounds with inspiring gardens open to visitors. Here are two lovely gardens of Sussex Weald which show interesting contrasts of style. Great Dixter is perhaps the typical English Garden of most people’s imagination. Owned by Christopher Lloyd, garden writer and distinguished plantsman, Great Dixter politely affects the sensibilities in two ways. The first is with its gentle atmosphere of peace and timelessness, and the second lies in its stimulating design and carefully considered plantings. Presiding over all is the beautiful old Tudor manor house, which can also be visited. The garden is much younger, dating back about 70 years, to when the house was enlarged in vernacular style by the great architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. Together with the present owner’s father, Nathaniel Lloyd, Lutyens also laid out the gardens which take the form of garden rooms leading on from one another round the house. Each has its own character and atmosphere, and each is full of surprises. One of the most interesting areas is the entrance path, which initially might appear as two rather unkempt grassy borders. This is Christopher Lloyd’s Meadow Garden consisting of grass studded with flowers in season — tall daisies, poppies, rich blue spikes of camassia, and many others — all growing naturally and haphazardly in the long grass. Careful management is necessary to maintain the balance within this beautiful “flowery mede.” The first garden room is more tailored — a sunken garden with an octagonal lily pool, forming the centre of a small lawn surrounded by plants such as Solomon’s Seal, Cranesbills and dark mauve cow-parsley. Down a few stone steps, softened with ferns and scatted euphorbia, the back of the house presents a garden of grass and topiary.

Further on is another meadow garden containing bulbs and orchard trees, which is reached from the terrace by Lutyens’ semi-circular stone steps, enclosing

small, smooth plats of grass. On the house side of the terrace path is a long border filled with special varieties of plants chosen for their beauty and subtle contrasts. A small cameo which lifted the spirits on a dull day in May was the glow of a golden euphorbia with a white flowered “honesty”. The plant within this border, together with the planting in the remainder of the spring is inspiring. Returning to the front of the house there is a “moat area filled with bluebells and laced with lilacs. Past huge bulging yew hedges, the kitchen garden, and interesting topiary shapes, is a charming view towards the looming oast-house — and there is still the horse pond to explore. Great Dixter in many ways is the ideal English garden where the free growth of the carefully considered planting is gently restrained by the art of a master architect, and where the hand of man evident in the topiary work balances that of nature in the wild meadow areas. Finally the old manor house and picturesque oast-house add a feeling of history and stability. Leonardslee, a beautiful woodland gar-

den was begun by Sir Edmund Loder in 1887 on the site of an ancient forest. The house, which overlooks the valley garden, was built in 1855 and though pleasant, is fairly undistinguished. Its original owner planted some of the conifers, redwoods and Wellingtonias, and with the native oaks, beeches and birches, they form a protective canopy above the rhododendrons which are the glory of Leonardslee. The natural situation at Leonardslee offered Sir Edmund great possibilities for the establishment of a fine rhododendron garden. The soil is acid and the rainfall is better than adequate. The garden lies in a steep-sided valley in which there was already a series of ponds made by ironworkers in the district who used the water power to drive their hammers and furnaces 200 years before. The presence of ponds helped to produce the ideal micro-climate for the rhododendrons and camellias with which Sir Edmund was closely involved for over 30 years. At the turn of the century, he was one of the world’s great experts on rhododendrons and his collection of these lovely plants was second to none. At Leonardslee Sir Edmund Loder crossed R.griffithianum with R.fortunei to produce the famous Loderi hybrids — beautiful scented, trum-

pet-shaped flowers which incidentally became the particular interest of Edgar Stead in his garden at Ham in Christchurch. The original Loderi hybrids flowered at Leonardslee for the first time in the early years of this century and now the original plants form huge and sumptuous tree-like forms on one side of the valley. The heavily perfumed “King George" is still to be seen with “Sir Joseph Hooker” close by. The remainder of the valley is filled with rhododendrons planted in natural situations under the trees, together with other associated plants such as stewartias, halesia, ginkgo, cornus and acers. Here and there are trilliums and the valley is awash with bluebells. Closer to the house are drifts of azaleas and camellias, and there is a rock garden containing many of the smaller rhododendrons with dwarf conifers. The flowering of the garden at Leonardslee is spectacularly beautiful, but the season is short. The rhododendrons come into flower in May and continue through into June with the Loderis at their fragrant best in the second week of May. Senseible footwear is advised as some of the paths can be slippery and steep. The garden is extensive and could take a full day to see.