Monday, May 6, 2013

Great Dixter Gardens, East Sussex, UK (20 of 23) | A vibrant and influential English garden

Great Dixter Gardens, East Sussex, UK (20 of 23) | A vibrant and influential English garden
container house design
Image by ukgardenphotos
Great Dixter Gardens, East Sussex, UK: These historic Grade 1 gardens, which surround a medieval manor house, are truly inspirational. They have the most amazing, vibrant, and imaginative planting schemes I have ever seen in a garden anywhere! The level of visual detail and ‘complexity’ in the planting schemes is awesome: with so many different plants all contributing to the overall picture. I often stand for many minutes in this garden just ‘taking in the scene’. The more I look, the more I see and the more I appreciate the level of planning and effort that has gone into creating this visually dynamic country garden.

Although all the plants look very natural growing together, as though they have almost planted themselves in their growing positions, to get a garden looking this good with such exuberant colors and dense planting requires a very high level of maintenance indeed.

The attention to planting detail at Great Dixter even goes down to the superb arrangements of plants in containers located at strategic points throughout the garden. These are a fantastic combination of plant varieties, forms, colours, textures - and with brilliant use of foliage too.

Considering the gardens are built around a medieval English manor house (parts of which date back to the 15th century), the visitor could assume Great Dixter was just another conventional English garden. Whilst the garden structure (much of which was originally designed by the celebrated architect Edwin Lutyens ) has many conventional elements such as topiary, box and yew hedging, garden rooms, etc., the planting schemes developed by the late Christopher Lloyd are far more dynamic than the Gertrude Jekyl ‘muted palette harmonious approach’. In fact, some of the colour combinations in this highly influential and innovative garden are quite shocking, but most of the time they work really well and bring a great energy, vibrancy and life to the garden.

Photo Details: This photo shows some of the densley planted exuberant flower borders in August where plants seem to do battle with each other!


Location: Dixter Road, Northiam, Rye, East Sussex, TN31 6PH, UK.

The gardens are situated near the village of Northiam, about ten miles north of the coastal town of Hastings and to the north-west of the picturesque ancient town of Rye.

OSGB Map Reference: TQ821251

© 2012 ukgardenphotos


Great Dixter Gardens, Sussex, England (21 of 23) | A colourful and inspirational English garden
container house design
Image by ukgardenphotos
Great Dixter Gardens, East Sussex, UK: These historic Grade 1 gardens, which surround a medieval manor house, are truly inspirational. They have the most amazing, vibrant, and imaginative planting schemes I have ever seen in a garden anywhere! The level of visual detail and ‘complexity’ in the planting schemes is awesome: with so many different plants all contributing to the overall picture. I often stand for many minutes in this garden just ‘taking in the scene’. The more I look, the more I see and the more I appreciate the level of planning and effort that has gone into creating this visually dynamic country garden.

Although all the plants look very natural growing together, as though they have almost planted themselves in their growing positions, to get a garden looking this good with such exuberant colors and dense planting requires a very high level of maintenance indeed.

The attention to planting detail at Great Dixter even goes down to the superb arrangements of plants in containers located at strategic points throughout the garden. These are a fantastic combination of plant varieties, forms, colours, textures - and with brilliant use of foliage too.

Considering the gardens are built around a medieval English manor house (parts of which date back to the 15th century), the visitor could assume Great Dixter was just another conventional English garden. Whilst the garden structure (much of which was originally designed by the celebrated architect Edwin Lutyens ) has many conventional elements such as topiary, box and yew hedging, garden rooms, etc., the planting schemes developed by the late Christopher Lloyd are far more dynamic than the Gertrude Jekyl ‘muted palette harmonious approach’. In fact, some of the colour combinations in this highly influential and innovative garden are quite shocking, but most of the time they work really well and bring a great energy, vibrancy and life to the garden.

Photo Details: This photo shows golden rudbeckias lining a path in the late afternoon sun on a warm day in August. I get the feeling that Mother Nature is very happy in this garden!


Location: Dixter Road, Northiam, East Sussex, TN31 6PH, UK.

The gardens are situated near the village of Northiam, about ten miles north of the coastal town of Hastings and to the north-west of the picturesque ancient town of Rye.

OSGB Map Reference: TQ821251

© 2012 ukgardenphotos


Great Dixter Gardens, East Sussex, England (3 of 23) | A densley planted English garden
container house design
Image by ukgardenphotos
Great Dixter Gardens, East Sussex, UK: These historic Grade 1 gardens, which surround a medieval manor house, are truly inspirational. They have the most amazing, vibrant, and imaginative planting schemes I have ever seen in a garden anywhere! The level of visual detail and ‘complexity’ in the planting schemes is awesome: with so many different plants all contributing to the overall picture. I often stand for many minutes in this garden just ‘taking in the scene’. The more I look, the more I see and the more I appreciate the level of planning and effort that has gone into creating this visually dynamic country garden.

Although all the plants look very natural growing together, as though they have almost planted themselves in their growing positions, to get a garden looking this good with such exuberant colors and dense planting requires a very high level of maintenance indeed.

The attention to planting detail at Great Dixter even goes down to the superb arrangements of plants in containers located at strategic points throughout the garden. These are a fantastic combination of plant varieties, forms, colours, textures - and with brilliant use of foliage too.

Considering the gardens are built around a medieval English manor house (parts of which date back to the 15th century), the visitor could assume Great Dixter was just another conventional English garden. Whilst the garden structure (much of which was originally designed by the celebrated architect Edwin Lutyens ) has many conventional elements such as topiary, box and yew hedging, garden rooms, etc., the planting schemes developed by the late Christopher Lloyd are far more dynamic than the Gertrude Jekyl ‘muted palette harmonious approach’. In fact, some of the colour combinations in this highly influential and innovative garden are quite shocking, but most of the time they work really well and bring a great energy, vibrancy and life to the garden.

Photo Details: This photo shows the typical dense planting at Dixter and the use of good stuctural plants to add interest.


Location: Dixter Road, Northiam, East Sussex, TN31 6PH, UK.

The gardens are situated near the village of Northiam, about ten miles north of the coastal town of Hastings and to the north-west of the picturesque ancient town of Rye.

OSGB Map Reference: TQ821251

© 2012 ukgardenphotos


Great Dixter Gardens, Sussex, UK (2 of 23) | A vibrant, dynamic and inspirational English garden with exceptional planting
container house design
Image by ukgardenphotos
Great Dixter Gardens, East Sussex, UK: These historic Grade 1 gardens, which surround a medieval manor house, are truly inspirational. They have the most amazing, vibrant, and imaginative planting schemes I have ever seen in a garden anywhere! The level of visual detail and ‘complexity’ in the planting schemes is awesome: with so many different plants all contributing to the overall picture. I often stand for many minutes in this garden just ‘taking in the scene’. The more I look, the more I see and the more I appreciate the level of planning and effort that has gone into creating this visually dynamic country garden.

Although all the plants look very natural growing together, as though they have almost planted themselves in their growing positions, to get a garden looking this good with such exuberant colors and dense planting requires a very high level of maintenance indeed.

The attention to planting detail at Great Dixter even goes down to the superb arrangements of plants in containers located at strategic points throughout the garden. These are a fantastic combination of plant varieties, forms, colours, textures - and with brilliant use of foliage too.

Considering the gardens are built around a medieval English manor house (parts of which date back to the 15th century), the visitor could assume Great Dixter was just another conventional English garden. Whilst the garden structure (much of which was originally designed by the celebrated architect Edwin Lutyens ) has many conventional elements such as topiary, box and yew hedging, garden rooms, etc., the planting schemes developed by the late Christopher Lloyd are far more dynamic than the Gertrude Jekyl ‘muted palette harmonious approach’. In fact, some of the colour combinations in this highly influential and innovative garden are quite shocking, but most of the time they work really well and bring a great energy, vibrancy and life to the garden.

Photo Details: This photo shows part of the Exotic Garden - a great combination of banana palms, grasses, verbenas, rice paper plants and dahlias - a really unconventional grouping that works so well!


Location: Dixter Road, Northiam, East Sussex, TN31 6PH, UK.

The gardens are situated near the village of Northiam, about ten miles north of the coastal town of Hastings and to the north-west of the picturesque ancient town of Rye.

OSGB Map Reference: TQ821251

© 2012 ukgardenphotos


Great Dixter Gardens, Sussex, England (17 of 23) | A vibrant garden scene with fiery red Crocosmias, Cannas and Kniphofia
container house design
Image by ukgardenphotos
Great Dixter Gardens, East Sussex, UK: These historic Grade 1 gardens, which surround a medieval manor house, are truly inspirational. They have the most amazing, vibrant, and imaginative planting schemes I have ever seen in a garden anywhere! The level of visual detail and ‘complexity’ in the planting schemes is awesome: with so many different plants all contributing to the overall picture. I often stand for many minutes in this garden just ‘taking in the scene’. The more I look, the more I see and the more I appreciate the level of planning and effort that has gone into creating this visually dynamic country garden.

Although all the plants look very natural growing together, as though they have almost planted themselves in their growing positions, to get a garden looking this good with such exuberant colors and dense planting requires a very high level of maintenance indeed.

The attention to planting detail at Great Dixter even goes down to the superb arrangements of plants in containers located at strategic points throughout the garden. These are a fantastic combination of plant varieties, forms, colours, textures - and with brilliant use of foliage too.

Considering the gardens are built around a medieval English manor house (parts of which date back to the 15th century), the visitor could assume Great Dixter was just another conventional English garden. Whilst the garden structure (much of which was originally designed by the celebrated architect Edwin Lutyens ) has many conventional elements such as topiary, box and yew hedging, garden rooms, etc., the planting schemes developed by the late Christopher Lloyd are far more dynamic than the Gertrude Jekyl ‘muted palette harmonious approach’. In fact, some of the colour combinations in this highly influential and innovative garden are quite shocking, but most of the time they work really well and bring a great energy, vibrancy and life to the garden.

Photo Details: This photo shows backlit crocosmias, red hot pokers and cannas with bronze foliage. There are also a couple of giant mulliens visible in the background.


Location: Dixter Road, Northiam, East Sussex, TN31 6PH, UK.

The gardens are situated near the village of Northiam, about ten miles north of the coastal town of Hastings and to the north-west of the picturesque ancient town of Rye.

OSGB Map Reference: TQ821251

© 2012 ukgardenphotos

No comments:

Post a Comment