2021
The Great Dixter Journal
CENTENARY EDITION
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ISSN 2398-2667
The Great Dixter Journal 2021 This Journal is published 100 years after Christopher Lloyd’s birth on 2nd March 1921. To reflect this, there is a running theme of ten by ten in both images and words. It has been produced in the year of the Covid pandemic despite which all have continued to strive to maintain this place in a way that Christo would approve of, remembering his words: ‘If Dixter remains loved and retains its own identity, everything else will fall into place’
Quotations from Christopher Lloyd’s 80th birthday cards and his own writings have been woven through the Journal ....
The best and most generous helper of the enthusiastic amateur, in print and practice. Patrick Bates, taken from Christopher’s 80th birthday card
GREAT DIXTER: THE CENTENARY
by Anna Pavord Patron of the Great Dixter Charitable Trust
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Christopher Lloyd had the good fortune to spend the whole of his life in the house in which he had been born. That gives a rare constancy, a strength to Great Dixter. The constancy is still very present, for there is a sense that at any moment he will come round a corner with one of the dogs, or that one will come upon him, sitting with friends by the horse pond, drinking an after lunch coffee. If I walk into the Great Hall, I see Christopher at his 70th birthday party, introducing, as assured as a Radio 3 presenter, the programme of Schubert lieder he had chosen for his birthday concert. After his death, maintaining the sense that this is still Christopher’s home is one of the most miraculous achievments of the Dixter team, led of course by head gardener, Fergus Garrett. Fergus himself has been at the garden for a quarter of the centenary that is now being celebrated and his arrival in the early 1990s signalled the beginning of a glorious era in the Dixter garden. “Now we can play” Christopher’s father Nathaniel Lloyd had said, when, in 1921, after the austerity imposed by the first world war, he produced his formal design for the Sunk Garden, previously a vegetable garden. The ever more complex succession planting that Christopher and
Fergus introduced in the Dixter borders was perhaps a rather intensive form of “playing” but the results were delectable. Christopher had never been short of ideas; now here was the perfect accomplice to help put them into practice. The sense of timelessness at Dixter is intensified by a sense that gardening now has caught up with where Christopher’s mother, Daisy Lloyd, was when she started to garden there. The upper moat, drained of its water, became a meadow which Daisy called her Botticelli garden. Fritillaries and primulas flourished there and still do. The path to Dixter’s porch was flanked either side by long grass in which Daisy planted out the twayblade, early purple and greenwinged orchids she raised from seed. It still provides the same relaxed introduction to the garden that it always did. But now, a hundred years on, the meadow gardening that has always been part of the Dixter style, is what we all dream of. The transformation of the topiary lawn at Dixter, where the yew pieces now float on a ravishing carpet of wild orchids makes it all seem effortless. It’s not of course and it is the dedication of all those who have loved Dixter that has brought it so triumphantly through to the present. ■
CAROL CASSELDEN
Wild orchids in the Topiar y Lawn
CRISTIAN BARNETT
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Contents
4. Great Dixter: The centenary Anna Pavord 8. Life on the Long Border without Christo Fergus Garrett 12. 10 things... Fergus Garrett 18. Ten life moments Roy Brigden 32. An unconventional year Jamie Todd 36. The High Weald and biodiversity Christopher Lloyd 42. 10 Perfect pictures from 2020 Nicky Flint 52. Little Dixter in Ireland Liz Pickett 54. Taking stock of the garden Dean Charlton 56. Uncle Robin Roy Brigden 62. Counting on Christo Ken Rawson 64. Horace and Mary Field at Dixter Simon Edwards 68. Gardening in the time of Covid Peter Slothower 70. The first student at Dixter John Tanner 72. Art Auction for the lockdown fund 78. CL Bursary trip to ISU Conference Jamie Todd & Margaret Easter 82. Great Dixter in 2020 Carol Joughin 84. A decade at Dixter 85. The Great Dixter Charitable Trust annual report 2019-2020
LIFE ON THE LONG BORDER WITHOUT CHRISTO
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Extract from an article in The Guardian by Fergus Garrett, 12 April 2008 Now and again someone asks ‘How is life on the Long Border without Christo?. ‘Fine’ I say before moving on. But the reality is that I miss the great man immensely. I miss his touch. I miss his wicked sense of humour. I miss that wink of an eye followed by his characteristic chuckle. I miss his knowing wisdom offered every time we shared time. I miss his tenacity; I miss his doggedness in focusing on the garden and making sure that nothing else got in the way. I miss his fragility, and I miss the relationship we had between young and old. I even miss those ‘prickly’ moments where one had to thread carefully. Christo was terrifying to many but I will remember him as a good humoured man, with a big heart, genuinely interested in people and I couldn’t have asked more in a friend, a father figure, a grandfather figure, a mentor and I TRULY ADMIRED HIS ABILITY an employer. Not only this, he as we know was a TO DO THE EXTRAORDINARY, brilliant writer – words unreservedly flowing from that big brain of his right to his fingertips. And TO BE ADVENTUROUS AND FASHION THE ATYPICAL... IT he of course was a wonderfully gifted, creative WAS FREEDOM TO EXPRESS free spirited gardener. I truly admired his ability to do the extraordinary, to be adventurous and ONE’S THOUGHTS – PURE fashion the atypical. And all of this was done for INNOVATION. EVERYTHING WAS CONSIDERED AND IF IT the right reasons, it wasn’t to shock (although he did capitalise on people’s reactions in his articles), DIDN’T WORK – CHANGED. and it wasn’t a case of ‘chuck it all in and see what happens’. It was freedom to express one’s thoughts – pure innovation. Everything was considered and if it didn’t work – changed. In our partnership we shared all – and our successes far outshone our mistakes and altogether life on the Long Border was sunny.
Fergus’ photograph of the Long Border in early June 2020
IT IS A REMARKABLE MULTI-LAYERED, MULTI-SEASONED MIXED BORDER MORE FOCUSED, MORE DECISIVE,
We worked alongside each other for fifteen years and at first he controlled everything I did, gradually giving me more and more rope until he felt complete trust and I had freedom. But I never forgot who’s garden it was, and I often wonder if our working relationship was similar to the one that he had with his mother Daisy. She was a massive influence on Christo’s life – not just his gardening life. Controlling to start with and then taking a backward step as he grew in knowledge and confidence. And once she was gone he took over, as I too have done from Christo. There lies an important unbroken link and thinking about the future I too will need someone to share, to love, and live the garden before handing it over.
MORE INFLUENTIAL, THAN ANYTHING ELSE
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I’VE SEEN.
So how is life on the Long Border? The answer is fine. It’s business as usual and nothing has changed – the thoughts, the processes, the emotions are the same. But in reality quite a bit has changed – it’s just that there is nothing unusual about this. Every year there has been change, from season to season, from year to year plants have come and gone but the spirit of the place remains the same. The Long Border symbolizes everything we love about this style of gardening. It is a remarkable multi-layered, multiseasoned mixed border more focused, more decisive, more influential, than anything else I’ve seen. This is the place where all our experiments are finalised, where only the best plants are accepted, and where successional planting is practised to its fullest. This was Christo’s masterpiece, and every time I kneel the holy ground I think back to the times when we worked side by side. Head down, guarded by his tenacious dachshunds, trug by his side, dressed in thick cords, patched up jacket and holes in his shoes intensely concentrating on what was in front of him. ■
CAROL CASSELDEN
The Long Border in late July and Fergus working with Christo
10 PLANTS CHRISTO LIKED & ARE STILL ALIVE IN THE GARDEN ILEX GOLDEN KING IN THE LONG BORDER PARIS POLYPHYLLA IN THE WALLED GARDEN BERGENIA CILIATA IN THE BLUE GARDEN POLYSTICHUM PULCHERRIMUM BEVIS IN THE BARN GARDEN ROSA FLORENCE MAY MORSE IN THE LONG BORDER FATSIA JAPONICA IN THE WALLED GARDEN CORTADERIA SELLOANA PUMILA IN THE BARN GARDEN
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MISCANTHUS SINENSIS SILVER FEATHER IN THE LONG BORDER ESCALLONIA BIFIDA IN THE OLD ROSE GARDEN RUSCUS ACULEATUS HERMAPHRODITE FORM IN THE BLUE GARDEN
The Lloydia octogeneria – a shy but persistent plant of subtle beauty. Douglas and Margaret Henderson
CAROL CASSELDEN
CAROL CASSELDEN
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GERRY DAWSON
JONATHAN BUCKLEY
10 PLANTS CHRISTO LIKED BUT ARE NO MORE IN THE GARDEN GLEDITSIA TRIACANTHOS ELEGANTISSIMA IN THE LONG BORDER SUCCUMBED TO HONEY FUNGUS MAHONIA BUCKLAND IN THE ORCHARD GARDEN SQUEEZED OUT BY MAGNOLIA GALAXY MALUS FLORIBUNDA IN THE BLUE GARDEN SUCCUMBED TO HONEY FUNGUS THE OLD YEW TOPIARY (CALLED BIG DICK) BY THE HOUSE SUCCUMBED TO HONEY FUNGUS CLEMATIS REHDERIANA IN THE HIGH GARDEN DIED FOR UNKNOWN REASON AESCULUS PAVIA ATROSANGUINEA IN THE MEADOW SUCCUMBED TO HONEY FUNGUS KNIPHOFIA UVARIA NOBILIS SUCCUMBED TO TWO SUCCESSIVE HARD WINTERS EUPHORBIA SCHILLINGII IN THE LONG BORDER GOT SQUEEZED OUT BY ITS NEIGHBOURS KNIPHOFIA CAULESCENS HELEN DILLON’S FORM LOWER TERRACE SUCCUMBED TO DISEASE BERGENIA STRACHEYII ON THE BACK DRIVE WALL GOT SQUEEZED OUT
10 THINGS I WISHED I HAD DONE IN THE TIME SINCE CHRISTO DIED ALLOWED LESS SELF-SEEDING IN CERTAIN PARTS OF THE GARDEN HAD GROWN MORE ALPINES IN THE WALLS HAD PRUNED MORE ESPECIALLY SOME OF THE LARGER SHRUBS TO KEEP THEM OFF THE PATHS AND OTHER PLANTS KEPT BETTER RECORDS OF EXPERIMENTS HAD GROWN MORE INDIVIDUAL PLANTS POKED IN HERE AND THERE TO WIDEN THE RANGE IN THE GARDEN GOT RID OF OLD SHRUBS WHICH HAVE OUTGROWN THEIR POSITIONS IN THE GARDEN AND PLANTED NEW ONES KEPT RECORDS AND NAMES OF NEW PLANTINGS GOT RID OF TIRED OLD TREES IN THE ORCHARD AND PLANTED NEW ONES
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PLANTED MORE CLEMATIS CLEANED OUT THE HORSE POND MORE OFTEN TO DEFINE THE WATER LILIES FROM OTHER VEGETATION
To be asked what is my favourite this or that always throws me. Among my favourite replies is, “the plant I’m looking at”. Otherwise why grow it? If I am in the mood to pin myself down however, high on my list will be Melianthus major. CL
CHRISTOPHER LLOYD 1921 – 2006 TEN LIFE MOMENTS by Roy Brigden
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1.
THE BOY GARDENER, 1927 In late 1927, six year old Christopher Lloyd ordered a Viburnham Carlesii from Gauntlett nurseries, the Japanese plant specialists of Chiddingfold in Surrey. Enclosed was the asking price of five shillings, half of which had been contributed by his grandmother. Mr Gauntlett, clearly impressed by the tender age of his customer, not only supplied the plant but also returned the money. This prompted the thankyou letter from Christopher, in which he also assured Mr Gauntlett that one of the half crowns would go back to grandma. With it in the archive at Dixter is a photograph of Christopher proudly standing by his Viburnham in flower. On the back, his mother Daisy wrote in her neat script: ‘Christopher Lloyd and his Viburnham Carlesii. It was planted on December 6th 1927 & opened its first bloom on April the 9th 1928. Taken Tuesday, April 17th’.
Top: First page of Christopher’s thank-you letter to Mr Gauntlett Left: Christopher with his Viburnham in the Dixter garden, 1928
Christopher (standing third from left) with fellow students at Wye College
2.
PRIZE ESSAY, 1949 In 1949, his last year as a horticulture undergraduate at Wye College, Christopher Lloyd, was jointly awarded the Principal’s Prize for a 5,000 word essay on ‘The Influence of the Biological Sciences on Recent Thought and Social Behaviour’. His fellow recipient was John Waterer of the Surrey based dynasty of nurserymen. The letter of congratulation from Dunstan Skilbeck, the Principal, was a little carping in tone but nevertheless this was the first time that Christopher’s writing had received formal recognition. The characteristic easy, flowing style was evident from the opening paragraph: The most striking fact about the biological sciences is their youth. A hundred years ago biology was not even recognised as a branch of science in its own right, deser ving of funds for research or any special attention. Even now, after a centur y of astonishing expansion, we are only beginning to realise the nature of the problems yet to be elucidated. The biological sciences have so far hardly touched the social fabric of the world. But the way is being prepared for such enormous changes that it becomes ever increasingly important to tr y to disengage ourselves from our own immediate af fairs from time to time; to view mankind and the world at large objectively, in true perspective, and thus be enabled to shape our own future along lines which are flexible and yet truly worthwhile.
After graduating, Christopher stayed on at Wye for a couple of years as a lecturer in decorative horticulture. Subsequently, as the result of a disagreement he was, in his own words, ‘kicked out for insubordination’ and so returned to Great Dixter. There he could devote his full attention to the garden and to the development of his own nursery. Below: Marking f inals papers at Wye College, 1952. The Principal’s letter of 1949
3. NURSERY CATALOGUE, 1957
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Christopher Lloyd’s successful efforts to establish a commercial nursery at Great Dixter in the early 1950s are reflected in the plant catalogues. The earliest survivor in the archive dates from 1956. It is a typed double-sided foolscap sheet with 124 alphabetically arranged single line entries at prices starting from 2 shillings. By the following year there had been marked developments for the 1957 catalogue was a duplicated booklet with a cover and 9 pages of plants, each with a clear, concise and authoritative description. For a few years in the early 1960s, Christopher was also engaged in a joint enterprise with his friend John Treasure of Burford House, Tenbury Wells, on the marketing of many varieties of clematis. A separate printed catalogue was produced for this. Subsequently, Dixter produced a combined clematis and general plant catalogue in a signature printed format still recognisable to the present day. Top: Cover and f irst page of 1957 catalogue. Above: Christopher Lloyd in the potting shed, 1950s. Right: Cover of the 1972 catalogue
4. THE WELL-TEMPERED
GARDEN, 1970 First published in 1970 by Collins, this wasn’t Christopher Lloyd’s first book but it was the breakthrough work that secured his reputation as a writer of excellence. This is how it was reviewed in The Times of September 19th 1970: It is not ver y often that we get such a treat as The Well-Tempered Garden, by Christopher Lloyd, which was published this week. It puts him f irmly among that rare band of plantsmen that have not only grown, obser ved and studied a vast range of plants, but are able to write about them entertainingly and with authority. Mr Lloyd covers an enormous amount of ground, describing many hundreds of plants, giving reasons for his likes and dislikes. He deals with such necessar y, if tedious, matters as weeding, pruning and dead heading; on propagation he has much to say which will be new to many readers, and his chapter on Facts, Failings and Contradictions – The Fallible Plant and the Fallible Gardener, is fascinating. He is fairly scathing about gardeners who spend a far too disproportionate ef fort in pursuit of the per fect lawn, preferring to spend his time among his beloved plants. The light touch conversational style that packs in heaps of detail and expert advice is the secret of the book’s success down the years. There have been many editions since, including a Penguin paperback version in 1978, an Italian hardback in 1976 that ran to over 500 pages, and others under the imprint of Lyons Press,
First edition, 1970. Viking edition, 1985. 2001 edition by Cassell & Co. 2014 edition with cover design by Rosie MacCurrach.
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Viking, Orion, and Random House. Few gardening books have no illustrations but the 2001 edition of The Well-Tempered Garden from Cassell & Co was one such, so strong did the publishers feel the text to be that it could stand alone without the need for embellishment. Monty Don has had it in his top ten of gardening books and in early 2020, Gardenista, the New York-based garden design website, included it amongst ‘The 10 books every gardener should read’. For a new paperback edition in 2014, also available on kindle, it was dubbed ‘The timeless classic that no gardener should be without’ and accompanying review quotes included ‘The most inspiring gardening book of the later twentieth century’ (Royal Horticultural Society); ‘It is the gardening classic, as essential to every gardener as a sharp pair of secateurs or a good spade’
(Carol Klein); ‘It is packed with ideas you would never have thought of: observations you wish you had discovered yourself’ (Beth Chatto). Similarly in her foreword to this edition, Anna Pavord wrote ‘wherever you dip into the fantastically wide range of subjects covered in the book, you come out with some plum that no one but he could have made you notice’. It is also quite simply entertaining, so for example the section on weeding begins thus: Many gardeners will agree that hand-weeding is not the terrible drudger y that it is often made out to be. Some people f ind in it a kind of soothing monotony. It leaves their minds free to develop the plot for their next novel or to per fect the brilliant repartee with which they should have countered a relative’s latest example of unreasonableness. Below: Amendments for 1985 Viking edition
5.
VICTORIA MEDAL OF HONOUR, 1979 Christopher Lloyd was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour, the Royal Horticultural Society’s highest honour, in 1979. The award was established by the Royal Horticultural Society in 1897 – Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee – as a special award for British horticulturists. Only 63 individuals can hold the VMH at any one time. Roy Lancaster wrote to Christopher in January 1979, ‘you should already be aware of my feelings on this long overdue recognition but I write to of fer you the congratulations of the Hillier Arboretum staf f. What makes the award doubly pleasing is that it has been given to you whilst you can still enjoy it instead of on your deathbed.’ Roy Lancaster himself was given the award in 1988; Fergus Garrett in 2019.
This photograph of holders of the Victoria medal of Honour – with Christopher Lloyd front row, second from right - was taken in 1997, to mark the centenar y of the award.
6. HONORARY DOCTORATE, 1996
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Christopher Lloyd was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1996 from the Open University. Presenting him for the award, Dr Mary Bell of the Open University said: Christopher Lloyd is one of a ver y small group of outstanding writers on plants and gardening who have dominated the British and American scene for the last forty years. His writings have been influential in developing the taste and knowledge of the public, and so he has contributed much to the growth of the greatest of British hobbies. One of the most obvious signs of this is the proliferation of garden centres, but a more valuable one is the increasing number of plant species to be found there, and of specialist nurseries and books. Christopher was brought up in the right environment. You may have visited his family home and garden at Great Dixter, where he was born in 1921. He has developed this and the adjoining nursery into one of the most famous privately owned gardens open to the public in England. But horticulture was not his first career. It was after war service that he had an opportunity to start again, taking a BSc in Horticulture at Wye College in the University of London. He taught decorative horticulture there for a few years, then decided to make his career in his own nursery and by his writings. He is immensely respected nationally and internationally for his knowledge, enthusiasm and particularly for his love of the subject.
Top: Honorar y doctorate certif icate. Above: Christopher Lloyd at the award ceremony with Dr Mar y Bell and the Vice-Chancellor of the Open University, Sir John Daniel.
Even now he contributes two long articles every week, one for The Guardian and one for Country Life. He also writes occasional articles for other magazines and professional journals. He has published fourteen books, some wide-ranging, others like ‘Clematis’ and ‘Growing Plants from Seed’, more specialist; and he has an idea for yet another. So, unlike most of us, he is not planning to retire. In his address following the presentation Christopher said: I am glad that, through me, the science and, more particularly, the art of Horticulture should be receiving recognition. I like to think of myself as a gardener, but have, of f icially, to designate myself as a horticulturist for the sake of respectability, since gardening is generally looked down upon as a subject in the academic world. However, gardeners are artists as well as craftsmen – three-dimensional artists of an ephemeral scene, which yet has great emotional signif icance and vitality. It has been my good fortune to be able to communicate, mainly through my writing but also through my garden, with many other people who are inspired by the same subject. Writing so that you can be read with reasonable pleasure as well as profit, is something of an art in itself. It should come as no surprise that good gardening does not too often go hand in hand with the facility to write about it, to make enjoyable reading.
7.
OBE, 2000 Christopher Lloyd was appointed OBE in the New Year Honours of 2000. Anne Wright, who had edited his Country Life pieces for years was the motivator, collecting evidence and contacting sponsors. In a letter of 1 May 2000, he wrote to his friend Colin Hamilton: The Investiture, as I believe it is called, took place in Buckingham Palace last Thursday. No special dress required. That was a relief. I wore my ver y normal, light-coloured suit and my all-purpose brown shoes. Also my Bamboo Tie, given me in California. I was allowed 3 guests, so they were my nearest - Olivia, Giny Best and her brother Chris. Olivia refused to wear a hat - she never had and didn't intend to start now (you may imagine how this worried me). Lo and behold, Giny didn't wear one either. Both were greatly relieved. Most of the women did wear hats, of course; would have felt undressed without one, and they were HIDEOUS, one and all. Hats don't have to be. We were to arrive between 10.00 and 11.00, the ceremony starting at 11.00. Immediately on arrival at the main entrance, we were separated - ascending the same staircase but with a barrier between us. On reaching the piano nobile, there was a huge galler y and then separation of the sheep from the goats. I take it I was a sheep, as the goats were far more gaily and informally dressed (apart from myself). My lot were, by and large, horribly sober-looking and correct. So I approached one who was less formally
dressed. He turned out to be a health of f icer from Nottingham, and easy to talk to. The two groups were roped of f with a space in between for the master of ceremonies, who proceeded to explain the procedure. You are passed from one lackey to another, being asked your name by each of them. Eventually you walk into the reception room (with a throne well behind the Prince (for it was Prince Charles) who stood slightly raised above us supplicants. You approached him at right angles, turned to face him, bowed, stepped for wards (I'm telling you all this for when your turn comes) and there he was, his lined moon face ver y close to mine. While he af f ixes the decoration on a special hook pinned to your lapel, he talks.
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I talked f irst, saying I had visited his garden - in April, and that it was ver y pretty (it was). But I have not visited yours, he admitted. I let him of f as tactfully as I could. Perhaps he could learn a thing or two by coming - but I didn't SAY that. What else? He was surprised that I hadn't received my OBE a long time back. That was rather a nice obser vation coming gratis from him, I thought. He was taking a new interest
in ferns, he told me, and had been pleased to read me on the subject in Countr y Life (slight hesitation about which publication; as I couldn't remember myself, that was f ine. Actually I have a piece coming out in The Garden, shortly, but he can't have read that). Then a f irm goodbye. Retreat by Lloyd (ner vously hoping there was nothing behind him). Bow; turn right, proceed out of sight into the next chamber. Hook and decoration removed, the latter put into a box, labelled OBE. Then into the main part of this, the ballroom, where ever yone else was but I couldn't see my people. Then a long wait while ever yone else f iled in and out, all taking nearly two hours. The room is high and gloomy, little daylight entering. Heavy, over-ornate chandeliers. A small galler y with an orchestra pathetically murdering Schubert, Mozart and other more popular composers. Then, at last, a sudden break of f of such light-hearted stuf f and we stood for the Anthem. It must all have been a considerable strain of unmitigated concentration for the Prince, who needed to speak appropriately to such a varied selection of interests. He did it well. I stood in the door way as ever yone surged out and eventually was re-united with mine. Monika Schuster had booked us (ten of us) into a good restaurant nearby, so we walked to that. Besides spouses and Monika (Michael didn't come) there was Fergus and Anne Wright, the eminence grise. Lunch was ver y jolly and I enjoyed myself. Lunch after the investiture with Fergus Garrett, Anne Wright, Christopher and his niece Olivia
8.
DESERT ISLAND DISCS: 20 AUGUST 2000 In July 2000, Christopher Lloyd wrote to one of his musical friends: On Tuesday, I was inter viewed at the BBC by Sue Lawley, for Desert Island Discs. It will be broadcast on Sunday, August 20. I enjoyed that. She was ver y easy. You are allowed 8 pieces but each must be played for no more than 2 minutes, which is tricky. I mean, I wanted Bach's Goldberg Variations, which plays for more than an hour and even the Aria takes 4 minutes. So we skipped that and went straight into the f irst variation. At the end, they ask you which of the eight would be the most essential. I asked whether I couldn't have Wagner's Ring, Wagner not having been mentioned up to now, but that was not allowed. So it had to be the Bach. Well, you'll hear it in due course. They send me a casette. They allowed for the session to last till 1.30, but we were through by 11.50. I had a sandwich and a pint before catching the 1.05 from Charing X.
Christopher Lloyd’s favourite 58/6 Syndicate whisky
The programme is still available online and is a pleasant enough listen. Following the usual format, Christopher chose eight pieces of music: ◗ Francis Poulenc: Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano ◗ Johannes Brahms: Intermezzo in B flat major, Op. 76/4 ◗ Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg variations ◗ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Il core vi dono (from Cosi fan tutte) ◗ Heimweh (from Mörike Lieder) ◗ Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet No.11 in F minor, Op. 95 'Serioso' ◗ Robert Schumann: Das ist ein Flöten und Geigen (from Dichterliebe) ◗ Leos Janác̆ek: Jenufa Act 1 His book choice was the letters of Gustave Flaubert, and his luxury was a supply of his precious 58/6 Syndicate whisky. This was a special blend from William Muir Ltd to which he had been introduced by his friend, fine book collector and publisher Kulgin Duval, of Frenich in Perthshire. Since 1991 he had had a regular order of one case per quarter. Sue Lawley presented the programme for 18 years from 1988 to 2006, marooning several hundred people of note in the process, and has discussed how its very particular form of biographical interview can deliver real and sometimes unexpected insights into the life of an individual. But for that to happen, the person in question
has to ‘get’ the concept and be willing to go along with it. For Christopher Lloyd, it was rather a case of chatting good naturedly about gardening in between the musical interludes whilst giving nothing away about himself. His choice of music was highbrow and rather solemn. The reason he gave for the first two pieces was the encouragement he received from Ken Stubbs, his music teacher at Rugby, to play oboe and piano. For the other six, no non-musical explanation is given and there is no indication that they were associated with any particular memories or parts of his life. His book selection made sense because Flaubert opened up about himself in a long life of letter writing
Searching for more, Sue Lawley probed him for an anecdote or two from the famous names that Christopher had come into contact with over the years. Not succeeding, she tried to draw him out by focusing on some of his more controversial deeds and opinions that had ruffled feathers in the gardening world. All was met with benign bonhomie and a refusal to rise to the bait. SL: But there must be something you hate. What about a big fat Chysanthemum? CL: Mm, yes they are a bit difficult I must say, but you very seldom see them in a garden. I love chrysanthemums as a flower
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And the digging up of the rose garden: SL: That’s an act of vandalism surely to rip out the roses…..But it got worse because you went on to write about the fact that the rose was an ugly thing, and it was a vicious thing, and you didn’t really like it. CL: Well they are vicious – have you ever handled them yourself Sue? They’re beasts.
9. 80TH BIRTHDAY, 2001
For Christopher’s 80th birthday in 2001, Country Life held a party and presented him with a celebratory mock issue of the magazine complete with a spoof version of ‘In My Garden’. In it, the pretend Christo talks of the exciting plans he has for the Dixter garden: Fergus is at this moment clearing the Long Border. After he has deep dug it and incorporated plenty of humus, he will f ill it with roses and Nepeta faassenii, a thoroughly worthy plant which will help to cover up their lanky legs. Then we’ll have Dianthus Doris, an old fashioned pink I dote on for its sweet little face, blushingly displaying itself at the front. He has also decided that the bananas and ‘jungly’ plants in the Exotic Garden are now too boring and will be replaced by soothing beds of grass. Likewise the Sunk Garden will be turned into a swimming pool, with plenty of ornamental grasses, and the newts will be relocated to the Horse Pond. His next book is going to be on the subject of lawns. Christopher’s own way of marking his 80th birthday on 3rd March 2001 was to organise a concert for his friends in the Great Hall at Dixter. The programme comprised Schumann’s song cycle Dichterliebe, with nurseryman Graham Gough singing tenor, reaching back to his student days at the Guildhall School of Music, and accompanied on the piano by garden designer Pip Morrison. This was followed by a performance of Brahms Piano Quartet in G Minor by the Siu Chui Li Quartet, made up of students from the
Top: Christopher Lloyd introducing Graham Gough and Pip Morrison for the opening piece of the birthday concert. Above: Christopher with his 80th birthday presents in the Yeoman’s Hall. Royal College of Music. The Dixter piano, a Bosendorfer upright almost as old as Christopher himself, was brought out of the Parlour for the occasion. For birthday presents, Christopher’s friends clubbed together to buy him a specially-commissioned table and lamp by Rupert Williamson.
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The spoof 80th birthday ‘In My Garden’
10. 40 YEARS AT
COUNTRY LIFE, 2003 In May 2003, Country Life gave a party for Christopher to mark exactly 40 years of his weekly ‘In My Garden’ articles. He had never missed an issue since 1963, sometimes writing three or four articles together if he was going to be away, and had clocked up over two million words in the process. The presentation included a couple of cases of fine wines. The party was rounded off with a rendition of ‘It’s In My Garden’, with lyrics by journalist Bill Neenan, sung at the piano by Stephen Anderton to the tune of Cole Porter’s Well Did You Evah? (What a Swell Party This Is). The first verse of this tongue in cheek masterpiece went: Have you heard that Christo Lloyd Saw a rose bush and got annoyed? (Temper, temper) It’s In My Garden, what a swell column it is
Cover of the 40th anniversar y card presented by Countr y Life
And the seventh and last verse: It’s thirty years, then ten again, That Countr y Life’s had his fruitful pen (No Joke) It’s In My Garden, And what a swell column – What a swell column – What a swellegant, eloquent column it is! The column kept going for another two years, through to October 2005, Christo’s 85th year. ■
AN UNCONVENTIONAL YEAR AT GREAT DIXTER
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by Jamie Todd UK Christopher Lloyd Scholar 2019-2020
In 2017 I was lucky enough to be part of the spring working weekend at Great Dixter. Students from Gardens across the UK convened at Great Dixter to spend two days working in the garden. On Saturday morning we were divided into groups to work in different areas. I joined a group led by Midori Shintani, head gardener of Tokachi Millenium Forest and we set off to work on the Upper Terrace. I had visited Dixter before but had never seen this hidden part of the garden, a tapestry of self-sown perennials emerging from the gaps between the paving stones. We spent the day editing out Alchemilla and Leucanthemum, cleaning Dierama and weeding between the cracks. The looming Myrtus communis which appears as if sprouting from the foundations of the house also got a hard prune leaving a sculptural form of jutting limbs. I had never gardened like this before, with so much care and detailed observation. I knew I wanted to return to experience more of this thoughtprovoking approach to gardening. In 2019 I returned to spend a year working and learning in the garden. I started in September when the garden is still brimming with the vestiges of summer, the meadows still standing and golden and with the anticipation of
the last wave of colour from the Asters. Immediate immersion ensued and with that responsibilities. A glasshouse to clean and care for, and the daunting task of cutting the hedges. A job in itself that became more than it seemed. Joined by wonderful counterparts, Margaret Easter, the Chanticleer USA Christopher Lloyd Scholar, and Quentin Wallon, the Ruth Boran Scholar, we worked our way around the Taxus hedging following its undulations. Slowly circumnavigating the garden rooms and getting a different vantage point on the plantings, benefitting from a bird’s eye view of where we would later find ourselves working. It was the perfect opportunity through repetition, routine and reassurance to bond with my fellow students. As the Asters arrived in the Peacock Garden I learnt some formative lessons that would ground my planting at Dixter. Already a sea, frothing with purples, violets, mauves and magentas, Fergus gave us the challenge of adding more Asters Included in Jamie Todd’s illustration: Chestnut mallet made by Fergus, dibbers made by Michael Morphy, Kemal holds the cone of Sequoia semper virens on a hand embroidered cushion by Aaron
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AS THE GARDEN BLOSSOMED INTO SUMMER, IT FELT LIKE THE CONDUCTING OF AN ORCHESTRA FOREVER ON THE MOVE.
to the picture, extending the season and impact even further. I was also asked to plant a group of Miscanthus in the Phlox bed. Laying out and manoeuvring 9cm pots, I was presented the task of making the planting look natural in its setting and emulate existing groups of grass. This would come to typify the gardening I would be doing at Dixter, where the looking and thinking was as important as the doing. The crescendo of the Autumn Plant Fair and the closing of the garden year lead to a new flurry of activity as boards went down, a symposium group arrived, and bulb planting began. As bedding areas were dismantled, all talk turned to plant combinations and what would go where and with what. Self sowers were carefully lifted, crated and returned, post bulb planting, in such a way that you would be hard-pressed to know they ever left. As winter waned preparations to reopen gathered apace. With bedding areas prepared another symposium convened to begin pruning in February and we three scholars regrouped again to prune the incredible fig in the barn garden. Just as the garden was due to re-open, the Coronavirus Included in Jamie Todd’s illustration: Michael Wachter holds Rubus lineatus, Shaun holds Narcissus ‘Hawera’ on a hand embroidered cushion by Aaron
became a pandemic and lockdowns enforced meaning the immediate surroundings of the garden became our world. Most of the gardeners who remained at Dixter were deployed to the nursery to help with the expanding demand of mail order during the lockdown. Shipping out ever-growing numbers of boxes of plants to every corner of the country. From here on in, a torrent of planting, staking, tying plants back and in and around, we tried to keep pace with plants moving through the nursery frames. The timing of everything was expertly managed to coincide with a multitude of factors that were taking place at Dixter and the ever-increasing uncertainties of the global situation. As the garden blossomed into summer, it felt like the conducting of an orchestra forever on the move. It was a privilege to spend a year in the garden of Christopher Lloyd, and his writing and words echoed throughout the year. Through stories from those who knew him, from his detailed, passionate and questioning writing and through Fergus’s teaching, I feel very lucky to have benefitted from the knowledge he so incredibly cultivated. On my last day, I returned to the Upper Terrace. The Myrtus was full again, the cracks brimming with those plants left and self-sown, waiting for someone new to come and tend it. ■
THE HIGH WEALD & BIODIVERSITY
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by Christopher Lloyd. An extract from a typescript (dated 1999 in pencil) found in the Archive
CLAIRE TAKAKS
The High Weald of East and West Sussex, Kent and Surrey, rises in the centre of the area surrounded by chalk downland. I was born in it 78 years ago and the same fifteenth century, timber-framed manor house, called Dixter, has been my home in all that time. The chief changes that have occurred in the twentieth century have centred upon greater affluence in the populace (the children, when I was young, were often quite obviously inadequately fed and clothed), leading to greater mobility and more leisure. There are serious pressures on the countryside; but there is also a great deal that has changed little.
ALTHOUGH DIFFERENT AREAS
We are aware of the pressures on the southeast when we travel their roads, but no sooner do you get away from them than you feel yourself to be largely in unspoilt countryside. Although different areas of the High Weald have their own characteristics, a unifying factor is the continuing presence of large numbers of trees. There is a tremendous amount of woodland. The topography is of numerous small hills and steep valleys - the ghylls - and these have remained largely woodland because too inconvenient for cultivations.
OF THE HIGH WEALD HAVE THEIR OWN CHARACTERISTICS, A UNIFYING FACTOR IS THE CONTINUING PRESENCE OF LARGE
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NUMBERS OF TREES.
It is coppiced woodland interplanted with standard oaks. The coppicing takes place at intervals of 25 years or so, when the underwood is stooled, that is, cut back to stumps, which grow again. Hornbeam is our commonest underwood. Treated in this way, these old stumps can live for centuries, but if left uncoppiced for upwards of fifty years, they become top-heavy and will collapse in storms like those of October 1987 and January 1990. Once gone, they cannot be replaced. Much sweet chestnut, Castanea sativa, was planted for coppicing, centuries ago, and the rotation for that is usually around 12 or 15 years, providing long-lasting fencing material, poles and gateposts, from the larger material. Coppicing allows light to enter the woodland floor, thus giving their chance to huge populations of wood anemones, primroses, early purples (Orchis mascula), bluebells and foxgloves. The character of the flora changes with amazing rapidity, in
response to changes in soil type. Only at the margin of the Dixter property, for instance, do you find Sedum telephium, a handsome summer-flowering stonecrop. In the adjoining property is becomes abundant, as does the hard fern, Blechnum spicant, of which we have none. The soils everywhere are on the acid side of neutral but vary a great deal in the degree of acidity. Most of the area is, geologically, on the Hasting Beds. These consist of three rock types; on top, the Tunbridge Wells sand (at the top of my garden; very silty and poorly draining); in the middle, the Wadhurst clay (again, poorly drained) and beneath, the Ashdown sand, which also occurs at the lower levels of the Dixter property. At the juncture of the last two, you can still, in our woods, see rows of shallow pits from which iron ore was extracted.
THE PATCHWORK OF SMALL FIELDS, BETWEEN THE WOODS AND SHAWS (WHICH ARE SMALL WOODS), WERE SURROUNDED BY HEDGES - AND STILL ARE, IN MANY CASES... AT THE JUNCTURE OF THREE
So much of the High Weald being badly drained, it was difficult to get around, before there were metalled roads, and communications were extremely poor for much of the year. Farming was no great shakes and has always been of a mixed kind. For centuries, the iron industry was the only remunerative source of revenue. I sit in front of an open fire, as I write, with a local Sussex iron fireback, showing Charles II's coat of arms and C R (Charles Rex) embossed on either side; in front of this, a pair of locally cast andirons. The area is stiff with reminders of this industry. Pond Field, nearby, was once a hammer pond providing power for a foundry and the mound that was its dam is still in place. Furnace is tacked on to village names, like Beckley Furnace, indicating another feature of the smelting industry and the underwood provided the wherewithal to make charcoal. The picturesque oast houses of East Sussex and the adjoining part of Kent, were still largely in operation for drying hops, each September, until the Second World war. The satisfyingly acrid smell given off by the hops as they steamed was a part of my childhood. It was a 24-hour, albeit intermittent, job for the two men in charge, as hop-drying took eleven hours to complete
FIELDS, THERE WAS USUALLY A POND, FOR THE SHEEP AND CATTLE TO DRINK FROM.
and the next batch followed immediately. Hop-picking was a social event. In our own hop garden, only locals took part; but at the much larger organisation of Guinness, in the next village, London east-enders were the pickers.
NO FIELD, EVEN OF THE STEEPEST GRADIENT, WAS LEFT UNPLOUGHED, SO THE REMNANTS OF THE FLORA DEPEND QUITE IMPORTANTLY ON LARGE GARDENS
The patchwork of small fields, between the woods and shaws (which are small woods), were surrounded by hedges - and still are, in many cases, although government grubbing grants encouraged the removal of a large number. At the juncture of three fields, there was usually a pond, for the sheep and cattle to drink from. Each pond had its pair of moorhens. Many have silted up but many are still there. Excavations for marling, the practice of spreading extracted clay over the land's surface, brought other ponds into existence. So one of the Dixter fields is named Marl Pits and it has two such ponds in its centre. One thing is certain, hereabouts; if you want a pond you have only to excavate a hole; no lining is required to prevent the water's escape. The only possible escape is by evaporation.
LIKE MINE AND ON THE ENLIGHTENED MANAGEMENT OF
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ROADSIDE VERGES
Pasture fields were hardly ever ploughed, earlier in the century; no ley system was practised. They were covered with ancient ant hills - emmit casts, as they were locally known. The field flora, which included green-winged orchids, Orchis morio, and the little adder's tongue fern, Ophioglossum vulgatum, almost vanished with the arrival of ploughing grants. No field, even of the steepest gradient, was left unploughed, so the remnants of the flora depend quite importantly on large gardens like mine and on the enlightened management of roadside verges. If you drive past dense and dazzling pools of yellow flowers, in June or early July, it is the dyer's greenweed, Genista tinctoria. It needs, for its survival, undisturbed and relatively shrub-free land. Modern farming practices in our area have greatly increased badger populations, however. There are plenty of woods for the setts in which they breed and plenty of food from arable crops. Partridges, lapwings and skylarks have suffered, however, as ploughing nowadays almost immediately succeeds harvesting, with comparatively little ploughland remaining open till the spring, nor stubble either.
Where the land is very acid, as in the Ashdown Forest, there is a preponderence of open heathland, with its own flora and fauna. Even in Bixley Wood in our neighbouring village of Beckley, there are large wood ants, with their big, loose hills; adders, rather than the grass snakes (or water snakes) with which we are familiar, and a fine colony of the White Admiral butterfly. But heaths easily disappear under scrub and, finally, trees, if not managed. All habitats need management. Around my clayey area, the chief building materials have traditionally been of brick and clay tiles - every village had its brickyard - or timber, with which the oak-framed hall houses were built. House walls are either weather-tiled or weatherboarded, the latter being painted. In my village there was a tradition of painting them in alternate bands of black and white. In this part of the weald, barn - and, often, house - tiled roofs are on a long slope, on one side, reaching to within 5ft of ground level. This looks handsome but is expensive in upkeep. There are fine gardens in the region, some of the most famous being extensive woodland gardens, whose owners have collected camellias, rhododendrons and other ericacious, calcifuge shrubs. Much of the planting is with exotics for autumn colour. I find our local russets from bracken, oaks and, not infrequently, the rather local but sometimes vivid chequers or wild service tree (Sorbus torminalis), excitement enough. This tree, from the fruit of which a drink was prepared, has given its name to numbers of inns in our district, though their signboards would most often have you think, through an etymological error, that the game of draughts was in question. The National Pinetum at Bedgebury, Kent, is like being in another world. Sphagnum moss and butterwort in the ditches puts you in mind of Scotland and the wetter west, but the migrant Hobby, a raptor only found in southeast England, nests here. In other areas, there are breeding colonies of nightjar; I still hope to be in the right place at the right time to hear their weird churring. ■
BUT HEATHS EASILY DISAPPEAR UNDER SCRUB AND, FINALLY, TREES, IF NOT MANAGED. ALL HABITATS NEED MANAGEMENT.
10 PERFECT PICTURES FROM 2020
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by Nicky Flint
VIEW FROM THE HOVEL August
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UVULARIA GRANDIFLORA in the Orchard Garden, April
POLYSTICHUM SETIFERUM ‘PULCHERRIMUM BEVIS’ in the High Garden, May
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NOVEMBER LIGHT in the Peacock Garden
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CORYLOPSIS VEIL by the Circular steps, March TULIP ‘BALLERINA’ in the High Garden, April
STACHYURUS PRAECOX in the Barn Garden, March GALANTHUS ‘S.ARNOTT’ in the Peacock Garden, Januar y
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BETH’S POPPY in the Barn Garden, May
PURPLE HAZE in the Orchard Meadow, May
LITTLE DIXTER IN IRELAND By Liz Pickett
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My first visit to Great Dixter House and Gardens was in July 2003 when I was blown away by Christopher Lloyd’s use of colour. When friends Pauline and Rachel suggested attending Annie Guilfoyle’s course “The Art and Craft of Garden Design” at Dixter I knew it was something not to be missed. We travelled to the UK from Ireland each month from March to November 2019 for the daylong course. It was, in short, one of those extra special ‘life experiences’. The joy of seeing the gardens unfold on a monthly basis through the year was just such an incredible privilege. Annie’s course included a session each month with one of the Dixter garden team, and it was Coralie Thomas who shared a different section of the gardens with us each month. Learning about plant combinations was such an invaluable experience, seeing the layering of colour and interest as it unfolded through the year. Everything from the potting shed to the exotic garden was covered.
Top, right to left: Pauline McHale, Fergus Garret, Rachel Walsh and Liz Pickett at a ver y special Meadow Management lecture in August 2019. Summer colour at Garden Cottage.
Here at home, my husband Roger and I wanted to provide year round garden interest for our guests. Our organic, coastal cottage gardens present a challenge, but they do so lend themselves to the magic that is the Dixter formula. We like to think our gardens are developing into their own thatched hamlet by the sea. Every spare moment at Dixter was savoured; coffee and lunch breaks cut short to spend as much time as possible in the plant nursery or in the gardens soaking up the names of the plants, plant partners and the art of combining them through the seasons. Team Dixter were always ready to share their expertise and to help us with names and suggestions. A special thank you to them all… Coralie, Michael, Jack, Graham, Ben, Dean and Lewis, who came from all over the world to be nurtured, taught and encouraged by Head Gardener Fergus Garrett. Thank you all for making our 2019 experience so magical. We look forward to revisiting as soon as ever possible.
The stand out influences were: ◗ The management of self seeders in the garden, sowing and placing them where you want them, rather than where they want to be. This has influenced our planting and plant partners throughout the year. ◗ The use of the ever changing seasonal interest that pot displays can afford, enhancing the many nooks and crannies around our 300 year old cottages. ◗ Honing the art of seed collection and propagation. ◗ Experimenting with plant partners, combinations and seasonal interest. ■ www.cottages-ireland.com www.instagram.com/thecottagesireland/
You don’t want to think about plants in categories that are to be kept apart; they all help one another. CL
TAKING STOCK OF THE GARDEN
DEAN CHARLTON
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Dean Charlton has worked at Dixter since 2016. He has been supporting the nurser y over the past year, experiencing the best of both garden and nurser y.
Never grow plants in isolation – however weak they may be growing, half the potential pleasure they should be giving will be lost unless you have paid attention to their surrounding neighbours. CL
The relationship between the Great Dixter Nursery and the Garden has always been strong. Christopher Lloyd maintained that plants should be grown, trialled and tested for garden- worthiness before being sold in the Nursery. The Nursery in turn would provide plants for the Garden. The journey that the plants take from the Garden into the Nursery is similar to the one I have taken. From working in the garden planting and tending plants, to working in the Nursery, splitting, potting and selling them (luckily I haven’t been priced up yet). This process is celebrated with my new relief print fusing these elements together. The long seasonal interest of the Garden has always dazzled the visitor (both human and pollinator) but it also has another important role to play by providing plant material for sale in the Nursery. Many of the plants are grown in the stock beds in the High Garden. As these beds are tidied in the winter months the nursery manager is given a list of the plants and quantities
available. The chosen plants are then lifted and divided (usually around a third) and placed into reused sacks and carried to the Long Shed. With the bag clearly written on, the plant awaits its next journey. These bags contain a huge array of plant material from the garden, be it divisions, cutting material or seed. All of this comes from plants we know are garden-worthy because of their ongoing trialling. The Garden has always been the shop window of the Nursery. It has always been important for the nursery staff to intimately observe the garden and harvest material at its prime time. The bond between the nursery and the garden is more apparent to me now than ever. They support each other. To follow a plant’s experience is something not only unique to Dixter but also to me. Like the print it takes precision, planning and hard work. When the customer buys the final plant, potted and labeled, they are supporting that incredible journey. ■
UNCLE ROBIN
by Roy Brigden (with the assistance of Angus Lloyd)
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Robert Wylie Lloyd (1868-1958), generally known as Robin, was Nathaniel’s younger brother, an imposing figure and a shadowy background presence in the Dixter story. He joined the design, printing and marketing business that Nathaniel had set up in London in 1893, firstly as a junior partner in 1897 and then as a full partner eligible for a half share of the profits in 1904. Together, they made Nathaniel Lloyd & Co a highly successful enterprise specialising in top quality colour print for advertising and packaging with clients amongst many of the household names in consumer products of the day. The relationship between the two brothers, however, was never straightforward or easy. Where Nathaniel was cautious and methodical, Robin was the entrepreneurial wheeler dealer. In their respective spheres they were each shrewd and effective but both could be difficult to deal with on a personal level.
Examples of commercial printing by Nathaniel Lloyd & Co
The death of their father, John, in 1904 increased the tension. He was a very wealthy man, proprietor of the Star Bleaching Company based at Horwich in Lancashire. Due to marriage breakdown, there had been little contact between him and his sons since their early years. Robin, however, managed to step in at this point and gain a controlling interest in the bleaching business and with it a power block of his own, leaving his brother to make do with a subordinate
seat on the board. Increasingly, they were operating independently within the main firm, running their own client lists, communicating in writing rather than in person, and sniping at each other’s practices. By 1908, Nathaniel was looking for a way out, either by bringing in new investors from outside or by selling his share to Robin.
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THERE FOLLOWED...A LENGTHY NEGOTIATION BY CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE TWO BROTHERS THAT, WHILE OUTWARDLY FILIAL (‘MY DEAR ROBIN’, MY DEAR TAN’) DRIPPED WITH BARELY DISGUISED VENOM AND HOSTILITY ON BOTH SIDES.
There followed, over the period from October 1908 through to April 1909, a lengthy negotiation by correspondence between the two brothers that, while outwardly filial (‘My Dear Robin’, My Dear Tan’) dripped with barely disguised venom and hostility on both sides. Robin was determined to turn the situation to his own clear advantage while Nathaniel dug in his heels. Exasperated, he brought in his solicitor to mediate with Robin and eventually, after much tortuous argument and having sought the opinion of a leading doctor (who essentially said there was nothing seriously wrong with him), it was agreed on both sides that Nathaniel would retire from the business ostensibly on the grounds of ill health. Robin would pay Nathaniel a little over £14,000 for his share, on the condition that he would not seek to set up another printing business in competition. Even on this last point there was protracted discussion over the precise wording with Nathaniel concluding ’it seems to me this is one of the very occasional cases one meets where a person having received the gift of a horse he greatly desired, proceeds to examine the animal’s mouth’. Nevertheless, by the end of November 1909, everything was signed off and Nathaniel, still only forty two, was free to turn his attention to his family and to the new project that would be Great Dixter.
Robin went on to even greater commercial success. Design and print for marketing continued under the name Nathaniel Lloyd & Co. but he also bought into new and lucrative products like the tear tape that was needed to open cellophane wrapping, and the security thread that was being put into banknotes from the 1940s. Other business interests ranged widely from property agents in London to fabrics in Lancashire; he was a director of The Morning Post newspaper at the point when it was purchased by The Daily Telegraph in 1937, and he was chairman of the auction house Christie’s in the 1950s. His London home was a top floor spread in Albany, Piccadilly and he had rural retreats at Treago Castle in Herefordshire and then The Grange, Bampton in Oxfordshire. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Robin was his out of office interests. He was, for example, a mountaineer of note at a time when the sport was in its infancy. First elected to the Alpine Club in 1901, he served it in various capacities over the years including Vice-President in 1938. He climbed Mont Blanc in 1909 and in the 1920s-30s, well into his fifties, he tackled the most exacting peaks in that range of the alps. In 1922, he climbed the Matterhorn for the sixth time. A thrombosis, leading to the amputation of his left leg in 1937, put an end to active climbing but he remained involved and was treasurer of the Mount Everest Committee, raising funds for the successful ascent of 1953. Closer to the ground, Robin pursued a passionate interest in beetles and insects generally, with much time devoted to
Below: A reproduction of one of Robin Lloyd’s Swiss aquatints of Lake Geneva. Letter from Robin to Nathaniel, July 1909, announcing he has just climbed Mont Blanc. He congratulates Nathaniel on the birth of his son (Selwyn). The Joseph he mentions is his mountain guide, Josef Pollinger.
PERHAPS THE MOST REMARKALE ASPECT OF ROBIN WAS HIS OUT OF OFFICE INTERESTS. HE WAS...A MOUNTAINEER OF NOTE AT A TIME WHEN THE SPORT WAS IN ITS INFANCY.
trips for the collection of specimens. He was a Fellow of The Royal Entomological Society from 1885 and served four terms as Vice President. In 1904, he took ownership of The Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine, first published in 1864, and was a regular contributor to its pages. On his death he left his insect collection, together with an extensive associated library, to the Manchester Museum. The beetle collection alone amounted to eighty drawers of specimens.
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To cap it all, Robin was also an avid collector of fine and decorative art across a very wide range, with which he adorned his country houses and his Albany apartments next to the Royal Academy. Much of the material was bequeathed to museums and galleries at his death, particularly the British Museum which received his collection of English watercolours including fifty eight by J.M.W.Turner, and extensive collections of Chinese lacquer, Japanese swords and Swiss aquatints.
The engaged couple, Selwyn Lloyd and Elaine Beck, at Great Dixter, August 1933.
In the intervening period between the break-up of the partnership and the death of Nathaniel in 1933, there was minimal contact between the two Lloyd brothers. Occasionally, Nathaniel would join one of Robin’s prestigious shooting weekends at Treago Castle but that was about it and Robin never visited Great Dixter. Daisy was not a fan either and did not stay in touch apart from letters now and then when she was short of funds. Being neither married nor a father himself, Robin was however close to Nathaniel and Daisy’s children, particularly the three oldest, Selwyn, Oliver and Patrick. Through a trust deed that expired in 1932, he contributed financially towards the education of all the Lloyd boys, paid them allowances for this and that, and could be relied upon for hospitality when they were passing through London.
Robin was among the small group that saw Lieutenant Patrick off from Waterloo station in September 1933, bound for Southampton and on to India with the Royal Artillery. He subsequently provided contacts and funding that would allow Patrick to engage in some big game hunting out there. When Oliver married Patricia in Oxford in 1942, Daisy did not attend but Uncle Robin did. They shared a passion for butterflies and when Oliver was elected Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, Robin was a sponsor. Selwyn was taken on by Robin as a management trainee in 1931 and groomed for a senior position in Nathaniel Lloyd & Co. One of his responsibilities was ‘Viscacelle’, a form of cellophane, for which the company had negotiated marketing rights from its manufacturer, Courtaulds. In 1934, he married Elaine, daughter of Edgar Beck who was a business associate of Robin and a golfing friend of Nathaniel. A son, Angus, was born the following year but Selwyn died from tuberculosis soon afterwards. As a result, Angus was brought up in the expectation that in due course he too would follow his father into the business under the guidance of great uncle Robin. This he did on leaving school in 1952, with a two year hiatus soon after for national service. Robin was into his eighties by now but Angus remembers him as a tough boss, still very active, and, when he wasn’t working, spending weekends at his country home entertaining guests and making local beetle gathering excursions. After Robin’s death, the business of Nathaniel Lloyd & Co fell prey to the corporate takeovers and asset stripping of the early 1960s so Angus forged a new career as an art dealer. His children became good friends of their great uncle Christopher Lloyd and his daughter, Giny, is an active contributor to the work of Dixter today. ■
Below: Christopher Lloyd with his nephew Angus at Great Dixter, 1936. Angus Lloyd at Great Dixter, 2019.
COUNTING ON CHRISTO by Ken Rawson Christo had tremendous discipline. Many of us, working from home, can fritter away time. Shuffling paper, tidying the desk, make another coffee - anything but settle in to that job that really needs attention. Not him though. His days were full and to achieve what he did needs focus and will-power. It wasn’t all dogged ritual but ritual did have a hand in getting things done. He had a good balance of work and play and days at Dixter ticked along to this balance. You could count on Christo.
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His writing was governed by an absolute self-discipline that he used in other aspects of his life. He wrote for Country Life for 40 – odd years without missing one month. Up early, breakfast, read correspondence, check on garden, nursery, write letters, books and articles. He gardened, lectured, travelled, judged at shows, read, attended concerts, cinema, arranged flowers, cooked, entertained, visited friends – and on. Everyday things like cooking were not slap-dash either or done for convenience. He taught himself to cook after his mother died, wanting to entertain his friends. He produced the lot – main meals of roasts, casseroles, pies, desserts, bread, cakes and preserves and sauces.
the Solar, the room where we all gathered socially, was at the furthest point possible from the kitchen. Christo would be able to have a drink and entertain us and still have everything under control in the kitchen. He timed it once, the walk from this room to the kitchen – one minute I think. I can ruin a meal quite easily at home when I’m actually in the kitchen, so this ‘remotecontrol’ cooking trick was quite something. I can recall only one occasion when his timing (or oven temperature?) went to cock. We went down to eat and there was a meaty fog in the Great Hall (the first leg of the journey). As we got closer to the kitchen the fog got denser and greasier until in the kitchen it was obvious that we had overstayed the relaxed mode by one whiskey. The leg of lamb was alight. ‘Mmmm, just how I like it’ he said, ‘well done’. He was observant and interested and that made for interesting articles with different viewpoints or ways of describing a plant. He spoke from the knowledge of having personally grown and got to know a plant’s habits well. Even when he wrote his first A IT WASN’T ALL DOGGED RITUAL ... HE HAD A GOOD BALANCE OF WORK AND PLAY AND DAYS AT DIXTER TICKED ALONG TO THIS BALANCE...
Dixter wasn’t a house like most of us inhabit, slipping from lounge into kitchen to attend to the evening meal. In winter,
THERE WERE SET TIMES FOR THINGS THROUGH THE DAY AND A REGULAR VISITOR GOT INTO THIS RHYTHM.
to Z type plant book it had muscle far above others of that type. Humour was part of the mix but not at the expense of true fact or as a substitute for substance. You could count on Christo for an appraisal of a plant because he had grown it himself and he knew what he was talking (or writing) about. Talking of counting, there were a few numerical constants in what he did. Some were proven and incontestable, some, well, just reassuringly Christo... Mealtimes.He would only have one helping. I’ve never known him to go for a second. Discipline again you see. We, after being invited, would make a dash into the kitchen for whatever was left over. He stuck to two pre-dinner whiskies. Once, he nodded off and, on waking, insisted that he had only had one whiskey, not two. He had, but a third was poured for him. After lunch, coffee and chocolates, he would take his nap at three o’clock. It would only be about twenty minutes but it did the trick. Ready to go again. That Marmite vegetable, the Brussels sprout was served in season and five was the allotted number on each plate. More than enough for some, not quite enough for others!
Six o’clock was his normal time for beginning his day, either to let up the dogs for a bit of a lie-in or, in summer, to take his first walk around the garden. At the other end of the day, before gathering to begin the evening, he took his bath at eight o’clock. He would come down, glowing pink and white hair washed and sticky-up and, all duties done, relax for the evening. He would always prepare coffee with whole beans using an electric grinder. He would count to twenty-one before switching it off and he insisted that would produce just the right structure for the perfect coffee. He had no type of coffee machine of any description, just a grey and red enamel jug and a coffee strainer. I still follow the strict 21 count now and still he comes to mind whilst counting. Pre-lunch drinks were at twelve noon. No matter where you were, you made sure you were there as it was an unspoken rule never to be late for this ritual. These examples were in my experience and I’m sure others will remember more numbers of note. No matter – it was what made Christo Christo and how we could count on him to be no other. ■
HORACE & MARY FIELD AT DIXTER
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by Simon Edwards
I am researching my great grandfather’s life. He was an influential late Victorian/ Edwardian architect named Horace Field. He was a cousin of Daisy Field (Daisy’s grandfather Edwin Wilkins Field was the eldest brother of Horace Field’s father, confusingly also called Horace). Because of the 20 year difference in the ages of the two brothers Horace and Edwin, Horace’s son (let’s call him junior) and Daisy were almost a similar generation. Horace (junior) married Mary Campbell, a very accomplished portraitist, and in later years Mary became quite close to Daisy – she painted the portrait of Daisy which hangs in the Yeoman’s Hall at Great Dixter.
Horace and Mary Field were childless, so they adopted my grandmother Juliet Campbell. Juliet was born in Durban, South Africa in 1887, the eldest of three girls. Her father Adam Campbell died in his early 40’s leaving his widow to bring up their daughters in very straitened circumstances. One of Adam’s younger sisters, Mary, had been married for some years to Horace Field (junior), but they had no children. Mary and Horace offered to educate and bring up my grandmother and so the eleven year old Juliet left South Africa, never to return, in 1899 to live in Hampstead with her aunt and uncle. Juliet was effectively adopted by the Fields, never seeing her own mother again and only meeting one of her sisters again, in
Top left, Daisy Lloyd with Mar y Field. Top right, the architect Horace Field. Left, portrait of Daisy Lloyd by Mar y Field in the Yeoman’s Hall.
WHILST NOT AS WELLKNOWN AN ARCHITECT AS HIS CELEBRATED HAMPSTEAD COMTEMPORIES, HE WAS NONETHELESS AN IMPORTANT FIGURE IN THE “WRENAISSANCE” AND QUEEN
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ANNE REVIVAL MOVEMENTS
1936 when she came to visit England. I don’t think that there was any question of estranging Juliet from her family in South Africa, it was simply the circumstances of the times – slow and expensive sea travel and the Great War, following which she moved to Egypt, married and had two sons – My father Quentin and his younger brother John. In the 1930’s my father and John were sent from Egypt to board at Bradfield in Berkshire, spending most of their holidays with Horace & Mary Field at a house called “Stuttles” in Military Road, Rye. During their holidays they frequently stayed at Great Dixter and my father and Letitia became very good friends, even though there was a six year age gap – indeed I think marriage was mooted at one point. Of course my father was “Piglet”, as referred to in Stephen Anderton’s biography of Christo. I worked in Hampstead as an estate agent for many years and sold several
houses designed by Horace. I have now semi-retired, and love late Victorian & Edwardian architecture, so have decided to write his biography, mainly for our family. Whilst not as well-known an architect as his celebrated Hampstead contempories and aquaintances, Norman Shaw, Basil Champneys and Reginald Blomfield, he was nonetheless an important figure in the “Wrenaissance” and Queen Anne revival movements of the late 19th & early 20th Century. He is now best known as an influential Lloyds Bank architect, but his greatest work was the magnificent York headquarters of the North Eastern Railway (recently converted to become the Grand Hotel) and the NER’s London headquarters at 4 Cowley Street, Westminster (later to become the Lib Dem HQ). In his retirement at Rye he designed a few modest houses in the area and during the war Daisy asked him to prepare drawings, and apply for permission, to convert a store adjoining the Oast House at Great Dixter into a cow house. ■
Ore stabit fortis arare placet ore stabit. May these latin words be carved on your favourite garden seat so that you can spend a little more time for the next 20 years – enjoying England’s finest Plantman’s garden. Valerie Finnis, taken from Christopher’s 80th birthday book
Horace Field’s architectural drawings and correspondence.
GARDENING IN THE TIME OF COVID
EMLI BENDIXEN
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by Peter Slothower, the Chanticleer US Christopher Lloyd Scholar 2020-2021
I first pulled up to the front of the house just after tea break on a warm September morning. The broad tiled roof shone in the sun over the hedge, and I could see the first fall crocuses of the front meadow through the front gate. The overnight trip from Pennsylvania had left me a bit bewildered, a feeling compounded by the N95 mask still plastered to my face. I was shown up to my room at the top of the Great Dixter house, and so began my quarantine. It’s a strange introduction to a garden to see it for two weeks largely out of a window, but not altogether disagreeable. I spent my days reading gardening books, and only came out to explore this place I was to call home for 11 months once everyone had left for the evening. I was awed by the dahlias and amaranths at sunset in the Peacock Garden, and greeted by Neil the cat as I lounged on the Lutyens bench at the top of the Long Border. Once I was released from my tower – Aaron had taken to calling me Rapunzel as he called up from the kitchen courtyard – I finally got to work. While cutting meadows and sowing seeds, I got to know the small but mighty team that is taking care of Dixter through this strange period. While I understand that the crew is reduced without its usual crowd of volunteers and students, this is the only Dixter I have ever
known. And it is wonderful! Every day I work closely with Fergus and the other gardeners, and every day I have the chance to try new things and learn in this beautiful place. And even despite the difficulties, I am finding that this garden is still defined by a joyful spirit of experimentation. Later, as the flowers began to fade and the season turned towards winter, we cut back the garden in preparation for spring bedding and to allow early plants to flourish in the layered, permanent areas. The structure slowly emerged – a lesson soon heightened by the physical act and vertical vantage point of trimming the hedges. The damp and cold of winter have arrived, but already as I write this the days are getting longer. Snowdrops and primroses poke their heads up through the muck and occasional slurry and make their promises of spring. There’s time yet to contemplate the structure of trees and shrubs as we prune over the coming months, and a chance to get to know the growth phases of the dozens of varieties of seedlings I’m helping to care for in the cold frames. It’s been a quieter introduction to Great Dixter than has come to be the norm around here, but I value the intimacy brought by this year’s realities. Soon enough spring will be upon us, and like any year, with it will no doubt come many surprises. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what they’ll be. ■
THE FIRST STUDENT AT DIXTER
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by John Tanner
In 1965, on leaving school at 18, my father wanted me to work in London in the City but I was hell bent on going to horticultural college. However, I needed to find someone who would take me on for one year's practical experience before I could get a place at Pershore College. Fortunately a family friend happened to know Christopher Lloyd at Great Dixter - he lived nearby. Luckily for me, Christopher kindly agreed to take me on although I think this type of arrangement was completely new to him. So started my one year at Great Dixter, gaining experience in plants, a nursery and a unique garden open to the public, but probably best of all, it taught me a lot about life! Great Dixter was in those days run along very Victorian lines. Christopher's quite formidable mother was still alive and had a huge influence. Even amongst the garden staff, there was a hierarchical pecking order. As an example, the head gardener always had his morning tea break alone, in the main potting shed, the woodman and under gardener had theirs in the wood shed (they sat on the logs). And me, (the under, under gardener) - for my first couple of months, I was relegated to my car!
Once you see the charms of conifers – the trees, that is – you’ll be hooked…..Their fascination can never loose its hold on you. CL
However, after a time, I was kindly invited to join the other two in the wood shed! Christopher always took great delight in entertaining his friends, and good food and dinner parties were all part of the entertaining. His vegetables were always sourced from his own garden, in which he took great pride and delight. I remember one morning both the indoor and outdoor staff were all instructed to assemble on the front lawn where we were all lined up (with the exception of the Head Gardener & the Head Housekeeper!). Christopher then appeared and announced that two of his globe artichokes, destined for his dinner party that evening, had disappeared from the plant - much to his annoyance, no-one owned up - we all kept our silence - to this day! Christopher had a great passion for music and the opera, and Glyndebourne was one of his best loved venues. I remember well one day whilst pruning, Christopher came up to me & explained that one of his party who was supposed to be going to Glyndebourne that evening had fallen ill, so would I like to go instead and make up the party. My reply was a hesitant yes, but wasn't it obligatory for men to wear dinner
jackets? I did not have one available. "Don't worry, you can borrow my brother's, I am sure it will fit"..…and so it did. I had a fantastic evening with an equally fantastic picnic on the Glyndebourne lawn... but I'm afraid opera is not my thing even to this day so sadly he did not convert me! My abiding memory of Great Dixter is that it gave me such a great introduction to real life, having just left school at the age of 18. I learnt to respect other people and their different ways of life. And secondly, I have an abiding memory of spending most of that winter helping the maestro to prune, fork and dig over the long border - (and yes, it is very long!) Christopher was a generous man, he taught me a lot (along with all his staff). He certainly had a unique character, stubborn and gruffy at times, but what a great smile. And he loved his garden. ■ CHRISTOPHER THEN APPEARED AND ANNOUNCED THAT TWO OF HIS GLOBE ARTICHOKES, DESTINED FOR HIS DINNER PARTY THAT EVENING, HAD DISAPPEARED FROM THE PLANT - MUCH TO HIS ANNOYANCE, NO-ONE OWNED UP - WE ALL KEPT OUR SILENCE - TO THIS DAY!
There is no need to feel hurt when trees shed their leaves in autumn; they’re not doing it to annoy you. And there is no need to rush out every day and clear them all away. CL
ART AUCTION FOR THE LOCKDOWN FUND
In the summer of 2020 an on-line auction was held to help the shortfall in the visitor income to the gardens. Artists connected to Great Dixter were asked whether they would donate a piece of their work and ever y single person did. There were soon 28 lots and a total of £36,540 was raised.
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Left: Gay O’Neill, Jug and flower. Below: Vince Inconiglios, Black Hole Donuts.
Above: Howard Sooley, Christopher Lloyd on Topiar y Lawn in the summer 2005. Below: Ursula Waechter, Daf fodil and Rose bowl.
Top: Anya Gallaccio, Untitled 2015. Above: Jonny Bruce, Crocosmia Lucifer.
The Sharpening Stone Rub me up the wrong way Don’t laugh at my jokes…. Fall asleep in the soup And don’t ever, ever change. Neil Ross, Christos 80th birthday book
Top: Richard Adams, Just after Dawn. Above: Howard Hodgkin, Concert donated by Gyr King. Left: Akiko Hirai, Cocoon, donated by Luciano Giubbilei.
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Left: Fiona Gault, Overlooking the Topiar y Lawn and the Hovel from the Loggia. Below: Jamie Todd, Sasha.
Top: Andrew Hazelden, Silver blue lustre bowl. Above: Fermoie, The Savernake.
If a plant bores you, something must be done about it. The simplest course, if it belongs to you, is to throw it out. If it is a good friend’s, look the other way. If it belongs to someone you rather dislike anyway, don’t be ashamed to let it confirm you in an inclusive repulsion. I believe that you owe it to yourself to react in some way. If you accept all your surroundings meekly, something in you will die. CL
Top left: Caroline Kent, Meadow. Above: Annie Evason, The night watch. Left: Louis Turpin, Fergus and the Refugee.
Below left: Sarah Seymour, Fergus and Der yck. Below: Charlotte Molesworth, The view of the Exotic Garden from The Hovel.
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Far left: James Horner, Roses and Scotch Lovage. Left: Cindy Sherman, Imitation of Life. Below: Fred Cuming, Prunus at sunset.
Right: Michael Wachter, Bark bag. Far right: The Shop Floor Project, Emily Mackey, Great Dixter grasses cushion.
I love strong colour contrasts some, not all, of the time. They excite me. Save me from soft lights and sweet music. They will send me to sleep – and I’m no insomniac at the best of times. CL
Below: Ian Mowforth, Long Border. Right: David Benson, Narcissi. Below right: Emma Tennant, Rose Lady Hillingdon.
Left: James McGrath, Ladybird Poppies. Below: Rosie MacCurrach, Apple tree and Long Border.
For more detail of the pieces, artists and prices go to www.jumblebee.co.uk/greatdixter.
The International Hardy Plant Union (ISU) organize a weekend of talks every February, this conference is much valued and The Christopher Lloyd Bursary finances the attendance by students and scholars of Great Dixter in order to widen their horizons and horticultural knowledge. Below are reports from the two Christopher Lloyd Scholars who went in a minibus full of keen young horticulturists.
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Below and above right: Dan Pearson’s photographs of Tokachi Millenium Forest.
PART 1:
REFLECTION by Jamie Todd
On the 7th February, 2020 we set off from Great Dixter in a van to join the 13th Annual Winter Days Conference of the International Hardy Plant Union (ISU). The ISU is an organisation founded in 1965 by German, Dutch and Swiss nurserymen, with the idea of coordinating their interests on an international basis. From these early beginnings, the ISU has developed into an association of perennial plant growers and persons from related professions, with approximately 300 members in 16 European countries, as well as in the USA and Canada. The ISU is the only worldwide association of perennial plant growers, connecting professionals and promoting contacts all over the world. The Winter Days offer a chance for plants people from across the world to meet, listen to inspiring talks and share ideas in the small German town of Grünberg. The programme features an array of speakers talking about their approaches to growing and working with plants. I have a particular interest in propagation and growing and many talks offered valuable insight into this side of the industry, often engaging with it critically as well on a practical level.
I WAS PARTICULARLY STRUCK BY THE USE OF AREAS OF THE FOREST FLOOR AS NURSERY BEDS, FOR DIVIDING PERENNIAL PLANTS AND COLLECTING SEED
The first speaker Midori Shintani discussed her work as head gardener of Tokachi Millenium Forest in Hokkaido. Intending to halt habitat loss in Hokkaido, this long term conservation project has the mission to remain sustainable for 1000 years. Midori spoke about their work in the forest garden and I was particularly struck by the use of areas of the forest floor as nursery beds, for dividing perennial plants and collecting seed, which would then be used to repopulate the broader forest with native plants. This in turn with a management strategy of removing invasives to keep a balance has allowed the forest to be reclaimed by native wild flora. This long term vision and care, where it might take 7 years to replant when growing from seed typified the lightness of touch and care that Midori and her garden team adopt while working at the forest. Jane Schul a landscape architect from Denmark stressed the importance of plant selection, particularly when working in public spaces. . She critiqued the photography of plants, the close-up
pictures giving little information regarding behaviour, form, needs or spread, useful tools for people to understand how a plant can be used. She also questioned the lack of natives, such as Tripolium pannonicum and Limonium vulgare, which are salttolerant and useful in roadside plantings. Her closing sentiment was if Google can show us how plants look, nurseries need to show us how they work. Hans Kramer from De Hessenhof nursery in the Netherlands where their huge selection of up to 7000 perennials Above: Hans Kramer’s photograph of the De Hessenhof nurser y.
PART 2:
REFLECTION by Margaret Easter
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are propagated from large mother beds or grown directly from seed. Detailed knowledge was shared about the methods used for producing large numbers of plants with a small dedicated team of people The nursery is organic, compost is made from leaf-mould from leaves from a local churchyard and compost teas are used as fertiliser. Hans noted the number of nurseries that had disappeared over the last 20 years and stressed for small businesses like his to do as much as they could themselves, specialising, doing it their own way and buying in as little as possible to offer something unique. As someone who has a passion for growing these insights were invaluable and helped me consider how we could change some of our ways of doing things to make the industry more resilient in the future. A more considered pace will surely benefit us the most in the long run.
Attending the ISU was an incredible opportunity to not only learn from but also connect with the broader plant community. I appreciate deeply that although we all come from different approaches and backgrounds it is the love and respect of the natural world that brings us together and acts as a common language we all are more than eager to communicate with. I found many of the talks interesting and found that they held a common chord of trusting personal instincts that stemmed from observation of the natural world. I believe in the dispersal of information so I’ll share some of what we learned from one of my favourite talks by Ian Young. Ian Young spoke on bulb propagation, which he highly encouraged be done from seed, as it promotes diversity and adaptability to present environments. He went on to explain how to understand the depth to plant a bulb based upon its natural methods of seed dispersal. A common issue
What about moss on the lawns? I’m always being asked how I tackle mine, usually with the obvious insinuation that I don’t. And I don’t. I love the mosses’ brilliant green, and look forward to its company… they make a deep, plushy pile, like a carpet, that is a joy to sink into. CL
BULBS THAT ARE SOWN TOO HIGH WILL USE ENERGY TO PULL THEMSELVES DOWN THE FIRST YEAR INSTEAD OF WORKING
LISA HAGGQVIST
TOWARDS FLOWERING
with sowing bulbs is a delay in flowering (2 years instead of 1) due to sowing at the incorrect depth. Bulbs that are sown too high will use energy to pull themselves down the first year instead of working towards flowering. As a rule of thumb- if a bulb is wind-pollinated (Fritillaria, Alliums) it can be sown closer to the surface as it is adapted to pull itself down to the correct depth. If a bulb has evolved to rely on ants to drag it below the surface for germination (ie, Narcissus, Galanthus, Crocus, Trillium, etc) seeds should be sown deep initially so as not to waste energy pulling themselves down to the correct depth the first year. A quick way to see if you have managed the correct depth is to check the shape of the bulb after it has formed, if it is elongated it’s having to work to get to the correct depth (usually further down) but if it’s round it’s at the correct depth. Another
good indicator is to check the depth to which it has dragged itself- bulbs know where they need to be, it’s up to us to take notice. One interesting piece Ian shared was the manipulation of this process by intentionally planting bulbs like Galanthus and Narcissus too high and growing them just a bit too dry to promote their multiplication as they will naturally downsize and split for ensured survival. It’s amazing what we can learn through observation and understanding of natural processes. One of my beliefs and takeaways from the ISU was that as our climate continues to change, these observations and understandings are going to become increasingly important as we attempt to understand how horticulture will move forward. With the understanding of how plants adapt and survive, we can apply this knowledge where it is needed and valuable, whether it be for the survival, propagation and adaptation of species or simply understanding where a plant wants to grow and therefore when and where to utilise it. ■
GREAT DIXTER IN 2020 by Carol Joughin
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2020 – an unprecedented year for all. The Spring Plant Fair was set up and then cancelled. The weekend that it was planned for followed weeks of rain but turned out to be the most beautiful spring weather we could have wished for! The Fair usually marks the start of the new season but not this year. We were unable to open the House and Gardens in March and all educational days and symposia were postponed. The Christopher Lloyd Lecture to be given in June by our Patron Anna Pavord – cancelled. Many staff were furloughed with just a few left to continue essential work. Our Chanticleer Christopher Lloyd Scholar Margaret Easter, jumped on a rare flight back to the US leaving a core team of students on site. All our volunteers could no longer be allowed to work along-side our staff. Dixter became a very quiet place. Different ways of working emerged. The Nursery remained open for mail order initially and the staff began an efficient production line sending out calls for more and more cardboard boxes. Five of the six remaining staff from the Garden went down to help in the Nursery leaving one in the Garden with Fergus. Plants from Dixter were sent down to the local hospital to provide a “lift” for essential workers. Zoom entered our world allowing meetings to be conducted virtually and critically
Fergus began a huge programme of zoom lectures which went out all around the world and brought in some essential income. In May 2020 the Nursery was able to reopen to visitors with pre booked tickets, and in June visitors returned to the Garden, again with pre-booked tickets. A one-way system was introduced to ensure social distancing. Sadly the House was not able to receive visitors and all our guides have remained on furlough throughout this year. Despite the efforts in the Nursery and the income generated from the zoom lectures, the decrease of income from visitors and courses was a big loss for Dixter. Thankfully the Heritage Lottery Emergency Fund and funding from the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage came to our rescue and allowed us to return many staff from furlough, improve our capacity in terms of IT, pay some essential bills, ensure essential repairs were undertaken and adapt some of the site to allow visitors to be safely distanced in the future. This funding has to be spent by the end of March 2021. One of the casualties this year has been the Loggia. We have not been able to offer our visitors refreshments. The Loggia and surrounding seating area do not allow social distancing. This is something we will
ALL OUR VOLUNTEERS COULD NO LONGER BE ALLOWED TO WORK ALONG-SIDE OUR STAFF. DIXTER BECAME A VERY QUIET PLACE.
rectify for the next season. So this year BYO picnics were the order of the day. In September the Great Dixter Art Auction took place (see p. ). An on-line auction, a step into unchartered waters, which thanks to the tremendous generosity of the artists and makers and the people who placed bids, generated over £30,000 for Dixter. In October to everyone’s delight the Autumn Plant Fair took place - socially distanced, with timed tickets and no talks from the Nurseries. Still a joyful weekend and we were happy to welcome some new nurseries alongside our regular friends. The Christmas Fair in a similarly adapted style went ahead in December. This year we have been humbled by the generosity and kindness shown to us by our many Friends and donors. The Lockdown Fund which was our 2020 appeal brought in excess of £122,000. An additional £20,000 was donated to support our work with biodiversity which has continued as restrictions
have eased. We end December with Covid numbers on the rise and the prospect of once again having to furlough staff and reduce numbers on-site. 2021 will mark 100 years since Christopher Lloyd was born. A year we had hoped to mark in a big way. However 2020 has taught us much in terms of flexibility, working differently and being grateful for what we have. ■
A DECADE AT DIXTER
This has been a busy and exciting decade at Great Dixter. Key achievements during this period have included:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
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6. 7. 8.
The establishment of the Christopher Lloyd Scholarship Programme: Chanticleer US CL Scholar and UK CL Scholar (2010) The introduction of autumn plant fairs (2010) and spring plant fairs (2014) The old brick built cattle yard of Dixter Farm was converted into student accommodation and an education room; as well as offices for fundraising and education staff (2011) Extensive structural work on the medieval Great Barn and Oast (2012) Replacement of cast iron pipes with steel for the house heating system and reconditioning of the historic radiators in the house. Installation of sustainable wood-fueled boiler and ground source heating Re-thatching the link between the two barns (2016) Biodiversity Programme commenced with an extensive Audit (2017-2019)
9. The introduction of the Ruth Borun Scholarship (2019) 10. The purchase of Great Park field finalized (2020)
ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 THE GREAT DIXTER CHARITABLE TRUST for the year ended 31st March 2020 The Great Dixter Charitable Trust was created to ensure the conservation of the Great Dixter Estate and public access to the House and Gardens as developed and maintained by the family of Christopher Lloyd for almost 100 years. The Great Dixter Charitable trust will ensure that Great Dixter remains open to visitors, and that the House and Gardens are conserved and kept in good order fitting with their character and significance, that the horticultural ethos of Christopher Lloyd is sustained and celebrated in all its dynamism and biodiversity and that Great Dixter represents a “mecca” for training and education. The twelve months ending March 31, 2020 continued to be extremely active at Great Dixter. We welcomed 51,025 visitors to the House and Gardens, an increase of 3,597 from the previous year. Sales of home-grown plants from the Nursery continue to be buoyant. We held another very successful Christmas Fair with 1,096 visitors enjoying the Christmas cheer in the Great Hall and the opportunity to buy superb quality crafts from local businesses. In early April 2019 April we held our spring Plant Fair and in October we held our autumn Plant Fair. At both Fairs, plants were sold and talks given by nurseries from Europe and the UK; they were resounding successes.
Other events and developments of note during this fiscal year included hosting special lectures, art exhibitions, specialized House openings and tours, very successful symposia, study days, children’s programmes and lecture tours. Accolades, acknowledgements and support continue to flow in. Fergus also continued his efforts in delivering dozens of lectures and talks at home and abroad. Fergus continued to be a very active and inspirational ambassador providing his expertise and messaging to Royal Horticultural Society Committees, garden clubs, horticultural societies and botanical gardens around the British Isles, Europe, New Zealand and the United States. He touches the hearts and minds of all who embrace him and has become an enthralling public figure in the world of horticulture. In April 2019 Fergus was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour by the Royal Horticultural Society which is the RHS’s highest award of merit, an outstanding achievement, and so well deserved. We continue and expand on Christopher Lloyd’s enthusiasm for training young gardeners and last year again welcomed students from a number of countries who benefitted from Fergus’ and his garden team’s expertise in high quality, intensive horticulture. 30 students (including four Christopher Lloyd Scholars) gained Dixter experience this year.
THE GREAT DIXTER CHARITABLE TRUST STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES
(REGISTERED NUMBER 07181964)
(INCORPORATING AN INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 ST MARCH 2020 Unrestricted funds £ INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM Donations and legacies
366,753
Restricted funds £
Total 2020 £
Total 2019 £
25,773
392,526
473,318
359,069 143,334
Charitable activities Admissions income Projects
415,403
154,929
415,403 154,929
Other trading activities Investment income
809,180 1,448
284
809,180 1,772
180,986
1,773,810
TOTAL
1,592,824
EXPENDITURE ON Raising funds Other trading activities 656,355 46,302 Raising donations and legacies 28,976 685,331 46,302 Charitable activities Projects 147,530 Charitable activities 834,883 20,698 Governance 14,698
739,663 1,357 1,716,741
702,657 28,976
538,136 35,459
731,633
573,595
147,530 855,581 14,698
980,730 17,856
214,530
1,749,442
1,572,181
57,912
(33,544)
24,368
144,560
Total funds brought forward
3,334,824
4,971,875
8,316,699
8,172,139
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD
3,402,736
4,938,331
8,341,067
8,316,699
TOTAL
NET INCOME (EXPENDITURE)
1,534,912
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RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
AT 31ST MARCH 2020
2020 £ FIXED ASSETS Tangible assets Heritage assets
406,380 6,872,283
2019 £
82,485 6,877,606
CURRENT ASSETS Stocks Debtors: amounts falling due within one year Cash at bank and in hand
7,278,663 6,960,091 160,790 33,367 951,384
166,382 42,688 1,269,370
CREDITORS Amounts falling due within one year
1,145,541
1,478,440
(83,137)
(121,832)
NET CURRENT ASSETS
1,062,404
1,356,608
TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES
8,341,067
8,316,699
NET ASSETS
8,341,067
8,316,699
FUNDS Unrestricted funds 3,402,736 3,344,824 Restricted funds 4.938,331 4,971,875
TOTAL FUNDS
8,341,067
8,316,699
This is a summary of information extracted from the annual accounts on behalf of the trustees. These summarised accounts may not contain sufficient information to allow for a complete understanding of the financial affairs of the charity. For further information, the full annual accounts and the auditors’ report should be consulted. Copies of these can be obtained from Great Dixter, Northiam, Rye, East Sussex, TN31 6PH. The annual accounts were approved by the trustees on 13th July 2019.
The Great Dixter Charitable Trust 2019-2020 Trustees CHAIR OF THE
TRUST SECRETARY
THE FOLLOWING
TRUSTEES
Victoria Williams
COMMITTEES SUPPORT
Geoffrey Dyer
THE WORK OF THE
Jo Hillier (minutes)
TRUST
The Finance Committee The Development Committee The Education Committee The Health and Safety Committee The House Committee The Human Resources Committee
TRUSTEE BOARD
Rosemary Alexander Rosie Atkins Thomas C Cooper Olivia Eller John French, Treasurer Pascale Garbe Charles Hind Gyr King John Massey Kemal Mehdi Henrietta Norman John Wotton
Christopher Lloyd Bursary
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Nurserymen who come to the Plant Fairs give a percentage of their takings to the Christopher Lloyd Bursary. The Bursary provides funds to people who wish to gain skills, knowledge and inspiration by travelling to horticultural hot spots; attending courses/conferences or studying plants in the wild. Monksilver Aberconwy Avon Bulbs Binny Plants Black Stem Plants Cotswold Garden Flowers Daisy Roots De Hessenhoff Dysons Edulis
F Comme Fleurs Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants Invicta Herbs Iris of Sissinghurst Julian Reed Laurels Lime Cross Madrona Mill Cottage
Moore and Moore Pelham Plants Pennards Pineview Plantbase Primrose Bank Rotherview Wildegoose
LISA HAGGQVIST
AGNES LADJEVARDI
Scholarships & traineeships
COLIN STEWART Ruth Borun Scholar
2020 -2021. Sponsored by The Anna & Harr y Borun Foundation USA.
EMLI BENDIXEN
CATHERINE HAYDOCK
BEN JONES Trainee Gardener Sponsored (part) by FieldFenn Trust.
ELIZA LASS Nursery Trainee 2020 - 2021
PETER SLOTHOWER Chanticleer US Sponsored by the Anne Wright Scholarship Fund; Christopher Lloyd Scholar 2020-2021 Tim Brotzman, and an anonymous donor. Sponsored by The Chanticleer Foundation, USA. For more about Peter see page 68.
The Anne Wright Scholarship The Anne Wright Scholarship Fund was founded in 2005, shortly after Anne’s untimely death to ovarian cancer. The Anne Wright Scholarship Fund was founded in 2005, shortly after Anne’s untimely death to ovarian cancer. It was Sue Corbett’s idea that a Fund be set up in lieu of the leaving present Anne never received! The contributors were her family and the friends who had worked with her for many years, both at the Field, where she was a sub editor and at Country Life magazine, where she was Chief Sub Editor. It was through her work at Country Life that Anne became a friend of Christopher, taking his weekly gardening article by his dictation down the telephone.
PAST ANNE WRIGHT SCHOLARS: MARIE SAALBURG SENIZ OCAL
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ADELE FORD
The arrangement was to benefit students at Hadlow College, many tutors of whom had known Christopher Lloyd personally. A system was set up, whereby the College advertised an opportunity to spend 6 weeks at Great Dixter living and working there in order to learn more about the unique style of gardening there. Fergus and Catherine Haydock interviewed those that expressed a desire to take part. The fund ran for 13 years.
NEIL SLADE JESSE JANSDOTTER JILLY RAGGETT MEL DIAMOND ELLEN ROELVINK JULIA KEEM HANNAH PEARSON ANNIE BARNES PIPPA JEPSEN ROSALYN ANDERSON
There were students from a range of different backgrounds, one French, and to Fergus’s delight, one Turkish! Interestingly only one boy ever took part. All except one went onto practice horticulture in some form, and one, Adele, is still associated with Dixter. ■ Jane Wright When the fund was wound up, the remaining money went towards a Trainee in the Nurser y at Dixter.
The Great Dixter raffle Thank you to Benny Bernard who, for the past eight years, has given a week in one of her cottages in the Loire as f irst prize for the raf fle. The Great Dixter Raffle was a fundraising feature at every Christmas and Plant Fair since 2012 and each year it was the chance of winning the first prize that sold the most tickets. This First Prize was a week in a cottage in the Loire Valley. The cottage is on the Baulay estate belonging to Benny and Patrick Bernard. Benny had visited Great Dixter with a party and they were given a tour by Christopher. As they gathered at the Front Porch, Benny raised her hand and said “We all have to die sometime and have you in mind what will happen to your garden when you disappear?” All the others drew their breath and wondered how Christopher Lloyd would react. He was actually very amused and said he hadn’t really thought about it. So we all said “Why not start a Friends of Great Dixter?” The idea became reality soon after! ■
Shaun Blower, Margaret Easter and Jamie Todd getting ready to pick the winning raf fle tickets
The UK Christopher Lloyd Scholar 2020-2021
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CAROL JOUGHIN
by Agnes Ladjevardi Prior to coming to Great Dixter, I worked as a landscape architect for seven years, Philadelphia, USA and in Lyon, France. I had the chance to be involved in creating new public spaces in cities as well as large scaled plans to improve green space networks in cities. Over the past few years, I have desired to redirect my career to be horticulturally focused as I have found that my main source of joy has always revolved around plants. Although I have overseen the construction of many projects and the planting and maintenance of many planting plans, I have found myself deeply missing the direct relationship to plants and the knowledge that comes with that close interaction. I am charged with a desire to learn and get perspective from Great Dixter’s gardeners and look forward to participating in planting design differently: not from a top-down, scaled plan view, but from the ground plane. ■ Sponsored by The Phyllida and Glenn Earle Trust; The Rothermere Foundation, Troy Marden.
The more experienced we get, the better shall we play the game of continuity. Successions are a perpetuum mobile and we are the spinners of the wheel. CL
Ruth Borun Scholar 2019-2020 by Quentin Wallon The Ruth Borun Scholarship was set up in 2019 by the Anna and Harry Borun Foundation in memory of Ruth Borun, a friend of Christopher since the 1970s. He visited her garden in Los Angeles a number of times and wrote about it in Other People’s Gardens. Quentin Wallon from France was the first scholar and he wrote a regular report to Dr Borun and his daughter Amy during his time at Great Dixter whilst living in No.2 Park Cottage.
FERGUS GARRETT
An excerpt from Quentin’s first email, 26 October 2019: This is it ! First mission for Fergus completed! Last year for the 2018 Plant Fair I became the of f icial translator from French to English of Dino Pellizzaro, a fantastic plantsman from Vallauris in the South of France. He and Fergus met each other more than 30 years ago when young Fergus was working in Cap d’Antibes for the Sackler family. At that time I didn’t realize that I would be asked to pick up Dino and his sub-tropical plants for this year Plant Fair. Two weeks later, more than 5,000 kilometers by truck, a few glasses of wine, good Italian food, but best of all a lot of good moments with Dino, I made the right choice! I started working in the garden mainly on hedge cutting which I like. The feeling of shaping those old yew hedges and thinking of the many gardeners, scholars or students who have done this before me. Being on the top of a ladder gives you wonder ful views of the garden, as well as being too high for visitors’ questions! From Quentin’s last email, 29 March 2020: Great Dixter was supposed to open this weekend but will stay closed until further notice. I am gardening as if the garden were open, taking details seriously and applying what I have learned since I have started to work at this magic placert and craft of gardening in one of the greatest English flower gardens. ■
IN 2020 THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE FROM AROUND THE WORLD DONATED SO GENEROUSLY AND EVERY ONE OF THEM IS A SPECIAL FRIEND IN OUR EYES AND DESERVES THE APPRECIATION AND THANKS OF ALL WHO LOVE DIXTER. TRUSTS & MAJOR DONORS
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Lund Trust, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin Linda and Frank Smith The Phyllida and Glenn Earle Trust Jeremy and Elizabeth Hosking Patrick Bates Eleanor Briggs Ian and Megan Richardson Catherine Dreyfus and Bernard Soguel Dr Marla Angermeier Dr Mike Monaghan Dr Linde Wotton Amy and Andy Burnes Linda Cobb Kyle Landt Rothermere Foundation The Elaine and Angus Lloyd Charitable Trust The FieldFenn Trust Kirsten Prichard-Jones Heather Hilliard Barleycorn Trust Hartnett Conservation Kenneth and Margaret Bird Bryan and Philippa Burrough Kimberly Peterson The Culture Recovery Fund Heritage Covid Emergency Fund BEQUESTS AND DONATIONS IN MEMORY OF
Christine (Kirsty) Duncan Dean Timini Julia Holloway Susan Barrell June Coffin
Rebecca Abdelhadi Bridget Adam Kate Adams Katherine Adams George Agnew Sigrid Aiken Rosemary Alexander Sandra Alexander Ann Allen Elizabeth Allen Marla Angermeier Gabrielle Argent J R Armstrong Jennifer Ashby Frances Ashlin Gerti Ashton Paula Atkins Carol Atkinson Naomi Atkinson Olivier Autret Marylyn Bacon Hugh Bailey Jane Baker Rosie Balcomb Alex Balfour Brian Banks Roy Barker Benjamin Barnard Christine Barnett Myles Barrell Peter Barrett Simon Basey Grace Bates Patrick Bates Yvonne Bates Michael Beanland Patricia Beattie Dee Beecroft Sarah Beeson John and Sue Beeston Lara Behr Christine Bell Ruth Bell Sussie Bell Linda Belton Nick Benef ield Andrew and Laura Benns Tim and Diane Bentley Bonnie Berk Sally Berkeley Peter Bevacqua and Stephen King Gill Beveridge David Bichunsky Alice Bickers Kenneth and Margaret Bird Susan Birthwright Deborah Blackburn Andrew Blackman Thomas Blaikie Alison Blair Sir Michael Blake Tony Blasi Wendy Blunden Andrew Boddington Michele Bolt Marian Boswall Barbara Bovington Edward Bowen Nigel Bowles Winifred Boyd Robert Bradshaw Sue Branson Tricia Brett Eleanor Briggs Jill Briggs Jo Britcher Carol Britton Linda Brockas Andrew Brodrick Elizabeth Brook Linda Brooks Tom Brotzman Carolyn Brown Clare Brown Richard Brown Roy Brown Sue Brown Ian Brownhill Mary Bruce Donna Bruxner-Randall Ian Buckley Mar y Budleigh† Cathy Burczak Amy and Andy Burnes Bryan and Philippa Burrough Mar y Burton Allen Bush Peter Butcher Ethel Butler Adrian Butler-Manuel Valerie Butt Sheila Buttle Pierre Byache C Byrne Sarah Caffyn John Cammegh Stephen Campbell Ronnie Carless Lynne Carruthers Peter Carter John Case Sheila Cather James Cavanagh Peter Chadwick Debbie Chalet Angela Chambers Irene Chapman Carol Chater
Janet Cheshire-Martin† Carole Child Paula Chinnery Nick Chitty Jill Christison Frankie Clear y Judy Cligman Emma Clyne Linda Cobb Stephen and Eleanor Cochrane Brian Cole Hatty Cole Sally Cole Julie Coley Roland Comet Mar y Condon Tom Connolly A Conway David Cook Patricia Cooke Adrian Cooper Thomas Cooper Gary Coppins Ian Corcoran Kathie Coss Peter and Victoria Costain Catherine Cox Kate Cox Christine Cozic Martin Cramp Simon Crawford Sam Crosf ield Ashley Crosthwaite Greg Crow Tessa Crowe David and Hazel Cruickshank Colin Curl Georgina Cuthbertson Louisa Czartoryska Ann Daly John Davenport Pauline Davies Peter Davies Lynn Davis Paul Dawdry Janet Dawes Anthony Dawson Christine Dawson Amicia de Moubray John Deacon Elizabeth Dean Demetri Demetriou Andrew Dewdney Zarina Dick Page Dickey Alex Diebel Carrie Disney Monique Dix John Dixon Pip Dodd Stephanie Donaldson Ian Donovan Susan Drews Catherine Dreyfus Soguel Susan Duff Rachel Duf f ield Susan Dulley Martin Dunitz Brenda Dunn Jacqueline Dyche Alan Easterby Diane Eccles Anne-Marie Edgell David Edwards Susan Elford Jennie Elfstrom Roger Elias Olivia Eller Anne Ellis John Emmanuel Mike Emms David England Lesley Etherton Doug Evans Val Evans Michael Eve C J Evered Catherine Farr Elizabeth Faure Walker Alice Favell Kenyon Louise Feltham Dr Norman Ferguson Amanda Fidler Linda Findley Anne Finlayson Ann Fitsell Victoria Fletcher Nigel and Lorraine Ford Antony Forwood Tim Fosberr y John Foster Lucinda Fouch Linda Fountain Gaye Fox Thomas Fox Lesley Francis Tara Franklin Ronald Freeman Nicola Freshwater and Andrew Parkinson
Barbara Frost Pamela Frost Michele Fuirer Linda and Don Fuller Ian Fyfe Clive Galbraith Justine Gallaccio Ana Garel-Jones Caroline Garland Karina Garrick Fiona Gault Deborah Ghate John Gilbert Sarah Giles Zina Glazebrook Anne Godfrey Siobhan Godfrey-Cass Debbie Goldsmith Lilly Gomm S Goodwin Michael Gordon Frances Gorringe Claire Goslett Veronica Goulty Steve Graddick Joel Gradley Catherine Graham Pria Graves Susan Gray Anthony Green Maureen Green Shelagh Green Mike Greenhalgh Judy Greenwell Veronica Greenwood Sally Gregson Catherine Grif f iths Susan Grimsdale Linda Guest Birgit Gunz John Gwynne and Mikel Folcareli Elisabeth Haeggqvist Carol Hagland Dorothy Halfhide Joanna Hamilton Charlotte Hamlin Amanda Hammond Annette and John Hampshire Alan Handyside Diana Hare Stuart and Linda Harland James Harmer The Hon Geraldine Harmsworth Lyn Harris Susannah Harris Jackie Harrison Lorraine Harrison Penelope Harrison Richard Har vey Sibyl Harwood William and Sarah Hathaway Sue Hatt Moira Hatton Bernard Hawes Rachel Hay Stephen Hazell-Smith Helen Hazelwood Michael Heap Emily Heard Jeska Hearne Michael Heath Nanct Heckler Monica Henriquez Susan Hering Harriet Herschel Michal Hes Wendy Hewlett Belinda Heys Heather and Glenn Hilliard Nicola Hilliard Jo Hillier Jill Hitchcock Harr y Hoblyn Fred and Carol Hochberg Brian Holdstock Griff and Sally Holliday Frank Holloway Sue Holmes Sylvia Holmes Margot Hone Sir Anthony and Lady Hooper Ian and Madeline Hooper William Horder Catherine Horwood Barwise Jeremy and Elizabeth Hosking Michael Hughes Ellie Hughes John Hull Rosemar y
Next resolution: use your eyes, both in other people’s gardens and in your own. Make yourself more observant. You miss so much that you shouldn’t. So much around you is interesting and deserves a mental image. CL
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Husey Bill Hutchings Christopher and Robin Hutt Judy Illman Jeff Jabco Sheila Jacklin Elaine Jackson Annie James Caroline James Derek and Jo James Honor James Kath Jatter Bill Jeffers Helen Jempson Sandra Jenkins Susan Johns Angus Johnson Jane Johnson Janet Johnson Jennifer Johnson Jane Jones Sid Jones Susie Jones Timothy Jones William Jones Lara Jukes Dzidra Kalnina Diane Kane Eleanor Kane Michelle Kass Lady Mary Keen Lydia Kemmish Tim Kendell and Flo Whitaker Peter and Lesley Kennedy Caroline Kent Jane Kent Joanna Kent Valerie Kent Julia Kerr Richard Keyne Helen Keys Susan Keyte Reza Khalesi Jane Kilpatrick Brian King Janette King Rosemary King Philippa Kinsey Rita Kirk Hanna Klein Larissa Knepper Jeremy Knight Teresa Knight Julian Knott Carole Knowles Judith Kramer Ulrike Kreidt-Schanzenbach Lawrence and Laren Kurland Zarrina Kurtz Rosemar y LaidlawWaller Keith Laker Steve Lambert Kathy Lamoon Dr Kyle Landt Catherine Lane Mark Lane Elaine Langham Sheena Laver y Tam Lawson Fiona Leathers John Leavy Jean Lebrecht Rod Leeds Kathleen Leighton Margaret Leighton Rebecca Lemonius Edgar Lewis† Dick and Beth Lilley Nutty Lim Rosemar y Lindsay Sarah Lindsay Jane Livesey Pam Lloyd Graham Lloyd-Brunt Lady Margaret Lockett Jane Lockwood Rupert Loftie Frances Lord Julian Luckett and Judith O’Connor Ashley Luke John Lunn Sue MacGregor Monika Machon Patricia Macmullan Liz MacPhail Sarah Macpherson Hilary Magee Jon Mager Shirley Maile Antony Mair Charles Maisey Anthony Mallet Sophie Mancais Barbara Marceau Troy Marden Sally Marks John Marksbury Trevor Marlow Gary Marriott Jim Marshall and Sarah Cook Nancy Marten David Martin Godfrey Martin Rosemar y Martin Sara Martin Sue Martin Anne Masefield Harriet Mason Peter Masters Luke Mather Charlotte Mathey
Camilla Matthews Hugh Maxwell James and Viviane Mayor Quentin McCabe Ruth McCaall Maryellen McCulloch Paul and Kersten McDonald John McCutchan Charmaine McEachern Pauline McHale Linda McHam Bryan McIntyre Juliet McKeon Sam McKnight Angela McLaughlin Stephanie McMahon Kathr yn McQuillen Kemal and Nicola Mehdi Gordon Melvin Beverley Merryfield Gar y Mewis Demetrious Michael Michael Miller Jacky Mills Victoria Mills Colin Moat Charlotte Molesworth Mike Monaghan David Moncrief f Sharon Moncur E Moore Katherine Moore Penelope Moore Wanda Moore Anne Moore-Bick Zuleikha MoosajeeHarrison Lauris Morgan-Grif f iths Joey Morris Keith Morris Wright Fiona Mortimore Judith Mosely Christine Moulder Jennifer Mountford Jenny Mowatt Amanda Mozley Christine Muddiman Hilar y Mundella Elizabeth Murray Tim Murray Steve Myatt Michael Naris Elizabeth Nash Louise Ness Diane Newbury Julia Newman Nicole Newmark Alan Newnham Stella and John Nicholls Dr Donald Nichols Sarah Norris Howard Norton Lucie Nottingham Ann Novotny Hugh Nye Andrew O’Brien James O’Connell Lynette O’Halloran Mitsue Ohsawa Tessa Oldaker Simon Oliphant Marc O’Neill Todd Oppenheimer Susanne Osmond Ann Paddick Colin Page Emma Page Landy Palmer Susan Parfitt Frank and Anne Parker Linda Parker Pennie Parker Anna Pavord Michael Pearson Philippa Pearson Claire Penruddocke John Perkins Ann Perkowski Selina Perry Sarah Peters Kimberly Peterson Susan Phyall Liz Pickett Paul Picton Gail and Richard Pinder Michael Pitcher Roger Platts Rosalind Plumley Sylvia Pocock G Lynne Pomfret Benjamin Pope Chris and Sarah Pope Joanna Pope Mar y Potter Phillip Potter Max Powling Greg Preston Kirsten Prichard Jones Jane and Gary Priddis Alejandro Prigollini Greg Prior Karin Proudfoot Tim
The time to do a job is when you are in the mood to do it. The calendar is of less importance. If you wait till the “right time”, the chances are that you’ll be thinking of other matters when that time arrives. CL
Radford Donna Rafter y Amanda Rainger Chris Ramsden Nancy Rankin Andrew Ratclif fe Cleo Raulerson Philip Ray Roseann Rea Chris Redknap Julian Reed Sally-Anne Rees Florian Reiche Alice Reilly Anne Reilly Andrew Renshaw Philip Renshaw Angharad Rhys Patrick and Margaret Rice-Oxley Barbara Rich David Richardson Giles Richardson Ian and Megan Richardson Arleen Rifkind Jane Rimmington Rupert Rittson Hazel Roalfe Heather Robertson Eleanor Robins Charlie Robinson Richard and Martine Robinson Gillian Roder Julia Roe Alexandra Rose-Dutch Celia Rosenbaum Libby Rothwell Cathy Rowe William Rowe Lynda Rowlinson Ingunn Ruf fles James Russ Rachel Rutty Shirley Sabin Julie Sakellariadis Lauren Santo Domingo Martin Sarbicki Susan Satchell Clare Saunders Sarah Saunders Clare Saxby Jacqueline Schalburg Anthony Schilling Naomi Schillinger Sue Schlesinger Erika Schmidt Tom and Carol Schollar Ellen Schumann Alex Scott-Tonge Paul Seaborne Julia Sebline Jane Segar Felicity Seton Tessa Seward Sarah Seymour Jane Shankar Lorna Shearin Paul Sheehan Marilyn and Paul Shepherd Paul Short Toby Shuall Paul Simpson Richard Simpson and Claire Blezard Shelley Sishton Anna Sixsmith Victoria Skeet John and Christine Sladden Janet Sleep Martin Small Cathy Smith Hilar y Smith Maggie Smith Isobel Snar y Catherine Defruys and Bernard Soguel Thomas South Marion Spain Nigel Spalding and Anthony Wilson David Spence Alice Spitzer Lynne Spon-Smith Margaret Springbett Marian St Clair Jane Steen Patti Steeples Valerie and Peter Stephens Kate Steven Lynda Stevens Elizabeth Stevenson Janice Stevenson Alan Stewart Linda Stewart Kim Stillman Jean Stock Sally Stockwell G Stokoe Caroline Stone Susan Stoodley Stuart and Susan Stradling Jonathan Strong John Stuart Rob Stuart Sally Stutchbury Janet Sullivan Jonathan Sunley
Anthony Sutton Rosemary Swainson Nancy Sweet Jane Swift Nicola Talbot Kathy and Ian Taphouse Liz Tapper Brian and Mary Tattersfield Vivienne Taylor-Gee Andrew Templeton Rodger Terrell Deborah Thomas Jake Thomas Diana Thompson Norman Thompson Susan Thompson Sally Thorne Louisa Thoron Mar y Thorp Jonathan Tibbett Jean Tilby Dean Timini† Adrian Timothy Graham Tippen Sophie Tollemache Claire Tolliday Martha Toppin Jude Torrance Brian Tourle Colin and Laura Towns Pi Townsend Frances Travers Charlotte Turner M S Turner Sarah Turner Yvonne Underhill Jo Upton Renee van der Vloodt Kate van Grutten Kathryn Van Howe Michael Varney-Burch Vija Vilcins Gina Vyse Wendy Waddington Carolyn Waite Ray and Margaret Waite Martyn Wake Lady Brigid Wakehurst Jenifer Wakelyn Paddy Wales Rev Dr Andrew Walker Angela Walker Peter Walker Keith and Margaret Wallis Deborah Walsh Carol Ward Debbie Ward Tim Waters Sally Watson Nigel Watts Catherine Weaver Corrine Weaver Amanda Webb Iain and Gillian Webb-Wilson Louise and Chuck Weed Della Weight Julie Weiss Nigel Wellard Cleve West Anita White Clare White Jane Wheeler Susan Whitehead Shirley Wiggs Deborah Wilcock Patricia Wilkie Helen Williams Helen G Williams Irene Williams Marilyn Williams Pat Williams Richard Williams Jim Williamson Andrew Willson Catherine Wilson Elizabeth Winant Linda Windebank Hanna Winkler Marilyn Wise Diane Wiseman Elizabeth Witchell Richard Wolfe Elizabeth Wood Stephan Work Dr Linde and John Wotton Jill Wright Stephanie Wright Peter and Elizabeth Wylie Charles WynnEvans Patti Yates Mark Yearsley Helen Yemm Andrew Young Emma Youngman Tim and Christine Youngman and donors who wish to remain anonymous and read this, thank you too.
I am associated with bright, harsh colours because I do not mind using them when the situation suggests that they are needed. But I have no special preference for their brightness per se. All colours are essential, bright or soft. It is their quality that varies and requires assessment. CL
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The picture of Christopher Lloyd’s shirts on the cover is a strong image which instantly tells the story of Christo’s love of colour - such a strong element of everything that Dixter is - exuberance and colour…. And no rules…. And the fact the shirts are not from one posh retailer is an added element - he just loved the colour regardless of where it came from. I am sure lots of these were bought for him by friends yet another strong part of Christo’s world - friendships. Words by Sarah Seymour, cover photographs by Fergus Garrett.
Produced by Linda Jones Designed by Helen Bratby Printed by Pureprint
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Great Dixter Charitable Trust Northiam, TN31 6PH
www.greatdixter.co.uk 01797 254048