It’s that time of year again at Great Dixter House and Garden at Northiam. The meadows are being mowed. The long straggly grass and seed filled plants have been put to the chop by a team of determined gardeners and some interesting equipment, both motorised and manual. Very hard work, too. The grass is long and tough, dried in this heatwave of a summer to a brown sward.
The meadows round the house, stretching out as you enter the front gate and across the topiary lawn at the back, just two of the ones you see across the garden, are a joy to behold in the spring, full of flower and colour, delicate crocus, blue and white camassias, orchids as well, and as the seasons progress they all set seed and, to some tastes, give an untidy appearance to the gardens.
Not so, the seed must set, the yellow rattle must do its work keeping the grasses under control and the whole cycle of growth must be repeated. In this way, new plants appear, the orchids colonise more, the house basks in its surrounding gardens and the topiary lawn, once a flat mowed green space, grows into a colourful and altogether wilder place.
Come and see it, whatever the season. The meadows are now shaven and neat, ready for autumn and winter and then to burst into exuberant life as spring comes again, as it inevitably will.
Great Dixter House and Garden: Open Tuesday to Sunday and Bank Holidays
The gardens are open between 11am and 5pm
The House is open between 12 noon and 4pm
The Nursery is open Monday to Sunday 9am to 5pm
Image Credits: Gillian Roder .