At The Lewisham Garden Company Ltd, we believe that every garden, regardless of size, deserves to be a place of beauty, interest, and joy year-round. This isn’t just about selling plants; it’s rooted in the very best traditions of British horticulture—lessons I was fortunate enough to absorb earlier this year during a six-month stint at Great Dixter.
Great Dixter, the historic East Sussex home of the late gardening writer Christopher Lloyd, and currently led by Head Gardener Fergus Garrett, is widely considered one of the world’s most influential gardens. While my role was in supporting the garden, I was able to spend time with the gardening teams, witnessing the continuous, meticulous work that underpins this great garden.
What I learned there translates perfectly to creating stunning, high-impact spaces right here in Lewisham’s suburban gardens.
Great Gardens Are Never Truly Asleep
When I arrived at the end of November, many people assume the garden is “shut down” for winter. Nothing could be further from the truth. The first and most profound lesson I took from Dixter is this: great gardens never stop.
While the summer borders were fading, the team were busy with crucial work. Hedges received their final, precise clipping when the weather allowed, while cold, wet days were spent potting bulbs, spring flowering annuals and preparing containers for the spring rush. This constant, thoughtful effort—the right job at the right time—creates stunning displays in the following summer.
The All-Year Garden: Interest for Ten Months
The second revelation was the unrelenting duration of the floral show. By late December, the first Crocus were already peeking through the “Front Lawn/Meadow”. As the winter came to an end, it was the scented shrubs that truly captivated. The honey-sweet scent of Christmas Box (Sarcococca) and Winter Sweet (Chimonanthus praecox) created pockets of intense delight in the greyest of months.
This lesson is priceless for a suburban garden. We can’t replicate the scale of Dixter, but we can capture its intensity. A well-positioned fragrant shrub near a front door or footpath provides an unexpected moment of sensory joy in February, brightening your day when you arrive home.
Summer Blooms Are Grown in Winter
Perhaps the most valuable lesson was understanding the timeline of true horticultural abundance. If you want your borders overflowing with colour in April, May, and June, the work to achieve that happens four to six months before.
Throughout the winter, perennial plants are divided and replanted, while the key annuals that provide such important colour, such as poppies and sweet peas, are being sown and potted up. These young plants spend the cold months in cold frames, checked every morning and nurtured daily to ensure they are growing strong. The spectacular abundance of the summer garden is the reward of this intensive winter effort.
While you likely don’t have the time, space, or large cold frames needed to grow dozens of annuals from seed in your Lewisham garden, we do. At The Lewisham Garden Company Ltd, we grow our own stock of high-impact annuals, ensuring they are perfectly timed and robust for planting in your borders. When we do need more, we always look to purchase from local suppliers to ensure your beds are completely filled with vibrant, healthy colour.
The lasting impact of my time at Dixter wasn’t about exotic planting schemes; it was about the discipline, attention to detail, and a commitment to year-round structure and interest. This is the elevated approach we bring to every planting scheme we develop for our clients.
Ready to incorporate the intensity and year-round beauty of this world-class gardening approach into your own space? See how our Planting & Design Services can transform your garden from a summer-only affair into a ten-month triumph.
If you’d like to explore the extraordinary original source of this inspiration, you can plan a visit or learn more about the charitable trust on the Great Dixter website.
