Iconic Gardens Mark Lane explores the

Mark Lane explores the gardens of Gravetye Manor, former home of William Robinson, the visionary Victorian gardener who pioneered both ‘wild’ and cottage gardening

Gravetye’s borders brim with planting in a glorious ‘grand cottage garden’ style, now cared for by head gardener Tom Coward. G ravetye Manor, set in a 1,000-acre estate in the small hamlet of West Hoathly, Sussex, was built in 1598 and became the home of plantsman and author William Robinson in 1885. Over 50 years, Robinson developed a garden of incredible natural beauty around it. He is renowned for his wild garden, and at Gravetye encouraged naturalistic plantings, both native and exotic, that merge together to reflect the wildness of Ashdown Forest and the countryside of the Sussex Weald.

Gravetye’s 35-acre garden was William Robinson’s laboratory, where he experimented with plants and plant combinations, leaving not a patch of bare soil to be seen. In recent years, head gardener Tom Coward has lovingly cared for the gardens, with an emphasis on the feel of the garden rather than a static interpretation. Tom uses some plants that William Robinson would not have known, yet still creates a sense of atmosphere and place. As Coward explains: “It’s about progressive conservation rather than preservation.”

Robinson felt traditional gardening, where plants increase in size towards the back of the border, was ‘unimaginative’, so he varied heights and put some taller plants at the front. This naturalistic style is found everywhere today, and it’s an approach we owe to him. He created the ideal English garden with mixed borders, wild meadows, orchards, a lake and a walled kitchen garden. These are spaces that look good for most of the year, with seedheads left over the winter months for atmospheric eect.

Above No tiers: plants are arranged in natural groups, their heights mixed up rather than decreasing to the front. Below A jumble of ‘Pam’s Choice’ foxgloves and Aquilegia chrysantha ‘Yellow Queen’.

The Flower Garden, where the former lawn once was, is close to the house and comprises four quadrants of lawn surrounded by mixed borders, divided by Yorkstone flag pathways. Unlike Hidcote, which is inward-looking, Gravetye sits within its landscape, enjoying vistas out across wildflower meadows from spring to midsummer, and the view of the landscape is as important as the garden itself.

The wilder parts of the garden sit comfortably with the informal planting of the mixed borders, and are testament to Robinson’s understanding of plants, how to use them and how to create a thing of beauty from a pulsating mix of bulbs, herbaceous perennials, wildflowers, shrubs and trees. His style rejected formal bedding displays in blocks of colour that would be removed every autumn with the earth left bare until the following spring. Robinson’s books The Wild Garden and The English Flower Garden , are just two of many published works, but oer the perfect insight into a most fascinating man and one of the most beautiful gardens in the country.

Robinson blurred the line between garden plant and wildflower, mixing the two with aplomb

Red valerian is a pretty perennial wildflower, perfect for mixed borders and naturalising, with flowers from late spring.

Dense yet delicate umbels of myriad tiny white flowers. Perfect as a subtle architectural plant, it reaches 90cm tall.

Red-flowered viper’s grass has burgundy flowers all the way up its spikes. It’s 60cm tall and perfect for pollinators.

Ideal for wildflower meadows and pollinators, with tall stems clothed in starry blue flowers in April and May.

A stunning semi-double version of the meadow buttercup in vivid yellow.

Nodding, star-shaped, Prussian-blue bells, invaluable for early spring colour are produced by this resilient bulb.

This perennial produces arching spikes of soft-pink flowers throughout summer.

The beautiful dove or handkerchief tree is known for the large white bracts that surround its insignificant green flowers.

An eye-catching clematis with rich-red trumpet flowers, blooming in late summer.

A key feature at Gravetye Manor is the intensive, successionally planted mixed borders found in the Flower Garden. These borders, used by the hotel (which now owns the Manor) and its restaurant for outside dining, contribute to the perfect setting, but, more importantly, they are perfect examples of William Robinson’s and Tom Coward’s planting.

The borders are full to the brim with gorgeous plants ranging in height, shape and form, all arranged in a naturalistic way, which, in Robinson’s time, was a new concept: a rebellion against neatly planted bedding displays. Although this style of planting is very popular today, and may not turn

so many heads for being new, it remains a stunning example of a moment in garden design history. And with new planting and groupings introduced yearon-year, Tom keeps it fresh, exciting, relaxed and quintessentially British.

Early in the year tulips fi ll the borders along with other spring-fl owering plants. Of note are Tulipa ‘Menton’ with coral, egg-shaped blooms on tall, sturdy stems; Tulipa ‘Dordogne’ with rose petals and satsuma orange edges, which gently twist as the fl ower ages; and Tulipa ‘Blue Aimable’, which is a complete contrast with its lavender-mauve shades and hints of purple-blue. Lit up by a low spring sun, these tulips sparkle within the borders.

A favourite plant of Tom’s is the eastern bluestar or Amsonia tabernaemontana var. salicifolia , which has an open, airy habit of willowy stems topped with clusters of piercing-blue, star-shaped fl owers. For additional height in early summer, there are spires of Digitalis ‘Pam’s Choice’, its fl owers speckled with a rich maroon that often becomes a solid fi ngerprint of colour inside their throats. Reaching 1.5m in height, it grows alongside Digitalis purpurea ‘Sutton’s Apricot’, whose apricot-pink fl ower spikes reach 1m. This continuation of colour through tulips and foxgloves unites the borders as one cohesive garden, while at the same time it feels as if they have selfseeded themselves in a wild and natural way.

Above Around its quadrants of lawn, the Flower Garden’s borders jostle with a wide-ranging mix of perennials and shrubs.

1 With its arching stems of pink fl owers Persicaria orientalis always brings an informal feel. 2 Dahlia ‘Magenta Star’ adds real vibrancy, its fl owers and foliage as bold as each other. 3 Slender wands of coral fl owers on Salvia confertiflora . 4 Vivid orange Dahlia ‘David Howard’. 5 Bronze fennel gently seeds around to create a natural look; its yellow fl owers are adored by pollinators. 6 The blue-green foliage and dainty hips of Rosa glauca . 7 Fill gaps with sowings of Rudbeckia hirta ‘Autumn Colours’.

In summer the borders are a riot of colour with taller plants swaying in the wind, while mixers and groundcover plants link everything together. Geraniums such as G. psilostemon , with its black-centred, vivid magenta fl owers, form loose hummocks at 1.2m. Later in the season, Dahlia ‘Magenta Star’ continues the theme, with its magenta-pink blooms and a central, dark-red disc ringed by golden anthers atop tall dark stems and foliage. Ornamental grasses with their green leaves and oat-coloured fl owers catch both wind and sun and include Stipa tenuissima and Stipa gigantea . From July to October, long, fat spikes of rich red fl owers are carried on slender stems above Persicaria ‘Fat Domino’, which covers the soil and sends up nodding infl orescences. Annuals such as cosmos, tagetes and cornfl ower Centaurea cyanus fi ll gaps, while late colour comes from Helenium ‘Sahin’s Early Flowerer’ with yellow petals splashed with burnt orange. The short-lived perennial Rudbeckia hirta ‘Autumn Colours’ has large, daisy-like fl owers in shades of orange, ochre, red and yellow.

After William Robinson’s death in 1935 and until the lease was taken over from the Forestry Commission and it was transformed into a countryhouse hotel, Gravetye was a forgotten and derelict site. Now, thanks to the continued eorts of Tom and his team, plants are centre stage once again, and the garden has been turned into a space like no other. Somewhere halfway between a wildfl ower meadow and a fl ower garden, it never seems to age.

Gravetye Manor, Vowels Lane, West Hoathly, Sussex RH19 4LJ. The garden is open to hotel and restaurant guests and you can usually book onto a garden tour in season –visit the website for updates. Tel: 01342 810567; gravetyemanor.co.uk

Recreating an ENGLISH GARDEN Choose star plants, or create a Gravetye-inspired planting scheme for a small space

Pennisetum macrourum , the African feather grass, is a beautiful ornamental grass, with mounds of linear leaves and long, narrow, bottlebrush-like flowerheads. Like many of the plants at Gravetye, this grass increases by the use of runners, adding to the wild, naturalistic feel. Team it with dahlias, eupatorium, echinacea and other late flowerers.

Verbena macdougalii ‘Lavender Spires’ is a great alternative to Verbena bonariensis, while also working brilliantly alongside it, with tall, branching spikes of deep-lavender flowers reaching a height of 1.6m. It makes the perfect vertical accent and it’s a firm favourite with butterflies.

Geranium himalayense ‘Gravetye’ is a compact variety with large purpleblue flowers boasting a reddish aura towards the centre. It will cover bare soil and looks particularly good planted under roses.

Patrinia scabiosifolia is an absolute jewel in the border and should be grown more in our gardens. Otherwise known as golden lace, it forms sprays of sulphuryellow flowers above long stems and ovate leaves. SHUTTERSTOCK; GAP/MARK BOLTON/JAN SMITH; ALAMY WEAVE A BORDER TAPESTRY Try combining Lupinus ‘Noble Maiden’ (above) with: Foeniculum vulgare ; Valeriana ocinalis and Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Blackfield’. Plant Hylotelephium ‘Matrona’ IMAGES with Persicaria bistorta at the front and underplant with tulips ‘Attila’ and ‘Negrita’ for spring. These will create a tapestry of colour and texture for months on end. Q

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