January 2025 Talk: Succession Planting for a Long Season

Our first meeting of 2025 was very well attended. The speaker and the topic obviously attracted a good audience. The Show Table received a good selection of displays, with Jean’s a worthy winner of Best on the Table.

Our speaker, Fergus Garrett, the highly influential plantsman and horticulturalist, has been Head Gardener at the internationally acclaimed Great Dixter Garden in Northiam, East Sussex since 1993 and is the CEO of the Great Dixter Charitable Trust. He gave an excellent, wide-ranging talk on how to keep our gardens looking vibrant and spectacular all the year round. He explained how to plant for a long flowering season with plants co-existing in one place, but performing at different times. He used photographs of the spectacular gardens at Great Dixter to illustrate his points. He said Great Dixter had the advantage of scale and greenhouses but it is possible to scale down what they do at Great Dixter and use their scheme in our own gardens with minimal labour.

He particularly used the magnificent long border at Great Dixter as an example of how to plan a long flowering season. How to use structural under-planting, interlaying and interplanting with bulbs, self-sowers, perennials, clumps of bedding plants and climbers.

Fergus described how you need to choose the right plant, and take into account local climate, soil type and aspect. Also shape, texture and foliage from different seasons. To show plants off, combine them in contrasting shapes and textures. For example, plant bulbs such as crocuses for early winter flowering followed by daffodils which flower later, followed by summer and autumn flowering perennials. At the end of the season, mulch and analyse what needs to be done for the following year and what to add in the bare patches.

Fergus said they use a wide variety of perennials including Crocosmia, Daylillies, Japanese Anemones and Echinacea as well as Poppies. He particularly likes Rodgersia Pinnata ‘Maurice Mason’ with its long season. After flowering, its leaves gradually change into glorious colours right into late autumn. Climbers such as Clematis can play an important role in growing up walls, pergolas and through shrubs. But use the smaller varieties for the latter so they don’t smother the bushes. Beware plants such as alliums which have long straggly leaves after flowering. Don’t plant ground cover plants next to them as their leaves will smother them and they will die.

At question time, one member asked why was there no evidence in Fergus’ photographs of slug damage. He explained that over the years, they have used standard treatments for the time, from traditional slug repellents such as blue pellets, nematodes etc but now they find that the wide range of plants they use attract a wide range of wildlife where predators deal with garden pests.

Many members have recently been on the CABAHS coach trip to Great Dixter. But for those who haven’t yet been there, it’s well worth a visit, as is its part fifteenth century house, particularly to get some ideas for a long flowering season.

Angela B