The next day we chugged along to Sissinghurst in Kent. I was excited to visit here, but after visiting in both spring and summer this year and being flabbergasted, I had prepared myself for the worst. Thankfully this was all the stuff of nonsense, as it seems the great beauty and romance of this garden extends all the way to the death of the season, with the threat of frosts looming that very evening! Like Hidcote, Sissinghurst is just a wonderful place to be, and particularly on a sunny day with the light streaming in and shadows being cast by the old walls and tower. The plantings here are consistently incredible. They always seem to have some jolly interesting this or that on the go, not generally seen in other gardens! Gomphocarpus physocarpus 'Hairy Balls' immediately springs to mind, or Althaea cannabina, a huge bushy Hollyhock seen flowering in the Rose Garden. The Cottage Garden, gracefully positioned out front of South Cottage, remains one of the best areas I have ever seen!
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| The castle entrance |
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| Tower Lawn. 78 steps to the top of the tower! VSW’s study is halfway up |
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| View across from the Purple Border |
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| Salvia leucantha in the Purple Border. So often at the end of the season the salvias are being made to do all of the legwork, but when they look this good it’s easy to understand why! |
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| View from the White Garden archway to Lower Courtyard. The lawns appear a bit worn due to the scarification that had taken place on the previous day |
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| Solanum jasminoides ‘Album’, scurrying over an arch in the White Garden. This space was originally a rose garden dating from 1931, but in 1950 Harold & Vita decided to chuck the roses |
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| The Rose Garden looking pleasingly full |
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| Scabiosa ‘Butterfly Blue’ in the Rose Garden. This was completely covered in blooms both now and way back in August when I last visited. Splendid plant! |
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| Greetings from the Cottage Garden! |
4 comments:
Dear Bertie - it is amazing how good the gardens are still looking in October. I love Sissinghurst -very inspirational, but quite a few years since I last visited.
You've been to Sissinghurst twice and it looks like another private visit. I do think that's the way to see it and I'm a very attractive pea green at the moment.
Enchanting. Your photographs are wonderful and capture the soft veil of Autumn. A perfect day for any gardener would be to sit with the gent in the cottage garden and talk about the longevity of Sissinghurst, the plantings and of course the spirit of the owners that seems to still be there!
You look quite comfortable in Harold's chair. Oh, to have awakened, supped and lived in such a place!
I am still savoring the last pages of Tony Lord's Sissinghurst book, and seeing it here in your post makes me think it is truly a REAL place, not just a thing of my dreams. It is at the top of my UK visit list... beside Hidcote of course. :)
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