Christopher Lloyd: his Guardian columns

If you're a fan of Christopher Lloyd, several years of his columns for the Guardian are on tap at this link. I stumbled on this mine of Lloydiana via a link on Jane Perrone's Horticultural blog. The kind of labor-intensive gardening practiced by Christo, and now by Fergus Garrett and the crew at Great Dixter, isn't exactly my cup of tea, but I've greatly enjoyed Lloyd's writing for almost 40 years (hard for me to believe it's been that long!). Don't get me wrong. I love the garden at Great Dixter - just don't want (can't) garden in that way.

You may also want to take a look at the wealth of gardening writing at the Guardian's Lifestyle link. You may as well go to the Guardian; rarely will you find a gardening column in the New York Times or most other American newspapers.

Enjoy!

Gardening with a Legacy: A Talk at the Museum of Garden History

In North America, we certainly have no Sissinghurst or Stowe, and relatively few gardens notable enough to give great concern about how they will survive after the passing of their owners. Nevertheless, consideration of the challenges presented by such gardens can reveal much about what is of value, and worth preserving, in a garden, even a new one, and what isn't.

Gardens Illustrated has made available a new podcast of a talk by Sir Roy Strong, former director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Fergus Garrett of Great Dixter. Here is GI's summary: "Sir Roy Strong, who created his garden The Laskett together with his late wife, and Fergus Garrett, head gardener at Great Dixter in Sussex (home to the late Christopher Lloyd) talk about their experiences of gardening with a legacy. They consider whether a garden can be expected to live beyond the life of its owner, and how to move a garden forward while respecting its heritage."

To download the podcast, go directly to the GI website. This podcast is near the bottom of the page.

Christopher Lloyd

My March copy of Gardens Illustrated arrived today. The cover features Christopher Lloyd as a new columnist, and inside is a continuation of an interview with him. Ironic timing and unfortunate since he died a few days ago. I remember when Phil and I visited Great Dixter in 1985. We passed him standing in the rose garden, talking to a young man. I was too shy to acknowledge him, much less try to start a conversation, but I'd been a reader of his books for a few years, and liked his prickly, opinionated style. He wrote about many plants I had no knowledge of, and that challenged me.

He changed the Great Dixter garden in many ways since I visited. Pulled up the rose garden and planted a tropical garden, I understand. And continued to make waves in the world of horticulture. In his first, and last, column in Gardens Illustrated, he writes of his interest in learning about the native flora in the places he visited - for example, learning that opuntias grow on the southern shores of Lake Michigan. "Nothing extraordinary about that you'll say, and possibly also add that many opuntias are extremely hardy," he writes. "But I wasn't born with that knowledge. The whole of life is a process of learning, which will only end with my death."

Great Dixter will continue through the efforts of The Great Dixter Charitable Trust.

Friends of Great Dixter
Great Dixter House and Gardens