Lured away from my desk earlier this week by a beautiful golden afternoon that was far too nice to be spent in front of a computer, I visited the iconic gardens of Great Dixter in Kent.
It was a glorious mixture of brilliant and inspiring colour in containers and borders, luscious planting combinations and wildly wonderful and over-the-top plants in the exotic garden. There were also some reassuringly ‘gone-over’ or scruffy areas which show that this is first and foremost a real garden rather than a show-piece.
There was so much to see and enjoy, including a path that was lined with Aster lateriflorus ‘Lady in Black’ (available from Crocus ) – a haze of tiny white flowers that was emitting a noisy hum from the huge quantities of bees that were busily gathering pollen.
Treat yourself and visit the gardens before they close on October 25th.
