Dixter Delights

I managed to get to Great Dixter for its first ever winter open weekend (it doesn’t open properly until Easter) and wandered round in perfect weather. It was so still and warm that bees were everywhere and I even saw a Red Admiral butterfly flitting round the Barn Garden. It is fascinating to see a garden like this out of season – bare of foliage, the precise pruning and training of the fig is revealed, the cardoons look like benevolent triffids against an intensely blue sky, the tropical garden is all tucked up until risk of frost has passed and the serried ranks of plants in the nursery are an object lesson in prefect order.

Bubble wrap being used to protect plants throughout the winter.