I have gardened at Sissinghurst for more than 30 years, and as we lead up to 2030 – which marks the centenary of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson buying Sissinghurst – and beyond, my focus is firmly planted on how we adapt as a heritage garden to the challenges of the future, particularly climate, in a rapidly shifting landscape of change.
You may also like:
- Sissinghurst head gardener Troy Scott Smith on his vision for the garden
- Meet Claire Margetts, the inaugural Sissinghurst Scholar
- How gardeners are adapting to climate change
- 6 ways you need to change how you garden for climate change
I was recently reminded of the past with a visit from Sibylle Kreutzberger. Sibylle and Pam Schwerdt were Sissinghurst’s joint head gardeners from 1959 until their retirement in 1991. Sibylle’s visit was the first time she had returned for 32 years. It was fascinating to compare our challenges today with those she faced more than 50 years ago. She pondered, carefully, each area where we may need to replace the soil and plants completely, saying: “It would be a brave and I dare say controversial action to take!’ I was thrilled that she liked our new additions of Delos and the Vegetable Garden, declaring them “triumphs”.
At Sissinghurst, past, present and future should all equally co-exist. It's not change that matters, but the nature of that change. In the Nuttery, for example, Vita and Harold’s multi-coloured polyanthus, planted in the early 1930s, were removed in the 1970s because of poor soil health and replaced with a magical woodland planting; a scheme fully accepted by visitors as authentic to Sissinghurst. Fifty years later, the Matteuccia and Onoclea ferns of that woodland planting shrivel in the dry heat, the trilliums retreat and eventually disappear and even the nut trees themselves, probably planted in the late 19th century, are beginning to struggle.
The plants at Sissinghurst are part of our historic collection, that also includes our furniture, our objects and our books, and therefore we should do everything to preserve the historic cultivars and plant choices that Vita made. However, if we dig deeper, it is not just the actual plants, but their arrangement and how they
are managed that provides the unique character and distinctive qualities of
Vita and Harold’s garden. This, then, provides an opportunity for us to think of derivatives and alternatives for the ferns in the Nuttery, for example, yet
still create the same emotional intensity in the garden that Vita achieved.
We want to live lightly on the land, and garden in a responsible and sustainable way.
Over the previous six years, in response to the dual crises of global climate change and biodiversity loss, we had been adopting more sustainable horticultural practices.
As such, our policies around garden management and plant choices are shaped by these ambitions. The question of irrigation is fundamental to everything else. Since 2021 we have proactively not irrigated, but our thinking continues to evolve. Sissinghurst is itself a work of art and part of our living cultural heritage, and therefore an argument could be made that it is worth the installation of water harvesting and automated delivery infrastructure to protect and sustain it as a world-important garden and demonstrate the power of sustainable gardening in the heritage context.
Over the previous six years, in response to the dual crises of global climate change and biodiversity loss, we had been adopting more sustainable horticultural practices. We followed this in 2022 and 2023 by undertaking a baseline biodiversity audit of the garden, the implementation of which we deem critical not only to better understand the overall ecology and to identify opportunities for biodiversity enhancement, but also as a tool to ensure the health and resilience of the garden in a changing climate.
Big decisions for the long term
Adopting a flexible approach is vital if we are to continue gardening here in a way Vita Sackville- West would have recognised. Adaptations must always be sensitively balanced with historical integrity. The effective long-term management of the plant collection is about balancing maturity and youth and maintaining the appropriate scale and proportion, particularly in a garden like Sissinghurst, with small-scale intimate ‘rooms’.
We want to live lightly on the land, and garden in a responsible and sustainable way.
One of several questions my team and I are pondering at the moment is when to prune the yews in the Cottage Garden. Planted by Vita and Harold Nicolson in the 1930s, they have become increasingly oversized for the space. Unlike a hedge, where you would bone back one side and the top, then wait a few years before boning back the remaining side, the free-standing yews are pruned all in one go. Although we can expect new growth the following year, the yews won’t reach their perfect size and shape for several years following pruning.
Gardening is a cyclical artform. We are thinking both short term with presentation tasks that occur weekly or once a year, such as rose pruning, but at the same time we are also thinking longer term and more strategically.
We must constantly navigate the intersection between what was, what is and what might be. To create a pastiche or an ossified facsimile of Vita’s Sissinghurst would be missing the point. We should be open-minded about change and what authenticity is in the Sissinghurst of the future.
Useful information
- Address Sissinghurst Castle, Biddenden Road, nr Cranbrook, Kent TN17 2AB. Tel 01580 710700.
- Web nationaltrust.org.uk/sissinghurst
- Open Gardens open daily 11am-5.30pm.
- Admission £17.
- Follow Troy on Instagram @troyscottsmith1
