MATTHEW WILSON ~ GARDEN DESIGN IN SUSSEX

Matthew Wilson designed Dry Garden at Hyde Hall in Essex in 2000 to showcase species that survive in drought-prone areas. This area in Essex has less that 600mm of rain per year.

The ground was worked into mounds and terraces using builders' rubble and local clay. The garden was created around a hard landscaping of gravel, huge glacial rock, and drystone walls. Grit and stone washed pebble was added.

At this point Wilson let the seeds land as they may, believing that the flowers would grow where they wanted to, balancing out the garden. He noticed that the outcome resulted in stronger plants that were growing in a more naturalistic way.

Wilson planted Verbascum bombyciferum, Perovski, achillea, and wself-seeded Eryngium planum. A Stipa tenuissima were hugging rocks, and larger plants such as yuka, palms and conifers grew in the background. Wilson admits that it took two years for the garden to become self-supporting.

Wilson is director of Clifton Nurseries in Little Venice, west London, a historic garden. ENJOY!

love-in-the-mist ~ Nigella damascena

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House and Garden UK July 2011