Joe Whelan walks with me along a heather lined path though Nyman’s gardens. He suddenly stoops to move a wooden bench a bit further along the lawn to avoid patches being worn in the grass by people’s feet.
This is the dedication of Nyman’s Head Gardener: Attention to detail, every inch of the estate given thoughtful attention and a friendly efficiency.
“Being a Head Gardener is no longer just being in the garden: it is about managing the staff, strategic planning, funding proposals and dealing with 450,000 visitors a year!”
This is Joe’s tenth year at Nymans and he has the entire garden in his mind, and under control. “ Even in Winter now we have to have the garden looking great as visiting numbers have picked up all year round now.”
We start our tour at the side of the wildflower meadow which has a triple SSSI rating with over 30 species of wildflowers living there. “ We lost nearly 500 trees in the storms of ’87 and though there were some rare and wonderful trees that are gone, it did have the benefit of opening up the garden. We can plant a lot more species now than when it was more of a woodland garden. Along here, we are resowing the area with more meadow flowers to link up the whole garden with natural corridors.”
We pass a giant redwood growing just off the ancient Line tree avenue. We see a hole that has been hollowed into the bark. Joe thinks it could be a bat home.
“Down there in the woodland is another Red Woodwind which is the tallest tree in Sussex!”
We move along the Lime tree avenue which Joe says is on the way out as they are old and may only last 20 more years. They give way to a magnificent view of the Downs.
We make our way to the a project interrupted by Covid, now complete, which is a magical garden of pots, Australian Tree Ferns and corten steel screens. This shell was once one of the Manor houses burnt down in 1947. Sadly it contained the second largest collection of Horticultural books in the world.”
Called The Garden in the Ruins, the National Trust have taken the Great Hall and turned it into a living artistic museum of many of the variations of plants named after Nyman’s gardens over the years. Joe gets his keys out and unlocks the main door- it is not opened to the public unless a volunteer attendant can be present. We enter into a grand space of sandstone and brick walls, without windows or a roof.
“This mansion was built in the 30’s by the Messel family as a homage to Medieval mansions but burnt down just 20 years later. “ The whole space is planted with main motifs of Nymans- the Shuttlecock Fern and the Lebanese Cedar. Nick goes onto explain: “ We have the Royal Fern in pots here that have come from the original ferns planted at Nymans, and that Camellia is Camellia Leonard Messel. I also want to play sound recordings that accompanied Oliver Messi’s set designs for the Royal Ballet from the 30’s-50’s.”
We leave this powerful, surreal space and Joe explains that he grew up in Ireland and trained in Dublin’s National Botanic Gardens. “I manage 12 full-time gardeners and 25 volunteers. One of our volunteers worked here professionally for 52 years! It is great to draw on their knowledge of the place.”
We make our way to the walled garden, that protects a special Chilean collection of plants. Great Magnolias tower over the planting. Even Magnolia stellata, normally a small, slow-growing shrub in domestic gardens, is a vast 10 metres high. Though they will have finished flowering by May at the latest, Rhododendrons and Azaleas will come into their own, as well as Japanese Acers.
We come to a great flowering white Cherry tree and Joe speaks in a reverent tone of voice. “ This is Prunus Thai-Haku (Great White). This thousands of year old cultivar went extinct in Japan until it was discovered in a garden in Sussex by Collingwood Ingram as the only remaining tree of its kind. It was able to be propagated and now is thriving back in it’s homeland!”
As we finish our walk, having traversed only a tiny fraction of the 35
acres of garden and wild garden, not to mention the 300 areas of woodland, Joe sums up the importance of the garden.
“We are a true heritage asset, with over 40 champion trees and rare trees that are endangered in the wild. We also want to be dynamic and plant over 4000 plants each year in the borders. We are always experimenting with varieties and combinations just like the Edwardians did.”
Joe laments the way climate change has made the summers hotter and the Winters extremely wet “Soon the Rhododendrons will start dying off. One option is we move them to gardens in South Wales!”
To finish our tour, he takes me to the greenhouse where the staff protect Winter fragile plants, store Dahlias and grow on the summer bedding. “ This is the heart of the garden- the engine room”.
The variety, age and preciousness of the plant collection here is impressive as are the way the garden is laid out, with different atmospheres created in each of the areas.
What to do in April
Start hoeing any bare areas of earth before the weds take hold – if you do this once a week you will be weed free all year
Sow sow sow. A lot of your summer vegetables can be sown directly into the ground now
Mulch your beds with compost and bark chips to seal in the moisture from winter and prevent growth of new weed seeds
Feed all your shrubs and roses with a handful of bonemeal dug about an inch deep around the base of each plant.
Feed iron loving plants that are grown in pots with some Iron Fertilizer. Not too late to give Dogwood and Willow and big cut back
You can apply both Moss Kill and Braadleaf weed killer to your lawns –wait a coupe of weeks then vigorously rake out all the dead thatch. You can also reseed the lawn where there are obvious patches. Consider
You can sow annuals indoors or in your greenhouse – rather than that trip to the supermarket you could try growing Marigolds and Lobelia in trays
Where to visit in April
A visit to Leonardslee gardens should be number one on your list. It is now open to the public and will be at its peak of beauty!
Also Nyman’s of course!
Nymans, Handcross, Haywards Heath RH17 6EB. 10.am to 5pm every day
