MARCHANTS HARDY PLANTS is quietly tucked away on a small Sussex lane, the two-acre site drifting gently into surrounding farmland and the distant smudge of the South Downs. It looks unassuming, yet this nursery is extraordinary. Marchants does not offer a mail-order service; you must visit in person and, pushing through the small gate, you are instantly wrapped in colour, vigour and exuberance that would rival a flower show. There are no militaristic alphabetical rows, no forlorn-looking imports. The brick raised beds, about knee height, are stacked with flowering plants in generous pots, artfully put together for contrast in colour, form and texture: a golden Calamagrostis brachytricha interlaces fingers with Oenothera lindheimeri, as crimson tips of Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’ pick out the deep red in Persicaria ‘Blackfield’ and Sanguisorba ‘Cangshan Cranberry’. Each grouping is guided by conditions the plants prefer and companions with which they might happily live.
Towards the back of the nursery is a striking shade area built in oak, where a bevy of mouthwatering ferns jostles for space. There are more than 600 varieties of plant on offer and, astonishingly, every single one is propagated on site from the billowing garden that slopes south-west from the nursery area. If you are wondering how tall your Pennisetum ‘Black Beauty’ might become, simply wander down the grassy paths between the curving beds and there it is, waving at you.
Denne historien er fra September 27, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra September 27, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
