Our reputation is large but the garden at Marchants is actually quite small, just over an acre within our 2 acre site.
We have appeared in all major gardening periodicals and papers and a number of television programmes including ‘Gardener’s World’. In addition over a period of 15 years we have opened our garden to thousands of garden visitors, many from Europe and we have also supported a number of worthy local charities.
Marchants is currently being filmed for Great British Gardens, presented by Carol Klein, that we anticipate will air on Channel 5 in the autumn of 2020.
The sinuous profile of the South Downs provides the background to our garden and their dominance in the landscape has essentially provided the inspiration behind our garden making which has been to create a mixture of the formal by way of ‘organically’ clipped hedges versus our informal drift planting made up of our eclectic collection of Grasses and Herbaceous plants. These have been chosen and selected for their good constitution and for their lightness of touch. There are exceptions of course: Agapanthus in their different forms stand out in a plant crowd and are a major feature through summer/early autumn and flourish in our clay soil and south facing slope.
WINTER / SPRING. Our heavy soil is unfortunately too winter wet to make garden visits in winter possible. Ironically, the fine collection of Snowdrops we have built up and which kick starts the gardening year through January/February is rarely seen though we do hold an important two-day sale of up to 50 different varieties. Our small spring garden is home to a colourful tapestry of Hellebores, Snowflakes, Wood Anemones, Ferns, Lungworts and Snowdrops.
EARLY SUMMER. An exciting time for us as this is when we deem the garden ready to open, usually early May. Our many fine young trees grown in our meadows make an expanding backdrop to the burgeoning borders teeming with herbaceous and grasses growth and many will now be at their freshest as they unfurl their green cloaks. Camassia deliver another seasonal highlight usually flowering through May. Most are grown with ease in our meadows but special named forms are cosseted in our borders without competition from grass.
HIGH SUMMER / AUTUMN. Unlike drier soils our moisture retentive clay can sustain plants well through what is usually also the driest part of the year before the rains of Autumn arrive. Agapanthus prevail throughout the garden in their many blue hues and our herbaceous plants have been chosen for late colour and interest. The medley with their bedfellow grasses starts in august and culminates in a rich tapestry bustling with colour through September-October.
