Go South 7 – Nymans

This is the last of my “Go South” posts and as promised it features a garden. Well after all those coastal posts in this series it was only a matter of time before we visited a garden. And boy what a garden it was!

Nymans was created by one of the great supporters of the English plant collectors and it shows in the variety of plants and in the difficulty in identifying some of them.

Nymans is a garden to delight any plantsman who will leave with a list of must-haves. It will also make any good gardener desire his very own areboretum just to plant the rare and special trees spotted at Nymans.

I am not a great fan of coniferous evergreens but these three display diversity in their foliage colour and in their structure and shape.

In the shade of deciduous trees the shapes of their trunks are revealed.

Walking around this varied and surprising garden is like walking through the pages of a good book on garden design. Here you can find every principle of design shown in all its glory. Any gardener, whatever the size of their garden could adapt ideas to be found on a walk about at Nymans.

Framing a view …..

Using a structure to invite you onwards ….

Planting in trios ………………..

Drawing the eye …………

Using structures as an invitation and to support plants to provide shade from the sun ……………

Much of the house belonging to the gardens at Nymans is now in ruins, but they somehow suit the garden. They provide a good foil for planting.

The ruins provided some oportunities to photograph little details and patterns.

But the gardens of Nymans aren’t all about big views and big trees. Richly coloured traditionally proportioned double herbaceous borders excite the eye of the visitor.

There was so much to see at Nymans that another post will appear soon.