Harry Hoblyn – ‘Sweet Disorder’ – managing the Garden at Charleston

Harry describes how the team manage the garden at Charleston in order to fulfil Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell’s vision for “sweet disorder”. The garden at Charleston, Sussex is an “artist’s garden”, a creation of the Bloomsbury Group, full of cottage garden romanticism and vibrancy, but one that also feels some relatable to its visitors on account of its relatively manageable domestic size.

Harry talks about how the team manage the garden there and describe how a complex layering of trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials, bulbs, dahlias, annuals and biennials are grown together to create a rich medley of colourful plants. He offerd practical strategies on: pruning of trees, shrubs, and roses; propagation; use of self-seeders; bulb management; seasonal cutbacks; creating naturalistic plant supports; & successional planting.