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Anyone who thinks that gardening begins in the spring and ends in the fall is missing the best part of the whole year. For gardening begins in January with the dream.
Josephine Nuese
The Country Garden
Dear Friends,
January has been rainy and grey, interspersed with a few sparkly blue days that have kept our spirits high. Though the ground is sodden (an understatement) the garden this week turned the corner from ‘bleak midwinter’: Cyclamen are at their peak in the Walled Garden and are starting to bloom in the upper Nut Walk; hellebores are beginning to bloom in earnest; the chimonanthus is pushing out its first fragrant blossoms; and bulbs are starting to break through the wet earth throughout. The first aconites have started blooming, and soon there will be a carpet of bright yellow beneath the Dawn Redwood, dotted with a sprinkling of primroses and snowdrops. Daphnes, honeysuckle, viburnum, and sweet box are filling the air with their perfumes, while the winter blooming camellias are still going strong.
Though some might consider these blossoms signs of spring they are really signs of winter and how beautiful winter can be in a garden. Some say they like to see gardens in winter because it is the best time of year to see their structure, and at Denmans that is true: Its structure is more apparent, but here the garden continues to be about texture, shape, form, and colour just as it is the rest of the year. The garden’s winter beauty is one of the great legacies of both John Brookes and Joyce Robinson.
We will be celebrating the beauty of winter next month by partnering with the Sussex Snowdrop Trust who are celebrating 30 years of providing ‘Nursing Care at Home’ for local children with life-threatening or terminal illnesses. The Trust will kick off their anniversary with a creative snowdrop photography competition open to young and old and the winners will be announced at Denmans on Saturday, 18th February, at a special event. On that day, visitors will be able to enjoy snowdrops as they wander through the garden (we planted 1,000 last autumn specifically for this event) and then gather at Midpines Café to hear more about the Trust’s work, admire the exhibition of the winning photographs, and learn who has won the competition.
Anyone who would like to take part can submit their photos of snowdrops to the Snowdrop Trust online by 31st January. Details can be found here so start snapping! The event is free though we ask for a donation to attend and to visit the garden on the day. You can register to attend here. All donations will go to support the Trust.
Also in support of the Trust, I will be giving a talk on Monday, 20th February, about ‘The Promise of the Spring Garden’. Tickets are limited and proceeds will go to the Trust. There is more information and booking details here. I encourage all of you who are local to come support this fantastic charity!
I will also be giving a talk for the National Garden Scheme which continues its popular online talks with a spring series beginning next month. We are especially delighted that Denmans will be included as this year marks the 50th anniversary of John Brookes’ discovery of Denmans and Mrs. Robinson through the NGS Yellow Book. The talk is on Tuesday, 21st February, at 7pm and is called ‘Breaking with Tradition: A Modernist comes to Sussex’. For more information and to book click here. The proceeds of the talk will go to the NGS.
Meanwhile, artist-in-Residence, Jo Dowers, is enjoying painting in plein air though the wet and windy weather has made it more challenging than perhaps she’d like. She writes about her experience this month, saying that she has been inspired by ‘by the loose work of the French watercolourist Raoul Dufy as well as the beautiful watercolours by Paul Klee from his travels to Tunisia and Ivon Hitchens’ impressive large scale semi-abstract paintings’. You can read Jo’s blog here.
Jo will give the first of her popular 2023 watercolour workshops, a ‘Winter Landscape’, on Thursday 19th, Friday 20th, or Saturday 21st January from 10am to 1pm, followed by an “Introduction to Loose Watercolour Florals” in February. As always, there is more information on our Events page here.
Meanwhile, several of Sue England’s prints are for sale in the Café. Her prints are stunning and very different to the paintings she created during her year’s residency here at Denmans.
And speaking of the Café, Midpines will be serving Sunday Roasts from 15 January. I was lucky enough to sample their roasties and they are absolutely addictive, so book now for a delicious Sunday Roast after a walk through the garden to see the winter flowers. You will love it!
Happy new year!
Best,
Gwendolyn and the Denmans Team. |
