02/06/08

The BBC series The World Garden showed adventurous plantsmanTom Hart Dyke battle to turn his families Stately Home Garden at Lullingstone Castle into a must visit garden tourism attraction. The idea was simple but brilliant; lay out a world map, and fill each continent with plants that originate from that area. After much trials and tribulations the garden began to take shape and a few years later the garden is a popular attraction for plant lovers from across the UK and from further afield.

1,088 visitors poured through the ancient gates of Lullingstone Castle on Sunday 11th May to attend Tom Hart Dyke’s annual Plant Fair. With 22 of the county’s top nurseries in attendance, the Plant Fair drew in specialist plant hunters from across Kent and Sussex. And despite rocketing temperatures plant hunters continued to brave the Brands Hatch traffic queues to attend the fair at Lullingstone.

At 94.6 degrees ‘Hot & Spikey’ – Tom Hart Dyke’s new Cactus House was literally steaming. And at 27 degrees the heat in the World Garden on Sunday 11th May was too much for some.

Tom says: ‘it was too hot for some people – we had an ambulance for someone who was overcome by the heat, but 1,088 people were definitely up for it! The local ‘Plant Hunters’ were back looking for plants, they knew their stuff which is great for me – I’d never met half the people but as soon as we spoke about plants it was like meeting an old friend’.

The Plant Fair featured Chelsea Gold Medal winners and specialist growers such as Dysons of Sevenoaks, The Old Walled Garden from Tonbridge, Iris of Sissinghurst and Downderry from Hadlow.

  Sue Marshall from Iris of Sissinghurst unveiled a new species of Iris named after the Kentish village of Cranbrook. Sue said: ‘We came last year to Tom’s plant fair and the stall was stripped bare by lunchtime so we came better prepared this year. We also brought along Cranbrook a new Iris bred by Olga Wells. Olga has a new range of Iris’s prefaced by the names Wealdon and Invicta.’
 

Credit: Press Contact / Lullingstone Castle