Our visit to Great Comp Garden was blessed with perfect weather, and our group of 14 attendees was guided around the 7-acre garden by Christina, the senior gardener, who works with a team of 2 part-time gardeners together with a larger team of volunteers.
The garden dates from the late 1950’s and was developed from scratch by the owners who acquired this space together with the 16th Century house. The soil is in part acid, sandy, clay and greensand ridge, meaning planting has had many successes but some failures. In flower as we visited were many rhododendrons and azaleas, we were too late for the many magnolia trees that had already finished blooming.
The garden is set out in a semi-formal fashion in a variety of “rooms” each with their own style; often a folly ruin built by the owners forms the boundary between these rooms.
On our way we admired the splendid Katsura tree and an impressive Fastigiate Oak, wandered among splendid collections and shapes of conifer.
William Dyson, the Curator of the collection, also runs a specialist Salvia nursery on site and there are 250 varieties on offer, with more varieties still being developed. We were directed to a collection of 80 Rosemary varieties recently planted – and some of us learned that the rosemary family was now aligned as part of the Salvia group; Salvia Rosmarinus…which explains the connection with Great Comp.
The garden is always interesting and often surprising as one room leads to another and the mood changes so quickly. There were plants that “should not have survived outside in winter…but did; there was woodland and water. In all it was a huge pleasure and privilege to have been taken around by our very knowledgeable guide.
Before leaving the Great Comp many of our group enjoyed a refreshing cuppa and a slice of cake!