Friday 12th June 2026

Layered planting and the mixed border

10:00

15:00

£110.00

Fergus Garrett

Fergus Garrett will look at how to combine plants in borders of all sizes using colour, shape, texture, repetition and balance. Contemplating a variety of plant associations, he will break down this often daunting task into a more accessible and joyful endeavour.

Fergus Garrett trained in horticulture at Wye College, London University. He worked in Kent for Rosemary Alexander of the English Gardening School, for Beth Chatto at the Unusual Plants Nursery in Essex and then for the Sackler family at Cap d’Antibes and Gstaad. In 1992 he became head gardener at Great Dixter, working closely with Christopher Lloyd until Christopher’s death in 2006. Since then he has become Chief Executive of the Great Dixter Charitable Trust. Fergus works full-time, hands-on in the garden, as well as writing and lecturing extensively across the world.

40 in stock

Gardens that last - Planting for a long season

James Alexander-Sinclair FSGD is one of the foremost garden designers in the United Kingdom. He has designed gardens from Cornwall to the Western Isles and from London to Moscow. He is a full member of the Society of Garden Designers. He is an RHS Vice-President and was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal for outstanding contribution to horticulture in 2022. He is the RHS Ambassador for Garden Design and a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers

Managing two very different gardens - The Inner Temple and Lowther Castle

Andrea Brunsendorf’s training in botanical horticulture ranged from a traditional German apprenticeship, studying at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London to earning an MSc in Nature Conservation from UCL, interspersed with internships in South Africa, Botswana, Israel and the USA. Following her time at the Inner Temple Gardens she managed the 1000 acres of outdoor landscapes at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania before returning to the UK to take up current role managing the ongoing development of Lowther Castle and Garden.

Creating Vistas - Gardening with Views

James Alexander-Sinclair FSGLD is one of the foremost garden designers in the United Kingdom. He has designed gardens from Cornwall to the Western Isles and from London to Moscow. He is a full member of the Society of Garden Designers. He is an RHS Vice-President and was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal for outstanding contribution to horticulture in 2022. He is the RHS Ambassador for Garden Design and a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers.

An Abundance of Delicious Unusual Edibles

Mark Diacono has written a number of award-winning books, including A Year at Otter Farm and A Taste of the Unexpected (which both won Food Book of the Year for Andre Simon and the Guild of Food Writers), Sour (Food Book of the Year 2019 in The Sunday Times and Daily Mail), Herb and Spice. Known for growing everything from Szechuan pepper to pecans to Asian pears, Mark's refreshing approach to growing and eating has done much to inspire a new generation to grow some of what they eat.

Dahlias with Arthur

Arthur Parkinson is a garden writer, illustrator and photographer whose interest in cut flowers led him to work as florist to Sarah Raven. They co-founded the successful podcast together, Grow, Cook, Eat, Arrange. Before this, he studied for a year at Kew Gardens but admits that he would have been better suited to probably working at London Zoo in hindsight! It is his love of exotic birds that led him to visit the flamingos at Coton a few years ago.

Evening Course: Contemporary Naturalistic Planting — Where it Came From and Where It’s Going

Tim Richardson is a garden/landscape historian and critic, the author of more than 20 books on the subject, including most recently The English Landscape Garden: Dreaming of Arcadia (2024). He was formerly gardens editor at Country Life and a regular columnist in the Daily Telegraph, and is currently art critic at The Idler. His 10-week online course on English landscape history is taught three times a year via Oxford University, and he was course tutor on the MA in landscape history at London University. Tim also founded and directs the Chelsea Fringe Festival.

Pots and Tulips

Opening Times

The garden will be open from Wednesday 1st April until Saturday 26th September.

Tuesday – Saturday, 12pm – 5.00pm.

Open each day throughout Bank Holiday Weekends (Saturday, Sunday, Monday)

Mon Closed

Tue 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Wed 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Thu 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Fri 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Sat 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Sun Closed

Contact

Coton
Nr Guilsborough
Northampton
NN6 8RQ

Email Us

+44 (0) 1604 740 219

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Layered planting and the mixed border

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