EVENT:Sunday 7 September 2025
The Plant Fairs Roadshow (PFR) will be taking their incredible plants to West Dean for the first time ever on Sunday 7 September to host the Autumn Plant Fair.
While the PFR are known for visiting floriferous castles and gardens, and exhibiting at the world’s most famous flower show – The Chelsea Flower Show – West Dean is perhaps the most apt date on their ‘tour’ this year, a place where the independent nurseries of the PFR can showcase their incredible perennial plants and mirror the ones planted in the grounds.
Tom Brown is known to his readers as a clear-headed and creative gardening guru, he is also the head gardener at West Dean near Chichester in West Sussex, a place where experimentation is encouraged. This desire to experiment has meant that Tom has been able to lead his gardening team in reimagining a Dry Meadow that puts recycled concrete at its heart, as well as a Sunken Garden that utilises sand to reduce the need for watering.
Of the Dry meadow, Tom explains: “I wanted to prove that a dry garden is not just about yuccas and grasses – you can have lots of flowers in there too. We grew a lot of the plants in the garden from seed to replicate the wildflower areas at West Dean.”
While drought tolerant gardens are becoming ubiquitous, there aren’t many that are grown on aggregate, but this is what Tom and the team experimented with. Tom explains: “We grew a lot of plants from seeds, and we were initially thinking of mulching the space, but I started looking at garden aggregate and visited a local recycling centre down the road from us. The concrete didn’t look too far removed from a usual garden aggregate so I ordered 120 tonnes of it. We grew from seed and planted through 10 cm of concrete. We watered once in March 2022, and the summer got very hot and dry (similar to this year) and all other parts of the garden looked stressed and sad but the Dry Meadow was thriving. It became apparent that there was moisture holding capability in these aggregates. It looked fantastic and the pollen and nectar was available for the pollinators and wildlife.”
Next came the redevelopment of the Sunken Garden at West Dean – a space where Tom and his team experimented with using sand as the planting medium. Tom explains “It’s gone from strength to strength and the garden is thriving and proving a real hit with garden visitors. The sand holds the moisture, we aren’t watering and there’s loads of colour there!”
The experimental areas of the new Sunken Garden and Dry Meadow will be in full bloom in time for The Plant Fairs Roadshow’s first ever trip to West Dean on Sunday 7th September. In September the orchard and Kitchen Garden at West Dean are in full swing, the Cutting Garden is awash with Dahlias, plus the second flush of the delphinium collection. All thirteen large, Victorian glasshouses will be full of fruit, veg, tropicals, cacti, ferns, and orchids for visitors to enjoy.
Plant Fair: Sunday 7th September for further information www.plantfairsroadshow.co.uk
West Dean, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 0RX www.westdean.ac.uk/gardens
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