We were very happy to be invited back to Sissinghurst Castle in Kent this winter; this time to dress Vita’s tower for the festive season. My default in decorating during the winter is to go super seasonal, my philosophy being that simplest is best and that if you great ingredients all you need to do is honour them and you’ll have a beautiful display.
Last year at Sissinghurst we installed an evolving series of four designs November to February and in collaboration with the gardening team our priority was to create designs inspired by the surrounding gardens and landscape with as much of the produce used supplied by them also - rose prunings, a cherry tree due for felling provided multiple huge branches that to our delight slowly unfurled their blossom over the months of the exhibit and were still on display when we dismantled at the end of the winter.
This year I wanted to frame the view from Vita’s tower over the orchard beyond with a wild, scribbled sketch of beckoning branches and briars. The concept was magical but simple, very green, very fragrant. If you know the tower you’ll know how huge the archway is - it doesn’t always translate in photographs - it takes a lot of material to make an impact. I don’t always know exactly what the ingredients will be in advance so some decisions are made in-situ and on the spot. First thing Monday morning we did a recce, noting down particular shrubs and trees to cut from, riffling through piles of rose clippings, recently pruned and glowing with red and orange hips. The rangers brought us a huge bundle of birch headed for the shredder. John and I went in search of curving, looping stems of berried holly and found ivy, tassel bush and Portuguese laurel along the way. Ingredients assembled we started with a base of gnarled apple branches and then layered with evergreens, ensuring we were mindful of the natural shapes of the materials and building a frothy sense of volume in some places, with sparser areas that trailed off into negative space.
Here and there you might spot the golden, spherical forms of Allium schubertii and Allium cristophii - additions from our own garden, harvested just prior to the autumn storms. Allium heads make impactful natural ornaments with a metallic, textural, almost bauble-like effect. Each stem and seedhead was carefully wired and attached to the branches beneath. The archway under the tower is an absolute wind tunnel so firm fixings are essential or there’ll be nothing left come January!
We hung a pair of wreaths to the beautiful wooden doors that flank the entrance. I made the bases a week ago using wild rose, bramble and sweet pea and these were decorated on-site with sculptural branches, foliage, berries and seedheads.
The installation will be on display until early January; we hope you can visit!
Thank you to Johnny @jsutherland84 and Jo @_gardening_adventures_ for helping me bring this design to life.
The ingredient list can be found below.
WREATHS
Rosa canina (dog rose)
Rubus fruticosus (bramble)
Malus - assorted (apple)
Larix decidua (larch)
Lathyrus latifolius (everlasting pea)
Ilex aquifolium 'Pendula' (English holly)
Nicandra physalodes (Apple-of-Peru)
FOLIAGE ARCHWAY
Malus - assorted (apple)
Hedera helix (European ivy)
Ilex aquifolium 'Pendula' (English holly)
Prunus lusitanica (Portuguese laurel cherry)
Garrya elliptica (silk tassel bush)
Magnolia grandiflora (bull bay)
Rosa ‘Wickwar’ (rose)
Rosa ‘Cupid’ (rose)
Allium cristophii (star of persia)
Allium schubertii (Schubert’s allium)