One of the most important of Britain's National Trust gardens. It was the home of
Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicholson. The number of visitors is limited. Tickets are available on a first come first served basis each day.
[From
A Book of Gardening: Idea, Designs, Methods, by Penelope Hobhouse, p. 132-3:] At Sissinghurst Castle the rose garden itself is filled with early Gallicas, Centifolias and newer hybrids and old species, all of which associate well with other plants... Elsewhere at Sissinghurst roses are part of the typical 'cottage'-type planting...
One of the best books about
Sissinghurst is Tony Lord's,
Gardening at Sissinghurst.
[From
Gardening at Sissinghurst, by Tony Lord, p. 46:] it was the roses that most captured Vita's imagination... The science and art of pruning and training old roses and Hybrid Musks have developed to exemplary standards at Sissinghurst over the years. So too has the companion planting, chosen both to complement the roses and to extend the season of display. There have been continual refinements to the structure of the Rose Garden, its paths and hedges, both to enhance its proportions and to enable it to withstand the high numbers of visitors... the Rose Garden [
had] been used as the kitchen garden from 1932-7... By 1937, Vita's collection of roses old and new had outgrown its home in the Priest's House garden. The vegetables were ousted from the kitchen garden and roses took their place.
[From
A Heritage of Roses, by Hazel le Rougetel, p. 132: Vita Sackville-West] created one of the first great modern gardens of roses.
