Climate-resilient ‘Delos’ garden a century in the making officially opens at Sissinghurst Castle Garden

The garden, created by National Trust staff in partnership with the well-known landscape designer Dan Pearson, is the culmination of a 15-year renewal project at the world renowned, Grade I-listed garden and is now fully open for visitors to enjoy.

In 1935, Vita and Harold were so inspired by a visit to the Greek island of Delos that on their return they set about capturing its essence in a corner of their now world-famous garden. However, they faced many challenges as amateur gardeners including the Kent climate and the north-facing position of the garden. Despite their best efforts, the garden in their minds never quite materialised.

Vita later commented on the Delos garden in 1953, writing: “This has not been a success so far, but perhaps some day it will come right”.

Work first began to reimagine the Delos garden in 2018, when Sissinghurst’s Head Gardener Troy Scott-Smith brought landscape designers Dan Pearson Studio on board. The heavy Wealden clay that originally scuppered Vita and Harold’s Mediterranean planting was released with a gritty topsoil, deliberately low in nutrients to better suit the planting scheme. The garden’s shady north-facing aspect was overcome with the reduction of shade-casting trees and raised terracing was built leaning south to capture the greatest available light.

Around 6,000 perennials typical of Greece and the wider Mediterranean basin were planted, along with pomegranate, cork oak and cypress trees, all naturally adapted to extreme conditions. The garden opened to the public in 2021.

Five years on, the garden has flourished, and Dan and his team were invited back to complete the second and final phase of the project.

In place of a 1980s garage adjoining the Priest’s House is a new ‘ravine-like portal’, canopied in Mediterranean oak saplings, leading visitors through the Little North Garden and into the White Garden for the first time. The new ravine extends the size of Delos by around 10 per cent and creates a cohesive whole.

Under the newly planted oaks, dry-and shade-tolerant underplanting from the Mediterranean have been planted. Among the new plants are Verbascum arcturus, Pseudodictamnus acetabulosus (Greek horehound) and Cistus creticus (Cretan rockrose), all chosen for being native to Greece and their ability to adapt to shade and to offer beauty and resilience as the climate changes.

Shade was a challenge that was embraced in this final phase because of the north-facing position of the Priest’s House, something that Vita and Harold had trouble overcoming.

Through this greater variation of habitat, more specialised invertebrates have already been spotted including the green furrow bee; a miner bee that nests in rocks, and the privet hawk moth; the largest native hawk moth.

Sissinghurst Head Gardener Troy Scott-Smith said: “When searching for planting additions, the team looked to plants found in the deep gorges and ravines of the Greek islands, as well as those found in the cool shade of their drystone walls and under tree canopies.”

Dan Pearson said: “A Mediterranean palette of plants that hail from Greece was used to clothe the new terraces in a style that evokes natural habitats. They are gardened very much with this in mind to encourage self-seeding, to build local ecologies and opportunistic habitats.”

Sissinghurst Senior Gardener Richard Gravett added: “From towering thistles and zesty euphorbias to frilled Greek horehound and the bright flowers of the Cretan rockrose, the plant combinations here are endlessly beautiful, interesting and evocative.

“Delos is a part of the conversation around using water more wisely and how we might be gardening in a changing climate. In the recent heatwave, the plants in Delos have kept performing, while some other plants in the garden have shown signs of stress.

“Delos also shows that drought-tolerance goes beyond succulents. It is quite an airy, ephemeral scheme, with plenty of beautiful small flowers and finer plants that move in the breeze. This kind of drought-tolerant planting can be very romantic.”

This project has been a labour of love from the teams involved and would not be possible without the support of generous donations and National Trust Patrons.

This extension of the Delos garden is now open to the public, bringing a vision to completion that has been nearly a century in the making.