Ellie Selig Distinguished Garden Design Lecture Series

Succession Planting: Layered Planting for a Long Season Featuring Fergus Garrett, CEO of the Great Dixter Charitable Trust

Fergus Garrett will talk about the principles of long season gardening. He will touch on long season plants, shape, texture, underplanting and interplanting with bulbs and other plants which are happy to share the same space, as well as the use of self sowers and temporary fillers to prolong the seasons.

Date	Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Time	Wine Reception: 6 p.m. \| Lecture: 6:30 - 8 p.m.
Location	Betty Kelso Center
Cost	Free. Reservation requested.

The main part of the talk will concentrate on how you use bulbs and woodland plants to provide another layer in your perennial and mixed borders. From snowdrops through to alliums, these play a vital role in filling the gaps and giving you colour for many months.

Prolonging the season in a colder climate than the UK is still possible. In fact, in many ways it is easier to achieve a seamless transition from Spring through to Autumn. Infrastructure of hardy shrubs and long season plants is critical to then fill the gaps through the winter months.

About the speaker: Fergus Garrett has been head gardener at the internationally acclaimed Great Dixter Garden in Northiam, East Sussex, UK, since 1993, where he learned his craft from the legendary Christopher Lloyd. Now CEO of the Great Dixter Charitable Trust, Fergus is a highly decorated horticulturist whose honors include the 2019 Victoria Medal of Honour, from the Royal Horticultural Society. He is dedicated to sharing his expertise in ornamental gardening and ecological practices through teaching, lectures, and projects that promote biodiversity worldwide.

The Ellie Selig Distinguished Garden Design Lecture Series aims to provide inspirational and informative ideas for garden- making from renowned garden designers, landscape architects, or garden-makers.