Reimagining Delos, the Greek garden at Sissinghurst Castle, Kent, UK
17.30 for 18.00 via Zoom
Delos, one of the ten garden rooms at Sissinghurst Castle Garden, was first created as a Greek garden in the 1930s by Vita Sackville West and her husband Harold Nicolson. It was adapted and lost some of its character in the decades after their passing. As part of a scheme of renewal to return Sissinghurst to the romanticism of its past, in 2020 the National Trust worked with Dan Pearson Studio to reimagine Delos as a Greek garden once more. The final phase of construction was undertaken in 2024 – 2025 and it opened to visitors in spring 2026.
Richard Gravett is a senior gardener at Sissinghurst and cares for the Delos garden, gardening the rocks and imagined ancient ruins “smothered there by mats of the wild flowers of Greece”, as Vita once described her hopes for it.
The talk will cover the history of the garden and an update on the final stages of the construction and planting. Richard will explain how a sense of the Greek Cyclades is conjured up at Sissinghurst through plant choices and techniques. He will also share the lessons the gardens team have learnt in the challenging seasons southern England has experienced in recent years.
It is essential to book before 3pm on Saturday 30 January.