Talking gardens with Polly Nicholson

An obsession with tulips and the best varieties to grow; octogenarian garden heroines; dreaming of a Renaissance garden

Polly with her daschund Lettice and Tulipa ‘Insulinde’ on the table

Polly Nicholson sees herself as a florist in the old-fashioned sense of the word - as a grower and collector of choice flowering plants. She started out growing cut flowers to sell but quite quickly decided that she wanted to refine what she was doing and concentrate on a few special collections that would feed her interest in heritage cultivars. Alongside irises, chrysanthemums, dianthus and anemones, tulips swiftly became something of an obsession, and with the encouragement of gardener and writer Anna Pavord (author of The Tulip), Polly set out to create what is now the National Collection of historic tulips. She has also written her own book, The Tulip Garden, which focuses very much on using tulips as perennials rather than annuals in the garden, with excellent information on species tulips as well as hybrids that are more likely to come back year after year. The photographs in this post come from the book and are taken by Andrew Montgomery (apart from the portrait above, by James Stopforth).

Tulipa ‘Cynthia’

Polly still grows cut flowers under her business name Bayntun Flowers, and her exquisite garden at Blacklands House near Calne (part of which was designed by Arne Maynard), is open each spring for the NGS. These open days are so popular that they have sold out this year, so you have to book early - but she does have some workshops coming up including one on Growing Tulips Perennially on April 1st and two tulip tours in May. She is also on the advisory board for Benton End, the artist Cedric Morris’s home and garden in Hadleigh, Suffolk, currently under restoration.