Women Who Shaped Garden History
Poet, novelist, and garden maker, Vita Sackville-West created Sissinghurst Castle Garden with her husband Harold Nicolson. Her weekly gardening column in The Observer made her one of the most widely read garden writers of the 20th century.
Sackville-West was born at Knole, one of the largest houses in England. She could not inherit it because of the laws of primogeniture, and the loss haunted her throughout her life. In 1930, she and Nicolson purchased the ruins of Sissinghurst Castle in Kent, and the creation of its garden became a lifelong project that channeled her creative energy and her longing for a great English house and estate.
At Sissinghurst, Nicolson designed the layout — a series of outdoor rooms enclosed by walls and hedges — while Sackville-West designed the planting. Her style was romantic and abundant: she filled the garden rooms with roses, old-fashioned flowers, and climbing plants in a profusion that softened the architectural structure. The White Garden, planted entirely with white and silver plants, became one of the most famous garden rooms in the world.
Sackville-West's gardening column in The Observer, which she wrote from 1946 until 1961, reached a large readership and influenced taste in planting and design. Her garden poems, particularly The Garden (1946), reflected her deep emotional connection to plants and landscapes. She also wrote garden books, including In Your Garden (collected columns) and contributed to the broader cultural conversation about English identity and landscape.