Gardening is a passion. And this book is about one of the most passionate gardeners Britain has seen in the last century. Christo was an innovator in his garden and brought innovation to British gardens. My parents jokingly called him the Pope of gardening.
Nathaniel Lloyd, Christo’s father, bought Dixter Hall in 1910 when retiring as a very successful lithographic printer. The house originally built in the 15th century was dilapidated and needed a complete restoration. Nathaniel also bought a derelict yeoman’s hall standing in Benenden, had it dismantled piece by piece and brought to Northiam. He left it to Sir Edwin Lutyens to fit it all together into a family home for himself, his much younger wife Daisy and their six children.
When Nathaniel died of a heart attack on the golf course, Daisy took over. Ruling her family like a field marshal but with less compassion for her troops, she would be the sole influence that shaped Christo, the youngest of her five sons and one daughter. She was one of those awful parents who always know best for their children, and she managed to drive them all from her side except Christo. She despised the wives of her four older sons as much as the husband of her daughter.
Daisy’s passion was the garden of Great Dixter (as opposed to the cottage of Little Dixter further down the hill which is still owned by family members). Not so much a garden, rather a domain of gardens. It is little wonder she didn’t have any emotions left for minor inconveniences like a gaggle of children. This passion captured and shaped Christo into what he became: the foremost gardener of the realm.
Christo lived with his mother at the Hall until her death. He didn’t flee her proximity as his siblings had done, his flight was writing. His books on gardening are some of the best ever written, and The Well Tempered Garden has to be a major standard work any gardener should own. The gardens were his life to the end, and he defined himself and his life through the gardens.
The book paints a picture of a monster where Daisy is concerned, and probably is not far from the mark. It depicts Christo as a repressed homosexual completely under the thumb of his mother, a great gardener and prolific writer. His moods, his acerbic comments, the constant family feuds with his siblings all form part of the book, as well as the unhappy ending for his sister. He even is blamed for not being sympathetic to his sister’s depression, though she lived so near. But quite frankly, there were other family members living just as nearby, and they didn’t lift a finger either.
Stephen Anderson was asked by Christo to write his biography as a friend of 20 years standing. But this is the rub. Christo didn’t really have any friends as people understand friendship. And this shines through in the biography, which seems influenced by the views of living family members, who all and sundry were in constant disagreement with Christo. The author had access to the family archives (lumps and bundles of papers actually, stuffed away here and there into drawers, cupboards, and other hiding places conveniently found in country piles) and draws heavily on them. All the same I am not happy with the result.
Yes, Christo was homosexual, and he fell with certain predictability for one of his gardening students. But that was not the defining force of his life. It is revealing that he only fell for his students, as he defined even such an attachment through the gardens. As with his friends and family, his emotions for the gardens came first, human beings after. Once you were able to accept this, you could get along with him reasonably well.
Having said that, the book is still worth reading even though the pictures do no justice to what you will find there should you visit Great Dixter. It does give an insight into the human being that was Christo and what shaped him, even though it falls short on his all encompassing passion for his garden.
Further reading
Three Generations: Forgotten Garden
Walnut Tree Farm
Bruce Castle or Lordship House
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