Lulah Ellender explores Sussex Prairie Garden
I’m not sure what I was expecting when I arrived at Sussex Prairie Garden, near Henfield, but it wasn’t banana palms, Tibetan prayer flags and pigs. It’s a sign that this place is doing something different, that it will challenge perceptions and encourage the visitor to keep an open mind.
Created in 2008 by garden designers Paul and Pauline McBride on eight acres the couple had bought from Pauline’s farming parents, the garden broke new ground at a time when naturalistic planting was a relatively new concept. Now, the New Prairie movement – a type of garden design that uses North American-native planting and emphasises structure, seasonality, and an ecological approach – is hugely popular. Pioneered by renowned designers like Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingsbury, these gardens use flowering perennials and grasses that offer year-round beauty and also provide habitats for a diverse ecosystem of creatures.
Once established, prairie gardens typically require minimal input like water or fertiliser compared to traditional planting schemes. Prairie plants have deeper root systems, helping them retain water. They also improve soil health and enhance natural carbon capture, and provide an important source of nectar for pollinators across their active seasons. This makes them a popular choice for gardeners needing to adapt to more challenging weather and growing conditions.
Paul and Pauline had been creating gardens in locations as diverse as Rajastan and Luxembourg, before returning to Pauline’s home, Morlands Farm in West Sussex. Their work with Piet Oudolf inspired them to create their own prairie garden, with a personal twist. The choice of plants had to be able to deal with heavy clay soil and a changing climate: drought, wet, mild winters and occasional heatwaves. They planted a mixture of native and non-native prairie species that could cope with the clay, and designed an irrigation system that would harvest rainwater for the garden. Now well-established, it’s a well-known example of this style of garden.
The visitor walks through the surprising tropical garden, lush with bananas, brunneras and Trachycarpus, and out into a field surrounded by mature oak trees. In the centre is a large spiral planted with drifts of echinacea, rudbeckia, Veronicastrum, and tall grasses. We stoop beneath huge droops of gunnera growing beside the three ponds that lie almost hidden within the prairie, walking in arcs and curves in any direction we fancy. A line of hornbeam trees down the centre provides a focal point and leads our eyes to a herd of rusted metal bison weaving between the beds. Paths overflow with blooms and spikes of grass, inviting a total immersion in the planting.
You don’t so much look at this garden as lose yourself in it.
This immersion is a key part of the experience the McBrides aimed to create. They want visitors to get caught in the movement of the spiral, in the swaying of Miscanthus and the rustling of seedheads. As Pauline says, “It’s so moving” – in both senses of the word. Like the garden, immersive art also blurs the boundaries between the artwork and the audience, incorporating sensory elements to create holistic experiences that inspire us to consider our relationship with place.
Sculptures (some permanent, some temporary) are an important part of the landscape, punctuating the naturalistic planting and encouraging imaginative exploration. A nearby barn houses two artists-in-residence, Emma Taylor and Amanda Duke, who are capturing the sense of movement across the season, making dyes with the plants they forage and creating art in conversation with the garden. Workshops throughout the summer continue this artistic exploration, with watercolour sessions, willow crafting, and raffia coiling amongst the creative offerings.
As well as attending to the health of the soil and planet, this place is also deeply restorative on a human level. By creating a space for the whole community, where all are welcome, Paul and Pauline are tapping into our biophilia – the innate desire to be in natural spaces, and the positive effect they have on our wellbeing. The garden also helps foster an appreciation of the artistry of garden design, providing beauty and interest from the first shoots of spring right through to the structural elegance of autumnal decay.
A collaboration between the gardeners and artist Robin Blackledge will see the building of ‘Brutalist Bee Hotels’ on the site, creating essential habitats for solitary bee species using recycled materials and inspired by the Brutalist movement’s use of raw concrete and stark geometric shapes. It’s not the only architectural project on the site – the McBrides’ stunning Dutch barn home was featured on Grand Designs and shortlisted for the RIBA House of the Year in 2022.
The Sussex Prairie Garden can be enjoyed at so many different levels: the toddler running freely amongst the grass, the hobby gardener browsing the nursery plants and cutting garden, the artist reflecting on the landscape, the writer seeking a story in the spiral.
By creating an environment where art, climate resilience, and garden design intersect, the McBrides have done something remarkable. If this sounds rather lofty, the reality is more down to earth. From her modest hut at the entrance, Pauline speaks with heartfelt passion about what they’re doing. “Every morning when I walk out in the garden, I think it’s amazing”. The Sussex Prairie Garden is a labour of love, an ongoing act of faith confirming that we can find and nurture beauty, even with the challenges of climate change already upon us. Like grander, more high-profile fellow prairie gardens like Hauser & Wirth in Somerset or New York’s High Line, this unassuming garden deserves praise and recognition for achieving an inspiring and informative collusion between art and nature.
Sussex Prairie Garden is open Wednesday to Sunday (and Bank Holiday Monday August 26) until October 13. Plan your visit at sussexprairies.co.uk
Lulah Ellender is author of Grounding: Finding Home in a Garden (Granta, 2022).