It’s been 100 days since Troy Scott Smith walked into his new job as head gardener at Sissinghurst Castle. Lesley Bellew went to see how he is settling in.

"I told my bosses I would change nothing in the first 18 months,” says Troy Scott Smith, the first man to become head gardener at Sissinghurst, one of the world’s most iconic gardens.

Troy knows, probably more than anyone, that Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West’s masterpiece is considered the very essence of a romantic English country garden and he must continue to capture its spirit.

Troy, 42, has been kicking around ideas with his new team.

“I hope to bring back more of Vita’s artistic spirit to the planting,” said Troy, walking through the immaculate walled garden.

“It will have to be done carefully. Vita had plants spilling over everywhere but we have to bear in mind we have 170,000 visitors a year walking along those paths.

“The roses on the wall have been brilliant this year. If we let them ramble a little more, would they flower so well next year? It’s a fine line.”

The entrance to the house offers Troy scope to add more colour and soft planting in the borders without causing too much upheaval.

“We are thinking maybe the shrubs, elaeagnus and mahonia, could come out and be replaced with perennials like delphiniums and campanulas.

“The front lawns, we call them Abdul’s Lawn because Vita would let her donkey graze there, could come up so we could extend the flagstones.

“Vita loved plants growing in paving cracks. We could put in thymes and that would look really good. They are all options.

“I would like to make the whole entrance area more welcoming. Even the meadow that visitors pass to get to the property could have more uses.”

Troy has a fairly small team of gardeners so everything has to take its turn.

He said: “My last garden, Bodnant, in Conwy, was huge with 20 gardeners. Here I can actually get into garden rather focusing on management.

“We do have a small band of volunteers. Some help in the garden, even just to pick up leaves is great, others work inside. There’s always something that needs doing. If anyone would like to help I would love to hear from them.

“One of our volunteers is helping to build a database of all our plants. She comes in about once every fortnight, walks round with one of the gardeners, and logs the plants and their position.

“Eventually we will have a digital site where visitors will be able to view the garden and click on the plant to see what it is. It is going to take some time to do but we know visitors always want to know the names of plants.”

Troy also needs help with finding rose varieties. He said: “Vita had 197 different types of roses. We now have 100 but I would like to find all of them.”

Training is also close to Troy’s heart. He learned a lot of his skills early on his career by working at Sissinghurst from 1992-1997. He said: “I would love to see Sissinghurst become a training centre for gardeners. I think it could really work.”

Troy will also be getting involved with fundraising. He has been a National Trust man for most of his career and understands the charity’s ‘core spirit’.

“We have a link with the Royal Oak Foundation, the National Trust’s equivalent in the US, so that means so I will be on tour. Hidcote (the famous National Trust garden in the Cotswolds) has a benefactor, perhaps we can find one.”

Sissinghurst Castle garden closes on November 3 but will open in December for the first time offering tours up to the tower so visitors can study the outline of the garden and the main borders close to the house.

Until November, Sissinghurst is open daily from 11am to 5.30pm. For details visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sissinghurst-castle