Sunday 8 May 2016

Serious Gardening.



When I was still planning to build my 'tower', a friend said that it was a shame, because I'd lose a lot of the garden.

I replied, on the contrary, I would be gaining garden. A garden isn't just the amount of open space, it's what's in it that counts.

I'm not someone who reads gardening books, but one I did read many years ago had quite an effect on my whole attitude to garden design.

I know the book was by John Brookes, but I can't remember the title; it may have been 'The Outside Room'. In it he spoke of planting a rose in an open field, where it would look ridiculous, but against the wall of a cottage it looks superb. Without the background, the rose had no purpose. That's how I envisaged the 'tower' (above); it was a blank canvas onto which décor would be pasted. As a result, I think my garden has expanded.

John Brookes comes from the mould of Gertrude Jekyll, Vita Sackville-West, and Sir Edwin Lutyens. with the outside being as important as the inside; the two areas flowing from one to the other in easy natural progression.

I admire these gardeners enormously; they are sculptors of nature. My little building would be nothing without its exterior décor, and the plants would be nothing if grown apart. However, to combine the two adds something pleasant to an otherwise rather plain garden.

I may not know anything about flowers, but I do occasionally take heed of those who do!



20 comments:

  1. It is good to have a garden. It is the place where we can spend lot of time and enjoy...

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  2. The book was "Room Outside", by John Brookes, and I still have my 40+ year old, much-used, copy beside me as I type this. Very 1960's designs of course, but many of his ideas still hold good.
    John Brookes was a guru, and compulsory reading on the Architect, and Landscape Architect courses in the 60's and 70's.

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    1. I had ideas of becoming an architect, maybe that's why I read it. JB certainly is a guru in my eyes too.

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    2. Mine too, I still refer to his books.

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  3. I like 'interesting' gardens with stylish features rather than large, open expanses of land. Your tower looks so pretty with the wisteria.

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    1. It's getting the look I'd envisaged; eventually.

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    2. I agree about blending house and garden, and I love your tower because it gives a canvas on which plants can grow. I hope to start getting things to grow upwards and over things once the chickens are out of the courtyard because they will eat or scratch up anything I plant!

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  4. I couldn't agree more about the outside and inside spaces being complementary and I'm very conscious in my situation that I live on a very large canvas.

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    1. Yours is a very open canvas; quite tricky, I'd have thought.

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  5. Jekyll - like Capability Brown - was also a big commissioner of stone ornament. All part of the job for a real landscape gardener.

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    Replies
    1. Stone ornaments are so important in a good garden; far more so than statuary.

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  6. Many gardens around here are either Jekyll or based on Jekyll design with manor house or grange as a background. I am always struck by how they work even at the height of neglect.

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  7. For me the outside is even more important that the inside...if I were to buy another house, I'd always look at the garden first!

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    1. You're probably right. We live just as much with our gardens as we do with our kitchens.

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  8. I would love to have a place to hang wisteria.

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    1. We have others against our neighbour's famous 'Orange Wall'. We have a white one, and a darker blue one. They are all in full flower; wonderful.

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  9. Everytime you post a photo of your "Tower" I just sigh. It is so beautiful you have indeed gained a garden.

    cheers, parsnip and thehamish

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    Replies
    1. You're very kind. At this time of year even WE gasp at how nice it has become.

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