Weeding the Web

Hampton Court Flower Show 2015: going round in circles

This year's Hampton Court Flower Show has been, as I said in the last post, all arcs and anniversaries. The circle has arrived with a vengeance. Straight lines are still in evidence, but I fear they'll soon be as scarce as curves once were. Here are the arcs:

I don't think you could have got more circles into Living Landscapes City Twitchers by Sarah Keyser of Coucou Designs. It also had willow, Egyptian Limestone, sedum turf, a chamomile lawn and a Prunus Tai Haku - because its spreading branches are easy to hang (round) bird feeders in. (Won Silver Gilt.)

Round planters, curved seat (in bleached oak to match the bleached wood behind) and...(we're not finished)...

...a different round planter and balls in Rae Wilkinson's blue-toned Living Landscapes HUG (Healing Urban Garden). (Won Silver Gilt.)

Two circles joined by a line, with a small round pond - Ready...Aim...Flower! (Won Silver)

Excuse me while I digress a moment:

Designer Simon Webster, I was told by another designer, had a lot of stick for including a gun. "No, I haven't," he said. "People have been able to look past that." Anyway...

...look at the fun you could have with it. Concept? The journey from being under a destructive influence to gaining recovery. Moral of garden? Don't put too much black ink in your pond - it leaks into the render above.

 

SABO: THe Circle of Life, designed by Stefano Passerotti. It's all in the name, really. The cork oak was lovely.The Travertine paving was gorgeous. The sound of water was soothing. The planting was delicate. I thought it less than the sum of its parts. (Won Silver Gilt.)

 

Squire's Garden Centres: Urban Oasis. A curve leading to a round, with another round table.

Another digression:

 

Remember Squire's garden last year? It was the first time they'd done a garden designed by people within the firm. This year's designer Ian Hammond said it wasn't naturalistic enough, it didn't flow and colours clashed (which judges don't like, apparently).

 

Ian said they'd learned a lot. "Give yourself plenty of time. You don't appreciate how many plants are needed. Be patient with it. The sooner you get your plants in, the better, so they can fill out."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought they'd created a charming, relaxed garden, even if it still only got Silver Gilt.

 Back to the arc (as Noah said when the first raindrop fell):

Anne-Marie Powell balanced curved paths and these curved steps and round seats with plank paving of various sizes.

One of only two of the main show gardens to gain Gold.

The Wellbeing of Women designed by Wendy van Buren, Claire Moreno and Amy Robertson. A curved path to a round patio. Incidentally, inked water was very much in this year - I guess designers like it 'cos you can't see the debris collecting in the bottom. (Won Silver Gilt.)

 

A polite courtyard - Great Gardens of the USA, Charleston by Sadie May Stowell for Brand USA (Won Silver)

I'd show you the Vestra Wealth Garden - curved path, round amphitheatre, but I think we've just had too many circles. Anyway, someone got in the way when I was trying to photograph it.

Finally, an accolade to Sarah Harris of the DialaFlight Synaesthesia Garden. No arcs and, to be honest, while the idea was interesting, the tent itself wasn't that exciting - white flowers lit by colours cycling on a loop.

But on the first day of the build, Sarah's 34-year-old partner had a stroke and was hospitalised in Leeds. She spent a week up there and only had a week to build the garden. You have to hand it to her that she managed a garden at all. She must have felt as if she was rushing aound in circles.

 

Hampton Court Flower Show 2015: arcs and anniversaries

I began to think this year's Hampton Court Flower Show was going round in circles. Literally. The curve that wriggled its way into Chelsea this year has felt peckish and bitten its tail. Circles are all over the place. (But more of that later.)

Anniversaries are equally abundant. Most prominent, of course, Hampton Court Flower Show, apparently amazed to find itself 25 years old:

RHS Anniversary Maze celebrating 25 years of the show, Hampton Court 2015

Though, you'd have been hard put to get lost inside...

...there was an unexpected encounter:

Nearby, Rolawn had commissioned Tony Smith to create a massive turf sculpture to celebrate 40 years as turf growers and promote their Keep on the Grass campaign. Rolawn's Emily Kirkland said, "I can't see into the bottom. Anything might be there." (It wasn't.)

They also provided my one and only glass of bubbly for the day. Thank you, Rolawn!

More greenery at Agrumi's We're All Mad Here!, where they were celebrating 150 years of continuous publication of Alice in Wonderland:

 

Agrumi - they specialise in topiary, in case you were wondering

Alice also inspired The Tea Party, designed by Charlie Bloom (she in the dress below).

 

It was full of lovely little touches...

...and was the sort of formal small garden that Charlie, who carries out restoration on private historic gardens, would like to see more of.

The judges didn't feel the same and only awarded Bronze, though she had wondered if they'd approve of the "madness" of the shaggy box hedges. (I guess not.)

Who else had an anniversary? Oh, yes!

Next door to The Tea Party was Botanica World of Discoveries Winnie the Pooh Begins his Journey, referring to the 90th anniversary of the Bear's first appearance in 1925.

It was cute:

And I liked the exuberant wildflower turf roof:

It didn't quite have enough magic for me (and when on earth did Piglet look like that?) - a problem, I guess, when you're conjuring up people's childhood reading.  Still, once again Helen finds herself staring blankly at the judging - it won Gold and Best Historic Garden.

Also in this strange little section - an orphan row which, IMHO, should be marched firmly over to the other side of the water with the rest of the gardens - was Amnesty International Magna Carta 800 garden.

Cool, inviting...

...and very yellow. (The colour was paler at the back, getting stronger towards the front, referring to the progress of human rights. In the picture below I think it makes the garden look bigger - sneaky!)

One of the "new" Flower Boxes got on that particular bandwagon. DCCC by Stuart Meeson - go to his website for a fascinating intimation of why he might have chosen this shape - subconsciously, of course.)

If you still haven't spotted its anniversary, go to the back of the class.

In comparison, Scotty's Little Soldier garden was almost still in nappies, celebrating a mere five years in the charity's existence.

 

Not easy to photograph, but I like the way the shadows break up the wide path - necessary as Graeme Thirde designed it as a walk-through garden (of which there should be more). The ribbons?

 

Printed with messages from children who have lost their father.

You wouldn't think there could be many anniversaries left, but no...

The Queen Elizabeth Foundation is celebrating its 80th anniversary and the garden represents the life-changing work it undertakes.  It won Gold and Best Summer Garden. Again, I was a bit bemused by the Best award, as it looked a bit like the sort of corner you find at the end of a garden where its been nicely finished but nothing happens. The mirrors were cleverly placed - it took me a moment to realise they were there.

Back to history: Waterloo (200 years) made a reappearance (after Chelsea this year) with the Hougoumont Farms Kitchen Garden (annoyingly I missed it) and Vestra Wealth: Encore - A Music Lover's Garden combined inspiration from its being 500 years since building began on Hampton Court Palace and from the fact that Handel's Water Music was played on the Thames (which runs past etc) - although that debuted in 1717 (another near miss).

What you couldn't miss, though, was the huge cake Vertigarten Celebration Cake - 3456 plants in Vertigarten modules.

I thought I recognised it. I first saw it last year when I visited Ball Colegrave:

Preferred the planting last year, but you have to admit the surroundings don't have the same power to...

(Yes, it's a scarecrow in a rowing boat. No, I'm not sure, either.)

 

Must you tell me a story? (RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2015 part 3)

The Evaders Garden, RHS Chelsea 2015

So, one week on from the start of this year's Chelsea Flower Show, all that's left are photos and ideas.

One garden which has stayed with me is Chorley Council's Evader's Garden in the Artisan category. It had a couple of arresting elements: the ethereal sculpture, made of 3mm thick steel plates, glued together with 3mm gaps, and the path.

John Everiss, who had designed both the sculpture and the garden, said of the way it would fade and reform as you moved around, "It's worked beyond my wildest dreams." The path was created from carved Portland stone, taken from the same seam as stone used for the Commonwealth war graves, and emulated the folds of the parachute (copied from a large piece of silk by the sculptor).

With this garden went the backstory of Everiss's father trying to evade capture in France, using French papers even though he didn't speak the language, and filling potholes for the Luftwaffe who, he swore, knew he was British but said nothing, as they knew that he would be shot as a spy if they did.

The crouching figure balancing himself with his hand against the church wall, the jeopardy, the drama brought to mind every WWII escape story I've ever read, and every black and white war movie. It won Silver Gilt. It was one of my favourite...and yet...

Parachute silk in Portland stone

I took myself to task. If Dan Pearson's evocation of a boulder-strewn Chatworth corner seemed to me to be relying just a little too much on Nature and, in my view, wasn't exactly a garden, should I really fall in love with this? The answer is a reluctant no. I was in thrall to the set and the story.

Take away the figure and parachute path, and you're left with a corner. Not really a garden. Not a great deal for anyone to take home with them. Likewise, A Trugmaker's Garden was a lovely set design, as was last year's DialAFlight Potter's Garden, depicting a studio abandoned in 1914, and in 2013, the MND Association sponsored A Hebridean Weaver's Garden. 

Do you think I'm being too severe? They're very skilful, indeed, but surely they''re more sets than gardens?  I can't recall that any Chelsea creation has been used as a period film-set, but surely someone has been missing a way to recoup some expenses here.

And I'd wager there will more chances. What odds that we have an artisan garden next year that includes a scene of bygone days, created to evoke a warning or bewailing of loss of skills? What minority country craft shall we guess at: love-spoon carving, hedge laying, wurdling? (Round the Horne fans, you know who you are).

Heathers in Harmony, RHS Hampton Court 2011

The question is: is a garden that makes you think Ralph Fiennes might appear through the door at any moment, dressed in 1920s garb, anything more than a clever pastiche that concentrates on wowing with fantasy rather than planting? Should there be a category for Story Telling gardens, instead?

Something I'd love to see more of, and which would really suit the Artisan category, would be gardens along the lines of those created by the British Heather Growers Association at Hampton Court in 2011, which beautifully demonstrated heather. I'd like to see Artisan gardens created by plant associations and nurseries, purely to illustrate what can be done with their particular enthusiasm.

Less set design, more gardening, I say.

For more on the 2015 RHS Chelsea:

• Who will win People's Choice
• RHS Chelsea 2015 (Part 1)

 

 

 

RHS Chelsea 2015 - who will win People's Choice? (RHS Chelsea 2015 part 2)

Dan Pearson's Laurent Perrier garden, complete with trout stream, must be a front runner. L'Occitane Perfumer's Garden in Grasse by James Basson is so charming that it might also get the vote, but I'm going to suggest the following two for People's Choice.

The first is a bit of a no-brainer. Matt Keightley's Sentebale - Hope in Vulnerability is a warm garden supporting a worthwhile cause, showing a delightful scene, and with the backing of a favourite royal who is carrying on his mother's work. 

Evocation of a Sentebale's Mamohato children's camp in Lesotho

It includes stunning attention to detail. They weren't showing up well in the rain on Monday, but the footsteps created in the sandstone paving are taken from children at the camp in Lesotho, with spacing based on the stride of Matt's six-year-old nephew walking, jogging and running. The stone has even been shotblasted twice to lighten the area around the footprints, giving the impression of wet sand when it is trodden on.  If you'd like to see how this effect was created, London Stone, who provided the sandstone paving, gives full details on their website.)

Won silver gilt

Materials and building methods have been used that echo those used in Lesotho and I think visitors will respond warmly to the planting that colourfully evokes the energy and spirit of the children.

Continuous cleaning before the judges arrive

Morgan Stanley's Healthy Cities Garden by Chris Beardshaw completes his hand, as far as community gardens go, as Chelsea had been the only RHS show for which he hadn't designed one up to now, he told me. This is designed for an empty grassed space, surrounded by flats, that is hardly used in Poplar, a run-down area of London that used to have a lot of - guess - poplars.

Won Gold

Now, I have to admit that Anna Gillespie's bronze, Let Heaven Go, had me wondering about a man who had his guts spilling out and was trying to stop them from hitting the ground. Apparently it's ivy. Either way, it does encapsulate a sense of anguish. "For me," said Chris, "it represents the frustration that individuals and communities feel at the loss of paradise." i.e. a removal from connection with nature.

Let Heaven Go by Anna Gillespie

The garden includes this lovely little touch - an outline of the Thames in London. Poplar was originally wetland, something echoed by the fountains. 

Outline of River Thames

And as you progress down the garden you encounter Trust, cast from a figure which was created by pressing acorn cups into wax. The adult carries the child and the child covers the adult's eyes. "It captures the importance of celebrating inter-generational connections and of learning, one generation from another," said Chris. Standing by it, you hear the voices of the Poplar children talking about the enjoyment of being outdoors. It's calm and reflective on  the way to...

Trust, by Anna Gillespie

...the steel poplar designed by Chris himself. It gives passing reference to their pollarding and the past-times production of charcoal. The glass roof provides some shelter, but it also carries a tapestry of shapes that, in the sunshine, cast a shadow of poplar leaves.

The steel tree casts shadows of leaves in the sunlight.

The whole is calm, inviting and incorporates rich colours, including those thousand camassias which are distributed to unite the planting. "There's no cheating," said Chris. "You wouldn't plant so densely in a domestic setting, but this is genuine planting exactly as would occur if planting in a real garden." Given that it's moving to be a permanent feature in Poplar, it wouldn't really work any other way but I think visitors also really appreciate a garden where they can picture parts of it at home.

Irises in the Morgan Stanley Healthy Cities garden

So, will one of these win People's Choice?

Voting has been something of a theme recently, and with the country voting for austerity, perhaps we should ponder, before casting a vote in this poll, where our future spaces are likely to be coming from. "We're fast approaching a situation where local authorities don't have the resources to maintain, let alone initiate garden spaces," said Chris. "It's going to fall on individuals and the corporate world to re-engage people with green spaces.

"As communities, we should be able to challenge local authorities and they should be held to account; there should be a process of developing relationships with those who can provide funding."

Tim Richardson, in his article querying of the suitability of a trout stream at Chelsea, said, "We have the concept of the community garden influencing Chelsea design, with both Morgan Stanley and Homebase jumping on that bandwagon for marketing purposes — though there is precious little evidence that they are supporting such activity out in the real world."

Perhaps it is just done for "marketing purposes". Nevertheless, I don't see the money for projects like this coming from anywhere else, so perhaps we need to show them some encouragement.

 

 

 

 

 

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2015 (Part 1)

While the general verdict seems to be that the gardens at RHS Chelsea showed more individuality this year, to me one one form of planting predominated. The colour wheel has swung on a notch from last year's cool bluesy notes to warmer pinks and purples. And I love the emphasis on big, blowsy blooms. Here's a selection from around the grounds:

Planting on Breakthrough Breast Cancer in Fresh category, designed by Ruth Willmott

And:

Rather gorgeous Protea in The Time in Between, designed by Charlie Albone for Husqvana.

And:

 

Planting on the M&G Retreat Garden, designed by Jo Thompson

And:

Planting by Chris Beardshaw on the Morgan Stanley Healthy Cities Garden,

Hard landscaping?  Well, slate had rather a starring role, as we shall see.

But how about the gardens?

First up from the Press Tent (please could we have more lockers, and ones that work?) was Darren Hawkes' Brewin Dolphin Garden. The more I looked at this, the more I liked it.

The Brewin Dolphin Garden by Darren Hawkes. Won Gold.

The chequerboard effect caused by turning the slate ninety degrees lightened the whole.

I did ask if the slate had been treated to prevent growth, but Darren said, slate being of very low porosity, this wouldn't be a problem. I looked at the tiny little niches, thought of my gravel at home, and would like to reserve judgement on that.

It's inspired by 1930s architecture but, being as Darren's from Cornwall and so is some of the slate, it feels like more than that. Barbara Hepworth's monolithic sculptures, inspired by the Cornish countryside, often include holes. Here the aperture in the stone at the back reminded me of Men-an-Tor. The one above the well has been placed so that the sun shines directly on to the well below at midday - giving a sacred element to the water. And the horizontal slab in which this hole has been placed reminded me of a dolmen - maybe Lanyon Quoit.

Slate - 41,500 pieces cut and glued together by hand, seven people working from January to the last week of April

The whole, with campion, foxglove, erigeron, "has a slightly abandoned feel of a garden that's just about to spill over into wildness" as Darren told me, but it's kept in check by the straight-cut slate. The garden won Gold.

More waftiness with mauve accents in the planting from Darren Hawkes.

Turn round from Derren's Cornish woodland feel, and you met Dan Pearson's bit of Derbyshire. Actually, if you'd told me he'd humped a triangle of countryside to Chelsea, I might have believed you.

Dan Pearson's Best in Show garden also won Gold

Everyone I talked to said it was marvellous. This was the most appealing view I could find:

It's quite obviously a tour de force of construction, scale, and impression of wilderness.

Individual plants were lovely.

But for me? No, sorry. Didn't do it. Undoubtedly clever, but for me it's a theatre set, emulating a nature. Very much the work of someone at the height of his game, confident and not afraid to go out on a limb. In my book, though, Nature, carefully reconstructed and obviously edited to perfection, needed (I'm sorry, this is going to sound obscene) a little more Man in her.

It was also one of what I came to think of as the "exclusive" gardens.

Next along the row, not in line for judging, was amateur Sean Murray's Great Chelsea Garden Challenge garden.  It is "for a couple of keen gardeners nearing retirement" and "shows how a front garden can be both beautiful, with an abundance of plants, and practical, with off-street parking".

I was disappointed. The weather didn't help, but it was unremittingly grey (yes, I know the RHS campaign for front gardens is Greying the Green, so...). It was also about twice the size of the footprint of many of the actual houses currently being built in this country.

Here's the parking space:

Park your  artic here...

There was lots of emphasis on recycled materials. I wonder about the empathy between the soon-to-be-retired couple and all those rusty tin cans.

Still, he made the surface interesting with different levels.

And he certainly looked happy!

A rare dry spot. Lucky Sean

After all that grey, the next was a real tonic. The Hidden Beauty of Kranji, by John Tan and Raymond Toh, bringing to a grey morning the exoticism of Singapore:

Won Silver-Gilt

 Exotic and bursting with sound and colour:

Of the others along the Main Avenue, Marcus Barnett's Telegraph Garden had a certain style - actually that's de Stijl, the art movement that inspired him. Strapline for the de Stijl movement? "The object of nature is man, the object of man is style" - it's a principle that I'd have liked to see more of in the Laurent Perrier garden. This was calm, soothing, with blocks of colour...

Won Gold

...and - ooh, look - slate.

The Beauty of Islam by Kamelia Bin Zaal was monochrome in green and white.

Won Silver Gilt

Here's a glimpse of Charlie Albone's The Time In Between - it's quiet place to sit and communicate:

Won silver gilt

And James Basson's delightful Perfumer's Garden in Grasse: 

Won gold

Now, when I say "exclusive" gardens, I mean those that really didn't seem much interested in showing a public face. Dan Pearson's didn't really invite you in, and it was difficult to see much of Jo Thompson's, though I did catch a bit of pond:

Won silver gilt

Of all, though, The Living Legacy Garden designed by Andrew Wilson and Gavin McWilliams, commemorating Waterloo, was extraordinary. It had decided to completely turn its back on the visitor. The picture in the catalogue shows a view through the gates towards the point at which the photo below was taken. From there it looks rather interesting.
 

Won Silver Gilt

But it didn't give a Wellington Boot for showing itself off and seemed to me to be extremely unfriendly,  even down to the "keep out" signals from the "lances" along the boundary:

Isn't it odd?

Coming next: Fresh gardens and my two favourites for People's Choice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Does the BBC's Great Chelsea Garden Challenge denigrate garden design?

Sean Murray won the Great Chelsea Garden Challenge.

Did you watch the Great Chelsea Garden Challenge? Do you think it worked well? Tuning in to catch the second half of each episode, I thought it was great fun.

Not everyone agrees, though. There have been rumblings in Garden Design world, as reported by the Mail Online a couple of days ago. It denigrates garden design, is the general grumble. Janine Pattison, award-winning designer and well known on the seminar circuit, said it trivialised garden design, gave the impression that anyone could do it and implied that it disrespected the years of study and hard work put in by professionals.

Personally I couldn't agree less, any more than I'd say the amateur Masterchef series, The Great British Sewing Bee or The Great British Bake Off take away from professional achievements. They show how difficult these things are to do to a prize-winning standard and give an appreciation of the thought and effort that goes into doing them well.

I sniff professional insecurity in the criticism. It's a common reaction - by all professions - to claim all knowledge and ability for themselves. Which is silly, as you only have to go around local art festivals (and watch TV) to know that there are innumerable very talented amateurs in many different areas of art and design.

Still, not all the Garden Design world is acting so defensively. Andrew Fisher Tomlin, Director of London College of Garden Design and RHS Judge, has said, “The new series is a great way of highlighting careers in garden design and can only lead to encouraging new people to come into the profession." He's rather pleased, of course, because competitor Paul Harris is one of his graduates.

I suspect that much of the grumbling has been activated at the thought that a space on the Main Avenue at Chelsea will be taken up by the winner's garden. Certainly, designer Roseanne Rosewarne is quoted as saying that reserving such a site for the winner is hard on the professional designers.

Fisher Tomlin added, “There have been some negative comments from parts of the profession, but most have come from designers who have never taken up the challenge of exhibiting a show garden. Generally, we have found overwhelming support for the RHS in highlighting garden design as a career and for taking a contemporary approach to getting people to train to be a garden designer.”

I'm really looking forward to seeing what Sean has produced. He's completely self-taught but obviously talented. A self-taught flower arranger, he recently passed his NAFAS (National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies) demonstrators test.  His garden will be on the spot where Alan Titchmarsh had his last year (not a huge space) and, because he's briefed by the RHS and it is, therefore, an RHS garden, no, it won't be part of the official judging process.

That's a shame. It wouldn't have been ethical to pass judgement on their own garden, and perhaps that's just as well for an amateur's blood pressure. But you can't help thinking that it would always have been considered too dangerous or too tactless to include it.

For related thoughts on professional v. amateur designers: Tim Richardson's discussion on Thinkingardens

Joe Swift and Zandra Rhodes' Pocket Park makes a landmark of the Greenwood Theatre, London SE1

Zandra Rhodes and Joe Swift add colour to their handiwork

The Greenwood Theatre has taken on a new presence, thanks to the latest Pocket Park in Weston Street, London SE1. First-time visitors no longer walk past and have to retrace their steps to find what was a dull brown building with no distinguishing features.

The Pocket Park, wrapped around two sides of the theatre - which is used for lectures for King's College, London students during the day and for performances at night - replaces drab strips of tarmac and is the result of  a design collaboration between fashion guru Dame Zandra Rhodes and garden designer Joe Swift.

Rhodes' influence hits you in the eye. Renowned for her colourful clothes and hair, she chose the pink, yellowy-orange and blue for the walls. She painted Swift into a corner, so to speak, on planting. "I've often painted walls," he said. "It's an economical way of changing mood and feel in a garden, but here would probably just have painted it magnolia. The colour completely influenced the plant choices."

This was a grim tarmac pavement used as an occasional car park

To match Rhodes' vivid colours, he's chosen strongly coloured and architectural plants. Currently, red-and-yellow tulips fill the beds, magenta still shows on fleshy bergenias, and perennial wallflowers have just begun blooming in their strong mauve.

Scent will also be important, especially in winter when powerful colour will be replaced by powerful scents like jasmine. "I had a lot of scope to get in a lot of interest throughout the year," said Swift. "The idea is to be a full experience. The most important thing is it's outward-looking, increasing people's engagement with horticulture. In London, there's so much opportunity to get green space into works but you want quality horticulture where people can see someone's designed some plants and put plants together quite interestingly."

Balancing the powerful scents and colours, Swift produced what he describes as a "very neutral layout". The raised beds are rendered in pale grey, topped with a matching steel angle. Not only offering a foil to the bright tones, this allows planting right up to the edge of the beds and positively discourages anyone from sitting anywhere but on the wooden seats incorporated in the recesses that punctuate the planting.

Workmen enjoy the new area

Swift gave height, not only with unusual shrubs such as pomegranite, but by adding steel frames that arch over the beds, connecting the garden to the building and creating shadows and a strong profile in keeping with the architecture.  It's a design that will continue to develop as climbers clothe the walls and make it, as Swift says, "quite jungly".

The Pocket Park proffered a new experience for Swift, who hasn't collaborated with anyone before on a design and who avers that he "doesn't do committees". Committees remained off the agenda but he would certainly consider collaboration again. "It's important to know which bit you're doing and which roles. And for people to let me do what I want within what I feel confident with. I really enjoyed it," he said.

Joe Swift goes for a quick walk to check his planting's progress

The project was the brainchild of Cityscapes, a not-for-profit limited company that aims to inject a cross-disciplinary approach into design. What with Richard Roger's colour-coded design for the Cancer Care Centre opening at Guy's Hospital in 2016, just down the road from the theatre, and the orangey and pink Fashion and Textile Museum (founded by Rhodes), in nearby Bermondsey Street, this area is fast becoming the Colour Quarter and it's no wonder that Rhodes was considered a perfect choice for the collaboration.

Colour, texture and scent are all vital components

The park sits along what will be an important approach to the new London Bridge Station and transforms the junction of Weston Street and Snowsfields, helping to make a connection across the SE1 area from the station to Bermondsey to the east. Joint funding from Network Rail, King's College, London (on whose land it sits), the Mayor of London's Pocket Parks Programme and Team London Bridge (the local Business Improvement District) furnished the £260,000 cost. Team London Bridge continues to support the teams who maintain the beds from Putting Down Roots, a horticultural training programme run by nearby St Mungo's, a charity for the homeless and those at risk.

 

Entrance to the Greenwood Theatre in Weston Street, London SE1

Greenwood Theatre Manager, Catherine Sharman loves the new exterior. The garden has gradually become part of the community since the walls were finished last November. Children from the neighbouring Snowsfield Primary School planted the tulip bulbs that are now so colourful and workmen are taking the opportunity for a sit-down in the their tea breaks. Students, after recent revision classes, flooded out to sit and enjoy the good weather. "Often," says Sharman ruefully, "I can't get a seat myself!"

Vertical gardening with Victorian verve

There's nothing new...blah, cliché, cliché. but honestly, there isn't, is there? Materials change, engineering advances, but ideas?  Coming around again, as the Carly Simon song goes. But here's an idea for vertical gardening that I hadn't seen before.

I recently discovered the far-too-absorbing website Mostly Victorian. To me, brought up with a pre-war (that's pre World War One) edition of Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopaedia, which was regularly taken out for the poetry and stories contained therein, the pages on the website have a very familiar look. I guess it was the publishing style of the period.

And what features in a Girls' Own Paper as a "Novelty for Small Town Gardens"? A Wall Garden! A Victorian version of Wooly Pockets.

Doesn't look immediately different from the usual array of pots that you might hang up on a wall, but the accompanying letter reveals that all the pots are custom-made with open backs so the soil is up against the wall, and the plant roots (which the writer seems in constant fear of damaging) "delight in the brickwork".

Easy access, easy planting up, no damage by her cat's myriad friends, and, it seems, less watering required.

The only problem nowadays would be finding someone to make the pots. And possibly the wall.

Garden Ponds: priming the pump of decision

"Just as a room without a mirror is dead, so a garden without water is never quite alive."

Of course, you could speculate on the personality that thinks that every room should have a mirror, but the moment I read this in Beverley Nichols' Merry Hall I felt he was right. And what that really tells you is that I've always wanted a garden pond.

Have you got a pond? If not, perhaps Beverley's description of his pond explains why:

It's the sort of thing the Daily Herald will tell you can be dug over a weekend by a not very bright child with a not very sharp spade. I need hardly say that in fact it required an army of workmen and cost the earth.

My fear, exactly. Except I'd be doing all the work.

Positioning a Garden Pond

Still, that was written in the days before butyl liners and pre-formed plastic, and a pond doesn't have to be big. In his excellent book How to Create an Eco Garden, John Walker makes one out of a container 16 ins diameter by 12 ins deep (picture of pond) and suggests putting one in a flower border. 

Personally, I fancy something a bit larger, though. Where to put it?

General consensus recommends a site away from trees (to avoid falling leaves in autumn) and in the sunniest space available to attract the greatest variety of wildlife and ensure that your waterlilies flower well. According to H L V Fletcher (The Feature Garden, 1960), it should also be south or south-west of any shrubs that will form a windbreak against the coldest air.

So, not under the apple tree and not near the back of the house (north-facing). Which pretty much leaves us mid-lawn.

Choosing the shape

Now, formal shape (meaning rectilinear or round) or informal (uneven edges)?

G C Taylor advises in Gardening by Example:

Generally speaking, the formal pool is the type best suited to the well-defined outlines of the small garden. Possibly its best position...is in an axial line with any doors or windows on the garden front of the house, steps, a gateway or archway, or borders.

Sounds plausible, but turn to the photographs and you find that the author's idea of a small garden (book first published 1932 by Country Life) is an expanse that, these days, would be sold to developers for a large housing estate.

Besides, there are enough straight lines in my garden. I'll leave those formal ponds to London courtyards and gardens like the one at Morville Dower House (pictured).

So, we have an informal pond, mid-lawn.

Wildlife-friendly ponds

Water should be deep enough not to freeze solid in winter, and we surely all know now that stones should be placed in the water, allowing amphibians and wayward hedgehogs a way to scramble out.

But how about baked frogs? That's the horrible experience related by Gillian Dunkley in her helpful guide to pond-making. Ensure that there's plenty of vegetation for baby frogs to crawl into when they leave the water for the first time - wide expanses of sun-hot stone just won't do it for them.

Frivolous fountains

The Garden of Solitude, Hampton Court Flower Show 2014

And the finishing touch for me would be a fountain. It adds the lovely dimension of sound (would you happen to know if they draw in wildlife by alerting creatures to the presence of water?) but the downside is that they're not, according to Mr Fletcher, good for plants (which prefer a constant temperature not supplied by sprayed water) and waterlilies in particular, which resent being spat on. His ingenious solution is to create a pond within a pond, with the fountain playing in the central one.

Still, a water feature doesn't have to feature fat cherubs or dribbling dolphins. And I certainly wouldn't want a thunderous waterfall like that in Garden of Solitude at this year's Hampton Court. That Gold-winning design would drown out extraneous noise, but would surely drive your neighbours potty.

A gentle ripple over stones, giving the appearance of a spring is what I'd aim for, to go with the somewhat blowsy, overgrown look of the rest of the garden.

And here's another reason I'm so far pond-less. Because I don't want the hassle of connecting a water feature to the mains.  But pond pumps no longer have to be mains-powered. In fact, the idea of solar-powered pumps rather appeals. No, they're not (so far) as powerful as plugged-in pumps, and even with a battery to store energy they won't work all the time, but the cooling sound of gurgling water is most welcome is when the weather's sunniest, so that's no hardship.

Autumn is a good time to start a pond. Have I just talked myself into it?  If you have experience (good or bad) with ponds, I'd love to hear your advice.

In association with Swell UK.

 

Chelsea Flower Show 2014: WWI 100 years on

After its 100th anniversary last year, Chelsea Flower Show features a different centenary this year. Dotted around the grounds, you find commemorations of WWI. I feared an outbreak of flowery mawkishness, but a light touch is evident, with some stunning displays and more subtle references.

No Man's Land has received enormous attention so I won't linger. 

It gained Gold, which is a great arrival for Charlotte Rowe who, highly experienced and award-winning, hasn't actually designed a Chelsea show garden before. The gorgeous booklet accompanying the garden explaining the symbolism of its three sections (shame you can only see some of it when wandering in the garden).

The central panel feature didn't work, in my opinion. Charlotte Rowe described it as recalling a bunker, the parapet of a trench, or ruined building but its powerful presence, combined with the heavy horizontal slit, seemed rather reminiscent of Gort's visor in The Day the Earth Stood Still.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Altogether, though, it was beautifully put together and represented land reclaimed by nature with artful conviction.

Over in the Artisan gardens, The Potters Garden was an altogether gentler take. Inspired by Farnham Pottery, it featured original artefacts and cottagey planting, recalling one of its clients, Gertrude Jekyll. I'd have liked to see more acknowledgment that all the potters came back from the war, rather than the usual message of death and remembrance, but I guess life-destroying bullets and shells rendered harmless could be seen as a nod to that fact.

The terracotta tiles of the path were embedded with bullets:

The shadowy figure of a bas-relief soldier, carved in wood.

Meanwhile, in the Grand Pavilion, Birmingham City Council wows visitors with its trench, complete with fire-step and periscopes. What can I say? Clever and emotionally balanced, and as stunning as you'd expect these seasoned exhibitors.

Altananthera was used in various colours to represent the mud walls of the trench:

Whistles manufactured by ACME, originally the Hudson Whistle Company:

The colour of the poppies is the result of natural oxidation of the iron:

In the far corner, Heucheraholics produced an eye-catching display with a war horse released from duty:

Our view of the war has been so highly coloured by the poetry it produced that it seems impossible to reference one without the other. Well-known figures turned up at intervals on Press Day to recite on a Portland stone plinth on No Man's Land: Mark and Gaz at Alternative Eden spotted Jeremy Paxman reading Wilfred Owen. My treat was Rowan Atkinson giving a sensitive rendition of Rupert Brooke's The Dead.

And on Paul Thomas' stand, Edward Thomas expert Ann Harvey read his poetry, including, of course, the heart-tugging Adlestrop.  Lettercarver in Wood, Paul's created a delightful evocation of the station, with bench and station name. 

Always near the top of polls for Nations' Favourite, the poem has gained in poignancy over the years. Adlestrop is no more, felled by the Beeching axe in 1966. And I fear more modern generations won't quite understand the imagery, having only experienced an unknown stop seated in air-conditioned carriages by sealed window units, unable to hear the blackbird.

Paul's stand won him 5 gold stars in the Trade Stand judging and, not only is it a lovely demonstration of his talent, but, as a salute to the Great War, this subtle reference is all the more poignant.