I am too cold today to even think, apart from spreading mushroom compost and walking Bertie, my Jack Russell terrier, I have too much to do, too much going on. I go inside and get myself a cup of tea and take a seat in the library there is a book that catches my eye, I must have bought many years ago when we lived in Essex, Beth Chattos ‘Gardening Notebook’ and on reading the introduction I felt I wasn’t quite so alone after all. She describes that over the years she and Andrew her husband must have bought so many books on gardening, and how they sit on the shelves like old friends we rarely visit. Books are comfortable and friendly they give information freely and are tactile to touch, there is nothing like sitting in a library on a cold winter’s day, with a roaring fire.
She as I have kept a diary for many years, I call mine ‘the blue book’ surprisingly because it’s blue! That didn’t take too much thought, but the year (2017) my diary entries stopped in April, I questioned just what was the point in writing a diary?, but the point is that it is for me a record of achievement, a record to say what grew well, and perhaps what to grow again. I have a diary entry for the 19th February 2017, the weather that day was so warm we sat outside (with waistcoats) for morning coffee, lunch and even afternoon tea, this year we certainly didn’t! I notice an entry for November 14th 2016 a year since burying my mother, that day must have been the worst weather, torrential rain, cutting cold wind, totally unrelenting, and this year it rained again only not so hard. I was still questioning the reason for the diaries, going back to Beth Chatto she describes as to how she developed a personal file from garden notes and looking at this I realised it would be a good way to write on a regular basis, she wrote a comment that was very thought provoking that rarely if ever does the exact scene reproduce itself in the garden, she goes onto say ‘that imprinted on her mind a scene where light and balance of flowers, bud and foliage was memorable, and have never seen it so again’. This is what I like about gardening, year on year a different effect will be created, a view will change, nature is not controllable, it keeps you on your toes, anticipation and excitement walk hand in hand. Images created by accident or by a successful design
I have a deep passion for interior design, style created with fabrics and colours, classical, cutting edge, contemporary all excite me but I find that once the room is completed, here the story ends, however with a garden the possibilities are endless, the use of annuals change the colour year on year, the growth of a shrub will means the changing of light cast by the shrub and the flowers in its shadow will perform to a different shape creating a whole new design. Vegetables too have their place, outstanding success one year total failure the next, the weather and soil so instrumental in their ability to flourish, the rotation of crops gives a visual change but the underlying pattern of the beds remains comfortably the same.
I read further and note how many times she references flower arranging connecting this with garden design. Some years ago I attended a flower arranging class with an outstanding designer showing me just how floral arrangements can influence when designing a garden; I found that because the work you are creating is on much smaller scale, the thought process for flower arranging is much more intense. I now use what I learnt whilst in class extensively when designing a border, and look at each plant individually not only highlighting colour in the garden but using texture shape and form. Looking back I am surprised how many flower arrangements that I have created bear a resemblance to designs that have been developed, an example is the use of Fatsia japonica, growing freely in the garden and being so valuable in the arrangement of flowers. I particularly endorse the art of Japanese Ikebana, using only three to five flowers and choosing foliage to enhance or compliment the design. One of the major differences however is the use of oasis in arrangements and soil in the garden, the soil and aspect determines what can be planted, and the seasons dictate at what time of year the plant will be at its best. Flowers that are not in season can be purchased from the florist and there so the story ends.
In 2017 I designed and planted a border that was at its best in the autumn months, deep rich colours combined with evergreens and deciduous shrubs. It was under planted with bulbs giving a spring display and will now receive a injection of perennials in 2018 for late spring, the evergreen shrubs giving form and shape, the perennials and bulbs giving seasonal pleasure. The client remarked how the garden appeared to have always been here, a pleasure to just look at the plants. How often you know when something has worked but for someone to endorse it, makes things very worthwhile.
I put down the book, thanking Beth Chatto and endeavouring to read more of the book that evening after the mushroom compost has been spread!
If you’ve never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom.
Audra Foveo
