Review of the coal tip garden on this wet and cold morning

-
Dear Monty,

There has been a great discussion on thinkingardens.co.uk as a result of an interview with John Sales by Anne Wareham on the subject of design. It is worth having a look at. I was heartened that even though I'm an amateur garden maker like yourself Monty, that we too can be capable of bringing forth a design out of the ground with the aid of nature and an eye and a respect for our place within this paradise.

I admit to my ignorance and pretension to grandeur, but like so many of us I just love the grounding and the joy and frustration that this 'slow ballet' or 'slow sculpture' of growing, pruning and cutting, 'success' and 'failure' affords.

Instant gardens do not really exist, they are just brief fleeting moments of perfection.

For what it's worth here is a quick tour of my embarrassing garden on this cold wet day in May. (all photos taken on Sony Xperia)


If you don't like pink look away now


The euphorbia polychroma is a little bit of Kentchurch
This isn't chocolate soldier is it Tristan ?














Another Kentchurch plant settling in
New terracotta pots at last, will need to save for a few more.

A mini Veddw tribute (but not as sharp - yet)



That is the garden as it is now Monty. 

Comments

  1. Anne Wareham21 September 2014 at 18:35

    No comments!!! Shame! Love to be there together with Tristan - sweet. Hope the summer blessed it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Paul Steer21 September 2014 at 19:22

    Very blessed Anne - thank you xx

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pity the cabbage white

-
Image
Dear Monty, Having seen you protect your newly planted cabbages from cabbage white butterflies - it made me realise that I haven't seen many this year. Despite warmth yesterday - a brief interlude with blue sky and a light wind there was a dearth of butterflies in the coal tip garden. There were honey bees, bumble bees, wasps, hover flies, a gangly legged wasp, one hedge brown, one speckled wood and a common blue - that is all. Oh and a frog sheltering in the shady hosta and a silent peregrine falcon swooping overhead. What has happened to all the insects ? What has happened to all the aphids this year ? Is it just me that is missing them ? I have seen no ladybirds or ladybird larvae - because there have been so few aphids - was it the birds that have snaffled them ? I worry about the lack of insect numbers. We walked through a wild meadow full of meadow cranesbill and meadowsweet with the purple haze of knapweed in the grasses and yet there were one or two meadow br...
Read more

Letter to Monty Don 48

-
Image
Dear Monty, I know that despite these rambles being addressed to you, they never reach your eyes or heart, but this question is most certainly directed to you : Can nature be ugly ? I am pondering this question sitting in my cupboard of a 'studio' where I am putting the finishing touches to paintings of  British native orchids, pollinators and butterflies for an exhibition next weekend. Now I believe that you understand perfectly well the response you may get when you make statements on GW - including the one about spent buddleja flowers being 'ugly'. I too have always deadheaded my buddleja for the same reason, and as you said to promote new flower spikes. But this ugliness is an intrinsic part of nature - it sets seed to create the next generation, the flowers last but for a few days. Is this ugliness a kind of acknowledgement of the frailty of 'beauty' .... and the cutting off and tidying away a kind of denial ? ( Perhaps I think too much.) I ...
Read more

Monty, where does the road take us ?

-
Image
Monty, I see you have returned to France. Your film reminded me of my visits to Paris as an art student between 1981-83. It is a city that cannot fail to make an impression with its wide open streets, avenues of trees, the river and public gardens. I particularly remember Versailles with its long canal. At that time I was not aware of having a particular interest in gardens, but the gardens at Versailles were astonishing. I saw them in early morning light, when there were not that many people there. I also remember being intrigued by the garden at the Musee Rodin. Strangely for an art student, it was not the sculpture that caught my attention but the garden with pyramid shaped topiary. Perhaps what I was responding to was the sense of order, balance and harmony. It almost feels as though I was meant to visit, and that the encounters I had which were sensually intense, were pre-ordained. There is one incident, which has great significance only to me perhaps, but which was of ...
Read more