'The garden world is rather a posh world'.

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The coal tip above the house

 Dear reader,


I agree with Tim Richardson's statement in an informative discussion about his new book on Sissinghurst * that on the whole, the 'garden world ' is mostly posh. The most celebrated and written about gardens are large gardens. Large gardens are by definition owned by those who can afford land, and even those that are smaller - perhaps of a few acres are generally owned by those of a middle income.


The coal tip garden

I admit from the outset that I am jealous of those who have land. This attitude is a rotten one, because when I stay there I lose sight of what extraordinary beauty can be found in the smallest and even scruffiest places like my small garden below a coal tip. There are some amazing small garden spaces : allotments, balconies, back lanes etc. Making a garden no matter who or where you are is a beautiful thing to do, and that is what is important. For the sheer joy and enthusiasm of making a garden see @myrealgarden on Instagram where the designer Ann-Marie Powell works in her own small garden and has created a book with other garden making enthusiasts.


This may not look small but it is
 


Light is the most uplifting element in a landscape or garden. Low winter light picks out structure and detail that you would otherwise miss. Seeing the structure more clearly gives you encouragement and an opportunity to build on it by moving plants and elements to take advantage of the sun and its trajectory across a space. The other thing about garden making is that there are so many learning experiences, it never ends as long as we are open to it.





This garden lives, at times the powerful undercurrent of the rhythms of life held in some mysterious purposefulness just break through. So I have tentatively begun again and decided to post this which was started in December last year.




The garden is waking up. I am waking up with it. I have added some new plants to the mixed native and cultivated perennial border. I love knapweed (Centaurea Nigra), and have tried to propagate it from seedheads in the past but they failed to germinate. This year I've had success! So they are being added over the next few weeks. I wonder if it will work among the later flowering plants and the grasses ? 





* www.gardenmasterclass.org




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