Brambles are, in a sense, incredible warriors!“0 Comments”
barge | 10:13 pm | February 4, 2010 | Uncategorized
Wild Styles In Wiltshire
It struck me, when in a position of being somewhat powerless over a circumstance at work, that I found a renewed zeal for my allotment.
Some of this I’m sure was to ‘dig out’ my frustration, but on reflection I wonder if the planning and structuring of my allotment was a subconscious desire for order.
I wonder how much our life situation relates and reflects on our need to control or place order on our environment, in turn allowing us a feeling of regaining our power by taming the wild.
Of course, the fresh air, exercise, centring of focus, time for reflection and the hopeful and optimistic feeling gained from planning and working towards a fruitful future are all part of the joys of allotmenteering and, I’m sure, are all factors in why we have allotments apart from production and yield.
In gardening for instance though, I’ve always been interested in the strength of the desire to create a tidy edge and have a clean path, and when ‘weeding’ have noticed that the more clear of ‘weeds’ it becomes the clearer we seem to need it to be.
Most Human Beings, in my opinion, by nature (or at least in our age) have an overt desire for cleanliness and/or tidiness. This is not something in my experience found in the way the landscape behaves, at least not on the level that we are dealing with it. There is I am sure an immense order in the structure of a forest, but to our eyes a bramble is wild.
It is interesting how our language changes around this, with the bramble being a good example. If the bramble Rubus fruticosus is acceptable in its setting it is called a blackberry. If it is unacceptable, and therefore a ‘weed’, it remains a bramble.
A weed, by the way, is merely a plant that is not in the desired place or, as the Oxford Dictionary would have it, ‘wild plant growing where it is not wanted’.
When one works a lot in the garden environment one can start to have a kind of dialog with plants. By dialog I mean that one can become appreciative of a particular plant’s traits or characteristics, what it’s good at and how it responds to interaction.
The bramble is again a good example. Brambles are, in a sense, incredible warriors. They are tenacious in their advance, reaching out and layering (taking root, when in contact with soil) with the tips of their vigorous shoots, growing tremendously hard and sharp thorns and clinging to their territory with great strength by way of their root system.
One cannot help respecting them for being great at what they do.
I have a rule when working with the land that, it is not acceptable to work in anger. If I am working in anger, I have stopped listening to the land. And in this, I have lost respect for and sympathy with my surroundings.
Brambles, or for that matter, nettles, hog weed or goose grass, to name but a few, are not ‘bad’. It is we who commandeer more and more land as population grows, whether this be in the form of an office block, a car park or for residential use.
Sometimes we act in our gardens as if the bramble, or pretty much any other wild plant for that matter, has a personal vendetta against us. Yet it is us who encroach, advance and strive to ‘clean’ the natural environment.
If one looks at ‘weeds’, they don’t take over as we seem to think. They will be prolific in an area perhaps but then will give way to another plant which is slightly more suited to the setting, creating swathes.
On our micro scale of gardening we can lose touch and sympathy with this and because we have a restricted plot in which to create order we often leave no room for disorder. Or put another way, we mistake what looks like disorder for that which is natural harmony.
It is, I know, a difficult conundrum of what to do about the growth of population and the strain on the land. Of course we need shelter, homes and industry. I would just urge anyone to relinquish their borders a little to the wild. Spare a wild plant for an ornamental. Allow the native bio diverse insect and bird supporting ‘weeds’ a chance to do what they do best - supporting our precious environment. And finally, allow a bramble the status of blackberry in your garden.
To tree or not to tree..?“0 Comments”
barge | 5:26 pm | January 18, 2010 | Uncategorized
Discarded Christmas Trees
In 1841 Queen Victoria’s new husband Albert introduced a German Christmas tradition into the British royal household. From that point on the Christmas tree has, apart from a small dip in popularity after the death of the Queen, been on the up and up in this country, Western Europe, America and most other parts of the world.
The history of the Christmas tree’s origins are many and varied, but essentially evolve from the Pagan and Druidic celebrations of the Winter Solstice (21st December) this being the shortest day. The lack of daylight inspiring the ‘celebrations of light’ with the encouragement of sunlight light for the next half of the year and the hope for a fertile time to come.
A symbol of this was the evergreen tree, which represented eternal life and the promise of replenishment during the winter months.
The Christmas tree is also a Christian symbol of course and is said to have originated its religious roots through the English monk St Boniface who in the 7th century went to Germany to teach the word of God. Legend has it that he used the triangular shape of the Fir tree to describe the Holy Trinity of God, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
Unlike in England the fir tree is a native species of Germany, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe and makes up a part of its natural bio-diversity, acting as a habitat for its native wildlife. Even in Germany where this is the case, the fir tree has been through periods of threat and has had legislation passed to protect it from the damage done due to the popularity of having a cut tree indoors at Christmas time.
I am in no way a ‘bah humbug’ person about Christmas and love the celebrations but it breaks my heart to see the cut trees that are discarded after two weeks, laying outside of almost every household, browning on their sides.
It strikes me that this is once again evidence of our detachment to source and in our innocent excitement for the season and with wishes to make it wonderful for ourselves and our families, we forget that it is not just the one tree that we have that is cut, but many trees, almost one for each household. In fact it is reported that 7 million real fir trees were sold in England this last
year alone.
It would please me if some of the land in this country that is used for this non native mono crop were left to be naturalised back into a healthy, thriving and diverse environment. This is a romantic notion on my part of course as that land will be likely to be used to turn a profit and if not for Christmas trees, who is to say it would be used for something more wholesome.
I would like to encourage though that perhaps in approaching the festivities next year we might consider avoiding spending good money on a cut tree that is only to be thrown out in a couple of weeks, putting strain on the environment and local amenities, and rather, gather up our families and take a walk in the country with a pair of secateurs in hand and pick a couple of sprigs of holly or ivy and perhaps a broken branch that could be decorated.
So long as this is done sympathetically, without greed and with good common sense there is no reason why this should hamper the environment at all. In fact a gentle prune will help promote growth of the plant, and in our gathering it ourselves we have filled our lungs with fresh air and stretched our legs.
If indeed we do want a tree and have the outside space to accommodate it why not grow one in a pot and enjoy it all year round, bringing it indoors for Christmas.
With the money that we save every year we might choose to plant a native tree, either on our own land, or perhaps by making a donation or buying a subscription to the Woodland Trust who will strive to plant, proliferate and protect our native broadleaved woodlands. The very woodlands that add beauty to our landscapes and support our native wildlife.
Who’s to say ? It’s not unlikely that such a charity would sponsor some of the land that is released from the fall in demand for cut trees.
Have a good year !
A.
My latest work…“0 Comments”
barge | 5:38 pm | July 6, 2009 | Uncategorized
I thought I’d post up my latest garden. It’s a courtyard garden in Bath. There is a before shot, then two shots of the garden before the iroko bench was fitted and finally a shot of the fitted bench.
Cheers, A.
Avoncliff and ‘Abouts“0 Comments”
barge | 5:36 pm | April 6, 2009 | Uncategorized
I was asked to write something for Bath Life magazine about gardens within 100 miles of Bath that inspire me. I thought I’d post it for you to read:
When asked to comment on my favourite /most inspirational gardens in and around Bath it didn’t take me long to realise that I would like to celebrate a slightly larger garden, it being where I draw most of my inspiration from. The Landscape of Avoncliff and the Limpley Stoke valley.
Avoncliff is a small hamlet situated about two miles west towards Bath from Bradford on Avon. With its 35 or so houses, pub and little request stop train station, it feel like it has been left some way ago back in time.
Sitting in the valley with the river Avon running through it and aqueduct crossing above carrying the Kennet and Avon canal, it is enveloped by woodland. Here also you will find wild flower meadows, river and woodland paths, the canal towpath and endless short walks to neighbouring hamlets and villages, a couple of which at least containing public gardens more than worthy of a visit.
Much of my personal interest lays in native planting and the natural origins of our common ornamental garden plants, most of which will have started off in this setting, then been cultivated to have larger or smaller leaves or flowers and different colours or sizes to suit the tastes of the current gardening mood. An example of this might be ‘Old Man’s Beard’ Clematis vitalba being the source of our modern clematis or the ‘Dog Rose’ Rosa canina being the great grandmother of our much loved garden roses.
An ideal garden visit for me would embrace the countryside as much as the garden itself, so what better way to discover a new garden than to walk through this wonderful valley to discover it.
If you were to take the short walk from Avoncliff up through the woods to Westwood you would find Westwood Manor House, this antiquated house and church have attached a small but eccentric topiary garden, on entering the path is sentried by oversized Box buxus cubes and spheres, then after crossing a courtyard in order to access the rest of this playful but formal garden you are required to pass through a topiary house of Yew taxus to find a formal pond surrounded by Yew columns and obelisks.
Walking on through Farleigh Hungerford and passing below the 14th century castle to meet the Frome River, following the course of which you will arrive at Iford Manor and the Peto Garden, built by Harold Ainsworth Peto in the late 19th and early 20th century. This is a beautiful garden complimenting the surrounding landscape with its subtly planted terraces intended to support and show the architecture in an Italian style of gardening, and holding in it not just the medieval house with its 18th century façade and mature wisterias, but a variety of features such as the loggia, casita and the most impressive cloister building inside which is softened by a lightly draped clematis on all for walls.
An added treat of this visit is the view from the bridge at Iford of another unusual but fabulous topiary outside room, complete with sofa, easy chair and table.
Walking across the meadows and alongside the river through Freshford and back to your start at Avoncliff you will have witnessed some of the most stunning countryside to be found. I am always reminded of the immense beauty of this place and the feeling of well being that can be drawn from it is always in my mind when designing a garden. Using nature as a guide but playing with human traits such as design and order to implement this in the garden setting.
Finally, on arrival after this short 4 mile walk you will undoubtedly deserve a cheeky pint in the Cross Guns.
Happy days, Andy.
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Nice weather for ducks !“0 Comments”
admin | 11:02 pm | September 1, 2008 | Uncategorized
This really is crazy weather and after the govenments advice to gardeners two years ago to start planting for drought conditions I recall the saying that ‘In Britain we don’t have a climate, we just have weather !’ So I’d be inclined not to pay too much heed to predictions about the future and do what people working with nature have always done and adapt to whatever is thrown at them.
After all, people all around the world find pleasure from the planted environment whether that be through a rugged interaction with the wild or through highly manipulated and stylised gardening.
I thought I’d like to put up some of my influences on the blog hoping that they are of interest and relevance. I read an article earlier in the year in the American Society of Landscape Architects Magazine about a man called Jonathan Piasecki, who is based in Massachusetts. The way he works and interacts with the landscape really appeals to me, here is a copy of that article http://www.goldenbough.net/la.html which you will find as a tag.
Another man who came to my attention this year that has an inspiring relationship with nature is Fergus Drennan or Fergus the forager as he prefers to be called. Fergus tried this year to complete a full year of only eating by foraging, unfortunately due to a back problem Fergus had to abort but hopes to resume the full time foraging soon. Never the less he is a great inspiation and runs foraging courses in Kent. http://www.wildmanwildfood.com
When I became interested in gardening I was living on a boat in London, I had a lush garden on the boat and gained enormous pleasure from tending it, if sometimes, for only for a few minutes a day. I had been teaching some stress management techniques in a company that I was working for and it occured to me that if only everyone could find that bit of the peace and wellbeing that I found each day how much less stress there may be. I figured that if you can’t bring Mohamed to the mountain, bring the mountain to Mohamed. In knowing how hard it can be to get out into the country and with time being such a valuable commodity I wanted to bring nature to the people. This has never left me and one of my major interests is working with native plants to act as a kind of interface between us civilized folk and the wild. I am very lucky and now live in the Bath area surrounded by nature which is a constant inspiration to me.