WANTED DEAD and ALIVE

Simon JENKINS

Chair of the
National Trust
of England, Wales and Northern Ireland

RESURRECTING
the English Country House
Royal Oak Foundation
April 18, 2012 - Gracie Mansion

My playhouse was built in the colonial style.  With pitched roof, mullioned windows and a brass knob. I spent many happy hours imitating the life I thought I would live. 

Simon Jenkins wants us to play house in the 330 structures the National Trust owns. We've all seen that sign "PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH."  If Jenkins has anything to say about it, that graphic will change to PLEASE ENTER!  We will be invited to sit, cook, lounge, dance and even play the piano.  A game of billards at Upton House is within your reach.

The dining room at Kingston Lacey

Is this the disneyfication of historic houses?  Jenkins argues that houses are expressions of family dreams, vulnerabilities, marriages, aspirations and careers.  It's the difference between being a participant or a spectator. "We are taking the past and reinterpreting it for the present.  In a recent survey, National Trust members were asked how many times they returned to a great house.  The answer:  seen it once, seen it all.  Jenkins wants people to come back and back again. 

How is he going to accomplish this?  By making these great houses "talk" to us.  Inviting visitors to experience the life owners and servants once lived:  sitting at the dining table, reading the diary of Lady X at her dressing table, playing croquet on the great lawn or hitting a tennis ball with a vintage wood racquet.

Hardwick Hall

This philosophy is controversial, especially in a venerable old institution like the National Trust.  Jenkins says "it's the stick-in-the-muds vs. the progressives."  His vision is a post-twitter prophecy. But I suggest using twitter to accomplish his mission.

Changing things up is my speciality.  I live for reinvention.  I will try to embrace Jenkins ideas.  I see myself at Knole, the inspiration for Virginia's Woolf's novel, Orlando, pruning lemon trees in the orangery.

The DARKEST DAMPEST Place on earth!

LADY LONDONDERRY'S
Enduring Legacy at

Mount Stewart

The Royal Oak Foundation
Michael Buffin
Gardens and Park  Adviser at The National Trust
for Southeast England and Northern Ireland
December 6, 2011

Who would you seek advice from
if you wanted to create 90 acres of gardens?
Lady Londonderry consulted no one.

Mike Buffin opened with "I am going to tell you a story." For me that is the perfect way to begin any lecture.  I am always ready for a good tale. 

Lady Londonderry (Edith Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry)  was "very rich, extremely talented and had no formal training as a garden designer."  Yet, her gardens at Mount Stewart are a world heritage site and considered one of the great gardens in the British Isles.

Lady Londonderry collected plants like some people collect stamps. Some might have considered her an amateur, but she was an expert plantsman.   Buffin was lucky enough to have access to her meticulous garden journals containing voluminous documentation of her obsessive compulsive purchases, including 170,000 rare purple tulips. The Marchioness was a hoarder of rare and tender plants from all over the world.

Although she grew up in the 4th wealthiest family in the UK, she was often mistaken for one of the gardeners.  Listening to Mike Buffin, I wanted to know how this socialite became so enamored of gardening.  Trying to get at the underneath of things must be part of the motivation for those who write biographies. I was grasping for clues.  Was it that Lady Londonderry's  husband was cajoled into marrying her by the Prince of Wales.  Or the fact that the climate at Mount Stewart suited every tropical plant under the sun, but the SUN hardly ever shines in that part of Northern Ireland.  Gardening is known to lift the spirit, maybe it did for Marchioness.     

It was the fashion to change bedding out schemes in Lady Londonderry's era.  In the case of the gardens at Mount Stewart, there might have been a different reason for this constant reconfiguring and planting of gardens. According to Buffin, rose bushes grew to be the size of trees.  The extremely mild climate combined with very high rainfall, caused everything to grew so quickly that plants just got too big too fast.  That is a problem, I wouldn't mind having.   

I don't know why the Marchioness just kept going, creating one garden after another, buying more and more plants, moving this tree from here to there.  It might be the same reason all gardeners do it.  We can't help ourselves.  There is always another garden to make.

GARDENS AT
MOUNT STEWART

Italian Garden
Sunk Garden
Maiori Garden
Dodo Terrace
Spanish Garden
Shamrock Garden
Rhododendron Wood
Lady's Walk
Jubilee Avenue
Memorial Glade
Sea Plantation on the shore Strangford Lough
Ti Nan Org (burial ground)


Mount Stewart
Portaferry Road
Newtonards
BT22 2AD
Ireland

http://beta.nationaltrust.org.uk/mount-stewart/

Greenfingers: Nanette Hudson

Gardener, Nymans 

National Trust  Garden,UK

I met Nanette Hudson during the summer of 2010, when I worked at Nymans as part of my Royal Oak Fellowship.  I never made the time to sit down with Nanette and ask her all the questions I wanted to.  Finally, through email, I asked the questions and received the answers.

Nanette (age 4) and her sister helping out her Dad in the garden.

PO:  Why are you a gardener?

NH:  When I was a child I used to help my parents in the garden.  It started when I was about 3 and the back garden was primarily given over to vegetable growing.  It was a regular fun activity to help my Dad lift potatoes, scrub the soil off the carrots or pick berries for a pie.  My siblings and I were given a small plot each in which we were allowed to do anything we wanted...to distract our 'helpful greenfingers' away from the rest of the garden, I later realised.  My plot consisted almost entirely of a massive Forsythia shrub I was reluctant to prune and I always felt great pride in seeing my 2 meter garden completely weed free and totally over manicured.

As I got older the needs of the family changed, the vegetable plot was grassed over to create more play space for 3 active children and I took it upon myself to mow the lawn.  Every Spring my Mum would plant up the patio containers and hanging baskets with tender fuchsias and trailing petunias, she loves color!  I'd go to the nursery with her and then help her plant up the display, usually in the sunny intervals between heavy April showers.  As summer rolled on the first thing I'd do everyday upon returning home from school was to get out of my uniform, head straight to the garden and water the pots.  I used to love seeing them grow and knowing that my watering them was essential to their survival.

Although becoming a gardener was never an obvious career choice for me, I knew office work didn't suit me.  I felt that my work was pointless dealing solely with a computer screen and voices on the end of a phone.  At the age of 26 I needed a more satisfying and worthy career.  There was a deep draw towards protecting the environment, being outdoors and doing practical work.

Nanette at Nymans on the Massey Ferguson

PO: Can you tell us something about your education as a gardener.

NH:  Whilst searching for a new career I focused my attention on organizations such as English Heritage, the Environment Agency and Forestry Commission, charities or government bodies that work to conserve and protect our heritage.  All of them wanted vocational qualifications or prior experience, neither of which I had.

I had a degree in Psychology and Sociology, but was finding that I kept hitting the same brick wall.  This was until I looked on the National Trust website and came across a scheme on their training page, called Careership.  It was paid, 3 year placement in an historic garden that would give you not only practical skills to a high standard, but also allow you to study for the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) level 2, a theory based, respected qualification.

The door to the gardeners "headquarters" at Nymans

There were also practical certificates for tractors, spraying and brushcutters that were all paid by the National Trust.  You could be any age, needed no prior knowledge or experience and would graduate with all the necessary credentials to go straight into a professional gardening position.  All you needed was enthusiasm and a desire to work hard and learn.  It was a fantastic opportunity that I would never have been able to afford otherwise.

The inside of gardeners "headquarters"

I was placed at Nymans in the South of England.  Here I studied NVQ (National Vocational Qualification) levels 2 (basic practical skills) and level 3 (management level horticulture).  I went to college 5 times a year.  College was based in Reaseheath, a four hour drive north of Nymans.  We attended college for 2 week study blocks at a time so 10 weeks a year were spent studying at college.

Here we learned the theory to accompany the practical skills and gained machinery certificates too. 

Iconic View of the garden at Nymans

PO: Give us an idea of your day to day routine at Nymans.

NH: Nymans is a 33 acre garden with 350 acres of wider arboretum and woodland, 11/12 members of garden staff and 3 volunteers per day.  Being such a large garden we rely heavily on machinery to get all the work done.  Hedge cutting alone can take 3 months during the Autumn and into Winter.  We train all volunteers so they can not only develop their skills, but so that they feel part of the team and take ownership over the work too. 

The bamboo garden designed by Nanette in 2009.

PO:  Tell us about the Bulb Project.

NH: Nymans developed a conservation plan 2008-09.  One of the suggestions made was that Nymans needed more colour throughout the year.  To address this a bulb collection was proposed.  The emphasis of the collection would be on tender bulbs with inclusions of some rare and unusual speciments.  There are 5 beds around the garden that have been allocated for this project.  I was assigned this project in late 2009.  

This is one of the bulb sites.  Beds either side of the steps leading up to the pergola. 

I knew almost nothing about bulbs and the cultivation and management of a large collection.  I threw myself into research, I looked through catalogues from our regular plant suppliers, but soon realized I was going to look further a field for more unusual bulbs.

  From left to right: Leucocoryne 'Andes' (April -May), Ixia 'Giant' (June)
and Alstroemeria 'Freedom' (July -November)

 Research took ages, constantly back and forward with ideas, progress came in little steps.  As well as ensuring that the bulbs get the right growing conditions, I also needed to create a border that gelled in terms of design.  This was the hardest bit.  I placed my orders late in the summer of 2010.  Spring flowering bulbs are all planted up in their terracotta pots.  I have designed each border so it will have color from Spring through Autumn.  When one variety has gone over, it will be lifted and returned to the nursery and be replaced by next bulb in the display.

This site is one of the more prominent sites, located in the knot garden by the house.  The Ceratostigma willmottiaum pictured here has already been lifted.  In this bed there are a huge number of bulbs planned for display.  Here are a few:

Gloriosa superba 'Rothschildiana' planned for the summer months.
It will climb up wires on the wall to give display height and informality.

Lycoris radiata.  A difficult bulb to grow...you must be patient and persevre with it.

Bessera elegans, a delicate bulb that will flower in Autumn and requires lifting in Winter.

Nomocharis aperta requires cool damp conditions
ideal for the spot in the border under the shadow of the Yew hedge.

PO:  Plans for the Future

NH: I have been gardening now for over 4 years and I love it as much now as I did when I started.  However, it is not a well paid profession and to earn more, especially in historic gardens, you must progress up the gardening ranks.  This is appealing for some, not for me.  

To continue my education and practical gardening and be able to earn a sustainable living which allows my partner and I to plan for the future we are planning a rather radical and unconventional move into running a smallholding.    Alongside chickens, bees, pigs and cows we hope to raise, we plan to have a great fruit and vegetable garden.  This will be a huge learning curve as I have never grown fruit or veg.

Then alongside that we're planning a wonderful garden that we could open on specific days offering guided tours and tea, coffee and cake for paying visitors.  So I would be my own manager with huge potential for learning ...and I still get to get my hands dirty!

What more could a girl want?

Nanette in Italy doing research

I could want nothing more from any interview.  The completeness and honesty of Nanette's responses are indicative of her personality and her gardening style.  Without her companionship, knowledge and friendship, I would have been lost at Nymans.  Thank you Nanette.

P.S.  Nanette is a great baker.  I look forward to biting into one of her cakes soon.

Odd Man Out: James Hitchmough

A meadow in the City of Sheffield

Odd Man Out

Professor James Hitchmough

Department of Landscape

University of Sheffield

"Fertility is the enemy,

Infertility is the friend."

James Hitchmough likes to think about things differently.  And these things are not limited to horticulture.  His world view includes how people interact, their social context, cultural norms and the role of green space in their lives.

"What is meaningful to people 
is what is familiar, comfortable...
I try to build on that vernacular."

I had a chance to meet James in Sheffield and talk about his research into meadow communities.  I talked to James about his education and how he got interested in urban space and horticulture.

"I am interested in making connections

between

horticulture, 

culture,

design, 

and

ecology." 

" I was lucky to be in  horticulture school at a time when some individuals were beginning to see things differently.  The British were slow to get into the growing connection between wildlife and ecology.  The Germans, Dutch and Scandinavians were dealing wtih these questions as early as the 1920's. 

"Complexity in time and space

is what drives biodiversity."

I started thinking about how to balance the competing interests - how urban areas could meet the needs of people and of wildlife.  We needed to let go of some things and take on some new things.  I wanted to remake the landscape. 

"I make stuff that
looks like weeds"

I moved to Australia for 10 years.  Australian public parks were based on the British model... including the rainfall and temperatures of Great Britain.  We needed to remake this landscape for the Australian climate.  We needed plants that would tolerate drier and hotter conditions.  We collected seed and begin to create grassland communities with lots of flowers.  In a sense we manipulated people by making color the key to their acceptance of an unfamiliar landscape.

"We interview people to find out how their values change as the vegetation changes."

In Britain people expect parks to be interesting and colorful Spring through late Summer.  We know that our native flora will not flower in late summer.  We have used North American asters, which flower late in the season and are a bonus for native invertebrates.  

In Britain we have had plant explorers bringing back plants from all over the world.  Many of these plants have naturalized in Britain.  We need native and exotic species to create a dynamic biodiversity in our gardens. 

At Wisley, Piet Oudolf, and Tom Stuart Smith have both designed gardens, close to the the wildflower meadow created by James.  I asked James to describe the differences in terms of design.  

Both Smith and Piet have different plant palettes.  But both work with repeating blocks which stitch the garden together.  In Piet's case, the edges of garden dribble into one another. 

In my meadow, every plant has a different neighbor on all sides.

"In wildness is the preservation
of the world"

Henry David Thoreau

FOR MORE INFORMATON:

www.shef.ac.uk/landscape/staff_minisites/james/index.html

ALSO:
The Dynamic Landscape: 
Design, Ecology and Management of Naturalistic Urban Plant

            by Nigel Dunnett and James Hitchmough

A story behind every plant:GREAT DIXTER

A STORY BEHIND EVERY PLANT:

Great Dixter

I met Klaus when we were both working at Hidcote as part of the garden team.  I came from Nymans and Klaus from Great Dixter.

We had a chance to compare notes and I asked Klaus to give me an idea of what it was like to work at Dixter.

Dixter is a working garden.  You can see evidence of this everywhere. 
Above:  The gate to the veg garden.

PO:  Can you describe what it was like to work at Dixter on a day to day basis?

K:  It was an amazing journey, from day one I was given interesting and challenging things to do.  I never felt I was given lesser work, just because I was a student.  Very often we work in little groups of two or three, but for big stuff all of us would work together.  The work was incredibly varied, not only did I learn how to dig or how to mulch, how to mix soil or how to propagate, but also how to choose plants and how to lay them out, the secrets of succession planting and much more.

A Dixter trademark:  Expect the unexpected.

Every job was explained properly, and there was always a very open atmosphere, critical questions or suggestions were always welcomed and answered.

A little "green roof" at Dixter. 

Unexpected combination of plants grown in pots is an indication of the quirky, surprising plantings at Dixter.

PO:  Can you talk about your impressions of the garden? 

The way it is planted?  To many people it looks like chaos.

K:  Great Dixter is a plantsman garden. There is a story behind every plant. Christopher Lloyd always wanted to have an exciting garden, full of unusual plants and plant combinations, surprising, highly experimental and full of contrast.  We are constantly trying out new combinations in many parts of the garden and some are replanted every year.

The paths at Dixter are narrow.  You feel enveloped in the garden.

There are lots of bedding areas and succession planting is very elaborate.  At the same time we rely a lot on self-seeding annuals, which, carefully edited, give the garden a very casual, wild look.  I think I really appreciate the complexity of the planting.  It is necessary to see how it changes during the seasons.

PO:  If you like Dixter, why?  What about the garden itself? or is it the people? or both?

K:  I like Dixter for many reasons.  The people are just amazing and it is an incredibly busy place, things are changing, projects are launched, changes are made.  It is buzzing with people that come to see what we are doing or just pop in, because they are friends. the garden is wonderfully varied: there are meadows, orchards, exotics, vegetables, and then all those fantastic plants that have been collected for almost a century.

Then of course, the feeling of experimentation, the constant trying of new things.

The exuberance at Dixter is overwhelming. The paths are narrow, you feel like you are almost part of the garden.

PO: Do you think Dixter is an "English" garden?

K:  This is a difficult question. 
What is a typical English garden?  
Are the rooms created by Lawrence Johnson at Hidcote typical of English gardens?  
The mixed border at Dixter is a feature of lots of English gardens, but at the same time it has a very contemporary feel, with all its wildness and meadows coming right up into the garden.

Maybe it's English, in its individuality and its independence of fashion, in the amount of love and work that has been put into it and the respect for its heritage.

_______________________________________________________________________________

A word about the education of gardeners

Klaus, like many fellow gardeners, is a "career changer."   He started attending lectures at the Koenigliche Gartenakademie in Berlin.  He worked in Isabelle van Groennigen's nursery.  This lead him to lectures for Llndscapearchitects at the University.  He worked in the studio of Gabriella Pape and then applied to Dixter.  As many of us have found, working in a garden is a great education.

________________________________________________________________________________

All photographs copyright Phyllis Odessey.  No usage without permission.

The Ebb & Flow: Beth Chatto Garden

Ebb and Flow

BETH CHATTO GARDEN

I immediately felt at home in Beth Chatto's garden. My garden in Vermont and the Chatto garden have something in common: they both depend on structure and texture more than floral display.  In my own garden and the Chatto garden,  you walk around curvy paths and discover the garden as you go. I realized that so many of the ideas in my own garden owe a debt to Chatto's experiments and plantings. 

Fergus Garrett, Head Gardener, Great Dixter

"I am one of the many who is privileged to have been touched by the hand of Beth Chatto.  She has influenced me like she has influenced many others.  Gardeners from all over the world have taken her lead for the right plant right place, and have had our eyes opened to texture, shape, and form.  From the largest details to the finest minutiae she has made us look, see, and understand."

Penelope Hobhouse

"Forty years on, thanks to Beth, we study plant needs and the conditions of their native habitat before we try to arrange them.  A garden is 'good' if the planting schemes are suitable, and this is far more important than ephemeral associations based only on 'looks'.

Roy Lancaster

"50 years of seeing, thinking, listening, learning, dreaming, doing, selecting, planting, sowing, growing, digging, splitting potting, pruning, tying, trying, changing, arranging, showing, sharing, travelling, teaching, talking, writing, watching, inspiring, getting it wrong, getting it right, surprises, and regrets, triumphs, graft, colleagues, friends, loved ones past and present, morning, noon and night, no matter what the weather, birds, bees and butterflies, furry friend and foe, scents and aromas, laughter, tears and dramas of a life well spent.  Such is your garden."

The gravel garden was my favorite.  Not only because it looks to the future, but because it's a four season garden.  Previously the car park, the gravel garden is an ongoing experiment.  Although in her nineties, Chatto continues to push the envelope.

"... it seems obvious that many of us will have to abandon some of the plants we have cherished in the past, to learn to plant and rely on plants which have become adapted by nature to drought conditions!"

Beth Chatto

As those four Englishmen said, all you need is love, especially to make a garden.

All photos copyright Phyllis Odessey.  No usage without permission.