Garden Diary: Making and breaking the grid
Ross Hamilton sent me a link to Kate Gould's garden in last year's Chelsea Flower Show. It shows an ivy covered trellis-like affair on a concrete base with an intriguing graphic motif repeating at the bottom.
I think it's quite beautiful, and similar to the concept for a focal point I illustrated using Augustus Saint-Gauden's garden in the previous post. It also suggests a Patrick Blanc-like living wall, though in simplified form.
I said I can't draw and this proves it: the following sketch shows my concept for the back of the garden, or perhaps I should call the back the front, since that is the view that will most often be seen.
A long panel, about five feet high and 12 or 14 feet long would provide a substantial visual stop to the garden at the end opposite the house. It also could serve the practical purpose of hiding a composting and maintenance area behind. At times, I've thought this panel might be painted red, but I'm not sure of that. Rising toward the left end, and on axis with the pool, would be a kind of trellis tower, a "shadow box" with trellis mounted in front. And that might stand on a concrete base, similar to the concrete planter in Kate Gould's Chelsea garden photo above.
The general effect would be something like this simple trellis rectangle (to use an Internet photo I've used at least twice before), but with substantial differences. God is in the details, as they say.
A last shot of the garden in its present state, now with the fence walls stained a slate color, helps bring all this into focus, at least for me. The straight lines of the naked garden structure shown here will be reinforced by the regular pattern of tree trunks, and by the trellis tower positioned (where the camera lens is) on the main axis. This rigid garden structure will then be broken by drifts of boxwood, Bergenia, and other plants intentionally positioned to appear to flow diagonally, almost at random, across the grid.
That's the concept - awaiting the execution. (I hope all this comes together.)
I think it's quite beautiful, and similar to the concept for a focal point I illustrated using Augustus Saint-Gauden's garden in the previous post. It also suggests a Patrick Blanc-like living wall, though in simplified form.
I said I can't draw and this proves it: the following sketch shows my concept for the back of the garden, or perhaps I should call the back the front, since that is the view that will most often be seen.
Another variation on this theme suggested itself to me on a recent visit to the Michner Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania (not far from Federal Twist). This work from the 1950s - whose maker's name I can't remember, and which uses irregular patinated copper rings, buffed or ground to a high polish on their upper sides to reflect light - suggests another variation on the trellis tower theme. The shadow box could be covered with thin copper sheeting treated with acid to give it a green patina. Only a thought, among many possibilities.
The general effect would be something like this simple trellis rectangle (to use an Internet photo I've used at least twice before), but with substantial differences. God is in the details, as they say.
A last shot of the garden in its present state, now with the fence walls stained a slate color, helps bring all this into focus, at least for me. The straight lines of the naked garden structure shown here will be reinforced by the regular pattern of tree trunks, and by the trellis tower positioned (where the camera lens is) on the main axis. This rigid garden structure will then be broken by drifts of boxwood, Bergenia, and other plants intentionally positioned to appear to flow diagonally, almost at random, across the grid.
That's the concept - awaiting the execution. (I hope all this comes together.)
James Golden