This is a very interesting subject or topic. When I started gardening aged 15 not only was I told (not by my parents) girls don't do gardening - only boys do that. I don't think anyone in my locale had ever heard of Vita Sackville-West but also all the garden books available to me had been written in previous decade s and were by the likes of the above V.S.W,Margery Fish,yes Christopher Lloyd and many others. None of those books were,thank goodness "relevant" so I had an old style mindset and even now I inwardly wither when someone tells me I bought a whole lot of plants for my garden at ..think of any super cheap discount store....and I only spent £3.99. Call me a snob but you just know it's not going to work. Back in the day even up to the 1960s gardening was another cultural activity as valid as being able to write novels,or compose symphonies,or critique the theatre etc. I know,those people still exist but there seems to be a,what to call it,a movement within some of the media to represent liking or doing gardening as a bit loser,a bit sad. Maybe it's so people wont mind having to live in a house with no garden like the new builds around me,and all over now. Maybe an interest in gardening has to be discouraged so people don't know what theyre missing. Just a theory. I like your idea of a hard hearted garden critic giving a waspishly cruel view of a famous garden. I think the idea would need to be developed with care though. It would have to be gardens that gave permission (obviously) and gardens that are either NT,EH or Stately Home + all set up for visitors plus private gardens that nevertheless are pretty professional at garden visits,they might even like the publicity. The garden visitor should be,not a gardener,but an entertaining and witty person who could be a bit cruel but keep the audience on side. Send for Richard E. Grant. I think that would make a very entertaining Tv or you tube half hour. Pity I'm not a TV producer or id have commissioned it!
I know of an aspiring author who no one is allowed to legitimately criticize only oochy coo you're so lovely back rubs. He blocked me haha. I was a bit cruel,like Lucrezia Borgia had nothing on me. But like you say if you're doing something on a professional level you've got to take legit criticism+ unlegit too.
I haven’t seen the new Wisley borders but hopefully can get there next year. One if the things that I often think about is how to preserve the spirit of place when the creator of a special garden either dies or moves away. Although I was disappointed on my visit to Gt Dixter last year, it’s the closest garden I can think of where it’s creator’s spirit still partially lives on.
I think Sissinghurst is now having its spirit respected as far as possible in a Nat Trust garden with loads of visitors.
“When I say to people my primary focus at Sissinghurst is romance and beauty, they are shocked and seem unbelieving. Folk generally consider gardens to be about plants and horticulture.” Troy Scott-Smith, head gardener, Sissinghurst.
But having thought a lot about this in relation to Veddw, I think what matters really is having an innovative and original replacement gardener. They may do something quite new, but that's what we need more of in the garden world.
What an excellent piece. I hadn't quite thought of it this way, but you are so right. We have become perhaps a far too insular group of folks who create gardens for other gardeners, not for those who might not be gardeners. Your analogy with sculpture and painting is particularly apt.
It's an interesting idea, and one I've been told to leave in the past. Thankfully I don't care so it's an idea I still mull over.
So much of gardening is about having and owning. Why can't people enjoy, and I mean REALLY enjoy, the gardens of others? Why can't people admire and have great feelings about street trees when they live in homes with no gardens? Why shouldn't people find interest in garden writing and garden ideas if they don't actually own a garden?
And yet it's an idea that seems to cause discomfort among those who probably need to feel some discomfort. I can't for the life of me fathom a reason why it should be an issue. Beyond of course the idea that people who own gardens are there to be sold to...
I hadn't realised there was an issue either until I stuck my neck out. Public horticulture is the most accessible by far, followed by gardens open to visitors. There's so much to be proud of and I would argue that it ramps up a sense of civic pride, and yet some seem to prefer non-gardeners to keep their distance.
I suspect it taps in to that mindset where gardeners are fed unchallenging content with the idea that it means everyone can be involved, while it actually means that those in the know protect their own interests.
Wollerton Old Hall in Shropshire, beautiful garden rooms, Pensthorpe a Piet Oudolf garden in Norfolk, Scamston (PO again)in North Yorkshire are amongst my favourites.
This is a very interesting subject or topic. When I started gardening aged 15 not only was I told (not by my parents) girls don't do gardening - only boys do that. I don't think anyone in my locale had ever heard of Vita Sackville-West but also all the garden books available to me had been written in previous decade s and were by the likes of the above V.S.W,Margery Fish,yes Christopher Lloyd and many others. None of those books were,thank goodness "relevant" so I had an old style mindset and even now I inwardly wither when someone tells me I bought a whole lot of plants for my garden at ..think of any super cheap discount store....and I only spent £3.99. Call me a snob but you just know it's not going to work. Back in the day even up to the 1960s gardening was another cultural activity as valid as being able to write novels,or compose symphonies,or critique the theatre etc. I know,those people still exist but there seems to be a,what to call it,a movement within some of the media to represent liking or doing gardening as a bit loser,a bit sad. Maybe it's so people wont mind having to live in a house with no garden like the new builds around me,and all over now. Maybe an interest in gardening has to be discouraged so people don't know what theyre missing. Just a theory. I like your idea of a hard hearted garden critic giving a waspishly cruel view of a famous garden. I think the idea would need to be developed with care though. It would have to be gardens that gave permission (obviously) and gardens that are either NT,EH or Stately Home + all set up for visitors plus private gardens that nevertheless are pretty professional at garden visits,they might even like the publicity. The garden visitor should be,not a gardener,but an entertaining and witty person who could be a bit cruel but keep the audience on side. Send for Richard E. Grant. I think that would make a very entertaining Tv or you tube half hour. Pity I'm not a TV producer or id have commissioned it!
If people open for money it’s absolutely fine to publish a review of a garden. I have and I do. No-one asks a publisher if it’s ok to review a book!
I know of an aspiring author who no one is allowed to legitimately criticize only oochy coo you're so lovely back rubs. He blocked me haha. I was a bit cruel,like Lucrezia Borgia had nothing on me. But like you say if you're doing something on a professional level you've got to take legit criticism+ unlegit too.
I haven’t seen the new Wisley borders but hopefully can get there next year. One if the things that I often think about is how to preserve the spirit of place when the creator of a special garden either dies or moves away. Although I was disappointed on my visit to Gt Dixter last year, it’s the closest garden I can think of where it’s creator’s spirit still partially lives on.
I think Sissinghurst is now having its spirit respected as far as possible in a Nat Trust garden with loads of visitors.
“When I say to people my primary focus at Sissinghurst is romance and beauty, they are shocked and seem unbelieving. Folk generally consider gardens to be about plants and horticulture.” Troy Scott-Smith, head gardener, Sissinghurst.
But having thought a lot about this in relation to Veddw, I think what matters really is having an innovative and original replacement gardener. They may do something quite new, but that's what we need more of in the garden world.
What an excellent piece. I hadn't quite thought of it this way, but you are so right. We have become perhaps a far too insular group of folks who create gardens for other gardeners, not for those who might not be gardeners. Your analogy with sculpture and painting is particularly apt.
Thank you. Though I took much longer to say what you just did!
It's an interesting idea, and one I've been told to leave in the past. Thankfully I don't care so it's an idea I still mull over.
So much of gardening is about having and owning. Why can't people enjoy, and I mean REALLY enjoy, the gardens of others? Why can't people admire and have great feelings about street trees when they live in homes with no gardens? Why shouldn't people find interest in garden writing and garden ideas if they don't actually own a garden?
And yet it's an idea that seems to cause discomfort among those who probably need to feel some discomfort. I can't for the life of me fathom a reason why it should be an issue. Beyond of course the idea that people who own gardens are there to be sold to...
I didn’t know it was an issue. I simply thought that gardens have lost their place in our culture.
I hadn't realised there was an issue either until I stuck my neck out. Public horticulture is the most accessible by far, followed by gardens open to visitors. There's so much to be proud of and I would argue that it ramps up a sense of civic pride, and yet some seem to prefer non-gardeners to keep their distance.
I suspect it taps in to that mindset where gardeners are fed unchallenging content with the idea that it means everyone can be involved, while it actually means that those in the know protect their own interests.
Wollerton Old Hall in Shropshire, beautiful garden rooms, Pensthorpe a Piet Oudolf garden in Norfolk, Scamston (PO again)in North Yorkshire are amongst my favourites.