Mentoring is such a good thing. You can save them from some of the worst of all that. I wonder if there are any women lecturing to te women at SGD 'conferences' now?
I remember that first edition so well and kept a copy for years. The change Anne describes has been exactly the same in South Africa, where I live. When I began writing about gardens in the early 1990s, my articles, as well as those in other South African magazines, were nearly all about amateur gardeners, their challenges, mistakes and triumphs . This changed gradually, as gardening became more fashionable and a new generation of young designers began to promote themselves. Professional designs placed the emphasis on hard landscaping, with fewer plants and instant effect. . It was an expensive way to garden, but there was also a new spirit of extravagance and a desire to impress. Low maintenance was key. The whole idea of hands-on, of time shaping the garden and the gardener was sidelined. The glossy magazine editors seemed to love ti all and the new trend could also be traced in the interiors they featured, shifting from ingenious and tasteful do-it-yourselfers to slick interior designers and architects. Not for those on a tight budget .
A brilliant summary of the change. And your analysis with regard to the economic aspect must make us hope for some reversal. Though it might sadly be on the back of many suddenly unemployed designers?
first I was a gardener from the age of 9, then an art student, then a Product Designer, then garden maker, won BBC Gardener of the Year in 1999 on the strength of my 3rd garden made by myself on a shoestring, then started Katherine Crouch Garden Design.
For 23 years I have had more in common with garden makers, landscapers, nursery owners and structural engineers than with 'proper' garden designers. For a while I joined their ranks as a pre-registered member of the Society of Garden Designers. The conferences were inspirational in a theoretical way, good if you like to know of planting schemes in Argentina, but less use to my daily business. There was a distinct feeling of officers-and-other-ranks about the delegates and a consequential variable range of approachability.
I felt slightly sick to overhear phrases like 'you need to know only 50 plants to design gardens' and 'you can't possibly make a decent garden for under 25k'. Then I joined Landscaper Industry Professionals and Landscape Community and All Horts on Facebook, ceased membership of the SGD and lived happily ever after. I mentor some traumatised younger garden designers and never buy glossy garden magazines any more.
Mentoring is such a good thing. You can save them from some of the worst of all that. I wonder if there are any women lecturing to te women at SGD 'conferences' now?
I remember that first edition so well and kept a copy for years. The change Anne describes has been exactly the same in South Africa, where I live. When I began writing about gardens in the early 1990s, my articles, as well as those in other South African magazines, were nearly all about amateur gardeners, their challenges, mistakes and triumphs . This changed gradually, as gardening became more fashionable and a new generation of young designers began to promote themselves. Professional designs placed the emphasis on hard landscaping, with fewer plants and instant effect. . It was an expensive way to garden, but there was also a new spirit of extravagance and a desire to impress. Low maintenance was key. The whole idea of hands-on, of time shaping the garden and the gardener was sidelined. The glossy magazine editors seemed to love ti all and the new trend could also be traced in the interiors they featured, shifting from ingenious and tasteful do-it-yourselfers to slick interior designers and architects. Not for those on a tight budget .
A brilliant summary of the change. And your analysis with regard to the economic aspect must make us hope for some reversal. Though it might sadly be on the back of many suddenly unemployed designers?
It might. But the haves will probably still be OK ,and the ambitious but less affluent may opt for a second mortgage...
first I was a gardener from the age of 9, then an art student, then a Product Designer, then garden maker, won BBC Gardener of the Year in 1999 on the strength of my 3rd garden made by myself on a shoestring, then started Katherine Crouch Garden Design.
For 23 years I have had more in common with garden makers, landscapers, nursery owners and structural engineers than with 'proper' garden designers. For a while I joined their ranks as a pre-registered member of the Society of Garden Designers. The conferences were inspirational in a theoretical way, good if you like to know of planting schemes in Argentina, but less use to my daily business. There was a distinct feeling of officers-and-other-ranks about the delegates and a consequential variable range of approachability.
I felt slightly sick to overhear phrases like 'you need to know only 50 plants to design gardens' and 'you can't possibly make a decent garden for under 25k'. Then I joined Landscaper Industry Professionals and Landscape Community and All Horts on Facebook, ceased membership of the SGD and lived happily ever after. I mentor some traumatised younger garden designers and never buy glossy garden magazines any more.