Mary Ann Van Berlo has been gardening on this 2.4-acre riverfront lot since fall 2012. The yard was still a construction site when she moved in, so all the gardens were installed after that.
21.07.2023 - 22:01 / awaytogarden.com
IF I SAY garden maintenance, you probably think of work—of getting out the pruners and hedge trimmers and such, and subduing any overenthusiastic plants, getting them back into bounds.But what if we thought of maintenance as an expression of creativity, instead of merely restraint—as part of the art of garden-making? What if we figured it into our design decisions right from the start? Particularly as our gardens shift in a more ecological direction and become more naturalistic, that adjustment and approach seems especially important.
Ongoing creative maintenance is our topic today with Noel Kingsbury and Annie Guilfoyle, hosts of the popular Garden Masterclass series of workshops and webinars.
Annie Guilfoyle is an award-winning garden designer and longtime teacher of design. Noel Kingsbury, with an astonishing 25 books to his credit, is a noted garden writer, teacher and consultant. Together, they have created gardenmasterclass.org, hosting both in-person workshops in the UK and online horticultural webinars for gardeners worldwide. (Above, from one of Annie’s design projects, a row of pleached Callery pears backs a perennial planting.)
Read along as you listen to the Dec. 5, 2022 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).
creative maintenance, with noel and annieMargaret Roach: Welcome to both of you. It’s so great to connect this way.
Noel Kingsbury: Well, thank you for having us.
Annie Guilfoyle: Yes, it’s really lovely to be here.
Margaret: Yes. I was so glad when we corresponded recently, the three of us, and you, two, suggested that we talk about rethinking
Mary Ann Van Berlo has been gardening on this 2.4-acre riverfront lot since fall 2012. The yard was still a construction site when she moved in, so all the gardens were installed after that.
Yes, we’re talking about mint! The breath-saving, tummy-taming, taste-boosting mint. At Fantastic Gardeners, we love this refreshing plant, and why wouldn’t we? It is fragrant, easy to grow, and has many beneficial uses in culinary arts, medicine, and cosmetics.
“As cunning as a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University” Blackadder Goes Forth, 1989
This archipelago of some 140 islands basks in the Gulf Stream of the Atlantic. The islands’ powdery, white, sandy beaches and warm microclimate, give them a sense of being much further from the rest of Great Britain than they really are.
In Yorkshire we are lucky to have several gardens designed using the theme of a Himalayan Garden. The Hut near Ripon at Grewlthorpe is  ‘The Himalayan Garden’ with all the plants you would expect in such a setting including
New Trees: Recent Introductions to Cultivation by John Grimshaw, Ross Bayton and illustrated by Hazel Wilks. Amazon
Britain has some of the best gardens in the world. The choice of which to visit is far larger than this selective list but at least it gives you somewhere to start planning this years outings.
In the cold wet winter it is a good time to plan where to visit as the year improves. The South West is the obvious place to start your visiting tour of gardens containing exotic plants.
Oak trees conjure up images of Robin Hood and mystical Oak forests. Britain has made good use of Oak trees down the centuries. ‘From little acorns great Oak trees grow’
Harlow Carr the RHS garden in Harrogate has a series of gardens through the ages. This sculpture is part of the offering for the Festival of Britain 1951. To me it looks a lot more modern than that but certainly none the worse.
A common site in many town gardens are trees that have outgrown their space. Large native trees like Oaks, Copper Beach, Planes, Weeping Willow and horse chestnuts are wonderful, but to be really enjoyed they need suitable space, like in a park. If they are planted in the garden they will
Peace is not just the absence of war it can be a reflection of a personal inner tranquility. To many gardeners peace may be a state of harmony with nature. It is a theme of several ‘hard landscape’ projects and sculptural works as shown by the selection of Peace gardens below.