Form & Function
A Finished Garden Design Project in Worsley, Lancashire.
Question; how do I make a
garden relevant? Relevant to what and to whom? The garden owner’s needs, the
changing environment, the passing seasons, conservation, conversation? Then
there is the question of modernity within the context of the environment and traditionalism.
Lawn, do you want a lawn, is a lawn feasible, perhaps not, its high maintenance
and rarely ever trouble free. And expected planting beds? What are the new
plants I will think to introduce for? Do you want to grow things just to look at,
or do you also grow for the table and the pot? Herbs, maybe some salad leaves?
Wood for the burner? Can we have habitat and blur the boundaries into soft
edges, a frame within a frame, that captures the trees beyond. How do I then
cram all this into a small suburban space and still make it functional and interesting and pleasing. It
needs to be a picture, that is a picture whatever the weather, whatever the
season, but equally it needs to fill and flow with the seasons as perennials
lift their sleepy heads, break the surface of the soil in preparation for
spectacle. This week the Cherry tree creates a white umbrella, lending a sense of airiness
and purity, whilst its trunk casts pleasant shadows on the fence behind. The
apple not far, heavy in white bud, on the cusp of open blossom, ready to
offer a yet to come harvest when the air will fill with the wondrous smell of
baking pastry, apple and cinnamon. The azalea
not to be outdone, fills and will soon too shine. The fig in the corner not long
planted, but already fruiting. The point of a garden is surely its connection to
all the senses. The answer, this garden which I call the eco contemporary
garden. I will not explain more, as there seems little need, it’s there in the
pictures, visible, connecting, answering a need, by filling the frame of an eye.
On a rare day the sun shines and the air fills with birdsong, I wait for the
bees and the bugs to make this garden home.
Enjoy.
Back garden as first seen
Front Garden
Front garden as first seen
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