Conference time

A packed lecture theatre at Imperial College yesterday for the SGD Autumn Conference, titled 'Heavenly Gardens in Hellish Places'. Five inspirational speakers throughout the day addressed the problems they have encountered in creating gardens and landscapes in difficult circumstances. Exposed roof gardens, huge projects in the US, gardens for large estates and for degraded urban environments were all covered. Lisa Delplace from Oehme, van Sweden discussed her work on the Chicago Botanic Garden, amongst others, with reference to her sources of inspiration in the mood and mutability of the natural landscape - the work, on an enormous scale, beautifully validated her approach. Nigel Dunnett showed what is possible in socially and environmentally compromised city-centre sites - his work on low maintenance meadow plantings to enrich the urban experience while mitigating the effects of unpredictably heavy rainfall shows that the evocation of 'wilderness' is something that can be achieved in the least promising sites. If not botanically accurate as meadows the plantings have far greater importance as areas for recreation and amenity, bringing the pleasure of wonderful landscapes to all. Anthony Paul closed the day with images of his iconic creations around the world - often in precarious situations and under difficult climatic conditions. I was thrilled that he used some of my photos (see above) of his own garden in Surrey in his final slide of the day.
There was a good turnout fom this year's Oxford College of Garden Design diploma course, there to see Sarah Naybour awarded the Student Designer of the Year prize - and to do the essential networking of course!

Future Gardens

A few images from this summer-long garden show, visited a couple of days ago, just before it closed. Featuring a dozen show gardens of very mixed quality, there was at least a lot of wonderful autumn planting to enjoy. The aim of the enterprise is to highlight sustainable, wildlife-friendly gardening and novel design. As a lot of butterfly and wildlife-friendly plants are late-flowering perennials or annuals there was a good mix of flowers still to see, and if the design was not all it might have been in each of the gardens, there were some great ideas to be mulled over in all of them. As always, it was the simplest, strongest statements that were the most effective. Looking forward to the new gardens next year...

Skies

One of the best things about the house I moved to last December is the view of the sunset. There is an open view of the sky, and this summer, especially in the past two months, there have been amazing sunsets. These are four skies that caught my eye enough to warrant running down three flights of stairs to grab the camera - I think they were worth the effort...

A recent project

These three images, taken from the same spot, show the development of a simple and easily-maintained garden. The garden when first seen (bottom) was an almost impenetrable mass of overgrown conifers and scrubby shrubs, the shrub layer ailing in the dark and dry conditions created by the trees. What had once been lawn had become a patch of scruffy and uneven grass with a weaving line of loose bricks and rubble holding back the soil from a slightly higher level at the far end of the garden. The proximity of the trees to the house closed off the rear part of the garden and blocked light and views of the nearby cathedral.

By clearing the garden of everything but the one cherry tree that had any merit, the space has been opened up to allow for a gravel terrace at the far end, positioned to catch the evening sun. A light screen of the wonderful Himalayan birch (Betula utilis var. jaquemontii 'Doorenbos') permits views of the cathedral whilst giving a sense of privacy. The change in level has been formalised with a brick step across the site, and the remaining planting, shown one month after completion (top), uses dramatic blocks of evergreen shrubs and grasses to provide contrast and further define the space. Within a couple of years the clipped shapes of the yew and laurel will provide a graphic counterpoint to the sea of soft grasses from which they emerge. The remaining ornamental planting relies on scented drought-tolerant varieties, including herbs of both decorative and culinary value.

Looking good at the moment...

Arum italicum 'Marmoratum'

The foliage has died back by this stage of the year, but this arum lily, like the others of the genus, extends the season of interest with a display of vivid orange fruit, clustered around the remains of the flower spike. Coping well with dry and shady conditions, the plant is ideal for brightening a dark corner in the autumn and early winter months - as here under overhanging shrubs. This plant is one of my favourites, and one of the most hard-working in the garden: by early spring the new leaves, a gleaming dark green with creamy veining, are emerging for their six-month tour of duty.

Autumn

As we enter autumn in Britain, here is one of my favourite images of the summer. Taken in early June in Andalucia, it shows wild grasses in the hills behind the coast, backlit by evening sun. Although we have had a good deal of fine weather this summer, we have had very few predictably hot and sunny days - the sort of days that we remember a summer for, and which I hope this photo reminds us of...

My submission for the SGD Student of the Year failed to impress the judges sufficiently to gain me an award, but I am delighted that my work was considered good enough to be included in the first place. I'm even more pleased for my friend Sarah, who has scooped the first prize - very well deserved and a great testament to her talents and professionalism.
Here's to autumn...

A Billion Painted Ladies

A bumper year for the Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui). Conditions were so favourable in the early summer this year that much larger numbers of this migrant butterfly were recorded arriving in the UK. After two washout summers in which butterfly populations fell dramatically, entomologists predicted an immense hatching of the Painted Lady in particular - estimates were for a billion of these salmony-orange butterflies to appear in mid- and late August. Certainly the lavender in the Fellow's Garden at Merton College had a good covering, including this pristine specimen, feeding in the sun.