A formal, wild meadow

I will never forget this formal, wild meadow garden in East Hampton, NY. 

The Hamptons are famous for village lanes lined with mature sycamores, privet hedges, and arborvitae.  Such plantings mark the separation between the private and public worlds.  They provide shelter and privacy to personal gardens; shade and coziness to public spaces.  Getting around means passing through these delightful lanes.  

While walking back from the beach along one such lane, dense green walls on either side gave way to a burst of light and color.   The setting sun streamed through this stunning meadow seen above; thousands of cosmos were backlit so they appeared to be floating paper lanterns.

This garden has the layout of a formal parterre, a geometric area divided by symmetrical paths.  Its structure could easily fit into a French formal garden.  A square space is framed by evergreens.  Straight, criss-crossing paths meet in the middle of it to form a series of triangular beds filled with flowers.  This formality unifies the garden, giving it rhythm and consistency. 

What made this garden special was how the gardener’s plant choices and pruning restraint softened its structured layout.  The evergreens were left to grow naturally; mown grass was used in the pathways instead of gravel; cosmos were selected for the flowerbeds and fell freely into the paths.  A few grasses and daisies were allowed to pop up now and then, further softening the scheme. The power of this garden comes from its combination of formality, and what I suppose was inspiration from the wild.

Fashioned in the arts and crafts style, this garden is one room in a series of gardens: more formal outdoor areas near the house provide space for entertaining; and this garden in the far corner is looser, more naturalistic.

As I plan my fantasy garden, a formal meadow like this one will fit in beautifully, especially since I will have limited space.   I can create a defined area with paths for easy access to the flower beds, and at the same time enjoy the beauty and serendipity that only nature can provide.  It will also face west so that the setting sun can wash over it.

See more arts and crafts gardens here.

Founded in 1648, East Hampton is one of the earliest English settlements in America. This area is known for beautiful beaches and bays, historic (and modern) homes, design shops, and wonderful garden centers.

 

Boboli's grottos

One of my favorite features in the Italian garden is the grotto.  A grotto is defined as “a small picturesque cave”. Grottos are a key feature of Greek and Roman stories: in Homer’s Odyssey, the man-eating giant Polyphemus lives in a grotto where he keeps his flock at night; in the legend of Seven Sleepers, a group seeks refuge from religious persecution in a grotto; and the Roman sea god Poseidon lives in a sea grotto.  Given that the Italian renaissance garden gets much inspiration from classical Greek and Roman culture, it should be no surprise that the grotto also plays a role in Italian renaissance gardens.

Cosimo I and Eleanora of Toledo's Pitti Palace, Florence, Italy.

The grotto provides an element of surprise, a contrast to the more formal geometry of the rest of the garden.  Grottos are a destination.  They offer practical shelter from spring showers, summer sun, and winter winds. They can also be dark and a bit scary.  Because they are protective they enjoy special ornament, sculpture and painted walls that celebrate great legends. Best of all they are a place for luxurious plantings of shade loving plants like ferns and mosses that contrast with the arid summer climate outside.  The perfect grotto includes water-bathed walls that add sheen to the space, and a small stream to make soothing water sounds.

The 3 grottos above are from the Boboli gardens at Pitti Palace in Florence, Italy.

These gardens were commissioned by Eleonora di Toledo, wife of Cosimo I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany as a private family garden.  Eleonora was from Spain and probably brought ideas from gardens there.  The initial plan was made by sculptor Niccolo Tribolo who also designed Cosimo’s country house, Villa Medici di Castello.  Tribolo passed away before the Boboli gardens were completed.  Architects Giorgio Vasari, Bartolomeo Ammannati, and Bernardo Buontalenti completed most of the work we see today.

Portrait of Eleonora of Toledo by Bronzino, 1544-45.  Watch a video about this portrait to learn more about Eleonora.

Cosimo I. Source: National Gallery, UK.

Etching of Niccolò Tribolo. Source: members.efn.org

Subsequent generations of the family added to the expansive.gardens.  On the early spring day that I visited Boboli, it mostly rained.  So it was the grottos that provided welcome cover as I worked my way through the garden. 

My favorite was the smaller grotto of Madama with its beautiful palladian door frame set into what looks like natural rock.  Just brilliant to see “civilization” meeting “wilderness.”

The grotto at Kaffehaus, added in the 18th century, was quite intimate with a wonderful view of the garden there. 

Grotta Grande by architect Bernardo Buontalenti, 1593.

The most famous grotto at Boboli is Grotta Grande by architect Bernardo Buontalenti.  It took 10 years to build and it was completed in 1593.  It fills the space of an entire building, and it is divided into 3 sections.  The first is painted to look like a natural grotto that an actual shepherd would use, and 2 other rooms, all incorporating a mixture of beautiful classical sculpture and naturalistic rock structures.

Although at first it might seem extreme to add a grotto to a modern day garden, I think that the concept is worth considering.  Imagine a relatively small, sheltered space tucked into the garden: a secret hide-out where you can read a book or take a nap.

Though I don’t have space for one now, in the dream garden that I am working on in my mind, I have tucked a small grotto into the far corner of the garden as a special retreat.

Any grotto stories from your garden?

 

Happy B-day William Robinson

Portrait of William Robinson. Source: Telegraph

“My object in The Wild Garden is now to show how we may have more of the varied beauty of hardy flowers than the most ardent admirer of the old style of garden ever dreams of, by naturalizing many beautiful plants of many regions of the earth in our fields, woods, and copses, … in every kind of garden.”  - William Robinson, The Wild Garden, 1870

The ability to spend a weekend at a friend’s beautiful garden in the country is a real treat.  Such a visit means getting to see the garden at different times of day, and to hear first hand about your friend's ideas, successes, and failures.  This is a truly wonderful way to find inspiration and to make a deeper connection.

This is how I felt when I had the chance to spend a few days at William Robinson’s country house, Gravetye, in West Sussex, outside of London.  By then I had heard about the garden he made there, and read several of his books. These books created a mental map of what to expect: naturalized bulbs, water gardens, and meadows.  Being there exceeded all of my expectations.  It was a pleasure to see the garden change from morning to night, to wander paths, to discover new sections, and to be able to take the time to absorb the garden.  I was most surprised by how Robinson successfully integrated "wild" plantings into formal elements .

The catch is that this garden is over 100 years old, with Robinson gone nearly that long.  In place of the living William Robinson, my room came with a copy of his plant book for Gravetye in which he explains the design process behind each section of the garden.  His spirit lives in his words.  Having fallen asleep half way through the book on my first night, it is no surprise that I dreamt that I saw his ghost wandering the halls! 

First published in 1883.  One of the most influential garden books of all time. Still worth reading.

William Robinson was born in 1838 in Ireland.  By his twenties he was working in London’s Regent’s Park and collaborating with Charles Darwin.  In his thirties he dedicated himself to writing about gardens where he made his fortune.  His travels throughout Europe and North America allowed him to see plants not native to England in their natural settings.

William Robinson’s birthday would have been last week, so this is a good time to celebrate his contributions to garden design.  He has been described as “ground-breaking”, “most influential”, “a towering figure”, “changing the face of England”.

His work deviates in wonderful ways from the garden style of his time.  Those gardens were about controlling, managing nature: topiary, clipped hedges, and geometric bedding schemes full of bold annual plants grown in greenhouses.   In some ways garden design had an on-off switch: you could have a managed garden or chaotic wilderness.

Robinson described his view of the wild garden as "placing perfectly hardy plants in places they will take care of themselves."  He railed against costly annuals: “It should be borne in mind that the expense for this system [of using non-hardy plants] is an annual one; that no matter what may be spent in this way, or how many years may be devoted to perfecting it, the first sharp frost of November announces yet further labours.”

William Robison's home, Gravetye, was built in 1598.  He bought it along with 1,000 surrounding acres in 1884 to create his garden.

Robinson made it fashionable to move away from specimen planting to arrange plants naturally within a framework that gave order and unity.  He encouraged gardeners to be open to the serendipity and randomness of nature.  In his world, accidents were good, “…a world of delightful plant beauty that we might make happy around us.”  

Robinson helped us to make an important transition in garden making: from control, and some say artifice, to spontaneity, to “wildness”. His approach kept a sense of intentionality but it also embraced plants’ natural desire to spread and self-seed.  

Robinson’s legacy lives on in his writings.  His best-selling books The English Flower Garden and The Wild Garden taught gardeners why a new style of gardening was needed, often in practical bulleted lists.  And sections like “Early flowering bulbs in meadow grass” and “Not ugly fencing” taught us how to make the transition to the wild garden.  These books were best-sellers: hugely influential.  And his highly public spat with formalists like Reginald Blomfield (author of The Formal Garden in England, 1892) further helped gardeners think through the attractions of different garden styles.

Fortunately we can also connect with Robinson through his garden, Gravetye.  He bought the 1,000 acre property south of London in 1884 to build the kind of garden he wrote about. The photos above are from the Flower Garden.  This formal frame stuffed with hardy plants capture the essence of Robinson's garden style.  Today Gravetye is a luxury bed and breakfast that aims to preserve William Robinson’s legacy.  It is part of the prestigious Relais & Chateaux hotel collection.  If a night at the house isn’t in the cards, make a reservation for lunch.

To learn more about Robinson, check out the re-released The Wild Garden in England with new material by designer/ photographer Richard Drake.  Check out Drake's wonderful video on Robinson where he explores "What is wild? and why it matters" below. 

Happy birthday William Robinson!

See more photos from Gravetye here.