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Gardens are like people, some you like, some you love, & some you’d rather not say. But regardless of style or character you can still admire the panache & passion that is visible to all. It’s akin to that politician (insert name & party here) whose beliefs you diametrically oppose, but whose conviction & poise you find winning you round. Great gardens are like that. Half the battle, & ninety percent of the credit, will always go to the planting. Reams & reams of articles on gardening concentrate on stunning plant combinations or the rarity of particular species, or the dedication of a particular plantsman or woman who has spent their lives clothing the landscape with their vision of a planted Eden. However, truly great gardens are much more than a series of seasonal planting effects. Plants are evocative, obsessive & desirable, but the credit in all good gardens should principally go to the structure underneath.
The materials of construction barley rate a mention in most garden critiques, & are flatly referred to as ‘hard landscaping’. But think about it for a minute, the patina of stone, the crunch of gravel, the sparkle of water & the warmth of a south facing brick wall late in a summer evening are all just as much part of the garden as any flower. The problem is that there are very few stone obsessives & a dearth of brickwork fanatics. I know one Landscape Architect whose fascination is with the qualities & combinations of materials first & foremost, but this is unusual in the extreme in the amateur world. One of the most difficult things to teach student garden designers (which is one of my other guises) is that the solid elements of the garden need as much thought as the soft, & that all gardens can be judged on the palette of materials used & the places where they meet. The success of any garden, regardless of the quality of planting, depends on the compatibility of materials. So, what to look for? Well it is as long a process to learn about materials as it is to become a plant expert, but a good place to start is talking to those who know their products. As with plants, the more specialist the retailer, the more they are likely to know. The properties of a material are as important as the colour & texture so it is vital you understand what the plusses & minuses are. With paving, many people go for the faux stone effect concrete, simply because it is what is available at the local garden centre. My experience is that these products are not as good & as cheap as you may think as they mostly cannot tolerate pressure washing (the surface will delaminate), & the current swathe of imported sandstone is, in most cases, cheaper. Be sympathetic to materials that already exist in your house. Matching bricks will always link a garden to the house, & the use of brick edging on a path will be more in keeping with a house than a concrete alternative. Scale has a great effect on the overall ambience of the garden. In a small courtyard a large sized slab will visually decrease the space, whereas a cobbled surface creates the impression of a larger area. Most important is an area that seems almost trivial. In looking at literally hundreds of garden & garden designs the thing that always trips up a garden that aspires to be good is simply the changes of level or surface. The meeting points of materials, be it from a patio to a wall, gravel to stone or timber to steel, have to be thought about at the beginning of the process. There is not much mileage in the ’we’ll sort it out when we get there’ approach, as decisions have to be made before all the different surfaces meet in a horrific jumble of texture & direction. Finally, be conservative in the number of different materials you use in a single area. The more types of material that you use in a single area, the greater the potential textural mish-mash & the more confused & ill defined the garden appears. At this time of year where the plants are not the dominant force that they are in the summer, look at your hard landscaping & you should be able to spot the problems you have. A good garden will look good with no plants to distract the eye, so if it satisfies now, then you are well set for the summer when the hard work starts again in the spring. |
