PRAIRIE IN A CLOISTER

What is a prairie doing in a cloister?
I have great difficulty reconciling the Oudolf planting with the building by Peter Zumthor. 

I just do not get it...I enjoyed the planting and loved the building but it grates conceptually.Was it a deliberate contrast between an enclosed space and an open space? Cloisters by definition are secluded and private and prairie planting (or steppe or naturalistic meadow planting however you wish to define it) belongs to the open, treeless plains and fields. 

WELSH OAK

I saw this magnificent Oak tree in Wales in August of this year (2011) in the Gilfach Farm Nature Reserve near St Harmon in Powys. It caught my eye because it dominates the farm valley with a mass that echoes those of the surrounding hills. It must be about 250 years old.....young for an oak. The silvery leaves cover a sturdy dense branching framework that straddles the River Marteg beneath. Otters paddle and fish along with Dippers and Kingfishers in the river's rocky cascades, swirling pools and quieter stretches. 

YORKSHIRE DALES

This lovely early morning shot was taken by the photographer Allan Pollock-Morris in a garden I have been working on for a while. The garden is deep within the Yorkshire Dales and surrounded by a magnificent landscape that earns the epithet that Yorkshire is God's Own Country.

SILVER AND GREEN

 This is a wonderful new project in the foothills of the Alpilles near St Remy de Provence. What appeals is the magical location and intensity of the landscape experience. Within a short space, the fore, mid and background of the property quickly take the eye up to a medieval chapel that overlooks the property and acts as it's Guardian Angel. The colours of the landscape are quintessentially Mediterranean with glistening silvery olive leaves against a backdrop of pines (Pinus halepensis) in vibrant green. An eighteenth century lime kiln is the oldest building on the property while the oldest artifact is the Roman aqueduct that meanders through the garden eventually ending in the city of Arles.

SEA GREEN...A NEW PROJECT ON THE ILE DE RE

The house is very typical of many of the seaside houses on the Il de Re. Most of them are small and discrete unlike some further south on the Mediterranean coast of France. 

A somewhat dark image but this is the last part of the garden separating the house from the sea with a raised sandy burm that provides essential protection in stormy weather. Underneath the pine trees  a soft layer of needles carpet the pathway leading up to the gate.

Before you get to the gate you hear, then smell then see the sea. Being here on the beach is utter relaxation.....it stops the landscape designer in me in his tracks, I am literally out of my element and so I just chill out.

The beach is a  dog walkers paradise with wide horizons and endless space for dog and walker. I am looking forward to beginning this garden and developing a theme. We have started by researching the history and character of the Il de Re. This will provide a cultural texture for backdrop the design.

Saying Goodbye

The pictures above are examples of work by Ghanian coffin makers that blur the line between art and craft. There is an exhibition at the Jack Bell Gallery in London (www.jackbellgallery.com) showing the work of Paa Joe, one of the foremost artist (or craftsmen depending on your viewpoint) working in this tradition. His work is collected privately and publicly....the British Museum has examples of his work.To me, this tradition demonstrates a lively and vibrant celebration for the life and work of the departed.

This last picture was taken at the City of London Cemetery and obviously marks a child's grave. This style of grave is termed a lawn grave and was originally developed to reduce maintenance and increase burial space by use of a simple headstone. This can be impersonal, restricting the mourners to a few lively words on the headstone. In the instance above, the colour and imagery of the train, celebrate a life in the same vibrant way as Paa Joe's work. It also shows, for some, that lawn graves are insufficient and more needs to be said and done for the departed.

Winter in England

Deep december snow in Sussex at Hillyfields Farm taken by that intrepid garden photographer Allan Pollock-Morris. In the summer this area of the garden is used for Croquet

Winter in Campello

A cut back winter garden in the mediterranean is a sweetly scented and tapestried affair ......snow when it comes causes some damage in Campello....the teucrium in particular gets blasted....but for the  moment it is laden with the scent from the wintersweets