Simple by Design

A waterside garden - informality within a structured environment

 

As people who make gardens, designers and landscapers work to a client brief.  Sometimes this is very broad and unformed, the client needing to be coaxed through the process of deciding what they will need, weighing up the relative merits of various features and prioritising them.  At other times the client will not only have a very clear idea of their requirements, they will also have a shopping list of other features that they really won’t need: they have fallen prey to the urge to throw everything, including the reclaimed butler’s sink into their envisaged plan.

This urge is entirely understandable, and has a long pedigree. 

 

Luciano Giubbilei's show garden, Chelsea 2009


Mid-Victorian Britons had the opportunity to not only ransack earlier historical periods for design elements to impose on their garden plots (something which had already been going on for centuries), they had access to a rapidly increasing stock of plant material with which to clothe them.  By the last quarter of the nineteenth century new varieties of exotic plants were flooding into the West, and especially Britain, from colonies all over the world.  The huge increase in the size of the middle class, the birth of consumerism and the craving for novelty that it created led to gardens (amongst other things) overburdened with mismatched elements and confused in intent.  Even recognised styles such as Picturesque and Gardenesque tended to combine design devices from a variety of traditions.

 

A garden by Andy Sturgeon at Future Gardens, 2009

 

We are still in the same predicament – if it is a predicament.  There is nothing wrong with a garden filled with favourite plants, clashing styles, errant pathways and a defunct trampoline pit.  If it makes the owner happy it is doing its job.  The garden evolves, with natural selection and occasional bad plant choices deciding the nature of the plant stock, the space following a fixed arrangement or changing as shrubs and plants colonise previously empty space or areas are cleared for seating.  There is also the never-ending stream of new trinkets that floods the market each year – a gardener has to have nerves of steel to ignore the latest developments in hand-fork design or strawberry towers, propagation devices,  bird-scarers and bird-feeders.  Most of us succumb, at least once in a season…

But there are people (often the same people, who wake up one morning and suddenly see their garden as a haphazard mess rather than simply charmingly unstructured) who crave clarity and coherence in their spaces.  Thank goodness, for these are the people who are already halfway to calling in a landscaper or designer to assist. 

 

Loose planting within a strong structural pattern


And so we come back to the client and the brief – whether undecided or over-elaborate.  Whichever is the case, it has to be the job of the designer to bring a sense of coherence to the space.  Some requirements are above style:  the garden must be practical, must use the space efficiently and must be easily navigable.  Its design obviously needs to be based on the available budget, but once these aspects have been decided there should be a pause.  Is everything in the plan necessary to the clarity of the design?  If not, does its aesthetic contribution merit the expenditure?  Is there a better solution that would support the initial idea and intended style?  What can be left out?

By examining and simplifying the plan, we get to what is essential.   And I think that, if what is essential is sufficient, we have moved away from style – the elements of the plan have the integrity of all truly functional things and are a statement in themselves.  This doesn’t mean that the space needs to be a clinically brutalist box.   The great thing about gardens is that plants can engender mood, act as structure and provide a seasonally changing scene all at the same time, and the choice of these is as important as the structural elements – it is in the planting that the randomness of nature can be expressed, that the garden can evolve its own plant community.  Within a sound and carefully designed framework the needs for both human-imposed order and the exuberance of nature are served.

I hope the photographs illustrate the success of strong design - varied effects through different degrees of formality and contrasting planting.

 

Paul Ridley Design

Votes: 0
E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of Landscape Juice Network to add comments!

Join Landscape Juice Network

Open forum activity

Landscape Juice replied to Gary MCKINSTRY's discussion New to my business
"Hi Gary, would you like to add a few more notes about your experience of using the machines for others on the network?
I wonder what types of grass you've used them on, long, short, wet, dry? Also what are the noise levels like and any issues when…"
5 hours ago
Pete Henchey replied to T &T gardening services ltd's discussion Mulching Mowers
"Ah ok thanks for the advice"
yesterday
Si Al updated their profile
yesterday
Billybop replied to Adam Woods's discussion Coming to a large garden near you!!
"yes these robots are most welcome to take any of my lawn jobs"
yesterday
David Benson replied to Adam Woods's discussion Coming to a large garden near you!!
"very good but there will still be a need for the strimmer and lawn edgers "
Wednesday
Adam Woods posted a discussion
Yesterday I went to a client to see this - there are two of them, and have been sold to keep their 2 acres of lawn comprising of 3 massive lawns, with hills,scattered trees and shrubs, together with a traditional square lawn near.  the house. TO cut…
Wednesday
Graham Taylor replied to Ag's discussion PA1/6 Applying Bacteria based Moss killers for Lawns
"Just do it................ commonsense says its ok even if mindless bureaucracy suggests not. .  If we've got it wrong, whoever is going to report you +  its not as though you'll be going to prison! "
Tuesday
Vicky Braddock and Cameron Price joined Landscape Juice Network
Tuesday
Cameron Price updated their profile
Tuesday
Fusion Media posted a blog post
In the world of football, the quality of the playing surface can make a significant difference in the game's outcome and the overall experience for players and spectators alike.While top-tier stadiums often boast pristine pitches, grassroots clubs…
Tuesday
Liam Healy posted a discussion
**Posted with admin (Henry’s) permission - Thank you, Henry.** I am selling a custom chipper and trailer set-up. Ideal for small/one person landscaping/gardening. The narrow access means it can pass through most side/garden gates and you can chip…
Tuesday
Peter sellers replied to T &T gardening services ltd's discussion Mulching Mowers
"We tried the grin but massively overpriced, the mulching performance no better than our 537HRX HY'S, not tried the Etesia but the HRX gives us the ability to collect when we need to without messing about with mulch plugs or swapping blades"
Tuesday
Pete Henchey replied to T &T gardening services ltd's discussion Mulching Mowers
"Thanks Peter, so do you have experience with the Etesia and Grin mulching machines?"
Tuesday
Gary R replied to Ag's discussion PA1/6 Applying Bacteria based Moss killers for Lawns
"I'd say no. Unless it's a herbacide or pestercide I don't think you'd need a PA1 / PA6"
Monday
Billybop replied to Andrew Betteridge's discussion Ego hedgecutter recall in Australia
"Cheers for the heads up Andrew, am a big fan of some of the Ego kit, but even without the safety issue the performance of that design of hedge trimmer is totally underwhelming anyhow"
Monday
Andrew Betteridge posted a discussion
Some Ego hedgecutters have been recalled in Australia due to starting unexpectedly. https://7news.com.au/news/ego-power-cordless-brushless-hedge-trimme...
Monday
More…