Interpreting the landscape

Sculpture by Alastair Heseletine.

Journal of Garden History and the Garden History Society

The other scholarly publication in our field is the Journal of Garden History, a publication of the Garden History Society.

"Garden History is one of the foremost journals in its field worldwide and remains the journal in which to be published for those dedicated to garden history scholarship. It has a wide academic and professional readership, and from the earliest issue to the present is an enormously important and relevant source of information, providing vital support to the society's promotion of the study of garden history, landscape gardening and horticulture."

The GHS is based in England, but wherever you live you, you really should belong if you're seriously interested in the subject. Membership is just ₤43 a year, which entitles you to the journal and attendance at GHS events if you happen to be in England. But just receiving the journal is well worth the price. No online application, but it's not so hard to actually mail something, is it? As a member, you can be in touch with a group of people who are passionate and knowledgeable about garden conservation and historical study. Peruse their website, where there are many helpful links and a suggested reading list.

Jof GH is catalogued by the archive of scholarly journals, JSTOR (Studies.. is not) , so if you have access to the beloved JSTOR (http://www.jstor.org/) through a university or your big-city library, you can search the articles and print them out for leisurely perusal. I myself was published last year in the Journal, and hope to be this year as well.

Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes: Special Issue on Botanical Gardens

I've been receiving some lovely emails lately from readers of the blog who are new to Garden History (thank you all!) and so will be posting some this week about where and what to study....

The journal Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes is one of the two 'scholarly' journals devoted to Garden History. They have just published a special issue on botanical gardens...

"Botanic gardens are places where knowledge is gathered, preserved, imparted and experimented with. They are places of scientific practice and communication where architectural and aesthetic concepts have only a supportive role serving botanical experimentation as well as the presentation of plant systematics. Botanic gardens are conventionally regarded as encyclopaedias planted for reference and, consequently, as a balance against the fixed and theoretical knowledge available through herbaria and botanical literature. This volume includes most of the papers presented during our symposium entitled “Botanical Gardens within Global and Local Dynamics — Sociability, Professionalization and Diffusion of Knowledge” and has been completed with papers focusing particularly on design and science within botanic gardens. In putting botanic gardens in their scientific and social context, I hope that we can contribute with this set of papers to a better understanding of the identity of botanic gardens as scientific institutions within a global history of gardens."

The single issue is available for $40 from the publisher.

As with most scholarly journals, a subscription is beyond the scope of average individuals, $357 per year. But if you are affiliated with a university you might ask if the library would consider subscribing.

Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes is edited by John Dixon Hunt, of the University of Pennsylvania, whose books are required reading in the field.

Allegory of Botany and the Courtald's Digital Images

by Benjamin West, 18th C. from the Courtauld website, Art and Architecture.

Search on 'gardens' for all sorts of delights.

I think the garden historian is the one at the far right holding the classical column (remnant of a garden temple, no doubt). Now if only I could find a flowing Grecian robe....

Recommended Blog: Some Landscapes

Recently I've been perusing another blog, 'some-landscapes'. All about the connection between art in all its forms--poetry, painting, sculpture, literature, music--and the landscape. Most of the posts relate to the natural rather than the designed landscape, but it is beautifully written and there is much to inform and inspire the garden historian, especially those interested in the aesthetic debates that surround landscapes. Highly recommended.

Above: 'There is a study for a scene in the room in the Courtauld: Decorative landscape - study for a room at Norbury Park. (by the Irish painter George Barret) But are the actual landscape decorations mentioned by the Redgraves still there? I'd be interested to know. The house is privately owned and not open to the public...'

Do any of my garden history friends know about this landscape or the decorations in the house?

Friday Feature Garden - Elsfield Manor, Oxford, England

The garden at Elsfield Manor is a good example of the layers often found in a historic landscape; layers which the garden historian must untangle. The first designed layer of the garden at Elsfield Manor is from the eighteenth century landscape of Francis Wise. He was the first librarian at Radcliffe, a passionate but ultimately second-rate scholar and a curmudgeon who once locked the dean out of the library. The antiquarian’s paradise he created at Elsfield was visited and remarked upon by Dr. Samuel Johnson (he of the dictionary). The second layer, which fortunately retained features of the first, was the Edwardian style garden of John Buchan, Scottish novelist, Governor General of Canada, and first Baron Lord Tweedsmuir, who lived in the manor house from 1919 to 1940. The garden subsequently was allowed to become quite overgrown, but some historic features are still visible. It is now in private hands, and renovation is hoped for.

A description of the garden in Francis Wise's time, from the correspondence of William Huddesford to Andrew Coltée Ducarel:

In this little spot, of a few acres, you was surpized with ponds, cascades, seats, a triumphal arch, the tower of Babel, a Druid temple, and an Egyptian pyramid. Those buildings were designed to resemble the structures of antiquity, were erected in exact scale and measure, to give, as far as miniature would permit, an exact idea of the edifices they were intended to represent.

The Druid temple would have been a scale model of Stonehenge, which had recently been accurately mapped by William Stukeley, with whom Francis Wise was acquainted. The tower of Babel was probably a ziggurat and later a Chinese pagoda was added to this antiquarian's Disneyland.

Unfortunately only one of the temples is still in place, sitting ghostily beside the pond and shown above in an engraving commissioned by Francis Wise, a photograph from the time of John Buchan, and at the present day.

Elsfield remains an rare example of a non-gentry eighteenth-century garden, that of an academic who expressed his passion for the antique in the landscape, and one of its most important features--the view of Oxford's dreaming spires--was beloved by both Wise and Buchan and still is cherished today.

A Gardener's Memorial: Ted Darrah

I heard today that Ted Darrah had died.

He had been the longtime head gardener at Christ Church, Oxford. When I met him he was retired but still practicing his craft each week at Elsfield, a tiny, quiet village a few miles and a few centuries removed. I was documenting the history of the Manor's gardens as one of my essay projects for the garden history course.

He seemed to genuinely enjoy working with me on the history of the garden he knew so well. We met for tea in Marks and Spencer's and I showed him all the historical documents I'd uncovered and promised to send him copies. Shortly after our meeting, I received a note and a hand-drawn map in the mail, marking the locations of all the garden's trees that were old enough to be of historical significance. It was nice, for once, to communicate with someone that didn't have email. I still have both the map and the note.

He gave me the wonderful gift of a private tour of the gardens at Christ Church. Tourists aren't allowed in; they stand around peering through the locked gates and wondering. But with a satisfied grin Ted produced the key and held open the door. I thought at the time that I should take a picture of him opening that magic gate, but it might embarrass him, and the moment passed. I wish now I had.

He showed me the Dean's garden, and Bishop Pocock's tree, and the door through which Charles I passed in secret. Ted had planted many of the plants in the garden himself, and sniffed at the poor state of their maintenance and the pruning of the shrubberies. Things had been different when he was gardener.

A few days before I left England, I posted my report and the long-promised historical documents to him, along with a note of thanks. I'd like to think that it added interest to what proved to be the last few months of his life.

Thanks, Ted, and Godspeed.

Gardens (should be) for everyone

One of the less pleasant realizations of studying garden history is how much gardens have been the province of the wealthy few. Building a grand garden is like commissioning any ambitious artwork...affordable only by the very rich.

It was only with the rise of the middle class in the nineteenth century that gardening became a widely available pastime, that those of lesser means could beautify their environment and express their taste in the landscape. This can be easily traced by the explosion of garden magazines directed at the masses.

We can (and should) do better now, and I was thrilled to see this project, by Andrea Cochran Landscape architecture, for low income housing in San Francisco's infamous Tenderloin district.

Unusually for a construction of this type, it gives careful thought to the outdoor spaces, including vegetable plots for residents (in galvanized metal troughs high enough for disabled access), a generous courtyard, and a shallow, child-safe water feature.

Well-deserved winner of a 2007 American Society of Landscape Architects professional award. See more photos at the links.

When I was a little girl I frequently visited low-income housing projects with my mom, who took food and clothing to the children from her Sunday school classes. I remember well their decrepit, neglected landscapes, and I'm glad to see someone doing better.

Park Gardens

As part of the planning process for creating the new Orange County Great Park, the park Conservancy assembled this list of other parks of interest....a very useful compilation of notable park spaces , including a short summary of each and links to appropriate websites. Some I knew, some I didn't, but I'm sure I'll refer again to this list for public space research and when making travel plans!

thanks to places and spaces for the reference.

Cal Lane's Garden Implements

Cal Lane, sculptor and welder, turns ordinary objects into lacy fantasies. With a blow torch. Read more in the New York Times

DIY Parterre de broderie

The embroidered parterre fell out of fashion for good reason...it is hard to think of another garden design so time-consuming and expensive to install and maintain. But here is a modern solution, from French designer Romain Duclos: place the stencil on the grass and in a few days you have your own parterre de broderie!

Available for 45 euro on the designer's website, or you could DIY...