Are Gardens Art?

I find myself worried. It is not often that I find my thoughts echoed by mainstream publications. The Garden Design Journal landed on my desk several days ago, and I have only just got round to opening it and glimming through it. Horror of horrors. I find my thoughts echoed almost exactly in their articles. What has happened? One of the joys (yet another I know) about living in the countryside is that I tend to live outside mainstream design; added to which of course I am not qualified which has its advantages and disadvantages (more of that another time). Nowhere is this more evident than in the designs we have submitted at Hampton Court, where both the design and planting has been completely opposite to what is generally being shown. You may notice when you go to Chelsea and Hampton Court shows, how, despite the designers coming from all over the world there is a similarity that manifests itself in colour and planting.
I digress. Tim Richardson in his column discusses the ‘G-word’. Ie. ‘garden’. He bemoans a fact that we come across frequently. Gardeners (sounds so derogatory put like that) are often paid less than cleaners; yet our level of skill and plant knowledge needs to be almost encyclopaedic. Gardens are expensive to design and maintain – they are living growing organisms (see previous blog entry) – yet gardening is often seen as the prerogative of the old and amateurs. And this encompasses the whole industry from designers down to professional gardeners. There is nothing wrong with being either old or amateur, but if you look around you there is an increasing amount of work being done within this industry by younger, active people who find gardening as a profession sustaining, creative, satisfying. Which is more than can be said for a lot of professions.

Which brings me onto the article (and this is not an advertisement for the Garden Design magazine – I just find it a refreshing magazine with great layout, and some seriously good ideas for design and debate) about Are Gardens Art? which in itself is a provoking question. Yes of course there are the gardens that are created like a living canvas of colour, form and texture; and others that are not. Similarly the same could be said of paintings, sculptures, installations etc. Some good, some mediocre and an awful lot of horrors interspersed with the truly brilliant. Are they all functional – no some are not and many are. And art is different things to different people. Should it engender debate; of course. Should it inspire; of course. Should it comfort – yes, that too. Art is a wonderfully encompassing concept and the same is true of gardens. To use a direct quote from the article, attributed to Stephen Anderton “There is no battle; there is an extra which is on offer” – and that ‘extra’ is the artistic quality which we as designers seek to create. I think that perhaps the question is larger than this. Everyone is capable of creating art and beauty in all its different forms. It is just that not everyone likes what is created and some of us are intrinsically better qualified (and I do not mean on paper) to do it than others. I think the question links into Tim Richardson’s column and the perception of gardeners, gardening and the work/design involved with them.

Another great gardening writer (and amateur gardener too) was Vita Sackville West, whose garden at her beloved Sissinghurst is probably a greater piece of art than all her reams of poetry. The two sentry trees that guard one of the cottages at Sissinghurst are pictured above. She had this to say: "Every garden-maker should be an artist along his own lines. That is the only possible way to create a garden, irrespective of size or wealth."

Back to my Garden Design journal and I turn a page and find an article about the concept gardens at Hampton Court, written again by Tim Richardson (has this man been inside by head recently, I wonder?). I can only agree with him again, although I would take issue with his comments about Tony Smith’s garden at Chelsea, which made me smile and which I thought was a fantastic combination of beautifully executed design and brilliant colour. Tony Smith is a truly inspirational designer with a great ‘edge’ to him. He is also one of the most delightfully generous characters you will ever meet. The concept gardens at Hampton Court, were, I thought, the best part of the show. I hardly dare agree with Tim as I might be accused of being sycophantic but let us hope that both the RHS and the designers continue to push for leading edge concept design that at its best is truly art.

Garden therapy

The wonderful thing about gardening is that I am removed from radios, television and newspapers – except on Saturday when I indulge in the paper over a cup of well earned tea. So when I do get sidetracked by a newspaper article or a particularly lurid account of what the various political parties are doing, it is like having a rather cold, unpleasant shower. And I have to wonder how much of what happens is really true. The upside of not reading and listening to news the whole time is that I get to make my own decision about what is happening around me. Sure, we have clients who have been affected by the recession, but living in the countryside as I do, we perhaps have a more practical way of getting on with business. The upset in the financial markets has hit the cities particularly hard and London has been incredibly depressing to visit over the last year or so, although that is now changing, because despite whatever the pundits say we are still all here and alive. And no more so than in the beautiful weather we have been having.

That is one of the huge advantages of living in the country. It is very, very difficult to remain completely self-absorbed in misery when we have stunning sunsets such as the one last night; or you see a red kite sweeping over a late harvested field. Nature has a way of putting our lives into dramatic perspective. It is a shame that more of us don’t realise this.