Best in Show at Chelsea

Andy Sturgeon's modern Jurassic Garden for the Telegraph won Best in Show at Chelsea last week. His intention for the garden was quite ambitious. He explained "Fundamentally, I was making a simple connection between colossal geological events that shape our planet, vast timescales and man’s relatively fleeting and insignificant time on Earth." He used 17 "bony plates' made of bronze to represent the spine of a stegosaurus. For hardscape, he also used smooth oatmeal-colored limestone, complete with Jurassic fossils for the paths, and contrasted it with ancient boulders quarried from the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset.

To my eye, the garden was a bit visually jarring. Although this garden was beautifully executed, I don't believe it will stand the test of time the way the last two winners, Dan Pearson or Luciano Giubbilei, will. It came across as trendy, but not timeless.

The Husqvarna Garden by Australian designer Charlie Albone, which won a Silver-Gilt award, was one of the few show gardens conceived along traditional formal lines. Perhaps the design erred on the side of being too safe and traditional, but I thought the way the plants were put together was beautiful.

Chesea Then and New

Marcus Barnett's design for The Telegraph used a successful formula for design that it reminiscent of many recent Chelsea gardens: a modern patio with a clean stone/hedge backdrop, clipped blocks of yew and beech, elegantly limbed up trees and the ubiquitous low wildish herbaceous planting mixing flowers and grasses. In another year, it could have easily won Best in Show but this year, Dan Pearson offered something completely different.

Dan Pearson's design sponsored by Laurent-Perrier was very wild and intricately planted. It was inspired by the Trout Stream at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. In fact, soapstone boulders from the estate were transported to Chelsea to form the hardscape of the garden. The complexity and details of the planting boggled the mind.  My main criticism of the garden was that it was a three-sided island garden which made photography difficult without having spectators and/or buldings in the backround. It also made the fantasy that transports one to another place and time impossible. That said, the triangular shape allowed veiwing the complexity of the plantings easier. The edges of the garden which were inches away looked as if they had been there for hundreds of years.

Spirit: Morning has broken

Last evening, I trekked with two gardening friends to the Trinity Church in Boston to hear Dan Pearson, the influential English landscape designer, talk about spirit. The traffic was dense and sleet was slick on the highway. It seemed like a stupid idea but what a wonderful way to spend a winter evening! Bill and Eileen, two extraordinary gardeners who live off the land like a Nearing and garden like a Lloyd, were delightful companions. We talked garden for four hours nonstop.

Dan's talk was beautiful. It was in support of his new book, Spirit: Garden Inspiration. It is not your usual gardening book. Stephen Orr's NY Times review says that Pearson focuses "his creative eye into something that lies between the introverted style of a diary and and the best, most idiosyncratic aspects of a blog given the permanence between hard covers." Dan invited us to take more time to look. He implored us to create gardens that connected to the power of the landscape in our own unique area; to that spirit of place that gives each place its identity. So this morning I attempted to look more closely around my own environment.

Four mornings a week, I climb Pack Monadnock, a 1.3 mile hike near our town with my hiking buddies. We meet at 6:30 with a mailman's disregard for the weather. Each day has been getting longer and we have been witnessing some stunning sunrises. I took these two pictures this morning. I wanted to capture the scene that is special to New Hampshire: the weather beaten oak trees at the peak of Pack and the view toward Boston we see each morning.

I am starting a wild garden in the lowest terrace in my garden. It has a view of the big brother to Pack, grand Mount Monadnock. I have chosen two evergreens to mimic the black spruce and white pine of the New Hampshire mountains I love so much. I have chosen Picea orientalis 'Gowdy' for its diminutive and elegant habit and small, nearly black needles. Unlike the commonly used Norway spruce, 'Gowdy' will never be too large for my small garden. My other choice, Pinus koraiensis 'Morris Blue', will grow no more than twenty five feet in my lifetime and has handsome bluish silver needles and a tight and sturdy habit. My next mission is to add native and exotic perennials that will create a lush tapestry that will feel like some special wood in New Hampshire that has hidden in it newly discovered treasures that feel entirely at home.