When I was first approached about becoming involved with Throughout The Gardener’s Garden, more than 250 examples illustrate The Gardener’s Garden – a global survey of gardens – I was impressed, the vast wealth of human expression when it comes to the creation and if not a little daunted, by the ambition of the project. It took months for an definition of what makes a garden. Covering the continents from Oceania international team of leading garden writers, designers and horticultural and Asia to Europe, Africa and North and South America, the range experts to formulate an expanded and near-exhaustive list of favourite is impressive and vastly varied. Historical gardens figure, such as Villa gardens from across the globe, from the world-famous to the unknown, Lante, the jewel-like Renaissance garden in Viterbo, Italy, or André the public to the private, the grand to the intimate, the historic to the Le Nôtre’s world-renowned creation for Louis XIV at Versailles in France contemporary; climate zones from deserts to steamy rainforests; and – both gardens that influenced and inspired garden-makers well into garden styles from Baroque formality to naturalistic wilderness. our own time. Personally this colossal task allowed me to look back to those particular Poetic gardens, such as Shalimar Bagh, the Mughal masterpiece on gardens that evoked for me unique sensations of spirituality, tranquillity the sloped shores of Lake Dal in Kashmir, India, have equally stimulated and individual character – those special gardens that were created with and impacted garden designers throughout the ages. So, too, have the passion. I can recall with precise vividness thirty-five years later the damp, great plant collectors such as Jacques Majorelle, with his unequalled fresh wetness of the terraced gardens after a spring rain at Villa Noailles in Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech, Morocco, and quirky gardens such as Grasse, France; or nearly two and a half decades ago the sultry dense heat Prospect Cottage in Dungeness, Kent, created in the late 20th century of August afternoons spent in the deep shade of the modest village garden by the filmmaker Derek Jarman, whose tiny shingle plot transformed created by the late English artist Teddy Millington-Drake on the remote contemporary definitions of what a garden can be and demonstrated island of Patmos, Greece, and now greatly expanded by John Stefanidis, the possibility of finding beauty even within the shadows of one of the the English interior designer. world’s largest nuclear power stations. For centuries humans have been captivated by the plant kingdom, Some gardens included in The Gardener’s Garden are examples collecting, cataloguing, trading and transporting across the globe plant of the great influential designers of the past, such as Capability Brown, specimens that even today in the twenty-first century continue to entrance André Le Nôtre, Thomas Jefferson, or Russell Page; others us. That primal fascination has spurred the creation of gardens worldwide, display the talents of more contemporary designers, such as Beth Chatto, and it explains why we remain spellbound by gardens in all their forms Piet Oudolf or Dan Pearson. But just as fascinating to discover is the vast and what they represent to us. range of relatively unknown gardens from across Asia and South America, The act of creating a garden, for the amateur and the professional and new plant introductions from Oceania, which represent a wealth of alike, remains very often the same. Although it can be intimidating at times, information for the garden designer and the garden lover alike. both faced with a blank slate or working within an existing framework, In today’s world, in which the rapidly changing natural environment is making a garden can also be the start of an endless but satisfying quest. at well-documented risk, the importance of gardens and their role has never The beginning is always the same. In the wise words of the great late been greater. The role of both amateur and professional gardeners is vital English garden designer Russell Page, any new garden adventure should to understanding the delicate balance that is needed for humans to sustain begin with observation, observation – and more observation. It is only by ourselves in a global state of transformation. While a source of inspiration looking, chronicling and absorbing the many variables – weather patterns, for some and a practical guide for many, The Gardener’s Garden is also orientation, climatic conditions, soil composition, nearby vegetation – a testament to centuries of human passion for the garden. Passion is the that the garden designer can comprehend the parameters that compose key factor – and it is passion that has created all the examples the reader a future site or project. Once these fundamentals are well understood will discover within The Gardener’s Garden. and absorbed, the excitement commences – and the passion begins! Madison Cox Oceania 9 Japan The Bressingham Gardens, Bressingham, Norfolk France, Spain and Portugal 235 Central and Eastern Europe 315 Missouri Botanical Garden, St Louis, Missouri Tokachi Millennium Forest, Hokkaido Prefecture East Ruston Old Vicarage Garden, East Ruston, Lurie Garden, Chicago Millennium Park, Australia Katsura Rikyu (Katsura Imperial Villa), Kyoto, Norwich, Norfolk France Switzerland Chicago, Illinois Alice Springs Desert Park, near Alice Springs, Kyoto Prefecture The Laskett Gardens, Much Birch, Herefordshire Château de Brécy, Brécy, Lower Normandy Chalet Garden, Gstaad J Irwin Miller House and Garden, Columbus, Indiana Northern Territory Kenroku-en (Garden of the Six Sublimities), Montpelier Cottage, Brilley, Herefordshire Jardins de Kerdalo, Trédarzec, Brittany Hollister House, Washington, Connecticut Heronswood, Dromana, Victoria Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture Upton Wold, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire Le Vasterival, Sainte-Marguerite-sur-Mer, Austria Naumkeag, Stockbridge, Massachusetts Cloudehill, Olinda, Victoria Tofuku-ji, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture Old Rectory, Gloucestershire Upper Normandy Schloss Schönbrunn, Vienna Fairsted, Brookline, Massachusetts Lambley, Ascot, Ballarat, Victoria Saiho-ji, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture Hidcote Manor, Hidcote Bartrim, Gloucestershire Giverny, Upper Normandy Cloister Gardens, Fort Tryon Park, New York City Mawallok, Stockyard Hill, Victoria Ryoan-ji, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture Highgrove, Tetbury, Gloucestershire Le Jardin Plume, Auzouville sur Ry, Upper Normandy Poland Wave Hill Gardens, The Bronx, New York City Mawarra, Sherbrooke, Melbourne, Victoria Kinkaku-ji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion), Kyoto, Sezincote, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire Château de Versailles, Ile-de-France Łazienki Park, Warsaw Battery Park Roof Garden, Manhattan, Olinda, Olinda, Victoria Kyoto Prefecture Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire Villa Savoye, Poissy, Ile-de-France New York City Australian Garden, Royal Botanic Gardens, Ginkaku-ji (Temple of the Silver Pavilion), Kyoto, Rousham House, Steeple Aston, Oxfordshire La Roseraie du Val-de-Marne, L’Haÿ-les-Roses, Czech Republic New York Botanical Garden, The Bronx, Cranbourne, Melbourne, Victoria Kyoto Prefecture Stowe, Stowe, Buckinghamshire Ile-de-France Valdštejnský Palác (Wallenstein Palace), Prague New York City Karkalla, Sorrento, Victoria Awaji Yumebutai, Hyakudanen Botanical Gardens, Turn End, Townside, Haddenham, Buckinghamshire Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, Maincy, Ile-de-France High Line, Manhattan, New York City Stringybark Cottage, Noosa, Sunshine Coast, Awaji City, Hyogo Prefecture Hatfield House, Hatfield, Hertfordshire Oasis d’Aboukir, Paris Russia Donald M Kendall Sculpture Gardens, PepsiCo Queensland Adachi Museum of Art, Yasugi City, Shimane The Barn, Serge Hill, Hertfordshire Promenade Plantée, Paris Peterhof, St Petersburg Headquarters, Purchase, New York Garangula, South Western Slopes, Gotanjyou-ji, Takefu, Hukui Prefecture The Gibberd Garden, Harlow, Essex Garden of Peace, UNESCO Headquarters, Paris Tsarskoye Selo, St Petersburg Madoo Conservancy, Sagaponack, New South Wales The Beth Chatto Gardens, Elmstead Market, Essex Château du Rivau, Lémeré, Indre-et-Loire Long Island, New York Eryldene, Sydney, New South Wales Thailand and Singapore Kensington Roof Gardens, London Jardins du Prieuré d’Orsan, Maisonnais, Centre LongHouse Reserve, East Hampton, The Jim Thompson Garden, Bangkok, Thailand Garden in St John’s Wood, London Château de Villandry, Loire Valley, Centre Africa 329 Long Island, New York New Zealand Howie’s HomeStay, Chiang Mai, Thailand Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, London Festival International des Jardins, Innisfree, Millbrook, New York Ayrlies, Whitford, Auckland, North Island Bang Pa-in, Ayutthaya, Thailand Munstead Wood, , , Chaumont-sur-Loire, Centre Morocco Bartram’s Garden, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Pukeiti Gardens, New Plymouth, Taranaki, Bay South, Gardens by the Bay, Singapore, Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey Les Jardins de l’Imaginaire, Terrasson-Lavilledieu, La Mamounia, Marrakech Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania North Island Singapore Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Sissinghurst, Aquitaine El Bahia Palace Garden, Marrakech Chanticleer, Wayne, Pennsylvania Barewood Garden, Awatere Valley, Marlborough, near Cranbrook, Kent Villa Noailles, Hyères, Provence Le Jardin Majorelle, Marrakech Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC South Island Indonesia Prospect Cottage, Dungeness, Kent Jardin de la Noria, Saint-Quentin-la-Poterie, Gard Aïn Kassimou, Palmeraie Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Virginia Ohinetahi, Lyttelton, Canterbury, South Island Villa Bebek, Mertasari, Sanur, Bali Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden, Jardin des Colombières, Menton, Alpes-Maritimes Mount Vernon, Mount Vernon, Virginia Blair Garden, near Queenstown, South Island Goa Gajah Temple Garden, near Ubud, Bali St Ives, Cornwall La Louve, Bonnieux, Luberon, Provence Egypt Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia Larnach Castle, Dunedin, South Island The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Pentewan, Al-Azhar Park, Cairo Winterthur, Wilmington, Delaware St Austell, Cornwall Spain Ferry Cove, Sherwood, Maryland Northern Europe 95 Plaz Metaxu, Tiverton, Devon Real Jardín Botánico, Madrid South Africa Montrose, Hillsborough, North Carolina West and South Asia 37 Hotel Endsleigh Gardens, Milton Abbot, Los Jardines del Real Alcázar, Seville, Andalucia Babylonstoren, Cape Town Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden, Bishopville, Norway Tavistock, Devon La Concepción Jardín Botánico-Histórico, Bridle Road Residence, Cape Town South Carolina Lebanon Arctic-Alpine Botanic Garden, Tromsø Dartington Hall, Dartington, Totnes, Devon Málaga, Andalucia Vergelegen, Somerset West, Western Cape Middleton Place, Charleston, South Carolina This is Not a Framed Garden, Bsalim Exbury Gardens, Exbury, Southampton, Hampshire Alhambra & Generalife, Granada, Andalucia Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Cape Town Longue Vue, New Orleans, Louisiana Finland Hestercombe Gardens, Cheddon Fitzpaine, Jardines de Alfàbia, Buñola, Mallorca The Rock Garden, Magaliesberg, Gauteng Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, UAE Villa Mairea, Noormarkku Taunton, Somerset Mas de les Voltes, Castell d’Empordà, Catalonia Coral Gables, Florida Miracle Garden, Dubai East Lambrook Manor, East Lambrook, Ariante, near Pollença, Mallorca Vizcaya Gardens, Miami, Florida Sweden South Peverton, Somerset El Jardín de Cactus, Guatiza, Lanzarote, North America 347 Israel Wij Garden, Ockelbo Stourhead, Stourton, Wiltshire Canary Islands Mexico Bahá’í Haifa, Haifa Enköpings Parker (Enköping Parks), Shute House, Donhead St Mary, Wiltshire Canada Las Pozas, Xilitla, San Luis Potosí Enköping, Uppsala The Peto Garden, Iford Manor, Bradford-on-Avon, Por tugal Abkhazi Garden, Victoria, British Columbia Parque Ecológico de Xochimilco, Xochimilco, Iran Linnaeus Home and Garden, Hammarby, Uppsala Wiltshire Parque de Serralves, Porto Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia Mexico City Chehel Sotoun, Isfahan Skogskyrkogården (Woodland Cemetery), Denmans, Fontwell, Arundel, West Sussex Quinta da Regaleira, Sintra Jardins de Métis/Reford Gardens, Casa Luis Barragán, Tacubaya, Mexico City Abbasi Hotel, Isfahan Enskede, Stockholm Gravetye Manor, East Grinstead, West Sussex Jardim do Palácio dos Marqueses de Fronteira, Grand-Métis, Québec Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca, Oaxaca Bagh-e Fin, Kashan, Isfahan Millesgården, Lidingö, Stockholm Great Dixter, Northiam, Rye, East Sussex Benfica, Lisbon Les Quatre Vents, Québec Garden in Malinalco, Malinalco Bagh-e Shahzadeh, Mahan, Kerman Tresco Abbey Gardens, Tresco, Isles of Scilly Terra Nostra, São Miguel, Azores Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens, Annapolis Royal, Denmark Quinta do Palheiro, Funchal, Madeira Nova Scotia Barbados Afghanistan Anne Just Garden, Hune, Blokhus, Jutland Tangled Garden, Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia Andromeda Botanic Gardens, Bathsheba, Bagh-e Babur, Kabul De Runde Haver (The Oval Gardens), Low Countries and Germany 207 St Joseph Parish Nærum, Zealand Italy and Southeast Europe 291 USA Pakistan and India Fredensborg Slotshave (Fredensborg Palace Belgium Lawa’i Kai (Allerton Garden), Lawai Bay, Kauai, West Indies Shalimar Bagh, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan Gardens), Fredensborg, Zealand Arboretum Kalmthout, Kalmthout, Antwerp Italy Hawaii Golden Rock Inn, Nevis Nishat Bagh, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India Rubenshuis, Antwerp Isola Bella, Lake Maggiore, Piedmont Bloedel Reserve, Bainbridge Island, Shalimar Bagh, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India Ireland Garden in Schoten, Antwerp La Mortola (Giardini Botanici Hanbury), Washington State Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi, Delhi, India Dillon Garden, Dublin Ventimiglia, Liguria Chase Garden, Orting, Washington State South America 447 Sanskriti Kendra, New Delhi, Delhi, India Ilnacullin (Garinish Island), Glengariff, County Cork Netherlands Giardino Giusti, Verona, Veneto Sustainability Garden at Turtle Bay, Mughal Sheraton, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India Mount Congreve, Kilmeadan, County Waterford Hortus Botanicus Leiden, Leiden, South Holland Villa Gamberaia, Settignano, Florence, Tuscany Redding, California Brazil Taj Mahal, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India Powerscourt, Enniskerry, County Wicklow Paleis Het Loo, Apeldoorn, Gelderland Villa Il Roseto, Florence, Tuscany Pool Garden at El Novillero, Sonoma County, Sítio Roberto Burle Marx, Barra de Guaratiba, Halfway Retreat, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India Mount Usher, Ashford, County Wicklow Tuinen Mien Ruys, Dedemsvaart, Overijssel Villa Medici, Fiesole, Tuscany California Rio de Janeiro Amber Fort Garden, Amer, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India Keukenhof, Lisse, South Holland Sacro Bosco (Villa Orsini), Bomarzo, Lazio Cornerstone, Sonoma, California Inhotim, Brumadinho, Minas Gerais United Kingdom Heerenhof, Maastricht Castello Ruspoli, Vignanello, Lazio Sea Ranch, Sonoma County, California Baroneza, São Paulo Sri Lanka Mount Stewart, Newtownards, County Down Hummelo, Gelderland Villa d’Este, Tivoli, Lazio Ruth Bancroft Garden, Walnut Creek, California Odette Monteiro Residence, Corrêas, Lunuganga, Bentota Inverewe, Poolewe, Wester Ross Priona Tuinen, Schuinesloot, Overijssel Giardino di Ninfa, Cisterna di Latina, Lazio Filoli, Woodside, California Rio de Janeiro Drummond Castle Gardens, Crieff, Perthshire Villa Lante, Bagnaia, Lazio Ackley Residence, Atherton, California Little Sparta, Dunsyre, South Lanarkshire Germany Giardini La Mortella, Ischia Beach and Marsh Garden, Santa Barbara, California Uruguay East and Southeast Asia 63 Mellerstain, Gordon, Berwickshire Herrenhausen, Hannover, Lower Saxony Casa del Herrero, Montecito, California La Pasionaria, José Ignacio, Maldonado Garden of Cosmic Speculation, Portrack, Branitzer Park, Cottbus, Brandenburg Greece Lotusland, Santa Barbara, California China Dumfries and Galloway Liebermann Villa, Wannsee, Berlin Mediterranean Garden Society Garden, Huntington Botanical Gardens, San Marino, Qunli National Wetland Park, Haerbin City, Bodnant, Tal-y-Cafn, Conwy Karl-Foerster-Garten, Potsdam-Bornim, Peania, near Athens California Chile Heilongjiang Powis Castle Gardens, Welshpool, Powys Brandenburg John Stefanidis Garden, Patmos Central Garden, Getty Center, Los Angeles, Casa Soplo, Manquehue, Santiago Yi-He-Yuan (Garden of Preservation of Harmony), Veddw House Garden, Devauden, Monmouthshire Schloss Sanssouci, Potsdam, Brandenburg California Jardín Los Vilos, Coquimbo Beijing The Alnwick Garden, Alnwick, Northumberland Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, Kassel Getty Villa, Pacific Palisades, California Liu Yuan (The Lingering Garden), Suzhou, Jiangsu Rydal Hall, Rydal, Cumbria Sichtungsgarten Hermannshof, Weinheim, Dawnridge, Beverly Hills, California Wang Shi Yuan (The Master-of-the-Fishing-Nets Holker Hall, Cark-in-Cartmel, Baden-Württemberg Kaufmann House, Palm Springs, California Glossary 460 Garden), Suzhou, Jiangsu Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria Pomeranzengarten, Leonberg, New Century Garden (A Garden of Light and Garden Festivals and Shows 462 Zhuo Zheng Yuan (The Humble Administrator’s Biddulph Grange Garden, Biddulph, Baden-Württemberg Water), Palm Springs, California Garden, Horticultural and Plant Societies 462 Garden), Suzhou, Jiangsu Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire Schloss Schwetzingen, Schwetzingen, Dickenson Residence, Santa Fe, New Mexico Further Reading 463 Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centre, Tuen Mun, Trentham Estate, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire Baden-Württemberg Garden on Turtle Creek, Dallas, Texas Gardens Directory and Useful Websites 464 Hong Kong Cottesbrooke Hall, Northampton, Northamptonshire Insel Mainau, Lake Constance, Baden-Württemberg Bass Garden, Fort Worth, Texas Index 465 Chatsworth, Bakewell, Derbyshire Peckerwood Garden, Hempstead, Texas This is Not a Framed Garden Bsalim, Lebanon

Frederic Francis

21st century

0.6 hectares / 1.5 acres

Mediterranean

Architectural / Modern / Rooms / Vistas / Water

The name of this garden high in the hills overlooking Beirut is somewhat ironic, as there are frames of various types everywhere, provided either by the mature pines that were growing there decades before the garden was created in 2011, or by the stark white Modernist walls and lintels that focus the eye on different aspects of the 260-degree view of the city below and the blue Mediterranean Sea beyond. This series of artificial frames not only highlight the more distant scenery but also alter the way in which the viewer sees the more immediate pine forest, which surrounds the garden, by turning it into, variously, a green wall or a dramatic, framed picture. At dusk, lights carefully positioned amid the umbrella pines and olive trees enhance the sense of theatre. And yet in one important way This is Not a Framed Garden does, indeed, lack a frame. It blends seamlessly into the natural forests that surround it, so that the visitor can move freely between the structured, modern environment and 1 3 ancient pathways worn by generations of feet. The landscape architect, French-trained Frederic Francis, chose a design that made the most of the dramatic setting but also melded with the natural vegetation. He therefore created a modern patio with a seating area and a swimming pool that doubles as an infinity pool, reflecting the surrounding planting. Nearby is a more naturalistic pool, edged with heavy rocks and fed by a stream that tumbles down the hillside in a narrow channel. Around the house and pools Francis created a series of grassy lawns and planted stands of bamboo and rushes. From the patio an archway invites visitors through to a lower level of the garden, where Francis designed a series of individual ‘rooms’: a Japanese Garden, a Bamboo Garden, a Rock Garden and a Modern Garden. These areas provide a stimulating contrast with the structured world of the house and patio, and blend into the lush greenery.

1, 2—The startling white structure of the infinity pool creates a dialogue between the garden and its surroundings, reflecting and framing the sky and the natural trees beyond. 3—Below the house, in contrast to the stark modernity of the infinity pool, plantings of rushes and ornamental grasses give a natural feeling to the pond fed by a stream running down the hillside. 4—A simple cube-shaped deck is suspended over the nauralistic pond; its uprights and roof provide more frames for viewing the surrounding garden.

38 2 4 Taj Mahal Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

Shah Jahan, Ustad Ahmad

17th century

40.5 hectares / 100 acres

Dry Semiarid

Islamic / Mughal / Tomb

Some images are so familiar that the real thing threatens to be an anticlimax – but with the Taj Mahal the opposite is true. The reality far exceeds expectation. Built between 1632 and 1654 by Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor, the white-marble mausoleum and its garden are a memorial to his favourite wife, usually known by the title ‘Mumtaz Mahal’ (‘the exalted one of the palace’). The garden in front of the tomb is in the style of a classic Islamic chahar bagh (paradise garden). It is a large square divided into four equal quadrants by two intersecting and perpendicular nahr (shallow canals) flanked by khiyaban (walkways). The nahr are fed from the hauz (a raised marble water tank) at the garden’s centre, and each of the quadrants is further subdivided into four beds by smaller walkways. Today, grass has replaced what were once sixteen flower beds planted with a riot of floral colour and scent, with plants brought from all over the Mughal empire. The modern lawns are a poor foil to the architecture. Additional tree planting by the British in the nineteenth century has also reduced the formality of the garden structure. The mausoleum, positioned on 1 3 a raised platform above the garden, overlooks the River Yamuna beyond. Despite initial appearances, it is sited at the centre of the garden complex. Across the river, on the north bank, the recently rediscovered and renovated Mehtab Bagh (Moonlit Garden) shares the same alignment, aesthetic and proportion as the more celebrated garden in front of Mumtaz Mahal’s tomb. The square, quadripartite garden has one notable difference from its counterpart. At the southern end of its north–south nahr is a large, sunken octagonal pool positioned to reflect the Taj Mahal. The pool is now empty, but the effect would have been ethereal on a moonlit night, when the white building was reflected in the black water. The Mehtab Bagh has been replanted with more than forty species, including fruit trees, making it more historically accurate than the more-visited gardens south of the mausoleum.

1 — At the end of the day the white marble of the Taj Mahal glows as its gardens fall into shadow. 2 — The water rills of the chahar bagh – this one looks north towards the Darwaza, or Entrance Gate – symbolize the four rivers of Jannah, the Islamic Paradise. 3 — The view south from the Darwaza over the chahar bagh towards the tomb. 4 — The garden was originally planted with fruit trees signifying life; in contrast, today’s cypress trees signify eternity. 5 — The Mehtab Bagh, ‘Moonlit Garden’, was designed as an integral part of the complex to give views of the Taj Mahal from across the River Yamuna.

56 2 4 5 Tofuku-ji Saiho-ji Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Mirei Shigemori Muso Kokushi (Soseki) (attrib.)

13th & 20th century 14th century

0.7 hectares / 1.75 acres (garden); 2 hectares / 4.5 acres 6.5 hectares / 15 acres (temple complex) Humid Subtropical Humid Subtropical Dry / Moss / Water / Woodland / Zen Dry / Modern / Zen Great gardens are about atmosphere: Founded in 1236, Tofuku-ji is one of the to enter the velvet-textured woodland great Zen Buddhist temple complexes garden of Saiho-ji is to be engulfed in of Kyoto. In 1939 the abbot requested another world. Muso Kokushi (Soseki), the then unknown garden designer Mirei the priest who created the first garden Shigemori to produce a master plan here, believed gardens could provide the to improve the temple grounds over the means by which Buddhist enlightenment next century. Shigemori was so inspired might be achieved. It has been said of by the area around the hojo (abbot’s Saiho-ji, also known as Koke-dera (moss residence) that he worked without a temple), that a visitor can contemplate fee. In keeping with Zen beliefs, existing not only ‘the existence of nature but the stones were used whenever possible, nature of existence’. and waste was avoided. The result was This is not a garden of instant an early Modernist masterpiece that gratification; a visitor must reserve carried Japanese garden design into a place in advance by contacting the the twentieth century. abbot. On arrival guests are welcomed Around the temple Shigemori created to the temple to copy sutras or perform three distinctive gardens that blended other calming activities that will leave Japanese traditions with an appreciation them ready to experience the garden of Modernism. On entering the gardens fully. There is a limited plant palette, on a raised walkway, the visitor comes with many maples and azaleas (for spring first to an area featuring pillars from interest) as well as lotuses (for summer the temple’s foundations, now arranged 1 display) in the lake. All these contrast 1 in the shape of the constellation of with the groundcover, which features the Plough (the Big Dipper). Circles anything up to 120 species of moss, of raked gravel radiate from the pillars depending on the sources consulted. like cosmic waves. Most of the temple buildings that once The next garden is a sea of gravel, dotted the landscape were destroyed a kare-sansui (dry landscape), set in the fifteenth-century civil wars. In within which are rock groupings that contrast to this destruction, the garden symbolize islands and take the form presents a version of the Western of cranes flying above spiral whirlpools Paradise of the Amidha Buddha, and raked into the gravel. At the northwest has a central pond in the shape of the corner of this white-walled garden calligraphic character for ‘heart’ or is a strong contrasting diagonal made ‘mind’. The water seems to gleam by a moss-covered ‘mountain range’ through the forest, illuminating the that projects into the gravel ocean. green world. Mosses and lichens The third garden lies at one end of the cover every surface, although they building. It reinterprets the paddy fields are removed from the maple trunks of Japan by using azaleas pruned into by the gardeners to allow the grey bark squares and placed in a grid. The beds to contrast with the green background. are defined by recycled kerbstones. Kyoto provides the perfect climate of On the north-facing aspect the grid high humidity, rainfall and mild winters design is repeated in what has become for a patina of green to accumulate an iconic Shigemori design. Square and thrive. grey paving stones formerly used for an There is a deep sense of mystery in entrance path are placed in a geometric the garden. A bamboo grove screens pattern contrasting with the green moss, 2 3 an important historic feature: a dry fading into the groundcover. waterfall that is considered the first Tofuku-ji has other significant example of kare-sansui (dry landscape) features, including a long wooden in Japan, and which had a major bridge overlooking a valley of maple influence on later gardens. The step-like trees, which provide spectacular autumn horizontal stones are perfectly placed colour. There are other subtemples with to resemble a cascade, and the viewer gardens, but it is the groundbreaking can readily imagine tumbling water. work of Shigemori that truly inspires Green is truly the colour of this the visitor. garden for much of the year – so much so that the light itself seems to take on a greenish hue. However, in autumn the senses will instead be assailed by the 1 — Rocks representing cranes on the wing vibrant contrast of the reds and oranges fly above ‘whirlpools’ raked into the gravel of the transforming maple leaves. in the Dry Garden. 2 — In the garden near the entrance, pillars from the former foundations of the temple 1—The pond forms the central feature of the are arranged in a sea of raked gravel. garden and its representation of the Western 3, 4—A grid pattern is formed by paving Paradise of Amidha Buddhism. stones that fade gradually into the moss 2—The rich greens of the mosses seem groundcover; it echoes squares of clipped to lend a greenish hue to the light. azaleas that reflect the paddy fields of Japan. 3—The historic dry waterfall with its series 5—Moss-covered ‘mountains’ project into of horizontal stones is considered the first the gravel of the Dry Garden. example of a dry-landscape garden in Japan.

78 79 4 5 2 3 Little Sparta Dunsyre, South Lanarkshire, UK

Ian Hamilton Finlay, Sue Finlay

20th century

1.6 hectares / 4 acres

Temperate Oceanic

Allegorical / Artistic / Naturalistic / Sculpture

When Ian Hamilton Finlay bought the old farmhouse in the Pentland Hills in 1966 it was surrounded by heath. But over the forty years until his death, the poet and sculptor and his wife, Sue, created one of Scotland’s most interesting gardens. Little Sparta is not just an attractive setting for an eclectic collection of sculptures; the garden is also laden with meaning and allegory. Little Sparta shares parallels with Stowe (see page 156) – the archetypal English Landscape garden – in its use of allegorical symbols to encourage the visitor to ‘read’ the garden. Little Sparta is also an iconoclastic garden. Hamilton Finlay shared with Stowe’s creator, Lord Cobham, a commitment to personal freedom and virtue. Little Sparta both expresses the Finlays’ deep belief in social justice and challenges visitors to review how they live their lives. The farm garden has become the intimate and enclosed Front Garden with its stone tortoise nestling among hostas; the farmyard behind has been transformed into the Temple Pool Garden, overlooked by the Temple of Apollo (a former outbuilding). The pools and glades of the Woodland Garden are the setting for many 1 sculptural elements. The Wild Garden climbs behind the house to the hills beyond, blurring the boundary between the garden and the natural landscape. Originally called Stonypath, the garden was renamed in 1978 after a battle with the local authority over tax. Hamilton Finlay introduced a number of martial features – including tank tracks – to symbolize his battle for his art. In stark contrast, much of the poetry carved into stones or sculptures has a lyrical quality. Again as at Stowe, Little Sparta uses the borrowed landscape to provide views, but here the climate also shapes the visitor’s emotional response to the garden. Hamilton Finlay claimed: ‘Superior gardens are composed of Glooms and Solitudes, not of plants and trees.’ Little Sparta is not a garden for simply enjoying. It emphasizes the cerebral and emotional impact gardens should have, and the complex relationship between the wildness of nature and artistic attempts to control it that encapsulates all garden-making.

1, 2—The Temple Pool Garden is in some ways the heart of Little Sparta, featuring ‘The Temple of Baucis and Philemon’ and the ‘Columns of the Revolution’ in one corner. In another Aruncus dioicus grows behind a planter bearing the motto ‘Semper Festina Lente – Hasten Slowly’, accompanied not by the usual image of a tortoise but by a tank using a flail to explode buried mines. 3—The flagstones of the path through the Front Garden are each inscribed with a word related to boats or sailing.

118 2 3 The Bressingham Gardens Bressingham, Norfolk, England

Alan Bloom, Adrian Bloom, Robert Bloom

20th–21st century

7 hectares / 17 acres

Temperate Oceanic

Bedding / Informal / Nursery / Perennials /Plantsman

At Bressingham some of the outstanding plant combinations in Europe create a vibrant garden with a use of colour that is unparalleled in its extragavant use of flowers. Founded by Alan Bloom in 1946, the gardens also contain a famous nursery. Bloom was one of the most famous of British gardeners of his era – his achievements were acknowledged with both an MBE and awards from the Royal Horticultural Society. He was the first person to grow herbaceous plants in island beds separated by grass paths but connected by a clever use of colour and texture. Bloom’s enthusiasm for this style of gardening would eventually lead to the creation of the Dell Garden, forty-eight beds covering almost 2.4 hectares (6 acres). The beds are a world in themselves, where the visitor can spend days enjoying their complexity. The island beds are just one element of the garden, however. In 1996, Bloom’s son Adrian created a second garden he called Foggy Bottom. It was one of the first gardens – if not the first – to use conifers for colour, mixing 500 different species with heathers and ornamental grasses. It remains a dynamic garden 1 3 4 today, even though many of the ‘dwarf’ conifers are now huge. There are numerous other gardens at Bressingham. The Summer Garden is full of Miscanthus spp. and summer- blooming perennials. The Woodland Garden, which has a central feature of giant redwoods (Sequoiadendron giganteum) that are now over 24 metres (80 feet) tall, has been planted with North American species. The sweetest garden is the Fragrant Garden, which mixes plants that have fragrant flowers and foliage. It is well placed next to a picnic area. A dramatic Winter Garden sets early-flowering bulbs against a backdrop of the coloured stems of cut-back shrubs. In all, Bressingham offers the visitor much to explore, much to ponder and much to take home.

1, 2—The Dell Garden features the island beds championed by Alan Bloom. Among the plants providing contrasts of colour, texture and shape in a mixed border are evergreen conifers, silver birch, feather reed grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Overdam’), eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) and dwarf silver grasses (Festuca glauca). 3, 4—Adrian Bloom’s Winter Garden retains interest through the year, and mixes woody plants with bold coloured bark such as silver birch, red and orange dogwoods (Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’), and perennials, grasses and conifers. 5, 6—The Summer Garden reaches a peak in August, when a riot of colour comes from dozens of species, including varieties of agapanthus, echinacea and Miscanthus.

138 2 5 6 Munstead Wood Busbridge, Godalming, Surrey, UK

Gertrude Jekyll

19th–20th century

4 hectares / 10 acres

Temperate Oceanic

Arts & Crafts / Cottage / Plantsman

Gertrude Jekyll is arguably the most influential British garden designer of the twentieth century, and she used her own garden at Munstead Wood to develop her ideas. Jekyll’s partnership with the architect , who designed the house, created a whole new British garden style. This Arts and Crafts style was characterized by using local materials in local ways and by employing inventive geometry to define and link compartments and features in a garden filled with planting that was at once profuse and carefully ordered. Jekyll was a plantswoman par excellence and was the first to apply painterly colour theory to flower-bed design. Jekyll bought the triangular plot in 1882 and began work on the garden while living across the road with her mother. Lutyens slotted the house into the space left; it was finished in 1897. The outlying area is an ornamental woodland. Jekyll allowed five local heath species to regenerate: silver birch; holly; beeches; Scots pine; and Spanish chestnuts. Each was 1 3 underplanted with different types of shrub and flower, of which arguably the most spectacular are the springtime displays of rhododendrons and azaleas. North of the house Jekyll created a series of features. Linking the house and garden is the shady North Court, a paved area with steps leading past a water tank. From the court, the Nut Walk, flanked by shrubs and the Aster Garden, leads to a rose-covered pergola. At the west end of the Nut Walk is perhaps the garden’s most famous feature. Backed by a wall covered with climbers and wall-trained shrubs is the long Main Border. Jekyll colour-choreographed this iconic border, with pale, cool-coloured flowers at each end building to hot reds and yellows at the centre. Through the arch in the wall are the Spring and Summer gardens, with displays including tulips, irises and peonies, and to the west of the house lies the sunken Rock Garden. Munstead Wood was sold in 1948 and the plot divided, but it remains one of the most important twentieth-century British gardens. The current owners of the house and garden – the Clark family – have done much to restore the garden to its original form and planting.

1 — The Aster Garden is a mass of purples and pinks in front of the characteristic Lutyens house. 2 — An arched gate leads through the Main Border into the Spring Garden with a wall swathed in climbing roses. 3 — A paved area near the house features a water tank/pond and is planted with spheres of box (Buxus) and red pelargoniums. 4 — The hot-colour border features red-hot poker (Kniphofia uvaria) with cannas, dahlias and gladioli.

170 2 4