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the gardening magazine of style & choice
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Kaffe Fassett
The Olympic Park Grow Your Own Phillip Johnson’s Real Cool Billabong! Summer Salads
SUMMER ISSUE where photography matters
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SUMMER 2013 garden*life 1 ISSUE *love 2
I M A G I N AT I O N I S T H E P R E V I E W O F L I F E ’ S C O M I N G AT T R A C T I O N S
For 75 years, Hartley has been synonymous with enduring style and excellence. Whilst we have always embraced modern technology, we’ve never lost sight of our founding philosophy – to make greenhouses that last from generation to generation. After all, nothing else is a Hartley.
THE FINEST GREENHOUSES MONEY CAN BUY In support of
For our a brochure call or click +44(0)1457 819155 www.hartley-botanic.co.uk www.hartley-gewaechshaeuser.de
garden*life*love SUMMER ISSUE 2013
Here we are again, with the second Issue of our magazine. It’s been a pretty awful spring - cold and miserable - but here comes the sun and we hope it will be alright! We visit some gardens around the globe - in the UK, France, Germany and Australia. The Royal Horticultural Society has just celebrated 100 years of Chelsea Flower Shows and – guess what! - gnomes were allowed in for the first time; although they have been illicitly smuggled in on occasions. There was even a gnome protest outside the gates in 1998 (see photo left).Occasionally it takes the RHS some time to respond! Our photographers give you their take on the Show as we explore the colour Green in all its glorious variety and visit the designer of Fleming’s Nurseries’ Best in Show Garden - Australian landscape designer Phillip Johnson - in his own Billabong garden. We go all out for colour again and take a look at the Olympic Park – designer Sarah Price shares her thoughts about the kaleidoscope of colour, planting, and the Olympic legacy. Not satisfied with that, we visit Kaffe Fassett in his London home. This colourful, creative genius has wowed the world of fashion with designs for Missoni, Vogue Knitting Magazine, The Royal Shakespeare Company and many others and created designs – many with botanical themes - for needlepoint, tapestries and fabrics. You can view excerpts of the interview on our YouTube channel. We take in the heady summer scents of English Lavender and explore its many types and uses; give you great ideas for creating fresh summer table settings; tips on how to grow strawberries and tomatoes, and great recipes for grow–your-own summer salads, all topped off with edible flowers. We even persuaded our very own ‘Marilyn’ to road-test wellies and waders on a windy beach. Oh, and we popped in on Stephanie Donaldson to find out how she got into blogging about gardening. Enjoy.... Derek St Romaine Editor
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In ‘The Garden of France’ – eighteen acres of meadowland that surround La Chatonnière. Cover photo: Liz Eddison/Garden Collection
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Derek St Romaine Art student; Designer; Art director; Food photographer; Garden photographer and owner of Garden Photo Library Favourite Plant Any blossom in spring and Chasmanthium latifolium in autumn Favourite Garden Villandry, an architectural tapestry of fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers Horticultural Heaven Growing fruit and vegetables in my ornamental potager, the one place where I can totally relax without a camera
Adam Stevens Film student, Video maker, Nurseryman, Horticultural student, Picture researcher, Picture editor, Freelancer Favourite plant Hawthorn Horticultural Heaven Plants and grasses backlit by the sun and blackberry picking Favourite Place The Malvern Hills Favourite Garden Las Pozas (“the Pools”) was created by Edward James, in a subtropical rainforest in the mountains of Mexico just outside the town of Xilitla
Liz Eddison Photographer; Owner of www.garden-collection.com; Closet writer and cakeaholic! Favourite Plant Buxus topiary, ferns, grasses and far too many flowers to mention Favourite Garden Prieuré NotreDame d’Orsan, France Favourite Place Anywhere with an ocean view Horticultural Heaven Watching the sun come up over a beautiful garden
Gary Rogers Born NewZealand, Musician; Fireman, Photographer - fashion, travel, theatre, gardens Favorite Garden; St Jean de Beauregard south of Paris Favorite plant; Probably the rose although I find grasses great also Favorite place; Chatsworth and the surrounding countryside and my valley in Norway Horticultural Heaven; To spend a day photographing, with perfect light, from dawn to dusk in my favorite garden
Pamela Westland Journalist; National magazine editor; Author of over 100 books, many on plants and gardens; Photographers’ stylist; Permanent student Favourite Plant Hellebores in all their majestic and alluring shades. Goodbye, dull winter! Favourite Place Paleo Parithia on Corfu where the ruins of abandoned stone houses are scattered among fields of wild orchids Horticultural Heaven A monasterystyle garden where the herbs fire up all the senses
Sam Eddison Photographer; Producer; Sound Engineer; Graphic Designer; co-founded one of the top genre picture agencies in the UK. Sam had two photographs shortlisted for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2010. Work includes portraiture, fashion, editorial, reportage and private commissions. Favourite Garden Kew Favourite Plant Wisteria Horticultural Heaven Picking my fresh herbs
Andrew Lawson Photographer and painter Favourite garden My own in Charlbury, not because its the best, but it’s the one I’m most devoted to. Favourite plant Eryngium alpinum. Another day it might be Stipa gigantea. Favourite Place North Devon Coast Horticultural Heaven Ninfa in Italy; the most romantic of gardens, with wonderful plants too
Sarah Price At the time of publishing this summer issue of Garden*Life*Love and asking our list of questions - Sarah had other things on her mind. She was oherwise engaged giving birth to a beautiful baby boy so we decided the best thing to do was to offer her our many congratulations from the team and trust that she will soon be introducing her son to the world of garden design
Who Made it Happen in Our Summer Issue?
Dawn St Romaine Secretary; BOAC Airline Stewardess; Antiques dealer; Photograper’s assistant; Photo stylist; Food stylist; Gardener. Favourite Garden A small walled garden in Long Melford, Suffolk Favourite Plant Orlaya grandiflora and Agapanthus Favourite Place Aptera, an ancient site in Crete near Souda, where in spring, you can walk waist high through carpets of wild flowers as far as one can see
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Georgie Steeds Photographer; Vintage Jewellery seller; Miniature Flower Maker Favourite Plant Anything that is flowering at the time Favourite Garden Can’t pick a favourite Favourite Place The annual huge antiques fair in Lille, Le Braderie Horticultural Heaven A garden by an Italian lake with terraces and topiary
Marcus Harpur Photographer and occasional writer of gardens; Owner of Harpur Garden Images Favourite Plant Euphorbia characias. Furnishes a garden, looks dramatic, works all year round Favourite Garden Whichever one I am photographing at the time Favourite Place Either Caithness or the north Queensland rainforest. Horicultural Heaven A garden that envelopes you in amongst the plants, making you feel immersed
David Winnard Photographer; Mad forager; Lover of all things fungal; Natural history is my mistress Favourite Plant Spring gentian, favourite fungus is Cobalt Crust Favourite Garden being in a garden filled with native British species Favourite Place Outer Hebrides Horicultural Heaven My grandma’s old garden, was filled with all sorts to tease the senses
Simon Charlesworth Eclectic Bookshop supervisor; Associate postman; Garden centre assistant manger; PhD in arterial drainage!; Owner/Director Downderry Nursery Favourite plant Snowdrops Favourite garden Any walled garden Favourite Place Coastal Cornwall and west coast of Scotland Horticultural Heaven Relaxing with a drink at the end of a warm summers day listening to bees among lavenders
Laura Nixon Marilyn Monroe & Amy Winehouse Impersonator/Actress; Singer; Model; Entertainer; Writer; I first started impersonating Marilyn at 16. I saw a Marilyn impersonator at a show, she wiggled on and the room fell silent. She sang “I wanna be loved by you” the audience went crazy. I knew that’s what I wanted to do Favourite Garden Japanese style Favouite Plant Orchid Favourite Place Brighton Horticultural Heaven A full greenhouse in spring
Widget Finn Ex-student of Grays’ Inn (abandoned the Bar for marriage and three children), serial house renovator (six to date) business journalist, garden writer, lifelong gardener (see photo) Favourite plant Cow parsley in spring and old roses in summer Favourite garden My own, on the rare occasions when I stop working in it to sit and enjoy it Favourite place The Channel Island of Alderney Horticultural heaven The gardens of my childhood
garden*life*love CONTENTS PEOPLE 33 Kaffe Fassett: A Cornucopia of Colour Painter, fabric and knitwear designer with a scintillating passion for colour 70 Stephanie Donaldson: The Enduring Gardener How she got into blogging GARDEN 8 Planting for the Future: The Olympic Legacy Sarah Price, co-designer of the Olympic Park, shares her unique experience 18 A Walk around the Twelve Gardens of Chatonnière All set in 18 acres of poppies and cornflowers and each one so, so inspirational 44 A Real Cool Billabong! Phillip Johnson, Chelsea’s Best in Show designers’ own Garden in Australia 71 Italian Style With its glorious terracotta pots and statues, this could be Tuscany; it’s not, it’s Suffolk 96 Set Piece: A Prop-makers’ Courtyard Retreat A film set – in every corner 130 A Botanical Artist’s Garden Created in the English country tradition among the wine-growing hills near Wiesbaden 140 City Lights Minimal space, maximum view – a Thames-side terrace overlooking Tower Bridge FLORA 53 Shades of Lavender The history, the colours, the scents, the romance of it all; ooh, we do love lavender! GROW YOUR OWN KITCHEN 62 Lavender Cupcakes Self-indulgence in a couple of mouthfuls! 106 Grow Your Own Salads Lovely to look at, delightful to eat. And the crowning glories are edible flowers LOVE 118 Chelsea by Numbers The low-down in figures of one of UK’s best-loved gardening charities Cornflowers and poppies in meadowland surrounding La Chatonnière. Photo: Derek St Romaine/Garden Photo Library
CREATE 42 Summer Silks: Floral designs by Jasmine Burgess The stuff that dreams - and heirlooms - are made of 49 Lavender & Old Lace Stitch by stitch to the prettiest lavender-filled trinkets ever GROW 64 Love Apples There’s nothing like the allure of just-picked tomatoes; here’s how to grow your own 94 Strawberries A Quintessential Summer Fruit Grow a tisket, a tasket, a lovely summer basket of these delectable berries OUTSIDE IN 124 Fresh to the Plate Wow your guests with table decorations straight from the veggie patch SPEND 16 The Good Food & Hotel Guide Comfortable quarters and rich pickings for the birds in your life 63 Scents & Sensibility It’s that heady scent of lavender again, in toiletries and this and that for the home 84 Love Wellies! Our very own Marilyn road-tests waders and wellies - on the beach COLOUR 121 Love Green! Arguably the most important colour of all, captured on camera in all its various shades FORAGE 138 Really Wild Cocktails Look no further than the waysides to raise a glass or two to summer
where photography matters
GARDEN
PLANTING FOR THE FUTURE The Olympic Legacy
Sarah Price has established herself as one of Britain’s most prominent young designers. She designed the ‘Daily Telegraph’ garden at Chelsea in 2012 and was awarded a gold medal. She is the co-designer for the gardens at the London Olympic Park and part of the team planning the post-games legacy. Here she shares some of her experiences and views. Photography: Andrew Lawson, Words: Sarah Price
L
ast summer’s exuberant Olympic flower displays were the culmination of more than four years of collaboration. The construction site that I had been used to, full of miles of metal safety fencing and the noisy drone of diggers and drills was now a colour-wave of flowers, people and celebration. Gone were the construction workers in their white hard hats and bright high-visibility shirts; instead, visitors were wandering around the carefully-designed planting schemes, snapping away with their cameras. On entering the Olympic site many visitors were surprised to encounter a green park. In the North Park, with its more naturalistic design, many visitors assumed it had always been like this; that the meadow-covered
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landforms and the large wetlands were natural features. This was the greatest accolade for the huge unsung team of planners, landscape architects, gardeners and engineers who had toiled for years to construct this new landscape. Others appreciated the skill behind the beauty. ‘Stop, stop! You’re trampling over a meadow, A MEADOW!!’ a gardener friend of mine wailed at a group of over-excited visitors waving Union Jack flags as they tore a path across a flower-studded vale. In many ways I could empathize with their unintentionally destructive behaviour as groups of people picnicked, flattening huge areas of meadow; the meadows didn’t appear fragile, they appeared to be part of the natural world.
Opposite page left. 2012 gardens Southern hemisphere plantings of Kniphofia and Agapanthus. Above. North American planting of Echinacea below the ‘ArcelorMittal Orbit’ by the artist Anish Kapoor.
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Loire valley gardens www.jardins-de-france.com
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Running Head
Kaffe Fassett A Cornucopia of Colour
From still-life painter to knitwear, fabric and needlework designer extraordinary, Kaffe Fassett is a man with a passion for scintillating colour and tactile textures, a genius whose originality has wowed the worlds of fashion and furnishing. And his advice to us? Be bold. If your colour mix is harmonious and, most of all, if it moves you, go for it. We will! Click on the button to see extracts of the interview on our YouTube channel. Photography: Liz Eddison, Video: Adam Stevens, Interview: Derek St Romaine
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SPEND
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love wellies! It was a bit of a job to tie Marilyn down to a photoshoot in a garden, what with her well-known love of hoeing and mowing and all. So she scarpered off to a beach – didn’t seem to mind the wind and waves – where she was happy as a sandboy. Photography: Sam Eddison, Model: Laura Nixon, Art Direction: Adam Stevens.
Left. Emma Bridgewater Polka Dot Welly with Clasp £35.00 www.emmabridgewater.co.uk With a green buckle to ensure a really good fit, these spotty wellies make Marilyn smile every time she puts them on, or jumps in a puddle!
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