How to make the most of your garden art.

Monique Gudgeon on how to make the most of your garden art - Gardens - Dorset
"Whether it’s a piece of brutalist post-modernism, a classical carved stone figure or an elegant bronze sculpture by my husband Simon Gudgeon, the decisions and processes of finding the perfect place for your piece of outdoor sculpture are the same.
When it comes to art in the garden size does not matter.
Whether it’s a four or five-metre piece or something more modest in a smaller situation the same rules will apply.

When we moved to Pallington Lakes six years ago and opened as a sculpture park, Simon and I had visited numerous art venues around the country.
We knew what we liked and we had a clear idea about how we were going to display his work.

Taking your time and planning are the two most important elements.
You know your garden and where you like to sit; what bits can be seen from the house and which views are the best.
Take all of these into account and then try and visualise that sculpture in those favourite spots.
Rather than lugging a heavy statue or sculpture around, get a bamboo stake approximately the same height as the piece.
Take this to the various sites you are considering; stick it in the ground and then walk away so you can look at it from different vantage points.

You’ll be able to see whether it’s going to be tall enough to stand on its own or whether it needs some kind of plinth or pedestal.
Make sure it’s in proportion to what surrounds it, trees or buildings for example.
Also, has it got enough space around it so that your view is not obscured, or does it look cramped?

Lastly, consider what backdrop would suit your new art investment.
Sculpture easily gets lost amongst a welter of flowers, colour, leaf shapes, differing heights and depths.
Instead use flowers as part of the frame, keeping the backdrop simple and maintaining the sculpture’s impact.

Remember that there are two elements to your sculpture: the wider context, or vista - how it is seen from a distance, and the closer encounter - the more intimate view when you are beside it.
Both of these have to work.

My Golden Rules

-Keep planting simple, chose one variety of plant if possible.

-If the piece is going to be in the middle of a bed, make the planting low enough so that it doesn’t obscure the piece, or put the piece on a pedestal.

-If the sculpture is against a hedge or similar, ensure it comes above the top of the piece, like a curtain behind. Avoid the line of a hedge cutting through the middle of a piece.

-Choose a plant that will look good all year round – evergreens are best.

-If you go deciduous, dead head if needed and keep it tidy.

-Be aware of the conditions of the site you chose such as exposure to wind, or frost and consider how this will impact on the plant you choose.

-Put in some subtle lighting if you can, particularly if the piece is going to be seen from the house.

-Look after your art! Ask the artist what the piece might need in terms of after care. Dust off the cobwebs, wash off the bird poo and make it feel loved.

Creating the Right Frame

I try to frame all Simon’s work in some way so that the piece is defined but your eye is not distracted, so choosing the right planting plan is crucial.
From the following examples, you’ll see it doesn’t all have to be uniform.
Texture is just as important as colour.

Water and Sculpture

Water and sculpture are perfect partners.
Not only does it impart wonderful reflections, whether a perfect mirror on a calm day or dazzling dancing patterns when the wind blows, sunlight also bounces off the water and lights the art in a completely different way.
It’s always on the move, changing hourly, even minute by minute.

Grasses, Trees & Other Plants

Grasses are ideal for planting around the feet of a piece of art.
Remember to choose the right height for the piece or put it on a plinth so that it can stand above the grasses when they are in full growth.
Again there are hundreds of varieties to choose from, some evergreen and some not.
The deciduous varieties can be left in place over winter as they look superb when all frosted, then cut them back in February.

My personal favourite is Pennisetum ‘Red Head’ – a deciduous grass with the most beautiful burgundy hued flower heads in summer that last well into winter.

To form continuous carpets around a sculpture choose a low growing plant such as Thrift or Sea Pink.
This variety (left) is called Armeria maritime ‘Rubifolia’ but again, there are so many different varieties available now.

Small growing, evergreen geranium varieties, which are hardy, offer an excellent foil to frame a piece of art.
Some also have good autumn colour but all have beautifully coloured flowers.
This one in particular (right) is Geranium subcaulescens ‘Splendens’.

Not only does woven willow provide a good green backdrop in summer but an interesting, uniform pattern in winter - uniformity is the key here (far right).
A woven willow arbour or hedge can be as big or as little as you want so ideal for small or large gardens.
This tunnel uses Salix viminalis, its high maintenance and needs to be kept in order.

Silver birch (Betula pendula) have great bark colour and are relatively cheap to buy when small if you are planting a lot of them to surround a piece.
They also support the second highest number of wildlife species of any UK native tree, the common oak being number one.

Framing Sculpture - Monique’s favourite plants:

New Zealand Flax (Phormium tenax): This plant can’t be beaten for drama and durability. Though relatively easy on maintenance, be warned they can take up a lot of space.

Bamboo: There are many varieties of bamboo - from the well-mannered clump forming varieties to the rampaging spreaders. Avoid the latter or your sculpture might disappear in a jungle! My favourite is Narihira bamboo (Semiarundinaria fastuosa) – it’s a particularly upright variety, spreads very slowly and grows nice and tall with good, chunky canes to give vertical texture as well as greenery.

Yew (Taxus baccata): The classic and best for hedges, yew’s dark green colour makes it the perfect foil to any work of art. Any conifer that is happy to be kept clipped will do just as good a job, however, avoid fast growing varieties like Leyland cypress.

Beech (Fagus sylvatica): I love a beech hedge for its ability to change with the seasons; fresh and green in the spring and, because it hangs onto its dead leaves, a rich chestnut brown in winter. Try copper beech as an alternative, its dark purple colour contrasts beautifully with bronze sculpture.

Boxleaf Honeysuckle (Lonicera nitida): An evergreen relative of the hedgerow climber, it just loves being clipped and trained into all sorts of interesting shapes (see above). It’s a fast grower so you’ll get good results quickly, but there will be a lot of ongoing maintenance.

Common Box (Buxus sempervirens): Another classic but also a slow grower, so patience is required. Also, concerns about the fungal disease which causes Box Blight has meant it is not nearly as popular as it was, but it’s still a lovely and versatile thing.

Cotton Lavender (Santolina chamaecyparisus): This lavender has a generally rounded habit which I take advantage of by keeping it clipped back hard so it forms little rounded hillocks.
It is excellent for creating a low border around a sculpture in an open situation or around paving.
However by keeping it clipped you do lose the flowers but sometimes sacrifices have to be made in the name of art.

Visiting Sculpture by the Lakes:

To arrange a visit to Sculpture by the Lakes, at Pallington, near Dorchester go to sculpturebythelakes.co.uk and follow the links to Plan Your Visit and Bookings. For further information call on 07720 637808 or you can email us at sbtl@me.com

Our recently published book about Sculpture by the Lakes describes the process of creating the sculpture park, and a lot of my thinking behind the planting and design of the garden and grounds.
It also explains the inspiration that led to Simon’s most iconic sculptures and how we marry art and the garden successfully.
Buy it online via Amazon at £35 (plus £2.80 postage and packing).
Alternatively, visitors to Sculpture by the Lakes can buy a copy direct from us for £25.

How to grow an amelanchier.

How to grow an amelanchier - Saga

A very beautiful, small, North American tree that is attractive in all seasons, even in winter when its spreading crown of fine shoots makes a satisfying, dense, shrubby shape.
In March the branches erupt with a froth of star-shaped flowers in lax conical heads, just as the coppery pink young leaves unfold - in summer these are yellowish green, but later turn scarlet and crimson.
In July the tree is studded with dark red berries which become purple-black as they ripen.
The Royal Horticultural Society has given it the Award of Garden Merit (AGM).

They are not fussy, but they don’t do well on limey soil.
An amelanchier's white blossom and dark foliage make a perfect foil for dark, sultry tulips or a mixture of pink and purple tulips.
These could be planted in November or December.
Choose late-April or May-flowering varieties to coincide with the amelanchier flowers.
The best three amelanchiers

Amelanchier x grandiflora 'Robin Hill'
(6 - 8 m)
A recently introduced cultivar which has clusters of pink buds that open into pale pink flowers in spring.
These flowers then fade to white before falling.
Edible berries follow from June until August.
The young leaves are an attractive bronze colour when they first emerge, darkening to a lush green in late spring and summer.
In the autumn they turning vivid shades or orange/deep-red before falling.
Forms a small garden tree.

Amelanchier lamarckii 'Ballerina'
(4 - 5 m)
A delightful, low maintenance shrub or small tree which is covered with large white flowers in spring.
In spring/summer, the leaves are an attractive, cool green turning shades of bright red/orange /gold in the autumn before falling.
A superb choice for planting as a either a stand-alone specimen or as part of a mixed border.

Amelanchier ovalis 'Edelweiss'
(3 - 4 m)
A slower-growing amelanchier, a native of Central and Southern Europe, has six-inch long panicles of white flowers in late spring.
The leaves are a pink-bronze when young, darkening to cool green in spring and summer before turning to eye-catching shades of orange, red and yellow in a crisp autumn.
Once established, this tree produces small black fruit in mid to late summer which are popular with birds.
A superb ornamental plant which is suitable for gardens of most sizes.

Во саду ли, в огороде.

- The most popular veggie that people grow in their gardens is tomatoes. Then cucumbers, then bell peppers.
- If you grow the veggie for its leaves (spinach, lettuce, kale) you need partial shade. Everything else can use full sun.
- Carrots hate to grow near strawberries. Beets like to grow near anything. And more.
- An easy way to practice crop rotation: for each area of your garden choose root, fruit, or leaf. Swap them each year. So the root section would grow onions, carrots, etc; fruit would grow broccoli, bell peppers, etc; and leaf would grow all greens.

Sarah Price's guide to naturalistic planting for your garden.

Sarah Price's guide to naturalistic planting for your garden - Telegraph:

Sarah Price Landscapes » Profile:
Why don't young people consider a gardening job? - Telegraph:
'via Blog this'

A Secret Garden: Fanciful Topiary in the Berkshires.

A view looking into the parterre garden. The polished orbs ornamenting the clipped Chamaecyparis (common name: false cypress) are safety mirrors (like the kind people put at the end of driveways). In the background are clipped hydrangea standards.

A closeup view of a bluestone bed, taken in early spring, after it has been planted with different lettuces and mescluns. Bamboo poles stand ready for beans.

A Secret Garden: Fanciful Topiary in the Berkshires Gardenista:
"To everyone in town, an old Greek Revival was known mainly for being inhabited by the Eldridge sisters, a pair of spinsters who had moved back home in 1918. Not nice spinsters either—kind of mean. When Matt Larkin was a boy, their big German shepherd liked to bite him as he biked by. Then he grew up, married, bought the place, and re-imagined the garden from scratch:

It has been 18 years since Larkin and his wife Lainie Grant, who are interior designers, moved into the rundown house that sits square in the middle of four overgrown acres in Richmond, Massachusetts. "It was April when we bought it, and there was a 1909 Glenwood cast iron stove, one bathroom—which didn't work—a single light bulb hanging in the hall upstairs to light four bedrooms, and a wrecked greenhouse," says Larkin. "So, basically, it was a blank canvas."

'via Blog this'

Intimate Garden Nestled on a Manhattan Rooftop.

Modern Patio design by New York Architect Lynn Gaffney Architect, PLLC

Hidcote: A Garden for All Seasons

BBC Four - Hidcote: A Garden for All Seasons: "Documentary telling the story of Hidcote - the most influential English garden of the 20th century - and Lawrence Johnston, the enigmatic genius behind it. Hidcote was the first garden ever taken on by the National Trust, who spent 3.5 million pounds in a major programme of restoration. This included researching Johnston's original vision, which in turn uncovered the compelling story of how Johnston created such an iconic garden. Until recently, little was known about the secretive and self-taught Johnston. He kept few, if any, records on Hidcote's construction, but current head gardener Glyn Jones made it a personal mission to discover as much about the man as possible to reveal how, in the early 20th century, Johnston set about creating a garden that has inspired designers all over the world."

Лоуренс Джонстон Уотербери (Lawrence Waterbury Johnston).