Marc's Gardens

I remember speaking to a self-employed gardener once, on the subject of weeding.  I’ve always been a very conscientious weeder, and I’m always keen to get the roots of perennial weeds out. I’ll always remember him saying that he himself didn’t do that. Instead, he simply hoe’d off the top (visible) growth. His attitude was ‘ why would I get them out completely?.... those weeds are my livelihood ’. UUUmmmm? Although his attitude was indeed morally questionable, I did kind of see his point in a way. You see, weeding was part of his bread & butter, and he was keen to carry on earning, keeping busy with as many tasks – weeding being one of them - as possible. I’ll come back to this story towards the end of this post. It’ll make more sense then. Oudolf at Hauser & Wirth Recently, I had to invoice a client of mine my bill for the month of August. Obviously, we had some pretty extreme weather during August (heavy rain & extreme heat) and that caused me to work reduced hours wi...

Writing in his iplantsman blog, a friend of mine, Lewis Normand (of Bernhard’s Nursery) has recently been giving some of his design predictions for 2020. An experienced and knowledgeable plantsman and garden designer, who also supplies plants for many a top garden designer, Lewis is in a very good position to give his opinions on the future direction of garden design. For example, he believes 2020 to be the year of the flowering shrub, an opinion shared with many. The likes of Stephen Lacy (writer & broadcaster) have long championed the return of the much-neglected shrub. Now, I love all plants, and believe there’s a home of aesthetic beauty for each and every one of them, but personally, I’ll always favour the transitory nature and dynamism of herbaceous material over shrubs any day.  Lewis also foresees a boom in indoor gardening (I couldn’t agree more) together with the ever-growing popularity of grow-your-own: food to fork and all that. Whereas in my opinion i’ve al...

I could look at Heleniums all day! Entering a garden, either public, private or domestic, is like stepping into a work of art. Certain differences are obvious: paintings, sculptures etc are finished pieces of work and once completed they never change. A garden on the other hand is never finished, and in fact should never be so! Its un-finished nature not only draws the visitor into the garden, but gifts the sightseer a portion of the space, allowing him or her the right to be its co-creator, completing the picture with their imagination for potential.   I guess I visit gardens for the same reasons as many. I see it as a journey into art, beauty, and a natural aesthetic. I also go looking for the meaning in a garden… and maybe also for meaning in life too? As I walk around a garden, I try to pull as many strands together as I can in order to make the most of the experience. My experience of a garden is built on the two pillars of art and science, and is always underpinne...

Well, you know me by now. I’m not the greatest believer in the work of garden design, or garden designers for that matter. On many occasions I’ve stated an opinion believing that all the best gardens are created through evolution and development: the garden owner cherishing their outdoor space with experimentation, creativity, nurture, love and a desire to create something of beauty.  Now, I can’t imagine many professional garden designers have those same sentiments in their heart. Well, not for your garden anyway! Yes, they may harbour a desire to create, but in the scheme of things, professional garden design will always be something of a quick fix. Perhaps more a reflection of our affluence and our ‘want-something-nice’ and ‘want-it-now’ culture. Many analogies spring to mind. So let’s just take one. To me, having your garden designed – by a garden designer – is a bit like commissioning an artist to paint you picture. I understand this. You yourself coul...

Okay, so our domestic gardens are still in the grip of Arts & Crafts, Edwardian borders. Whatever effect the naturalistic movement has had over the past 30 years, it really hasn’t made much of a dent in the ‘average’ garden of the UK. There’s not many British garden owners willing to rip out entire borders and re-imagine them wholesale – not without their beloved evergreen shrub layer, peonies and delphiniums… and those ubiquitous roses: adjective … ’seeming to be everywhere’. A rose is a rose.... is a rose... is a rose.......ZZzzzz I hate to say it, but maybe our attitude toward garden design, somewhat reflects our attitude towards the European Union and the Brexit vote. Maybe the truth is, that whilst the likes of Germany, Holland and Scandinavia have – in the last 50 years – been forging ahead with innovative, philosophical, ecological and ideological plantings, Englanders still believe they have the best gardens in the world. Trouble is, these gardens all ...

My gardening ‘business’ hasn’t anything as fancy as a strapline, a mission statement, or even a business model come to think of it. I tend to keep my attitude towards the work I do pretty simple: I simply say that I just ‘go gardening’. I love plants and gardens, so why wouldn’t I want to work with both?  However, on my travels, little logos and quirky straplines do often come to me. I imagine a flowery and colourful van displaying such lines as ‘ Working in partnership, with both you and your garden ’. Good one eh? Or, another one I came up with is… ‘ To get a great garden… get a great gardener ’. I really like that one! I like it so much because it’s true. There’s always been a bit of a divide between the role of garden designer and that of gardener.   Of course, for some strange reason – and it’s probably a class/ego thing – it’s the role of Garden Designer that always seems to attract the fame, status and kudos. It’s the garden designers who hit the head...