Marc's Gardens

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...

Without wishing to let daylight enter in upon magic, and also not wanting to discuss the findings of my recent dissertation, I thought I would take a few moments out to discuss how (and whether) the New Perennial Movement has had any real influence within the average domestic gardens of England. Now, the history of the NPM dates back a very long way indeed, but for the benefit of this rather short post, let’s just say I’m talking mainly about the small band of Dutch Wavers (Piet Oudolf and friends) together with their extended English family, the likes of Noel Kingsbury, Tom Stuart-Smith, Christopher Bradley-Hole, and many many more! Similar to its history, the design style of the movement is also far too complex to discuss here: the NPM stand upon philosophies, sociologies and ideologies that go back a very long way indeed. But again, for ease of use, and by taking incredible liberties with over-simplification,   let’s just say I’m talking about that rather naturalistic ...

Recently, a colleague of mine commented that you only ever really need one annual subscription to a gardening magazine, as the tips and tricks, together with the ‘ what to do now’ sections tend to repeat themselves with an almost same week accuracy, year on year. Of course, he was spot on. I once spent about 5 years tearing out the ‘ what to do now ’ sections of various gardening magazines and collating them in a folder. I know, very sad of me! Anyway, they acted as a useful reminder of what jobs I should’ve been considering in the various gardens I worked in. However, over time, I too noticed an obvious repetition of articles and tips... even using the same photos! A small portion of my borders last year. Now though, having spent many years gardening professionally, and having taught countless students the horticultural basics, I find myself having journeyed far beyond gardening as a pursuit allied to any calendar: I’ve discovered that the ‘ what to do and when ’ of garde...

The wonderfull Jaqueline van de Kloet - Dutch bulb master Well, you don’t get blog titles like that every day, now do you? Organs of Perennation, or put simply – bulbs! Bloomin’ magic things if you ask me. Small flowering time capsules is what they really are: a miracle, condensed and concertinaed into a container of hope and promise. How poetic! Well anyway, it’s kind of that time again when our horticultural attentions turn towards bulb planting for the spring. Nurseries, garden centres and even supermarkets are full of them at the moment. Not that I would ever endorse purchasing anything even remotely horticultural from a supermarket, but I often see some real bulb bargains to be had in supermarkets: 18 Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ bulbs for £5 (from Tesco) can’t be bad. Two hefty bags of mixed Daffs for the same price is also a good buy in my opinion. Two rows of daffs planted under a climbing hydrangea......... .... and the result a few months later.......

Blimey, it has been some time since I last published a hortic post here. I’ve been very busy working, studying and writing ‘stuff’ elsewhere! Anyway, having had a nudge from a colleague recently, I managed to find a vacant and warm afternoon in which to visit the Dunnett-designed rooftop gardens at the Barbican centre in London. Having had the challenge of replacing the somewhat out-dated plantings of the 1980’s, Nigel Dunnett (Professor at Sheffield University) and his team began planting the Beech Gardens back in March 2015.   The original planting featured areas of lawn, bedding (Yikes!) and bold architectural plants such as Phormiums and Cordylines. These had rather outgrown the site, requiring heavy irrigation and brought many structural problems to the site also. Ageing design, over-mature plants and leaky irrigation prompted the City Corporation to have a radical rethink.  The Barbican ‘complex’ is ...

I imagine every tradesperson has an association with his or her special tool. No doubt painters and decorators have their preferred type of brushes; hairdressers who’ll only use a certain manufacturer of scissors; bricklayers with their favourite trowel…. and so on! When it comes to us gardeners, without doubt the tool that becomes our most reliable friend is, of course, the trusty pair of secateurs. Permanently sat in their holster, resting on my right hip, they are a constant source of comfort and activity throughout the day. I must reach for mine over a 100 times a day… everything from cutting string, to dead-heading dahlias... pruning shrubs to opening bags of compost.   Felco #2's - the choice of the professionals . I’m forever advising students and clients to invest in the best pair of secateurs they can afford – easy for me to say of course! I believe the best pair of affordable secateurs on the market are undoubtedly made by Fel...