Romancing the Garden: A philosophy of gardening Pt 2

To clarify the ideas in this book, I have illustrated it with photos from my own garden and those of friends and family. I am very keen on the idea that a garden needs to be in harmony with the architecture of the house it surrounds. My own house is 50 years old and was designed by John Lloyd Wright, the second son of Frank Lloyd Wright, who was my husband’s stepfather, and since my house is built against a hill, the garden surrounds the house on only three sides, facing west. It is not a large garden, less than half an acre, but provides enough scope to illustrate a variety of answers to problems. Also I live in Southern California, overlooking the ocean in a coastal town, thus in a Mediterranean climate zone. All these factors necessarily effect the plants and gardens in the photographs, but all of the basic ideas illustrated by them can be adapted to other climates in far different parts of this country and the world and on widely differing lots, in small space or large.

Also in this book you will discover an ancient philosophy of gardening that anyone might choose to carry out. This is the philosophy that I have chosen myself, or perhaps it chose me. To put it simply my gardening philosophy or ideal is to create a romantic garden, in other words to attempt to make a little heaven on earth. The romantic garden of today is little more than the paradise garden of yesterday and in a way isn’t that what all gardens strive to be? A philosophy of life is a design for living. A philosophy of gardening is a template to aim for in every garden task. It should be broad enough to stimulate the nth degree of creativity. If one’s gardening philosophy is “I have a black thumb and everything dies,” one had better change it to “I have a green thumb and everything thrives!” One’s collection of plants might improve almost instantly, but might not constitute a great garden. Having a green thumb means “ I understand what plants need and I strive to provide it,” a worthwhile aim, but creating a great garden takes more than simply taking good care of plants. The healthiest garden in the world would not constitute a great landscape unless the plants and other features of the garden were arranged with utmost taste. There are historic gardens that are little more than collections of rocks and sand. But what rocks they are and how exquisitely arranged.

Great gardens have a breathtaking quality and the gardeners who make them always do so in coordination with a concrete plan or wholly mental dream. Whether they know it or not, these garden geniuses have a philosophy of gardening or an ideal, and they gradually work towards its expression. Vita Sackville West said she believed in “The greatest formality of design combined with the greatest informality of planting.” With that mental template and a superior site, she created one of the most celebrated gardens of modern times. Few of us are lucky enough to create a garden on 25 acres with old walls and a medieval tower, but any of us could adopt the deeper meaning of Sackville-West’s philosophy, even in small space and on a low budget. What Vita described was what she created: a formal garden, layed out with a distinct plan and straight lines, but with softened edges. When a rose in full bloom spilled over a wall in a natural way, she left it alone to be shaped as nature devised. When an aster at the height of bloom mounded over a path, she wheeled her barrow around the edge of it and continued on her way. To Vita, perhaps there was no greater sin than cutting back a plant before it had finished blooming. As long as her hands held sway at Sissinghurst, all plants were allowed to expand to full glory. Whatever changes they made in the straight line of a path and a wall were never deplored, they were welcomed.

It could be a theme—Japanese, Drought resistant, Mediterranean, Wild or Natural Garden, California Native Plants, Rare and Unusual Plants (a “home-made” botanical garden), A Tropical Garden.