News from Mexico

Cruz is to lecture next. I concentrate on the screen, trying to figure out the Spanish powerpoint presentation. Then I look over towards him.In one hand he has a microphone, in the other a gun. Definitely, no doubt about it, a small silver pistol. I soon put 2 and 2 together and realise that it is his laser pointer, but the effect is well – striking to say the least. Saw some in the market later, and thought about getting some as presents for those who work in the further education biz , but then realised that a case of them would be a surefire ticket to Guantanamo. Which almost happened at the next airport security – Cruz had left it in his hand baggage and nearly missed the flight.

Lots of exciting new plant introductions seem to come from Mexico, so it is interesting to get an invite to do a lecture tour there, and see if they do anything with their local flora. Thanks to Cruz Gaali, an irrepressibly enthusiastic PhD graduate from the landscape department at Sheffield University. Cruz had organised a whole series of lectures to teaching institutions, professional bodies and public events - on public planting design. I am away that my main role is to show people that “Cruz is not mad”, that in Europe and in other countries landscape designers and horticulturalists are creating nature-inspired, sustainable and bio-diverse plantings. As opposed to the standard Mexican public space plantings: beds of brightly coloured annuals, and clipped trees. And clipped trees. Clipping trees is clearly as Mexican as drinking tequila or going on strike (February is when everyone goes on strike). Even shrubs in the middle of  dual carriageways are clipped – squares and blobs for the most part, with the occasional basket, or possibly even….. is it a handbag? Private gardeners of course are far more adventurous – mariachi bands in greenery are a favourite. Needless to say there are more Mexican natives in a British garden centre than in a public park in Mexico.

Just done lecture no.3, in a tent in what appears to be a clearing in the jungle, but is in fact part of the best tropical zone public park I have ever been in. It is the tip of a wedge-shaped wilderness area which penetrates almost to the town centre of Uruapan in central western Mexico – it functions as a tidied-up, horticulturally enhanced bit of monsoon forest, with paved walkways and seating and other amenity areas around dramatic whitewater streams, waterfalls and water channels. A lovely way for people to experience natural environment in a very controlled way – very important in a society where very few appreciate wild landscapes or see native plants in a positive way. There is so much water, in channels, fountains and cascades that in some ways it is like a 1930s Villa d’Este. It is spotless.

There are nine of us crammed onto a long table on the stage, speakers and various Important People, who have to make introductory speeches for ‘Green Day’. Most important of all is ‘Il Presidente del Ayunciamento’, ie. the mayor, who I sit next to – as foreign mascot person for sustainable public horticulture I am clearly very important. I love that word ayunciamento – its where we get ‘junta’ from – I always think of sinister Pinochet type generallissimos. This guy has the well-oiled urbanity of the professional politician; I wouldn’t buy a second-hand car off him. He speaks, the event is opened, we all stand. Ohmygod, they are going to play the national anthem. No, they don’t. Whew! Then we have to get down from the stage while they get the powerpoint ready. This, as always it seems in Mexico, involves around 6 young men clustered around the computer and projector, huffing and puffing, pulling cords out, pushing them back in, arguing, gesticulating – it is clearly some sort of male bonding exercise.

The photographers of the local press descend, Il Presidente del Ayunciamento and I put our arms around each other’s shoulders and smile. He then departs. Lecture begins, and with Cruz interpeting, goes very smoothly – although he clearly has his own agenda, often elaborating greatly on what I say. Just as well I trust him. Occasionally the PA system flips over to a local radio station. No-one stirs. Clearly a normal occurrence.


 Anyay, come the end – we all get a basket of presents (avocadoes, coffee, local delicacies, big bottle Kahlua-type liquor). Last place delivered us a dubious-looking little plastic character in local costume and a handful  of slightly-leaking miniatures of the local mezcal. Oh, and a big certificate from Il Presidente to commorate our participation.

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WORKING FOR THE COUNCIL

    I have always found the idea of doing public space planting a more attractive one than designing private gardens. Thousands of people see your work every day, its part of the public realm, a part of the landscape, not hidden away. You have to accept some heavy constraints though: limited funds often mean that projects are small scale and maintenance is still a major issue. And you just have to accept that work does receive a fairly frequent mulch of plastic bags, beer cans and take-away wrappers.
    In Bristol I’ve been working with the city authorities for some years now, usually creating two new perennial-based plantings each winter. I’ve done a few small beds in parks, but they tend to get lost in the great expanse of grass and trees. Far more effective is planting at key sites on commuter routes: traffic islands, roundabouts, junctions. There are real advantages to working on these, as they tend to be pretty vandal proof, and slug proof too.
    Working on these sites involves co-ordinating with contractors. Usually an 8.00 am start, parking on a  pavement and sometimes running the gauntlet of traffic wearing a day-glo safety jacket. Once wearing one of these jackets you realise you have joined a working class brotherhood  who look after their own – great trucks screech to a halt to let you cross the road for example, and it also gives you just about enough authority to stop the traffic if you want to. Crossing roundabouts is something of an art form – much better if there is enough of a grass apron to drive onto. Driving off again though is pretty hairy I can tell you.
    The plants used are resilient perennials which can look after themselves as much as possible, and once established, compete with weeds. Geranium is one of the obvious genera to concentrate on; in the mild and moist Bristol climate, many are in active growth for almost all the year. They are such a useful group that I almost have to make a conscious effort not to overuse them.  Clump-forming and late-flowering composites: helianthus, rudbeckia, solidago, aster, are useful for later-season and strucutral interest.
    Ideally plants will be allowed to spread and self-seed. The aim is a closed canopy of vegetation. Whether this happens is very much to management which is out of my hands. I have run an afternoon training course however, and found the team (from Continental Landscapes) had a better ability to spot the difference between weeds and seedling perennials than I expected. If regenerating perennials are left, the ground will eventually be covered with the vegetation you want, leaving little space for invasive weeds. However on some sites, ‘over-maintenance’ prevents this happening. Ornamental grasses too can be mistaken for weed grasses – so any species used need to be very clearly intentional.
    One new approach I have tried is plug planting, of species which flower in the first year. This is not necessarily designed for permanence as some species used are short-lived, but instead gives more intense colour more quickly. Examples of species used are Achillea ‘Galaxy Hybrids’, Malva moschata, Lychnis chalcedonica, Rudbeckia hirta, Physostegia virginiana, Stipa tenuissima. Planting is at random at 30cm spacings.

For Bristolians, sites I’ve done some planting on so far are:
Snuff Mills,
Three Lamps Junction
Wells Rd. Oxford St. just up from the above.
Broadwalk Arcade, Knowle.
Redcatch Park
White Tree roundabout
Malago Lane, pedestrian island
Eastville Park, one bed near public conveniences at far western end.
St. James Barton
Novers Lane roundabout
Stapleton Rd./Rawnsley Park (something to look at while you wait for your crack dealer)

noel@noelkingsbury.com

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'Girly Gardens' and Kim Wilkie links

I have a contribution to one of the discussions currently on the marvellous and stimulating Thinking Gardens:

http://www.thinkingardens.co.uk/girly.html

Its part of an ongoing discussion about gender and the garden.


Also, the Vista Debates at the Museum of Garden History are now being made available as podcasts from the Gardens Illustrated website. The December Kim Wilkie session and an interview with Tim Richardson about the debates can be found at:

http://www.gardensillustrated.com/podcast.asp

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We have only just started

    It never ceases to surprise me how little the question of planting design is really understood, or expressed, or articulated. Few since Gertrude Jekyll have really spelt out principles clearly.
    A few years ago I came across a dissertation at Vienna's University of NAtural REsources and Applied Life Sciences (German 'Bodenkultur' sounds so much more pithy!)* in which the author had read all our books and critiqued us for failing to develop a language of planting design, in particular no agreed terminology.
    Many in the landscape design, and some in the garden design business may be surprised by this. But such surprise probably indicates that all they do is spray in 'green cement' in great monocultural blocks and leave it at that. Real planting design involves so much more, with a palette which is enormous, each element of which has a will of its own, and will react differently in each location. Makes painting seem a doddle by comparison. As does the Burle Marx approach, which to me now, feels more and more like Victorian bedding meets modernismo.
     My feeling that we have only just begun to really think seriously about planting design is strengthened by a visit to Piet Oudolf to look at drawings and pictures of recent projects. There was a point at which his public design work seemed like it might just get stuck in the distribution of monocultural blocks over a wide area. But then he started varying it with scatterings of specimen plants, that repeated like a rhythm, and then varying the rate of scatter, adn then using the scatter and intermingle approach to produce a whole level of transformation effects within plantings. As a consequence he is taking planting design to new heights of sophistication. His drawings are artworks in themselves and essential in order to understand what is actually going on beneath the richness of his plantings.
    The analogies to music seem so obvious, I find myself grasping for words to describe what Piet does, and always seem to fall back on musical ones. An analogy that Nori Pope really articulated. It is high time we found a common language to describe how we distribute plants across space. And started thinking a bit more analytically  about what we do.

* If anyone wants to see this (auf Deutsch) please ask.

Reply/correspond to : noel@noelkingsbury.com

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You will soon have to learn German!

    The long process whereby one of the world's leading horticultural journals has been dumbed down to yet another magazine (albeit a very good one) seems to be complete. A member of the editorial staff admitted to me last week (regretfully and somewhat defensively) that The Garden is "no longer a journal of record". In other words no longer something you turn to reference or to back up a statement or argument.
    The whole process which began, I cannot remember when, 'The Journal' became 'The Garden' is complete - magazinification. I am all for breaking down the doors of elitism but I personally feel the process has gone too far. The Garden now seems to operate on the same principles as garden TV, that we are all beginners, that none of us want to know about the latest science, research results, innovative techniques or read what experts write (as opposed to in house journalists). There also seems to be an assumption that we are all interested in design. Hello! This is the Royal HORTICULTURAL Society - we are first and foremost gardeners. Design certainly has a place in the journal but I suspect many gardeners would like to see less snazzy decking and more horticultural know-how. Besides which, other magazines do the design side so much better. The Plantsman has taken over some of what The Journal used to do, but only partially. Can't we have something in-between.
     What `I think many of us object to is the assumption that a journal cannot cater for both beginners and experts alike, and that many people new to gardening or with little knowledge might actually be interested and stimulated by more in-depth 'expert' pieces.
    It is a relief to turn to Germany's 'Gartenpraxis' - apart from the fact that it is in German!, and therefore a bit of a slow read (though a dictionary on my computer helps a lot). It seems to combine a huge range of material, popular stuff and latest research, pieces by experts, and where to go on your holiday next to see good flowers and gardens. There seems to be an assumption in Germany that people should not be talked down to, that technical knowledge is something to aspire to. Is 'dumbing down' a peculiarly English phenomenon?
    The slow decline of The Garden is, I suspect, part of the commercialisation of the RHS. How many members want to be part of  a business as opposed to a society is an interesting question.

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Alasdair Forbes garden at Coombe House

    Anyone who came to the 'Vista debate' at the Museum of Garden History on Jan 8th or has  a copy of this month's House and Garden  (February) will be aware of a very exciting 'new' garden.

   Alasdair's garden is completly unlike any other, although very much in the tradition of the 18th landscape garden in its use of trees, hedges, sculpture and landforms to make philosophical points. In the H&G piece I said that I thought that the garden was the most important intellectual statement in gardening since Little Sparta. Much to my relief Tim Richardson said he agreed with me  after  a recent visit.

    Visiting the garden.
    It will be open for a local charity first weekend of June. Not sure of day or time yet. Keep logging on to find out!
    We would also hope to be able to organise a Vista Outing to the garden. People could either meet there (North Devon) or if there was enough interest, a coach could be organised from London. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED PLEASE EMAIL ME, and let me know whether you prefer an April visit or a June/July one. And whether weekend or weekday is preferred.

    Alasdair has kindly sent me his notes for the lecture, but does not want them posted, but made availalbe to anyone who wishes to see them. So, please email me if you want a copy.


My email is

noel@noelkingsbury.com


keep digging, keep talking!


Noel

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If you can’t beat creeping buttercup, creep past it

In the mild British climate the real winners are ‘weedy’ species which can grow at low temperatures. Amongst the most problematic for gardeners are native grasses, particularly aggressive species of rough pasture, and creeping buttercup. Such is their ability to grow at any temperature above freezing, I reckon these guys can often grow 365 day a year. Anyone with a herbaceous planting that does not have a thick layer of mulch will begin to notice around this time of year that there is often a haze of young grass seedlings, or clumps of grass which you did not notice the last time you looked at the border (which was probably November) have begun to grow and spread. Most alarming of all is the relentless march of creeping buttercup, as it extends its runners out of the clumps of perennials where it often settles down, inconspicuously for the winter (or since when you last thought you had weeded thoroughly). In the milder and wetter parts of Britain bare soil in borders can be practically covered in this stuff, practically while your back is turned.
What to do about it?
First – ask yourself how much a problem this really is. Look at the plant – it may spread like a virus, but it doesn’t grow very tall. In fact so short is it, that by the time most herbaceous plants get going in May, they will soon overtop it and shade it out. Meanwhile the yellow buttercups in April are quite pretty – an added bonus. So, it may be a case of live and let live – dense planting of medium to tall, or very spready herbaceous perennials will outcompete the yellow monster – and peaceful co-existence will be the result.
Amongst smaller plants or where you want to reduce competition, such as amongst fruit bushes or new plantings, you will need to control the beast. The best way is to leave it, until it really begins to spread, with lots of nice healthy foliage. Then get out the Roundup ®. The herbicide will spread back and kill the base of the plants, which may be a good 20-30 cms from where you have treated it. Winter spraying is slow to take effect – it’ll be a few weeks before that yellow and wan look begins to spread, the yellow and wan look which brings an instant smile of gratification to the gardener’s face. There is something insolent about creeping buttercup, the way it so suddenly takes advantage of our winter lack of interest in the garden to make so much progress. Get it now, before bulbs have begun to emerge, let alone anything herbaceous and you can minimise its impact for the rest of the year, and even admire the pretty yellow flowers of the survivors. You will never get rid of entirely so you might as well stand back and admit they’re pretty.

www.noelkingsbury.com
noel@noelkingsbury.com