A garden for all seasons

   

    If you have access to iPlayer then up to this Friday evening you can watch Hidcote: A Garden for all Seasons, a documentary about that most influential of gardens and Lawrence Johnston, the man behind it.
    Have you visited Hidcote? I have not but would dearly love to, perhaps reading What Are Gardens For?: Visiting, Experiencing and Thinking About Gardens by Rory Stuart - which I mentioned yesterday and which looks fascinating - before I do.

    While on the subject, does anyone subscribe to Hortus? I've never seen a copy but I rather like the sound of it.

Comments

[Dark Puss]

I pretty sure my parents subscribed to the first few issues of Hortus. It is certainly available from the RBG library which is very close to you indeed!

I honestly cannot remember if I have been to Hidcote and I did watch the programme you mention. I'm not as quite as enamoured with it (while not denying its influence) as many people seem to be.

[Cornflower]

The RBG keep their library quiet - on the website it seems to be hidden under 'Science', i.e. an area I'm unlikely to venture into, and it's only recently that I learned it was open to the public (the general reader, not just people doing research). I've never been to it.

[Dark Puss]

You now have a good reason to go!

[Shirley Van Clay]

Though I don't get Hortus now, I did subscribe for myself and my daughter for years. It was excellent.
Shirley VC

[rj]

Sadly, BBC has blocked USA viewers. I'll see if any of the garden museums have a copy for sale around here. It's how I found out about the Gardens of Heligan (which inspired a trip to the UK years ago). The book by Stuart sounds very interesting.

[Cornflower]

Many thanks, Shirley.

[Cornflower]

I haven't been to Heligan either but I've read Tim Smit's book and found the whole thing fascinating.

[Dark Puss]

I know a number of friends who have been and they have all been very positive about it. I'm sure you would love it.

[rj]

Heligan is quite fascinating to visit (and read about). Being from a place where skunk cabbage was a nuisance, it was amazing to see it as a specimen plant in the UK. I'm sure we have things growing here that in Britain or Scotland would seem quite absurd, but our gardeners feel they've triumphed.

[Barbara]

Hortus is very good. You could try it out by reading one of the antholgies e.g. By Pen & by Spade.

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Hortus is a pricey but very dense little publication. Excellent reading if you can justify the cost. Scholarly feel rather than coffeetable-ish. Read about Stonecrop Garden in it, which prompted a visit when I was recently in upstate New York, wouldn't have known about such an interesting garden otherwise. There is a review of What are Gardens For?...in a recent edition of Gardens Illustrated.

[Margaret Powling]

No, I've mot seen Hortus (although I know of it) but I have been to Hidcote on two occasions. While I find it interesting - and it was built for one man to enjoy by one man - with a multiplicity of garden 'rooms', ensuring - as the programme said - that you cannot see all of the garden from any one position, I found it more an exercise in horiculture than a place in which I could relax, or even enjoy wide open vistas. If you like enclosed green spaces, dark ponds, pleached limes, etc, then this is for you; if you enjoy open parkland, or views of the borrowed landscape in the distance, then Hidcote is not for you. The best part for me is the double 'hot' border, with it's flames and reds against immaculate hedges.

[Cornflower]

Good idea, thankyou, Barbara.

[Cornflower]

Many thanks for that information, Robina.

[Cornflower]

That's a very helpful appraisal. Thankyou, Margaret.

[Cornflower]

One man's weed is another man's prized specimen!