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If there is one garden trend that is emphatically associated with Britain , it is that of plantsmanship and peculiarly the tradition of herbaceous perimeter intention , which was explicate in the early 20th 100 by Gertrude Jekyll and others . The British clime is notoriously fickle , but it is also perfect for mature plants from all over the human race , and many British nurseryman have been bite by the plant - collecting bug . In late years , the plant palette has blow up still more with the onrush of clime modification , and now Australian tree fern and subtropical plant are a common sight inBritish gardens . British designer excel at make naturalistic planting schemes with their diverse flora palette , even though it often requires great artifice to blend such disparate plant groups . Whatever the theory , establish design is always closely link up with the personality of the designer , which realise it an idiosyncratic art frame .
Traditional formality still has its place , with the front path lined with clipped lavender , but the clipped yews are being encouraged to grow into somewhat asymmetrical forms . Photo by : Nicola Browne .
During the recent 1980s and 1990s , while most British garden designer were still entranced by the Arts and Crafts traditions of herbaceous planting that go steady back almost a 100 , Dan Pearson was almost alone in urge a more modern solution for mod garden situation . In a string of private gardens , and through a succession of goggle box serial publication in the 1990s , he advertize the thought of a garden that united a sexual love of plants and the born world with a form of stylish functionalism that really appealed to garden owners under the age of 40 .
One of Pearson ’s signature plants , blazing orangish foxtail lily ( Eremurus‘Cleopatra ’ ) makes a stand in the edge in June at a Warwickshire manor house house . pic by : Nicola Browne .
By the tardy 1990s this approach and mental attitude had hold out mainstream , and Pearson was rightly herald as an innovator forrader of his time , just as John Brookes had been in the sixties . If anything , however , Pearson ’s piece of work has become more naturalistic over the days , a will to his serious certification as a plantsman , with a Kew grooming and geezerhood of experience with plant communities in the state of nature all over the world . One of Pearson ’s formative influence as a nurseryman was Beth Chatto , whose garden in Essex , to the east of London , demo the way a garden ’s style can reflect the habits of self - supporting communities of plant life as they thrive in nature . To this Pearson adds a thick appreciation of the site ’s existing sense of place , which he aims to heighten and reflect with his figure .
A stone - edged pond is the focus of a romantic rose garden that bring with formal / cozy contrasts — lax shrub roses versus orderly boxwood balls . Photo by : Nicola Browne .
Pearson ’s gardens are unremarkably based on strong , clear structural osseous tissue , both in term of wiggly , elegant bender in the hard landscape and earth program , and in a liking for horticultural characteristic such as lines of pleached tree , or clipped yew hedge in bulgy mannequin . A sculptured spatial quality resounds through the work . In late commissions Pearson has explored an ever more naturalistic flavor , with an emphasis on wildflower plantings with cut paths thread through them , plantings of aboriginal trees , subtle turf landforms and the decorative possibilities of walling ground on traditional styles . Decorative planting near buildings often give way to native - species plantings at the limit of the garden .
Planting in the silver garden is ethereal and clear , with a tapis of eloquent foliage plants and ornamental supergrass ( Stipa tenuissima ) , highlight with blue spikes ofSalvia verticillata‘Purple Rain ’ . photograph by : Nicola Browne .
One of Pearson ’s most significant current projects is a sheer contemporary garden of contrasts for a Jacobean manor family in Warwickshire . In a serial of duck and walled enclosures in the English 20th - C tradition , Pearson has played with idea of formalities and ease by clipping topiary into vegetable shapes ( carrot , eggplant and leek ! ) , and create a vibrant “ hot ” borderline of oranges and reds correctly next threshold to an graceful garden of silvers and Elwyn Brooks White , bordered by yew hedging and a stilted hornbeam walking . There is a courtly channel , a nuttery , an botanical garden of native British trees , and a “ wind garden ” of perennial that move and rustle in the air .
Traditional double borders get a relaxed treatment with perennials campaign through purple Allium and white California poppies . Photo by : Nicola Browne .
Recently Pearson ’s practice has amplify internationally , with projects in Italy , the United States and Japan , where he is working on a 500 acre landscape park ( the Millennium Forest ) on Hokkaido , northerly Japan , and five court gardens for a new housing ontogeny in Tokyo .
For more information on the work of Dan Pearson , seewww.danpearsonstudio.com .
Other model of the British realistic planting style :
Photo by : Marianne Majerus .
Pam Lewis ’ garden in Dorset , Sticky Wicket , has become something of a cult finish for herbaceous - industrial plant enthusiasts in recent years , and Pam has fasten a wider interview through her book Sticky Wicket - Gardening in Tune with Nature ( Frances Lincoln ) . The Round Garden , set around a Chamaemelum nobilis lawn and incorporate rings of native eatage , is one of the principal attractions , as it chimes with the current absorption with ecological horticulture . At Sticky Wicket the butterfly , frogs , snort and bee are as important as the plants.Seewww.stickywicketgarden.co.uk .
pic by : John Glover .
Julie Toll is a wide respected room decorator who was banging the drumfish for an ecological and naturalistic style long before it was fashionable . She also has an agreement of the Modernist architectural tradition , and this inspires the subtle running structure that underpins all her work . Julie is a specialiser in hayfield , urine and woodland - outskirt intention - here primulas and hostas create a natural - looking piddle margin.Seewww.julietoll.co.uk .
