David Johnson Garden Design and Consultancy
Inspirations
Time now to have a look at what inspires me, and what influences my style as a garden designer. In truth, I don't favour any specific style, and I'm open to tackle any suggestions that a prospective client may come up with. I suppose I would have to say that I favour traditional English gardens, but then again, it is always nice to try and be inventive and bring in elements that are currently popular or have caught your eye. Living as I do in West Sussex, gardens tend to be quite traditional, and if I'm honest, the majority of clients say to me "we'd just like to have a nice garden". I think it is vital, first and foremost, to listen to what clients are asking for, rather than try and impose your own (preconceived?) ideas upon them. That way lies discord.
I think it is inevitable that we are influenced by the landscape around us. The South Downs may not always be the most fertile territory, but that it provides a wide range of aspects is beyond doubt. For example, being coastal, landscapes afford their own sense of drama, as seen in the following shot of the Seven Sisters:
Furthermore, spoiled as we are by having ready access to the southern coastline across the seasons, we can easily enjoy the beauty of winter light, evidenced in the following shot of the January sun sinking over the Worthing coast:
Light is also fascinating the way it plays on the Downs themselves. The landscape, when viewed from Chanctonbury Ring, is very open, and the play of clouds and sunlight over the undulating chalk uplands is a sight to behold, as seen in the following shots:
The South Downs are also capable of giving you a surprise every now and again. Just when you come to expect a varied range of greens and browns, and start to feel that that is the limit of the Downs' colour palette, they'll suddenly throw up a welcome splash of red, and remind you that you're not all that far from Flanders:
Field poppies are a classic cottage garden flower of course, and the Downs can certainly serve up the style of the cottage garden in all its glory. The early spring months are a particularly fertile time on the Downs, and the period when a Downland garden is at its most colourful, before the summer sun comes along to dry out its thin layer of topsile and deny the gardener a late summer display. The following picture shows just what a Downland garden can achieve in early spring. It's reminiscent of the chocolate box:
I love the informality of the cottage garden, and whilst it is perhaps too high maintenance for the modern lifestyle, I like to use informality in planting wherever possible, but with the view that all plants should earn their place in the garden. For example, why use a plain green hedging plant when an informal, cottage-style planting of Rosa "Wild Edric" will provide something impenetrable that gives us a blast of great glory each spring and early summer:
The shot of Edric was taken a couple of years ago at Wisley, where a particularly fine informal hedge had grown to a height of eight feet or so. With a clip once or twice a year to keep a generally tidy aspect, this type of feature does not of itself need to be high maintenance, and a kind of ordered "chaos" can be the pleasing result. This can be seen to good effect in the following shot I took during a visit to Alnwick Castle gardens:
Here, we have classic cottage style, but strong structure is created by the crushed stone pathway bounded by low box hedging. Whatever the style of garden I am attempting to create, it is essential to have a sound structure and a sense of proportion, creating a framework from which planting, be it random or ordered, can be best viewed. Without this, any garden will become overcrowded and unmanageable, and that is one of the chief reasons people allow gardens to decay. The cottage or informal style of planting is prized, but without a firm structure piecing it together, maintenance becomes prohibitive. We really want to spend our time admiring our garden, not perpetually "bent to the plough", cutting back and weeding.
In terms of inspirations on a grander scale, we are very well placed in West Sussex for access to the great gardens of yesteryear. For example, we are within easy driving distance of Sissinghurst and Great Dixter in Kent, and my personal favourite, Wakehurst Place in Sussex. For the plantsman, this garden is a dream, being as it is now dubbed Kew in the Country. More locally, Nymans garden at Handcross is quite underrated, and offers great views, great planting and a feast of seasonal colours (the herbaceous borders are magnificent of late). To top the lot, for drama and autumnal glory, there is Sheffield Park - the final two pictures show just how splendid it can be when the days begin to shorten. These were taken a couple of years ago on November 1st during a particularly vibrant autumn:
To Contact Me:
Phone: (01903) 891507
Mobile: 07765 114562
Email: downsscape@aol.com