Gardens – Page 3 – Number One London

In The Garden with Kristine

The beginnings of my garden lay in a butterfly seminar I attended, at which I bought rather a lot of plants that were meant to feed and attract the winged creatures. I had an entire, almost empty backyard at my disposal, with only a lawn, a fence and a few palm trees to work with. As if it weren’t bad enough that I live in hot and humid Florida, I also live on a Cape with sandy soil, coral rock and more roots than you can shake a stick at. What these are the roots to, I’ve still to discover. So the first thing I had to do was rent a sod cutter and begin fashioning beds. This done, I had to dig, which returns us to the rocks and roots. If it were just a matter of digging a hole in soil, the job would be a breeze. But, it’s a case of digging a bit and then tackling the roots you’ve uncovered. You must either cut through them or attempt to pull them out of the ground. These are not just any roots – they’re downright primordial and I’m convinced that there’s some poor person in China, sitting in their provincial garden in amazement as they watch their trees being inexplicably pulled backwards into the ground as I yank on the roots in my garden at the opposite Pole.

However, I’ve finally gotten everything planted (pant, pant, pant) and the beds are beginning to fill out. Here are some “before and after” photos:

And now . . . .

Now that I’ve filled everything in, it’s time to mulch. But things are coming along nicely, if I do say so myself, and are actually starting to flower.

I’ve had the gardenia, above, for two years in a pot and it’s never bloomed, so you can imagine my joy when it finally flowered this year. So, you ask – and well you might – what about the butterflies? I’m happy to say that I’ve got caterpillars of all kinds –

The caterpillars completely decimate the leaves on the milkweed, stripping it bare, and then attach themselves to the fence and create cocoons

A few days later, they emerge as beautiful Monarch butterflies. Here is one newly born with the remnants of his cocoon still attached to his wing.

I now have Monarch, and other, butterflies galore! They flit about the garden, and my person, all day long. You should know that I didn’t set out to take the butterfly photos below – they simply got in my way as I was taking the flower photos – success!

Those in colder climates, who are already feeling winter’s weather, might be thinking that it’s a bit odd for me to be blogging about a summer garden in December. You should know that I finished this post by adding the latest photos on November 22 – it was still in the 80’s.

Ha-Ha

One day, I shall have a Grade I listed home in England that will come complete with a typical English garden. This garden will include a multitude of roses, fountains, statuary, a maze, a grotto, a Ha Ha and even, perhaps, a hermit. Ha! Seriously, I always think a Ha Ha gives a property a substantial feel, as though it were absolutely necessary in order to separate your Georgian pile from the multitude of cows and sheep one is wealthy enough to allow to graze on one’s vast acreage. It is thought that their name, Ha-Ha, is derived from the sound persons made upon first encountering them. Ha-Has were both unexpected and amusing.

From Wikipedia: “The Ha-Ha is an expression in garden design that refers to a trench, in which is a fence concealed from view. Alternatively it can be used to mean a ditch the one side of which is vertical and faced with stone, the other face sloped and turfed, making the trench, in effect, a retaining wall (this is also sometimes known as a deer leap). The ha-ha is designed not to interrupt the view from a garden, pleasure-ground, or park, while maintaining a physical barrier at least in one direction.”

Here’s the Ha-Ha at Kyme Castle

And one at Leven Hall, below This is an arrangement of a sunken wall and ditch to allow views of the countryside beyond the garden and is the earliest recorded example of a Ha-Ha in England.

And (drumroll, please) the Ha-Ha at Burghley House

This is a sunken wall, which does not interrupt the views of a sweeping landscape, but which still does the job of keeping livestock away from gardens near a house. This feature began to form part of the English landscape in the 1720s. In 1770, Horace Walpole wrote: “No sooner was this simple enchantment made, than levelling, mowing, rolling followed. The contiguous ground of the park without the sunk fence was to be harmonised with the lawn within; and the garden in its turn was to be set free from its prim regularity, that it might assort with the wilder country without.”

A Ha Ha was also incorporated into the gardens at Kew, as descrived in Volume 10 of the Kew Bulletin, published by the Royal Botanical Garden in 1896: “The gardens of Kew are not very large, nor is their situation by any means advantageous, as it is low and commands no prospects. Originally the ground was one continued dead flat, the soil was in general barren, and without either wood or water. With so many disadvantages, it was not easy to produce anything tolerable in gardening; but princely munificence, guided by a director equally skilled in cultivating the earth and in the polite arts, overcame all difficulties. What was once a desert is now an Eden.

” The task could not have been easy. But there seems reason to believe that in the main features which still survive it was the work of (William) Kent, who has been termed the ‘founder of the school of landscape gardening.’ By the introduction of the sunk fence or ha-ha (largely used at Kew) instead of walls or fences,” he brought external scenery into his landscape effects.”

In A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening by Andrew Jackson Downing (1855) the author elaborates: It is not too much to say that Kent was the leader of this class. Originally a painter, and the friend of Lord Burlington, he next devoted himself to the subject, and was, undoubtedly, the first professional landscape gardener in the modern style. Previous artists had confined their efforts within the rigid walls of the garden, but Kent, who saw in all nature a garden-landscape, demolished the walls, introduced the ha-ha, and by blending the park and the garden, substituted for the primness of the old inclosure, the freedom of the pleasure-ground.

Here’s a wonderful journal of the restoration of the Ha Ha at the Stow Landscape Gardens, above, where William Kent’s ideas about garden design were also implemented. In 1741, Lancelot (Capability) Brown was hired as head gardener, in charge of executing Kent’s designs. Ten years later, in 1751, Brown left Stowe and later became the most sought after garden designer in England.

The British Garden – Hanover Square – New York City

The British Garden in Hanover Square, New York City was created to honor the memories of the 67 British citizens who lost their lives during the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001. The garden, situated in Lower Manhattan, also celebrates the historic ties of friendship between the U.S. and the UK and aims to bring British heritage and arts initiatives into the community and city of New York.

Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Phillip and Mayor Bloomberg of NYC

Here, the Queen cut the ribbon and formally open the British Garden at Hanover Square on June 6, 2010 and she also met families of the 67 Britons who died in the September 11 attacks. “We’re very honored that Her Majesty should take time,” Rodney Johnson, vice-chairman of the garden’s board said. The families meeting her are particularly thrilled.”

Aberdeen Asset Management PLC (“Aberdeen”) has gifted a granite stone from the heart of Royal Deeside in Scotland to the British Garden that replicates the 22- to 26-pound “Braemar” stone which is thrown at
Highland Games across Scotland and the world. The Aberdeen Braemar stone is supported by a specially carved limestone square pyramid plinth which shows the distance from New York City to Aberdeen, Scotland – 3,281 miles.

The garden reflects Britain in its design; with City of London style bollards, paving quarried in Scotland and Wales and benches produced in England which were completed in Northern Ireland. The Garden was designed by Isabel and Julian Bannerman, leading British landscape architects best known for their work for HRH The Prince of Wales and British sculptor Simon Verity undertook the stone carving of the county map of Great Britain.

Prince Harry visited the British Garden and planted a tree on May 29, 2009.

A Rose By Any Other Name

Victoria here — I suppose we all love roses. I certainly do. I took enough pictures of them in England in June 2010, where they bloomed in all their glory. Here, with minimal words, are some glorious examples.

In Cadogan Gardens

In Eaton Square

In Gordon Square

Visiting with Hester Davenport in Windsor

On Tuesday, June 15, Kristine, Brooke and Victoria took the train to Windsor to meet Hester Davenport, a well-known scholar on Fanny Burney and Jane Austen, as well as the author of several books. At right, her biography of Mary Robinson, who was not only the Prince’s Mistress, but an actress, poetess and author as well. More later in this blog.

Hester lives in Old Windsor and is an avid historian of her home town. She is also the former director of Dr. Johnson’s House in London. We had never met until this day and her kindness and gracious hospitality was remarkable. We share some friends, particularly Jo Manning, an occasional contributor to this blog. Hester had just returned from the Burney Society meeting in Paris where she was one of the speakers. She had a perfect day planned for us, complete with some special surprises. We first had a chuckle at the street sign that is near the castle.

Peascod Street is pronounced Pes’cod Street. The name derives from peapods, a staple of the medieval diet, according to a lovely book presented to Kristine and me by Hester Davenport: Windsor: Fun, Facts, History & Legend by Caroline Wagstaff.

We headed first to the Guildhall, on the High Street, the center of Windsor government. It is the venue in which Prince Charles married Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall in 2005. On the north side of the building is Queen Anne.

On the south side is her husband, Prince George of Denmark. One the ground level is a market area, once used for local produce.

A better view of the entire structure. Take note of the crooked building at the left. And see below.

After showing us around the Guildhall

, Hester took us downstairs to the archive of local newspapers where she and other volunteers are indexing several hundred years worth of the Windsor and Eton Express. We met Sue, one of the volunteers who was busily working away.

Hester, bless her heart, knew of Victoria and Kristine heading to Waterloo and our interest in the Duke of Wellington. In advance of our visit she had marked some issues from 1815 in which the Duke’s Dispatch announcing the victory was reported, as well as some stories about the returning soldiers and events held in Windsor in their honor. We were really knocked out by such thoughtfulness. Thank you again, Hester and Sue. A perfect addition to our wonderful visit.

This is Market Cross house, in which the upper and lower halves seem set on a different slant!! It’s a popular tourist attraction, of course, and many explanations have been given for the odd shape of the house. I like the idea best that the builders of the Guildhall next door tried to push the narrow structure away from its elegant red bricks.

This oval sign on Falstaff’s Pub says “The Old King’s Head — William Shakespeare lived here in 1597 when writing The Merry Wives of Windsor” but we are advised not t
o believe a word of it! Caroline Wagstaff’s book tells us that the saying “The world’s my oyster” is first found in a speech by Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Set upon one of the walls near the castle is this plaque honoring Mrs. Mary Delaney, an artist and “friend of royalty” and the author Fanny Burney who served Queen Charlotte as Keeper of the Robes for some years.

Hester also is the author of Faithful Handmaid: Fanny Burney at the Court of King George III. The mid point of our day with Hester is reported in our blog on Royal Windsor, so now we will skip ahead to later in the afternoon, after we had seen the Queen, the Castle and environs and enjoyed a lovely outdoor luncheon. Brooke left us to survey the shops (and pubs) while Kristine and Victoria continued our adventures with Hester.

On the way to the car park, we strolled past this handsome memorial, recently cleaned and renovated. It was designed by famed architect Sir Edward Lutyens (1869-1944). It is a fountain dedicated to the memory of King George V (1865-1936).

There are thousands of swans on the Thames and about a third of them belong to the Queen. Every July, the ceremony of Swan Upping marks all the swans and counts them. In years long gone by, swans were an integral part of royal feasts.

Hester drove us to Old Windsor, a village just south of the main town, where she lives. We stopped at the Church of St. Peter and St. Andrew, first built in 1216, and rebuilt in 1863. We went to the churchyard to see the tomb of Mary Robinson (1757-1800), nee Darby.

Mary was an actress when the young George, Prince of Wales (later George IV) saw her appearing as Perdita in Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale on the London Stage. Calling himself Florizel, he carried on his first “public” affair with her.

Later she returned to her writing career and published many poems and some novels. She died at an early age, never able to escape her reputation as a former mistress of the Prince of Wales and establish herself as a serious writer.

After our visit to Mary, Hester took us to her lovely home for tea. We enjoyed the late afternoon in her garden, which her husband showed us around. They have a long garden with many kinds of plantings, including a charming little pool at the terrace.

Many thanks to Hester for our PERFECT day in Windsor. She carefully thought out every detail and we truly appreciate it. An inforgettable day!!