The Garden History Blog

Sherlock Holmes and her Noah’s Ark

Posted on 11/06/2022 by The Garden History Blog

Any idea what plant this is? If you grow them you probably know but if you don’t why not have a guess

Yes its an extraordinary title for a post but it’s about an extraordinary project. Just before Britain celebrated the Platinum Jubilee garden lovers in France were celebrating the re-opening of an amazing garden which itself only celebrates one family of plants. Housed in the grounds of a huge 18thc chateau it is the brainchild of one woman who has been building her collection – now the largest in the world – for less than 20 years and only made it public in 2016. To make matters more unusual it’s only open a few weeks each year.

Any ideas of Who? What? Why? and Where?

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged conservation, France, peonies | Leave a comment

Victorian Jubilations

Posted on 04/06/2022 by The Garden History Blog

The Jubilee Gates, Victoria Park Glasgow erected and funded by the ‘Ladies of Partick’ in 1887 at a cost of £100 [photo b FotoFling Scotland]

The Victorian age saw public parks springing up all round the country. Rapid urbanization and industrialization led to poor housing, grinding poverty and fears of social unrest. Parks were seen, by reformers, as one way of diffusing potential problems as well as improving the health and lives – to say nothing of the morals- of their working-class users.

Increasingly too, the creation of new parks became a symbol of civic pride.

It was also the age of empire with years running up to the First World War marking the high point of Britain’s imperial power. These three factors coincided neatly with Queen Victoria’s Golden and Diamond Jubilees in 1887 and 1897.

The Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, for Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, 28 June 1897

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged architecture, art history, Bandstand, ernest milner, fountain, garden buildings, gates, public parks, Queen Victoria | Leave a comment

Georgian Jubilation

Posted on 28/05/2022 by The Garden History Blog

detail of “A Jubilee at Frogmore” by Matthew Cotes Wyatt, 1809

“England’s public parks and gardens have played a central role in the celebration and the commemoration of royal jubilees for more than two hundred years. The roll call of jubilee gardens, coronation parks, queen’s parks and parks named after princes and princesses reflect these special associations from the Victorian era to modern times. Many of these parks and gardens are of special historic interest and protected by designations.”

Those words of Baroness Andrews, the then chair of Historic England prefaced the publication in 2012 of Jubilee-ation a short history of Royal Jubilees in public park, to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. It was largely written by my fellow Gardens Trust trustee, David Lambert, and it remains a good read.

Ten years on with the first ever royal Platinum Jubilee I thought over the next couple of weeks it would be a nice gesture to look back at the subject again and also see how things have developed. But I’m going to start earlier than that.

God Save the King. Print issued for Golden Jubilee of George III. [Historic Royal Palaces & Mary Evans Picture Library]

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art history, commercial pleasure gardens, conservation, folly, George III, obelisk, Restoration | Leave a comment

Pingle-Wingle, Lazy Maisie and Granny-jumps-out-of-bed

Posted on 21/05/2022 by The Garden History Blog

“A confocal micrograph of a section” of the plant I’m writing about by Kevin Mackenzie, University of Aberdeen

What on earth is this post about? This is after all a blog about gardens, designed landscapes and sometimes plants and their history. If you’re from a rural background and of the right age to remember children’s country games you might well know what the title refers to. But if you’re not here are some more clues: it’s a plant sometimes known elsewhere as old man’s nightcap, thunder flowers, scammony or Our Lady’s little glass.

Still none the wiser? I bet its one of those plants you definitely DON’T want. If you’ve got it be prepared for a long losing battle because when I googled it almost every reference was to ways of eradicating it, with the admission that it was well nigh impossible…and unfortunately I’ve just spotted it beginning its assault all round my garden.

It is of course….

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art history, folklore, weeds | Leave a comment

Brodsworth

Posted on 14/05/2022 by The Garden History Blog

As you probably know the Gardens Trust has been running an extensive on-line lecture programme for the last 2 years, including a regular Wednesday evening slot called Unforgettable Gardens. April’s lectures were run in partnership with English Heritage and included a talk on the gardens of Brodsworth Hall, a grand mid-Victorian country house in Yorkshire that has survived as an almost intact example of one man’s dream.

As it happened I’d been to Brodsworth only days before Daniel Hale, the head gardener wowed our audience with an account of the gardens, their history and their restoration over the past twenty years. Dan gave such a bravura performance that I almost decided not to write about my visit – but since normally the blog gets wider and longer-lasting coverage than our lectures I thought I could give an account of what you missed and encourage you to get up to Yorkshire to see it at the first possible opportunity.