MERRY CHRISTMAS!

A Christmas Cabbage

“The approach of Christmas time is already heralded by profuse displays, in every variety of design and colouring, of those cheerful cards which it has become so fashionable now-a-days to exchange between families and friends at the close of the year.” So began an article in the press   on 4th December 1880.

It went on…” of the entire host of card makers we must give the palm, alike for originality of invention, exquisite taste in design, and admirable finish in execution, to Mr Herman Rothe, 11 King Street, Covent Garden, London.”

I suspect it would be difficult to find anything showing more  “originality of invention”  than a set of bizarre humanised vegetables offering Christmas Greetings…although whether they show “exquisite taste in design” might be debatable!

A dandy of a beetroot and a well-dressed potato offering seasonal greetings – cards by Herman Rothe

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Wolley Dod’s Rose

Gardeners who are famous to one generation often don’t stay in the public memory of the next.  So while we still treasure Ellen Willmott, Gertrude Jekyll and William Robinson, one of their highly regarded contemporaries  has vanished from the face of horticulture history, although in his day, he was as esteemed as any of them. That’s probably because  he wrote no books.

If you’ve heard of Charles Wolley Dod then you’re either a fanatical reader of Victorian gardening magazines, or maybe a fanatical plant specialist who remembers a cultivar named after him or his garden or perhaps a member of Cheshire Gardens Trust… but if you have no idea who I’m talking about then why not read on and find out more about him…

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A more serious post than usual.

If you’re in the UK you’ll know that the government is looking to speed up the planning system which it says is one of the major obstacles to growth.

As part of that it is consulting on reforms to the system of statutory consultees.  These are organisations who play an important role in the planning application process by providing expert advice on significant environmental and heritage issues.  The Gardens Trust has been one of these consultees since 1995 and that means that local authorities have to consult the Trust on any planning applications that affect gardens and landscapes listed on Historic England’s Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

The government is proposing to take away or reduce that role, a move which will put parks and gardens at greater risk of damage so the Gardens Trust needs your support to try and convince ministers that their arguments are wrong…

It might sound technical but its really important, so please read on to find out more…

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The Majorelle Garden is a tranquil urban oasis in the busy city of Marrakech, in the south of Morocco. It was begun by the French artist Jacques Majorelle in 1924 inspired in part by traditional Moroccan garden design but  with some additional touches of his own. His combination of striking planting and a vividly strong colour palette – which includes the garden’s signature  colour- Marjorelle Blue – certainly disproves the old adage that “Blue and Green should never be seen”.

The garden was rescued from neglect and the threat of development in the 1980s by the fashion designer Yves St Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé, who carried out major improvements so that it now welcomes about 1.2 million visitors a year and is one of Morocco’s major tourist attractions.

If you read on you’ll see why…

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All in a garden Fair, by Florence Pilkington c1928

“Chocolate Boxy” is usually seen as a term of critical abuse in art history but I suspect most of us have a soft spot deep down for the overly romantic images that the term conjures up. One of the enduringly popular posts on here has been one I wrote many years ago about an artist named Beatrice Parsons, and another which attracts a lot of comments was about the gardens portrayed on Raphael Tuck postcards  in the earlier part of the 20thc.   All of which could have been used on chocolate boxes as well as cards, calendars and jigsaws.

I thought it might be interesting to find out more about the artists who painted for postcards and chocolate boxes, but by and large tried in vain.  Their name or initials was often all that I had to go on. I didn’t even know if they were male or female and most seem to have left little trace.

I still haven’t come up with very much on any individual  but I did find enough to introduce you to a handful of artists who I”ve been calling my Chocolate Box Ladies – and before I’m accused of sexism – there will be a few  Chocolate Box Gentlemen soon.

The Old English Garden, Battersea Park, by Annie Pressland for Salmon postcards

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