Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Postcard from Hampton Court: Tuesday

The World Vision Garden

I'm not usually that sure about what you might call 'land art'. I tend to find myself wondering how you're going to mow an inverted grass cone, and other such imagination-killing practicalities.

But in this case: to hell with the mowing conundrum. Marry land art with a sheet of water and you have absolute sculptural perfection.

The thought behind the garden was that the mound above the water represented the children who have all they need; the sunken grassy pit was those in poverty. The screens fragment the view and from only one perspective is the sphere seen, in reflection, as a perfect whole.

Oh yes - and the planting was subtle, understated and, I thought, sublime, especially against the brooding slatey greys of the (recycled plastic, though you wouldn't know it) screens.


A little planting list for the notebook:

Allium giganteum, Ammi majus, Deschampsia cespitosa "Goldschleier', Gaura lindheimeri "Whirling Butterflies', Nassella tenuissima, Stipa gigantea, Thalictrum flavum ssp. glaucum x rochebrunianum 'Elin', Verbena "Lavender Spires", Verbena bonariensis, Veronicastrum virginicum "Fascination"

2 comments:

VP said...

This was one of my surprises - surprised I really liked it. I too had fleeting thoughts re the paracticality of mowing!

The Constant Gardener said...

Yes I don't usually respond at all to this kind of thing - but I think it was the planting that swayed it for me. Vaguely reminded me of Little Sparta: proper garden but a sculpture too. Or something.

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