Principles of design
In her 1958 classic, Garden Design, the renowned landscape architect, Sylvia Crowe [1901 - 1997], reminds us:
"Perhaps the greatest principle and the one most lacking in the average garden today is a sense of unity . . . . . When we say that a landscape has been spoilt we mean that it has lost this unity".
Since then, a further loss of landscape unity has followed the escalating global trade in ornamental plants, the extensive marketing of exotic imports and the endless parade of "new releases" and artificial hybrids.
Secrets
This is the first ‘secret’ of the world’s great gardens: Different as they are from one another, they all convey a serene sense of unity. Unity: "the relation of all the parts or elements of a work constituting a harmonious whole and producing a single general effect", as the Macquarie Dictionary defines it
Each of these great gardens achieves its sense of unity through the creative use of local materials and plants native to the region. This is the second ‘secret’.
Incidentally, as a further benefit, local materials and native plants help retain – or restore – a sense of place.
Ancient wisdom, modern gardens
"Consider the wildflowers . . .King Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." The Gospel of St. Luke
These thought-provoking words seem to us, of greater relevance today than at any time since they were first uttered two thousand years ago.
To heed them and "consider the wildflowers", is to allow the eye to refocus on their often understated beauty. As their timeless appeal becomes more apparent, the attraction of exotic imports, "new releases" and artificial hybrids begin to fade.
In his posthumously published La Botanique, Jean-Jacques Rousseau [1712–1778] dismisses hybrid flowers, as "nature disfigured by man". "Waste no time examining them", he cautions. "Nature is no longer there; she refuses to be reproduced by such deformed monsters."
Sylvia Crowe, in Garden Design, reaches much the same conclusion:
"One of the more subtle qualities of plants is a certain relationship in colour and proportion between the stem, the leaves and the flowers, and the poise of the flowers upon their stems. It is these qualities which give the plant species a grace often lacking in the garden hybrids . . . The intensifying of flower colours by hybridisation can also throw out the subtle harmony of the wild plant."
The selective breeding of hybrid plants with enlarged or double flowers reduces or obliterates the stamen, the protein-rich, pollen-producing part of the flower, rendering the plant sterile and of little or no food value to honeyeaters [nectar-feeding birds]. If nectar is present, pollinating insects may be unable to reach it, rendering the plant of little or no value to pollinating insects and insectivorous birds.
Hybrid native plants with supersize flowers and extended flowering seasons, grevilleas in particular, attract territorial, sedentary nectar feeders such as the Wattlebird and Noisy Miner that are not endangered and that drive out smaller, more vulnerable birds such as the Fairy Wren, Thornbill, Robin and many others that now face serious decline or extinction.
Rousseau wasn’t entirely correct: A minority of hybrids do produce pollen, and these pose a further threat to the environment: Birds that feed on them may pollinate local native species, thus polluting the local gene pool. In a recent instance, CSIRO scientists discovered the rare Grevillea iaspicula and its habitat contaminated by nursery-bred hybrid grevilleas.
Colour and form
"Take care of form and let colour take care of itself." John Brookes
Poetic exaggeration maybe, yet gardens of lasting appeal invariably subordinate colour to form, using form to enhance the impact of colour.
The use of green as a recessive background, highlighted with a simple colour scheme such as red or white, is a popular approach among those who prefer a formal garden. In our view, a more interesting approach is to create a picture by using colours as would a painter when selecting from her palette. A third approach, inspired by the natural landscape, is to use a mosaic of colours, buffered with muted shades of green.
Since the eye is drawn directly to hot colours, bright red in particular, avoid these where viewed from a distance or at the far end of a vista: the effect is to foreshorten the garden, making it appear smaller yet – paradoxically – less intimate. Red and other hot colours such as orange and yellow, work best in the foreground or screened from distant view.
Blues are excellent mixers that combine well with most other colours. Pale blues in particular are ideally placed at the far end of the garden, where they may blend with the sky, inducing a sense of mystery and allowing the garden to appear larger. In the courtyard or small garden, strategically placed mirrors heighten this effect.
Pinks and yellows tend to clash with one another and are generally best kept apart or buffered with blues, mauve, violet or an abundance of green.
As the sun makes colours appear lighter, pale colours and white are at their best in shade, bringing light into shady corners of the garden. In sunny areas, white intermingled with other colours tends to weaken their impact.
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