A Book for the Armchair Gardener
"Plants in Garden History" by British gardener Penelope Hobhouse
To be worth its wonderful photos, a garden book needs to inspire the work it will take you to re-create these spaces that tempt you. Here is the cover of Penelope Hobhouse’s book, Plants in Garden History.
It’s like a tapestry from a castle in Old England, but I’m not tempted to leave my reading chair and turn our yard into an English garden. I am open to ideas to apply to our garden in the North Carolina mountains, though.
The author is known for her cottage gardens that combine structure with color, which she first learned about in Tuscany. Later she moved to Tintinhull in the English county of Somerset, where the previous owner had laid out the garden in walled and hedged areas.
This suited Hobhouse, who is known for her design principles. The following six can be found on the British Gardens Illustrated website.
Think about backgrounds
Create a strong framework
Mix plants up
Don’t overuse colours
Repeat, repeat, repeat
And my favorite:
Don’t forget it’s for you
Penelope Hobhouse! I learned about her from Sam, who used to watch her gardening videos. He told me about her farmers’ Wellington boots, her “wellies”, and now one of my Character Cats wears them.
I hope to find some colorful wellies myself, so that I can put them on and go out and work every day to encourage a whole world of flowers, foliage, vegetables, birds, butterflies, pollinators, resting places for friends, and serenity for the spirit.
As Penelope Hobhouse said,
Nature soon takes over if the gardener is absent!
Love the "wellies" on your character cat!....and Happy Birthday, Deda!!
Such a lovely article on your birthday! Hope it is a delightful day! Joy!