On this episode of Dear Gardener, host Ben Dark explores the legacy and afterlife of gardens. The starting points are: a Laburnum safari through Østerbro, a fence-climb into an abandoned garden, and a run through the acid-sands of West Sussex.
Featuring Gertrude Jekyll, Edwin Lutyens and the National Trust in the news that Munstead Wood is 'to be preserved for the nation'
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Tickets to the Birmingham Talk here: https://www.bournvillehub.com/box-office/the-grove-a-nature-odyssey-in-19-1-2-front-gardens
Episode Breakdown:
[00:00:06] Lime tree mist season in Copenhagen. Excellent for spoiling cars
[00:05:36] Tennyson praised for 'rosey plumelets bud the larch'
[00:08:24] Golden chain tree and the particularity of its yellow
[00:13:01] Lilac's use as a besmirching foil. The neighbour's trampoline of huge and surprising beauty
[00:15:38] Father's death inspires thoughts on gardens.
[00:19:16] Gertrude Jekyll and the Arts and Crafts movement
[00:23:52] Gardens best seen after suffering?
[00:27:32] The Canterbury tales as told on the Hidcot coach.
[00:29:27] Small towns end abruptly.
[00:32:41] Rhododendron ponticum invasive but lovely in the shade
[00:35:50] Stalin's mimosa.