Films - Deux jardins — Two gardens

 March 7, 2016

The Wild Garden

A walk through the perennials with High Line flora designer Piet Oudolf 

Renowned Netherlands-born garden designer Piet Oudolf uses his one-acre garden in the Dutch village of Hummelo to study perennials through the seasons. Known for inspirational projects including the High Line and Battery Park in New York, and the interior garden of the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London (in collaboration with Swiss architect Peter Zumthor), Oudolf is fascinated with all aspects of the life cycle of plants, seeing the beauty of them as they grow and die. As one of the owners of forward-looking company Futureplants, Oudolf has been able to cross-fertilize and cross-pollinate to create more than 70 new breeds of plants.

 September 9, 2015

The Historic Estate Garden: Chatsworth

The last of summer horticulture with the Duke of Devonshire 

As far as country piles go, Chatsworth is as grand as it gets. The garden grounds cover 105 acres seamlessly blended into the surrounding 1,000-acre park along the Derwent River valley in Derbyshire, England. “For a relatively formal garden, especially compared to the French or Italian, I love the wilderness they’ve allowed with wild pockets and connecting fields,” says director Marcus Werner Hed, who was given an intimate tour of the grounds by the 12th Duke of Devonshire, Peregrine Cavendish. 

“For a relatively formal garden, I love the wilderness they’ve allowed with wild pockets and connecting fields”

Chatsworth’s legacy has evolved over six centuries from its construction by Sir William Cavendish and Bess of Hardwick in 1555, taking in the 1st Duke of Devonshire’s (1684-1707) baroque features, such as the Cascade House; the naturalization of landscape architect Lancelot “Capability” Brown, who replaced ponds and parterres with trees and lawns; the 6th Duke’s (1826-58) partnership with Kew-trained gardener Joseph Paxton, who is credited with having the single greatest influence on the garden, bolstered by an era of plentiful plant-hunting expeditions; through to the additions made by Peregrine Cavendish’s late parents, the 11th Duke Andrew Cavendish and the ever-stylish Duchess of Devonshire, Deborah “Debo” Mitford. Cavendish and Mitford were both keen horticulturalists, playing a vital role in reviving the grounds after World War II, not only in restoring historical features, but also by adding to much of what the current Duke looks after today (with the help of 20 gardeners, two trainees and 25 volunteers).

“If I were reincarnated as a plant I would be something like a scots pine”

The Duke enjoys seeing the garden transformed each year by Sotheby’s annual Beyond Limits exhibition, which this September and October celebrates the best of British sculpture, featuring works by artists such as Lynn Chadwick and Barbara Hepworth. But planting is where his mind is at: “If I were reincarnated as [a plant] I would be something like a Scots pine, which would grow quite quickly and last for quite a long time, and look quite gnarled and nice when you get old.” 

Beyond Limits: The Landscape of British Sculpture 1950-2015 runs at Chatsworth House from September 14 – October 25, 2015. 

Lee C. Wallick is a journalist and editor based in Somerset.