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Gardening With Light And ColourEditions
ReviewMarylyn Abbott is a very gifted lady. In a relatively short period of time (only 7 years) she has transformed a well nigh derelict National Trust property in Hampshire into one of the prettiest gardens in the country. True, she inherited from Alistair McAlpine a clutch of follies, statues, obelisks, temples and cages, but it is by dent of inspirational planting that she has established West Green as a Mecca for visitors. This alone would merit attention, but it transpires that in our winter months Ms Abbott heads for New South Wales where she has another, more established garden, and it is in the comparison of this garden with West Green that she gets to the heart of her theories about light and colour. It is the intensity of light which dominates the observations in this book and - somewhat surprisingly to me - it seems that on balance, the less intense and diffused brightness in Britain favours a bolder approach than in Australia, where some of our colour combinations are unacceptable owing to the Antipodean glare. She explores the effect of light (be it dappled, reflected, in sunlight or in shade) on colour, and contrary to received wisdom uses deep, rich and dark tones of burgundies, blues and browns to penetrate dark corners. The author confesses to a penchant for gardening books which are glossy and glamorous. She has surely added to their number with help from the photographer Clay Perry, as she reveals the beauty of her theories. - review by Stewart Grimshaw |
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