The gardens we deserve
From Anne Wareham
Sir: Do the crowds which love Tate Modern really ‘have the breath squeezed out of them’ (Arts, 11 November) contemplating English gardens? Does the audience that flocks to the Turner Prize presentation also hammer at the gates of the local open garden? I think not. Our gardens seem to me to be snoozing in a cosy dream of the 1950s and any ‘lively spirit of experimentation’ is actually well buried in acres of complacency. No newspaper, magazine or television programme takes gardens — as opposed to gardening — seriously, and real spirit finds small welcome in a country dedicated to nostalgia in its gardens.
We have the gardens we deserve, but not the gardens we could aspire to. You can express things through the use of land, water and plants in partnership with time, weather and light, which reach the parts no other art can reach. If we dared, our gardens could challenge, excite and stimulate us — and then truly become one of the glories of Britain.
Anne Wareham Monmouthshire
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