Gardens
Themes and variations
Ursula Buchan
If there is a discernible trend in garden- ing in the late 20th century it does not lie in the direction of innovative garden design but rather in the blurring of the boundaries between gardening and 'leisure'. Gardens are no longer solely to walk or work in, but are just as much for sandpits, swimming- pools, and barbecues. Lawns are littered with swings and slides and 'patios' have become obstacle courses of garden furni- ture. This development is mirrored and materially fostered by the garden festivals which have grown enormously in popula- rity on the Continent and which have now arrived in Britain. The idea sprang from the desire to create permanent green areas in bomb-damaged German cities. The National Garden Festival in Stoke-on- Trent was to have been the first here, but the Government's anxiety to be seen to be Doing Something about urban deprivation after the Toxteth riots meant that that distinction went to Liverpool.
A derelict 180-acre site, where once the Shelton Bar steelworks stood, has been reclaimed. A wasteland of tar lagoons, concrete detritus, and disused mineshafts has, by the importation of nearly 50,000 cubic metres of sub-soil and 29,000 cubic metres of peat, and the creation of hard. landscape (pavements, steps, pools and fountains) of outstanding quality, been transformed into a park of considerable potential beauty. There are now three lakes, a marina, a festival hall, a green- house big enough to handle all the produc- tion requirements of the Stoke parks de- partment, and a great many trees.
The festival company, presumably be- cause they felt that gardens on their own would not attract the numbers of people required to make the festival viable, has resorted to encouraging every sort of 'lei- sure' extravaganza, from street theatres to hot-air-balloon races, from puppet shows to 'consumer interest' exhibitions, from cable-cars to adventure playgrounds. Even so, financial constraints mean that two thirds of the site is to be levelled in the autumn when the show closes. The man- made Woodland Ridge will remain as a park, the marina will stay, but the rest is to become an industrial and commercial com- plex.
For those interested in gardening there will be many exhibits of flowers in the festival hall, much in the manner of one of the big flower shows, and also more than 80 'theme' gardens outside. Those that illustrate the history of British gardens from mediaeval times are excellent. I particularly liked the Elizabethan knot garden, and the cottage garden looks promising. However, many of the other `theme' gardens show only a tangential connection with each other so that their styles jostle one another like Oxford Street shoppers. The Italian water garden is opposite the 'Chinese' garden, the `Sissing- hurse white garden lies across the path from a moorland of rhododendrons. There is a group of gardens whose only link appears to be that they are by, or about, places in England. Most unpromising of all are the gardens with only a tenuous horti- cultural link like the Welsh 'garden' with its model sheep (with coats of real wool, as I was informed with pride) and the mud huts of a Kenyan village. I, like all right- minded people, however, enjoyed Twy- ford's cascade of water down tiers of basins and lavatories. These 'theme' gardens are a concoction as indigestible as a plate of kippers, strawberry jelly, chicken curry, tinned mandarin oranges, and cold baked beans — all delicious in themselves but not to be eaten in one huge helping. The centralised organisation might have brought about an underlying unity. However, the weakness of most of the themes and the requirements of individual sponsors have achieved the opposite effect: the ingenuity, expertise, and creativity, so abundantly manifested, have been com- promised and the result is mostly a dis- united, restless spectacle.
Is it only fuddy-duddies who wish for aesthetic coherence and who resent gar- dens being used merely as passing enter- tainment, to be taken no more seriously than the Morris Men? Certainly, I have the strong impression that the collision of gardening with other 'leisure' pursuits occurs not because there is no alternative but because it is now thought by the people who organise these events that a mish- mash of games and flowers is good in itself and what everybody wants.
One of the least attractive features of our time is the way in which we expect our appetites instantly to be gratified and our senses gorged. Gardening, with its subtlety of appreciation and requirement to wait for pleasures and make plans which look even beyond our own lifetimes, stands against that. A garden is a lasting creation, not a here today, gone tomorrow confection of plants, however well chosen and cultiva- ted. It is not for bulldozing in six months. I would not quarrel with the view that, on balance, garden festivals are a Good Thing. I am not qualified to say whether this one is a cost-effective way of bringing about urban renewal (although I am sure the citizens of Stoke have benefited hugely in the short term) but I can say that asa showcase for the horticultural trade it will rival, or even exceed, 'Chelsea' and has the added advantage of being a long way from the more favoured South. It will, un- doubtedly, encourage the non-gardener to become a gardener, and may even encour- age the experienced gardener to improve. As a way of entertaining small and frac- tious children for a whole day, or more, it looks unbeatable. As I was told many times on the press day, there is something here for everybody and, judging by the presence of representatives, of, inter alia, Concrete Quarterly, The Pharmaceutical Journal, and the Spectator, they were speaking no more than the truth.
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