Wild About Gardens

We've been madly getting our garden into order before the Australian winter sets in. I'm also going away on an important OS business trip, having postponed it because I had to finish rewriting a book, and — like many women trying to juggle too much — have been worried about leaving while the garden still has work to be done before winter comes. 

Today, we put a new path through the purple flower beds, cleaned up all the white geraniums in the white garden and moved three crabapples and a bare-rooted Tilia Cordata (my favourite tree) to a new little copse in a corner. I couldn't bring myself to prune the roses though. It's probably way overdue, but how do you? Especially when the Charles de Gaulles are blooming their biggest blooms yet. 

Gardening... I don't think I'll ever get the hang of it.

If you're multi-tasking too much, like me, here's some lush, new-season inspiration to keep you going through the horticultural ups and downs.

(Above: Oscar de la Renta dress from this year's S/S 2014 collection.)

PAUL BANGAY'S PRIVATE TOURS

One of Australia's foremost gardeners, Paul Bangay is now giving private tours of his country home, Stonefields. So you don't have to wait every two years to see the garden.

Details are here: link

Or here: http://stonefieldsthefarmhouse.com/stonefields-private-tours

HIGHGROVE'S PRIVATE TOURS

Highgrove, meanwhile, has just re-opened for the 2014 season. If you haven't yet seen HRH Prince Charles' garden, then do try to join a tour. It's particularly pretty in spring.

Details here: link

Or here: www.highgrovegardens.com/booking.html

VIRGINIA WOOLF'S GARDEN

Have you read this incredible book yet? It's one of the most beautiful books I've ever seen, with intricately embroidered garden plans of Monk House's garden, where Leonard and Virginia Woolf lived and wrote. 

Caroline Zoob is the author (and embroiderer). Such a talent. I hope she wins a publishing award for it.

MISTER OWITA'S GUIDE TO GARDENING

Another beautiful book that all my friends are reading. It's sad and uplifting at the same time. And yes, there's a death. But I dare not say any more.

SU BLACKWELL'S BEYOND THE BOOK

If you're heading to England this summer and touring the south coast, be sure to visit Su Blackwell's lovely exhibition 'Beyond The Book'. What Su does with old second-hand books she finds in old second-hand bookshops is astounding. (Yes, I know some people hate any form of paper desecration, but look at this garden. Isn't it sublime?)  Top image is also from Su Blackwell.

Showing at the Devon Guild of Craftsmen in Bovey Tracey, until June 8.

RALPH LAUREN ON THE FRENCH RIVIERA

There are lots of website touting the French Riviera as being THE place to be this summer. (Hasn't it always been high on The List?) Ralph Lauren certainly seems to think so. His team has also headed down to the palm trees and lush gardens of the South of France for its latest campaign. I've just received the new RL magazine in the mail and it's the most evocative one yet. 

Better yet, they've posted a handy guide to the region online, here: link

Or here:

http://global.ralphlauren.com/en-us/rlmagazine/editorial/spring14/Pages/belle-rive.aspx

WOODY ALLEN ON THE FRENCH RIVIERA

Someone else who thinks the French Riviera is going to be hot (fashionably speaking) is Woody Allen. His upcoming film, Magic in the Moonlight, is a 1920's romantic comedy set on the French Riviera. 

It co-stars our own Jacki Weaver, but here's Colin Firth with some horticultural eye candy behind. Woody Allen may be hoping that Magic does as well as his recent French film Midnight in Paris. The latter was his top grossing film.

VITA SACKVILLE WEST'S SISSINGHURST

A recent purchase, this book is as thick as a brick in one of Vita's walls, and packed with interesting titbits. Written by Sarah Raven, who married into the family and now lives at Sissinghurst with her own family, it looks at how Vita created her now-famous garden, the heirloom roses she saved and how the garden continues to evolve over the years. 

When our little Garden Tour group was at Marylyn Abbott's garden, West Green House in England, last May, I overheard Marylyn chatting to Troy Scott Smith, the man who had, just the week prior, taken over Sissinghurst's job of head gardener. He had popped into West Green for a visit, and seemed very calm about taking on what The Telegraph newspaper referred to as "the greatest job in gardening". I lingered nearby, and had a brief conversation with Marylyn just so I didn't look like I was, well, lingering nearby.  Troy is only the sixth head gardener at Sissinghurst, after Vita, Pam Schwerdt and Sibylle Kreutzberger, Sarah Cook and Alexis Datta. There's a wonderful article about Troy Scott Smith's new role here.

Or here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/10036366/Just-the-man-for-the-greatest-job-in-gardening.html

HERMÉS AMONGST THE FLOWER BED

 Hermès has also gone outside, to the garden, for its latest fashion campaign, called Metamorphosis.

THE ART OF TREILLAGE

I had an email last week from Tory Burch's team, who are working on a new book and wanted to use my image of the intricate treillage work at Versailles. 

It reminded me that treillage is coming back into gardening fashion with a vengeance. If you want to see some superb examples, wander the bosquets in the gardens of Versailles, or head straight for the newly restored Pavillion Frais (above). Just incredible.

BEATRIX POTTR'S GARDENING LIFE

I've been wanting to visit Beatrix Potter's garden, Hill Top Farm in the Lakes District, which so many people have recommended over the years, but haven't quite made it there yet. It's on The List for this year. 

In the meantime, I've just bought this new book from Timber Press, about the plants and places that inspired the author, who was as much a gardener as she was a writer. If you haven't read her biography yet either, it's also lovely: she was a woman very much ahead of her time.

THE PERFECT GARDENING SMOCK

And finally, the search for the perfect gardening smock continues. Here's one I discovered on Pinterest, but have found a lot more, and will be doing a post on them soon.

Things In The Attic: The Return of The Supernatural in Fashion and Film

There's a new genre in town. Well, it's been around for a while, but for the past decade or so it's been relegated to the attic, shoved in an old family trunk with all the other forgotten genres and pushed to a dark, dusty corner. Then – and I'm not sure when but it seems to be fairly recently – somebody ventured up to this attic of forgotten genres, stumbled across the old trunk, and, with a shudder of horror but perhaps also of excitement, pulled out this old one. 

Immediately, they knew they'd found something thrilling. Something that would break the boredom of the modern public and send a shiver up their slumped-over spines. Something that would make them remember how entertaining cinema and literature once was, before stories about wedding party crashers and Vegas buck's nights dominated the big screens.

Yes, you guessed it, this person had found the ghost genre. Or, to put it in formal literary terms, the 'fantasy' genre.

And now it's showing its ghostly white face everywhere.

VALENTINO

Always up for a dramatic entrance, Valentino's designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli chose 'the dark side' as the chic but chilling inspiration for their recent Fall Couture show. 

The official themes was "a cabinet of curiosities.” The unofficial was was 'The Lady in the Attic'. Only more glamorous. 

Think Miss Haversham meets Fifth Avenue. 

With black, black and more black as the distinctly dark palette, the show featured pieces that could have come from the closet of a grand old dowager living in a creaking old castle in Scotland. As the New York Times said, it was a collection that was "seemingly haunted by castle ghosts and pipe smoke".  

New York Times article (July 4, 2013) here – LINK

GHOSTLY FASHION SHOOTS

Two weeks ago, Trend Hunter did an article called Ghostly Fashion Shoots. "Eerie fashion spreads are continuing to become more relevant and mainstream in the modern age," the site explained. One of the examples was the Dominic Jones AW12 collection starring Downton Abbey actress Jessica Brown Findlay (image at very top). Many of the shoots are also very Havershamesque. 

www.trendhunter.com/slideshow/ghostly-fashion-shoots

THE CONJURING

Many media outlets in the US are currently talking about The Conjuring, a new US movie out in cinemas this month that's directed by Australian James Wan. It's being billed as the most terrifying movie this year, if not this decade. 

Based on the real case of the Perron family who moved into a haunted house in Rhode Island, and the Warrens, the couple who tried to help them, it's a story where the truth really is eerier than fiction. The most chilling publicity has come from the family members themselves, especially mother Carolyn Perron who was deeply affected by the experience: "You could see them. You could smell them. The house was full of people who lived there who were not us..." 

With shades of Amityville Horror (there are links with that story), it looks like being just as much of a success as that was. Opening in the US and Australia mid-July, 2013.

Trailers below.

LINK HERE or here – www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFDXlIKPHFo 

Another trailer – www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHh7Vd7ljgM

THE DARKSIDE

Australian director Warwick Thornton, who won a prize at Cannes for his film Samson and Delilah, has been collecting real-life ghost stories for his next project, The Darkside. His only requirement from those who submitted them was that these experiences had to have really happened to those who told them. The kicker is that these stories come from indigenous people, who are normally terrified of talking about the dead. Because of this, each of the stories will be re-told by well-known actors, including Bryan Brown, Deborah Mailman and Sasha Horler, rather than the indigenous narrators. 

Media has been reporting strange events happening on the set, so the film, due for release in 2013, will no doubt be a fairly spooky one.

THE RETURNED

In England, a startling number of people have been gripped to their TV screens, not for Wimbledon (although that too was gripping) but for The Returned (in French: Les Revenants), a French supernatural drama series that's currently showing on Channel 4. 

It has both the public and the media enthralled. Twitter errupted into a flurry of feedback after just the first episode. 

Some critics have dubbed it a 'zombie drama' but it doesn't have zombies. Not at all. Zombies hop along on one leg, dragging their rotting flesh along the ground and trying, usually with success, to stick their left eyeball back in. They don't have a vocabulary, unless you call arrggghhh a word. The ghosts of The Returned have full language skills.

This seems to be one worth watching.

A season 2 has been commissioned and is to air in 2014.

Glamorous Gardenalia

A few weeks ago, when I was visiting friends in LA, I smiled in sympathy when one of them confessed that not a week goes by when he doesn't want to ditch his job and go out into the garden instead. (And this friend has a great job – although I suspect he would also make a great garden designer.) Who doesn't dream of taking time off from their responsibilities in order to hide in the garden for a few hours? 

If you're longing to escape the deadlines, pressures, stress and simple problems of everyday life for a few hours of peace, calm and greenery in the garden, here's some horticultural loveliness to tempt you. Not all of us can ditch our day jobs whenever we want, however, so if you're tied to your desk, then I hope that some of this botanical beauty will help make your day blissful.

By the way, when I walked around this friend's LA neighbourhood peeking at everybody's homes, I was astonished to see how many of those who lived in this gated estate also loved gardens. And no matter how famous they are, apparently they all love to get out and wield a spade occasionally, according to my friends. (Or at least tell their gardeners where to wield the spade...) My favourite garden was that belonging to Lauren Graham and Peter Krause, which featured a sublime pink planting scheme. It's inspired me to buy some hot pink Japanese anemones, some lipstick-pink bougainvillea, and a whole lot of gorgeous pink Pierre de Ronsard roses...

A HEAVENLY HYBRID OF FASHION, INTERIORS AND GARDENS

The talented Australian illustrator Megan Hess, who shot to fame after Candice Bushnell asked her to design a book cover, has just released her first book, entitled Fashion House.  This gorgeous title was given to me as a gift this week, and I was so touched – and so impressed. It's startlingly different from any other book, and the illos are exquisite. (As you would expect.)

There are dozens of whimsical, beautifully drawn scenes, including 'The Dior Room', 'The Pucci Room', and The Riviera Suite'.

My favourite, though, was the 'Botanical Room'.

Fashion House is published by Hardie Grant. Do look for it. (It also makes a great gift.)

GARDENS OF GLAMOUR

Another fabulous book, which I've been re-reading in preparation for a photo shoot of one of the gardens featured in it, is Private Gardens of the Fashion World. 

This glamorous coffee-table tome features the private gardens of Oscar de la Renta, Yves Saint Laurent, Anouska Hempel, Hubert de Givenchy and many others. The price keeps rising on Amazon, however, so purchase while you can. 

GREEN WITH ENVY

A friend also gave me the classic DVD, Suddenly, Last Summer, starring Elizabeth Taylor,  recently and I was hooked from the start. Or should that be, from the garden.

It's an 1959 American Southern Gothic mystery based on the play of the same title by Tennessee Williams. It's very dark, quite gruesome really, but the real beauty lies in the incredible house and garden. Oliver Messel did the production design (he also did Gigi), and his fondness for his signature colour green really comes through. He even dressed Miss Liz in it (above). 

Both Katharine Hepburn and Taylor received Academy Award nominations for this film, but the real star, I think, is the Gothic garden. Messel, too, was nominated for two Oscars for his "eerie, imaginative and wild" set. There are some wild stories about what went on behind the scenes of the film, too.

Oliver Messel's drawings for the garden in Suddenly, Last Summer.

LAWN ORDER

US Vogue has also published an ode to gardens recently, with its online story Gardens in Vogue. 

{Link here } or here – www.vogue.com/vogue-daily/article/lawn-order-gardens-in-vogue/#1

This list is just beautiful. And kudos to Vogue for devoting so much space to the subject.

COUNTRY STYLE

Gardening buddies Stuart Rattle and Paul Bangay have decided to open their private gardens to the public in November this year. They only do this once every two years, so if you've always wanted to see Rattle's enchanting Musk Farm (above) or Bangay's Stonefields property (which is being celebrated in his next book), make a note in your diary to be in Woodend on either Saturday November 23 or Sunday November 24. Musk Farm is particularly pretty.

BODIES IN THE GARDEN

Trust those garden-loving South Australians to think of this. 'The Body In The Garden' is a quirky new literary festival that elegantly combines two diverse genres – crime and garden writing. 

It will be held in the Adelaide Botanic Garden (which incidentally, is one of the most beautiful botanic gardens in the world) during the weekend of October 25–27. The 'nature' of the festival (sorry, that pun couldn't be helped) is likely to attract a great deal of interest from both the media and audiences. Already confirmed are Swedish crime writer Hakan Nesser, UK garden writer Toby Musgrave, who's a leading authority on garden history, and Australian garden designer and author Paul Bangay.

SEX IN THE GARDEN

Okay, now we get to the 'R' rated part of the blog. Did anyone see the film The Kids Are Alright, with Julianne Moore, Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo, on TV the other night?

I've been wanting to see this movie for years, after hearing friends feverishly discuss it. It was surprisingly good. Bening is fantastic in it. But the real attraction was Mark Ruffalo, who, I have to confess, was rather hot... He and Julianne get down and, er, dirty, you see, and not just in the garden... 

Here's another shot of Mr Ruffalo.

GATSBY IN THE GARDEN

Mr Ruffolo isn't the only one with a penchant for hot houses and sexy women. Baz Luhrmann's Jay Gatz also likes a frond embrace. (Sorry.)

GARDENS AND MR GAULTIER

In an example of how gardens and fashion meet more often than you'd think, garden designer Patrick Blanc designed a ‘Robe Végétale’ for French couturier Jean-Paul Gaultier for his 2002 fashion show. (I remembered this because I stood behind Mr Gaultier at Monoprix in Paris a few weeks ago. He was very polite. And very tall.) 

Patrick’s design was a wedding dress that tastefully stretched its ivory tendrils around the model’s outlines.

Look at the botanical bustier. Just beautiful.

PAIRING IT OFF

This image is worthy for two reasons. Firstly, it shows Oscar de la Renta's Connecticut garden, which is one of the loveliest on the US East Coast, and second, it also shows the double avenues of pear trees.

Isn't this a clever garden design? We're going to try it for our back yard, even though it's one-twentieth the size. Possibly one-hundredth.

KATE GOES COUNTRY

US Vogue recently did a main story on Miss Katy Perry, in which Katy revealed that one of her favourite things is visiting botanical gardens. I have increased respect for her now.

BLOOMIN' LOVELY

Just loved this branding, for New York-based stylist Amy Merrick's business.

BALENCIAGA AND BUNNY

I read today that Bunny Mellon had all her gardening clothes designed by Balenciaga.

Can you imagine?

This was one of Bunny's floral frocks.

Babe Paley was fond of gardening too...

BASTIDE ROSE

With the perfect name for this post, this sublimely beautiful B&B in Provence is one made specially for garden lovers. 

Owned by Poppy Salinger, the charming widow of the late Pierre Salinger (the one-time media advisor for JFK), it's hidden away in the depths of the South of France, but worth all the effort it takes to get there. The house is actually a former mill, built over a river, and the gardens are as delightful as the rooms.

I can't wait to go back.

ELLE'S GARDEN ISSUE

I've been liaising with Elle Decor regarding a few things and then I found this issue in my Reading Pile. 

Look at the cover. Doesn't it make you want to head out into the garden?

ANOTHER HORTICULTURAL HIDEAWAY

Yet another lovely B&B to bookmark for your next trip to France, the Pavilion de Galon is a stunning guesthouse in Provence that's famous for its garden. 

My friend, the American interior designer Gary McBournie stayed there recently with his partner and said it was superbe.

THE REMAKE OF LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER 

(YES, WITH THE GARDENER)

Anybody who attended a girls' school knows all about D H Lawrence's notorious novel Lady Chatterley's Lover. It was the book you read in place of a proper sexual education. (It was all you needed, really.) 

Well, the Australian author Nikki Gemmell (The Bride Stripped Bare) has taken Lawrence's titillating tale and turned it into a modern story, called I Take You. 

It's an interesting twist on the classic tale. Gemmell, you see, has chosen to set her er, 'romance' in one of the beautiful private communal gardens of London; an exclusive and verdant space that seemed to be perfect for an illicit affair. Her gardener is the keeper of the garden: her Lady Chartterley is one of the manicured wives who lives in the grand houses that overlooks the greenery. Mix in some compost and you have all the ingredients for a lush liaison.

Apparently, it's set to be the next hot novel.
I'm going to a talk by Nikki Gemmell in Sydney at the end of this month. I'll let you know what she has to say about her Chatterley obsession.


{By the way, I've made changes to the Comments Section as I was getting hundreds of spam emails a day, so if you find it difficult to comment, I apologise profusely. It's my fault as I don't quite know how to configure Blogger. But I do hope you like the posts anyway.}