The Little Prairie Amongst The Houses
by Robert Webber
a review of Noel Kingsbury's roundabouts and more...
(includes link to Noel's response)
Over the last few years some of the small green spaces which dress our Bristol streets have been, as they say, updated. Massed shrubs and old fashioned evergreens are being replaced by prairie-esque plantings. Now, I love herbaceous perennials, so this should seem very commendable. But is it necessarily for the best?
The problem is that for a lot of the year herbaceous plantings can look like this:
And then later on they look like this:
The post-flower charm of perennials, normally gives an air of ‘graceful death’ to late season gardens. Here the decay combines with litter to emphasize the soullessness of this area of Bristol.
Oh! I forgot,- there was an astonishingly lovely, but brief bit in between, when Crambe, Phlomis and Nepeta, simultaneously in flower, absolutely wowed! But this is a brutal landscape to which to subject such delicacy.
Rather more successfully at Three Lamps Junction on the main Bath to Bristol Road there is, love it or loathe it, a prairie tour de force, for which the neighbouring trees give a more satisfactory context.
Problematically, for much of the year, it is significantly less showy. None of these arrangements use early bulbs to extend the season and the March scene below shows the first burst of colour, in the form of young growth on geraniums, for some months. There has been a little uncertainty as to how far to cut down some of the perennials and the result is a slightly scuzzy, unappealing meadow:
This border on the Wells Road illustrates yet more of the visual problems of introducing herbaceous plants to our streets. Some shrubs have been planted to hold it together and give it solidity. But the strong zig-zag of the roof–scape and even the road markings, since they repeat the motif, are stiff competition for our attention. If I am honest, they are more attractive in their gritty urban spikiness than the planting. Yes, there was more colour earlier in the summer, but the scheme needs greater depth and more architectural material - acanthus, pampas grass and so on.
My suspicion is, you see, that a lot of the detail of this planting will be missed in a car. And effects do need to be bold, since this is probably the way most people travel. So juxtaposition is key, and in large swathes rather than matrix planting, which although natural-esque lacks decision. We ARE in a town!
Of course we also know for sure that these plantings go hand in hand with a limited budget and a tight maintenance schedule. But this border will need tidying throughout the season as well as routine edging of the grass. There are significant bare patches to be replanted and at the end of the season, herbaceous plants require detailed cutting down if they are not to look untidy in their long off season. Ultimately there will also be poor performance if at some point they are not divided. There are issues of continuity of care and lack of plant knowledge in terms of follow-up. So no easy option.
It is one thing to criticize however constructively, but quite another to suggest alternatives. Since low start-up cost and low maintenance are a given, what else could we suggest within these parameters?
Curiously I found much to admire already in the street side plantings in this area of South Bristol ( also on trading estates and in supermarket car parks) and primarily in plantings of ‘old fashioned’ trees and shrubs. We should not become hooked on fashion. New perennials will surely become old perennials. Or, since they are in another sense perennial, will trees and shrubs become the new perennials?
In a car park beside the Wells Road Tesco Express and adjoining Totterdown Village, cherry laurel glistens beneath, amusingly, cherry trees. The thigh high blocks of laurel have a contemporary geometry and a sculptural feel. The clipped sides give good shadow effects and the line of tree trunks adds extra emphasis to the concept. The gap between shrub and tree canopy allows good through visibility. The whole has a classical strength which reminds me of, say, Rousham House, yet it seems modern - almost American in its cool.
At the bottom of Wells Road a cluster of trees makes a globular punctuation mark round which you sweep into Totterdown Village. Individually nondescript, they are collectively pleasing and strong in relation to the surrounding buildings and the street furniture. There are dramatic shadow effects and good tonal contrast with the grass beneath. You could make it even more interesting if you used choice multi-season trees. This is the ultimate low maintenance layout.
These are simple, solutions which need not be dismissed because they already exist or are somehow seen as old hat. At the Three Lamps Junction I would have loved to see this simple, but dignified answer: Three Trees, be they Sorbus (locally significant) or Prunus subhirtella autumnalis Rosea underplanted with say Sarcococca confusa or luscious glistening mounds of Danae racemosa beneath. Oh, I hear you say, not much colour for the rate payers. Well, sometimes the ratepayers need to be educated about good taste. If your nerve failed you, you could of course combine Pyrus Chanticleer with an underplanting of Fuchsia Mrs Popple which would also allow a spring display of either snowdrops or scillas. Job done.
Colour and style with trees and shrubs as simple basic components are not difficult to achieve. On the trading estates adjoining the Winterstoke Road something dramatic, almost Burle Marxian is taking place.
Stout wedges of crudely clipped Mahonia, Hypericum and golden Euonymus are easily registered despite the monumental signage which surrounds them. The combination of colours is harmonious and the linear planting reflects the building detail.
Clipped forms are below juxtaposed with the softness of the tree and the internal planting. This is a rough and impromptu affair, but it has its virtues. A mini landscape has been created which invites exploration if one could get beyond the palisade.
Strong sculptural shapes have been carved here giving a positive dynamic. Had all the shapes been neatly semi-circular in cross section it would have been quite a rhythmic statement.
These are simple, bold, year round effects which fit the landscape. And this is key for any landscape work. Now, I am clearly not saying that this is a conscious design statement or indeed anything more than the result of rough hedge trimmer maintenance. But it has the potential, given some training, to amount to more. We have had chainsaw art. We can have hedge trimmer art - it's called topiary.
We must not overcomplicate things for these guys, but they could be heading for an extravaganza to rival Les Jardins Suspendus. Incidentally, the shrubs seem to love this brutal treatment and some things such as Mahonia have flowered their socks off. I think there is also something about the succession of the seasons as we head into the weather meltdown ahead of us which flowering shrubs are loving.
What emerges overall is that, while these new herbaceous plantings can be a charming enough interlude on a journey, I find the simplicity of trees and shrubs more pleasing, less fussy and more relevant in scale and strength to the urban context.
One last thought. There is of course another alternative - why not have no plants at all?
Some years ago on Lanzarote I was wowed by the starkness of the roundabouts which so suited the landscape context. They also provided the perfect spaces for Cesar Manrique’s spectacular sculptures.
Why not have something as quirky, fun and memorable? Sleepy little Barnstaple in North Devon confounded everyone with its dramatic slabs of rock spraying from metal cages. Challenging or what?
Bristol has a fund of artistic talent. It should not be beyond the combined ability of council, colleges and business to provide the community with spectacular contemporary sculpture which, of itself, could be an interesting commentary on where civic horticulture goes next. (more from Robert on this topic)
Robert Webber, garden designer, gardener and critic.
And Noel replied on his blog: ..... "It is all very well to carp about the ‘little prairie amongst the houses’, but at least the ‘prairies’ can make a jolly good colourful splash for four to five months......"
Other responses to the original piece:
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Charles Hawes Says:
I really enjoyed reading these well observed remarks about the Bristol public spaces. And I also agree very much with the sentiments. I have passed by several of the “new perennial” roundabouts and wedges over the years and they nearly always look scrappy and formless and altogether out of place as I have whizzed by. In fact as a driver, these complicated plantings are quite distracting as I peer to work out what is going on. Trouble is, if there was a stunning yet simpler planting- or even non planting installation I would probably be even more distracted.
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Fact is that as car drivers we should not be encouraged to take our eyes off the road! So I really think that we should approach these spaces as more for residents and walkers by and judge what is appropriate with them in mind. In the absence of decent gardening of these spaces it would still steer me towards installations that are going to look good throughout the year, but at the same time anything that stays the same for long will soon just become wallpaper and not appreciated by anyone other than the new passer by.
- Charles Hawes garden photographer
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Michelle Chapman says:
Thanks for the critique of an area of Bristol I’ve been planning to visit for a while as part of my regular look at public planting over on my blog.
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I’m not a designer, though I am passionate about gardening and design and I feel most strongly that these public spaces leave a lot to be desired. It seems a lot of people feel that way too – not just my readers, but a survey reported by CABE stated that over 90% of the public feel urban spaces – not just parks – are important to their daily lives.
Yes, there is a place for strong architectural lines, lots of evergreens and a contemporary look. The planting by Temple Quay is an example of where this works very well even though just 4 different plants and trees are used in the design.
However, many councils have applied that approach pretty well 100% – resulting in a bland almost desert-like feel to our urban areas.
I know that councils face almost impossible constraints in their amenity horticulture (budgets, health and safety etc etc), but I think there is a need for a greater flexibility and innovation in the design of our urban spaces. I therefore welcome the inclusion of the perennial approach. When done well (Radstock has a particularly good example) it gives many more months of interest than annual bedding schemes, can be cheaper to maintain and has the added benefit of attracting beneficial insects such as bees.
As you are designers, it would be good to see another post from you suggesting what you would do with these spaces if you’d been given the design brief for them.
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Michelle Chapman says (more):
Apologies – I didn’t make myself clear in the last paragraph – I meant a more specific look at how you would revamp the perennial areas you’ve critiqued, not just a look at other examples from other parts of Bristol to illustrate your points. I know that’s more difficult to do in the confines of this website, but it would be really interesting to see.
Just to add – the National Trust HQ in Swindon has an example of a simple herbaceous/ shrub/ bulb planting – lavender/ Echinops/ alliums – which in my view works really well. It’s a low budget, low maintenance solution which has a lot more interest than just evergreens. I suppose in the area it’s sited – in a traffic free area opposite the outlet centre, colour and smell might be more important factors in the design than your examples in Bristol?
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Michelle Chapman Blog (includes more about public landscapes)
More comments? Email: anne@veddw.co.uk