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Letters page
"Your site is brilliant and thought provoking, a useful forum for radical thoughts which don't or can't see daylight in the mainstream media." Charles Dowding (below)
Add your own comments by emailing info@thinkingardens.co.uk (Your comments may be cut in the interest of readability - see below *. Please give an address.)
From Frank Cabot
Hooray for thinkinGardens! May it get horticulturists out of the humus for a bit so that they can integrate their creations with their surroundings and may it also contribute to building that much-needed bridge between Man and Nature!
Frank Cabot, Cold Spring, NY & La Malbaie, Quebec
From Andrea Geile:
I found your website about a week ago and just wanted to say how excited I am about it. I think I have been on it every day since then to re-read the articles and letters.
The subjects you talk about are very close to my heart and it is great to find people with the same issues and goals, namely the question if Gardens can be works of Art.
I have been trying to find answers to this for years now and it makes for a very exciting and entertaining life. I am actually a German artist living in Edinburgh and I am trying to create a contemporary version of landscape art.... to read the rest click here
From James Golden: in response to a query from me about whether garden reviews are useful and interesting when you haven't seen the garden in question.. AW.
I want to be clear that I definitely do find reviews of gardens (and books) interesting even if I've never seen, and perhaps never will see, the gardens. If it's a well known garden, or one being talked about for some reason, plenty of context or background already exists to support understanding of a review. Photos always help, of course, and I wish reviewers made more of an attempt to provide them (so easy with digital photography and the relatively low resolution allowed by a computer screen).
To give you an example of how much I learned from a review, I recall my amazement on reading your piece following your and Steven Anderton's visit to Lady Farm... to read the rest of letter click here
from James Golden, a 'new American gardener' with really good blog = federaltwist.blogspot.
From Mike Gerrard
Thank you and well done - it’s an important job you are doing. I am pleased that there has arisen a trend in garden reviews in The Garden to include a minor criticism or two ...... to read rest of letter click here
From Charles Dowding
Your site is brilliant and thought provoking, a useful forum for radical thoughts which don't or can't see daylight in the mainstream media.
I am not sure I agree that creative gardening is in a slough of despond when there are people like yourselves working to be creative! That is my aim also in growing food, which I feel is often done in a too mechanical and inartistic way... to read rest of letter click here
From Leigh Hunt
Reading your mission, I was struck by how close the statements are to what Geoffrey Jellicoe sought, learned from and, in many cases, achieved. In particular, .... to read rest of letter click here
From Bridget Rosewell re thinkingardens symposium
I was very excited by last weeks meeting at the RHS. What particularly struck me was our lack of a way to discuss what gardens mean. ..... to read the rest of this letter click hereSo much of what I've read is thought-provoking, some seems wildly off the point. I liked Bridget Roswell's worries and contributions, particularly the ideas about a language of criticism.... to read this letter click here
As a designer of gardens and one who loves a good discussion I wish to try and 'bomb' the aspirations of your Manifesto as I cannot align my own thinking with its direction.... to read rest of this letter click here
From Miriam Pender
While I do hope Mike Gerrard succeeds in finding opportunities to be a little more dangerous, while he is working at what he terms the “everyday end of the garden design spectrum”, I fear he is on to a loser. ... to read rest of this letter click here
From William Martin, reply to Miriam Pender to read this letter click here
From Chris Walker
I looked at your website having read the 'what is a gardener' piece in the
RHS Garden this month. As a gardener and psychologist, .... to read the rest of this letter click here
Dear Thinking Gardens Group,
I like to think of myself and the
service I offer as a designer, to be at the "planty" end of the spectrum. By
this I mean driving a design business that takes up the concept of "gardens made
from plants" rather than...to read the rest of this letter click here
Your web site has really made me think about my behaviour.
I like to think I am not a control freak. ... to read the rest of this letter click here
I am a Head Gardener on a private estate and have for many years been frustrated by the way gardens have been viewed as productive or decorative but seldom meaningful. ... to read this letter click here
AHhh..Mmmm..Errr..Uhhhh.. Whadayouknow..Just when all the plant tragics in their own wee world of plant competitiveness and acquisitiveness felt safe to go outside.. you MOB land in the block and dare question the meaning of life in the early 21st century garden.. to read this letter click here
I came to gardening through my background in painting and sculpture and for me the interest lies in the process of making. ... to read this letter click here
I graduated as a garden designer last year after teaching Applied Arts in a university art college for 20 years. What a pleasure to find out about The ThinkinGardens Group... to read this letter click here
Good luck with the thinkingardens website. It's a great idea to have something more interesting on gardens than just comments on prettiness and the skills involved. ... to read this letter click here
Good Luck! This is something I have wished for for a long time. Of the people involved, I only know Chris, and I know how passionate he is on this subject, so with all of you together I am sure you have a great beginning.... to read this letter click here
Like Chris Walker, the recent article in The Garden prompted my curiosity into the thinking behind the whole concept. My curiosity has been well rewarded.... to read this letter click here
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* Emails or letters sent to the thinkingardens group will not be distributed to any third party. Letters received may be edited prior to publication online, unless the author specifically requests the text not be published. Email addresses will be retained on file for possible future mailing about thinkingarden events; please indicate if you wish your email to be deleted from the system.
(Photographs copyright Anne Wareham and Charles Hawes, of Veddw House Garden)