soon to learn that the garden had a language all of its own, and it has fascinated me to this day,” says John who now understands the conversations Dame Elisabeth encouraged within the garden. In Cruden language, to ‘have a word’ means the plant needed a prune, and to ‘have a serious word’, meant it needed more serious measures. To ‘give a plant a tickle’ means to pull it into line like a rebellious teenager, and ‘living on memory’ means that a plant is struggling and not looking well. “There are so many other verbal gems I have learnt since. A plant has ‘gone home’ means that it has died, and plants that are not resilient ‘don’t stand by you’. It is a wonderful way that we keep understanding the garden is alive. Dame Elisabeth used to call plants that are gaudy and not subtle as ‘show offs’ and would plant them further away from the main garden edges,” says John, explaining that the language created not only a sense of fun and relationship within the garden, but also affected the act of gardening itself. “I learnt very quickly that a garden is not simply an assemblage of plants, but a cultural construct that is the result of human decision making and effort. By creating a garden, by immersing oneself in a garden, one forms a relationship with it,” says John. As we wander around the garden, it is easy to understand how this philosophy has transformed the property into a magical and inspirational piece of landscape, a secret garden in the middle of continued next page...
Summer 2015/2016
E ssence | 101
PENINSULA