THE ENGLISH GARDEN AT CLOSE MEMORIAL PARK
A two part article by the garden’s designer, Peter Longley, MA (Cantab)
A HISTORICAL LOOK AT ENGLISH GARDENS (Part one)
King Henry VIII has often been painted as the villain who married six wives, two of whom he divorced, and two whom he executed, but he was a king with a need. England had been ravaged by a civil war between rival branches of the Royal family for over one hundred years before his father seized the throne in 1485 on Bosworth field. The Battle of Bosworth, in theory, ended the War of the Roses, this feud between the royal houses of York and Lancaster. The peace was sealed by the marriage of Owen Tudor, as Henry VII, the victor of Bosworth, to Elizabeth of York—a political marriage that founded the House of Tudor. Prince Henry Tudor was their second son, their eldest son being Prince Arthur Tudor. A strong political marriage was then arranged between Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon of Spain. The Tudor dynasty looked secure, but shortly after this teenage marriage, Prince Arthur fell ill and died. Prince Henry became heir to the throne. He was never meant to be king. He was educated to be a renaissance prince. Now, however, the future of the Tudor dynasty, still in the shadows of the War of the Roses, lay on the shoulders of this redheaded boy. Swiftly, he must be married, and quickly he must have male heirs to secure the dynasty. Henry VII made arrangements with the Pope to allow Prince Henry to marry Prince Arthur’s widow, to keep the strong political alliance with Spain. This was necessary, as in church law, according to Leviticus 20:21, it was impure to marry one’s brother’s wife: If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity; he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness, they shall be childless. It was in Royal circles fairly easy in the late Middle Ages to gain papal blessing for such arrangements, however, and a papal annulment of the original marriage of Prince Arthur to Catherine of Aragon was quickly gained on the grounds that their teenage marriage had never been consummated. Prince Henry married his deceased brother’s wife. In 1509, on Henry VII’s death they became King and Queen.
One might well ask, what in the world does this have to do with the founding of the garden phenomenon known the world over as ‘The English Garden’? To understand, we must consider the times—a highly superstitious era despite burgeoning renaissance learning. At first, Henry VIII had no qualms about his marriage, but after a succession of stillborn children he began to wonder. Was the papal annulment of the earlier marriage of Catherine of Aragon to his elder brother Arthur, sufficient to counteract the church law of Leviticus 20:21? At length, the couple were blessed with the birth of a girl, the Princess Mary, but in order to assure the Tudor succession without a return to the dynastic strife of the previous century—still easily in living memory—a strong male heir was essential. Mary was a disappointment, although one day she would reign as Queen—the infamous ‘Bloody Mary’. By 1527, Henry VIII was becoming desperate for that male heir, and although his personal relationship with Catherine of Aragon was appreciative and fair, he sought to leave her with his eye on a young courtesan, Anne Boleyn, whose older sister was a lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon. It was hoped that in her youth, Ann Boleyn would provide the dynasty with a male heir. Henry VII’s papal legate in London started negotiations to arrange for an annulment of the marriage, again fairly easily achieved in Royal circles for a fee. Unfortunately, the Papal States in Italy had recently been invaded by Charles V, the King of Spain, Catherine of Aragon’s nephew, and the Pope in Rome was now the King of Spain’s prisoner. All requests from Henry VIII’s papal legate were turned down. At length, after four years of trying, Henry VIII took the matter into his own hands. He would remove the kingdom from the authority of Rome by placing himself as head of the English church through acts of parliament. Then, he could legitimately divorce Catherine of Aragon, marry Ann Boleyn, and, hopefully, the marriage would produce the strong male heir to save the dynasty.
At this point, we should examine the European medieval structure of society. About one third of all land in most countries, including England, belonged to the monarch. About one third, belonged to the barons, or aristocracy. The remaining third belonged to the Roman Catholic Church. No land belonged to the people. The peasants were serfs or virtual slaves of their barons. The greater part of what they grew in strip farming around their villages went to the local baron or feudal lord. One tenth went to the church as a tithe, and only a subsistence amount did they keep for themselves. Now, in separating England from the Roman Catholic Church, Henry VIII knew that he would antagonize Roman Catholic Spain, and in divorcing Catherine of Aragon he would enrage her powerful nephew, the Spanish king, Charles V. Real fear of a Spanish invasion needed costly defense of the realm, and there was an obvious source for that revenue in the massive church lands that now, through Parliament, belonged to the king. In 1536, through act of Parliament, he dissolved the religious houses—the monasteries, abbeys, priories, convents and friaries that were on the church lands—and started to sell off the lands in part to the barons, but also as rewards to retainers. This raised the necessary income to defend the realm, but it also radically changed English society and the look of the English countryside. Barons followed the king’s example, selling off land they acquired from the king to their retainers. A middle class of private ownership grew up, largely as a result of this dissolution of these monastic lands. This was a subtle English revolution, and its residue can still be found in the many fine manor houses with their beautiful English gardens that bare the name, Priory, Abbey or Friary.
Ecclesiastically, the Reformation that created, through Parliament, the Church of England was not a cause for a change in religious beliefs. Indeed, on English coins to this day can be seen the title ‘Defender of the Faith’ that was actually bestowed on King Henry VIII and his heirs by the Pope in 1520 in gratitude for a treatise that the renaissance king wrote against the up and coming German heretic Martin Luther. The Reformation, through the dissolution of the monastic lands, however, radically changed the social order of England separating it from feudal Europe forever, so much so that Napoleon refers to England during the Napoleonic wars as “a nation of shopkeepers”. Baroque Europe was still basically feudal, although Napleon himself was a product of the 1789 French Revolution that was the first thrust of Europe’s change from the ‘Ancien Regime’. That revolution spread through the Italian and Germanic states in the nineteenth century and rocked Spain, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Poland and Russia in the early twentieth century, the Russian Revolution not taking hold until 1917. The fact that England, by the accident of a Royal divorce, had a subtle revolution in society three and a half centuries earlier than feudal Europe, caused a completely different pattern in garden development in England, apart from the creation of the Anglican Church.
Prior to this independent land ownership, most medieval gardening was centered around monastic gardens, creating a self sufficient livelihood for the monks and friars of the various Roman Catholic orders spread throughout Europe and extensively in England. They were essentially herbal gardens, along with fishponds and agricultural produce to feed each individual community of ‘religious’. After the dissolution of the monasteries some of the early Tudor gardens followed the same ideas, creating compartment wall gardens growing various herbs, not just for food and palate, but for medicine, too. Some of these have survived in restored form like the world famous Tudor garden at Sissinghurst Castle in Kent—a grand address that is in reality little more than a series of walled gardens around a yeoman’s house and quaint tower.
The new class of independent landowners that acquired their first land after the dissolution of the monasteries were known as yeomen. They were not of the nobility and their homes were simple, but independent, cottages, which, with prosperity, became farmhouses, manor houses, and even suburban villas. Around their cottage they grew their herbs and soft fruits, not in a formal manner but in a practical way, for their independent needs. Thus, in England, essentially the English Garden that we know of today grew up out of the cottage garden. Gardening rose from humble origins upward, so that the cottage informality of yeoman gardens became the hallmark for all garden development. In England, to this day, the mixed border is always referred to as an herbaceous border, reminding us of its origins as a jumble of herbs grown around the cottage. As the yeoman class grew in strength, becoming for the most part the professional class of the nineteenth century, it created its gardens from the cottage upward, the exact reverse of garden development in continental Europe. There, without a yeoman class, great gardens were created in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to match the formality of the aristocracy, and garden design filtered down from the chateau to the cottage rather than up from the cottage to the castle, so much so that European suburban gardens today still have that formal feel. Statuary and parterres, fountains and formal plantings—plants lined up like soldiers against a backdrop of marble or topiary—become the norm with grand avenues of trees. Some of these elements can be found in the great houses of the English aristocracy, or in the Dutch Royal influence of William and Mary, but the quiet revolution of the yeoman class still remains the hallmark, so much so that it influenced almost all nineteenth and twentieth century English garden design. The aristocracy of England planted out their parks and great estates like the yeomen, creating on a vast scale, what the yeoman had created around his cottage. Even, their great landscape artists like Capability Brown in the eighteenth century or Lutyens and Robinson in the twentieth century, followed the natural pattern, bringing the landscape into their park vistas, by use of such tricks as the ha ha, or sunken fence, rather than creating a formal vista of parterres, balustrades, artificial reflecting pools, and avenues modeled on the ultimate Royal Residence of Europe, La Palais de Versailles.
So the English garden becomes unique in Europe, and because of the wonderful English climate, unique in the world. Moist and cool, herbaceous plants thrive, roses grow wild, vegetables are not hidden away, and grassy areas remain green. Soft fruits are espaliered against old brick walls just as they were in those monastic gardens long ago, and the monastic fishpond becomes the water garden or lake. From Ann Hathaway’s cottage in Stratford-on-Avon to Buckingham Palace, the elements of cottage gardening are brought together in varying degrees, creating a profusion that I sometimes describe as the juxtaposition of spikes, mounds and foliage. The music of the garden is that of the birds and the buzzing of the bees, and perhaps the whirring of a lawn mower on a long summer’s eve—not that of a military band among the statues of a formal terrace under the façade of a baroque mansion awaiting the revolution. In the post revolutionary world of the latter twentieth century, and today, the much-admired English garden now finds its devotees around the world. It is for this reason that I have tried in various venues to create its likeness outside its realm. It was for this reason that I was asked to design a small English garden at Close Memorial Park—a juxtaposition of spikes, mounds, and foliage.
Part two will be posted tomorrow evening, July 20th
THE ENGLISH GARDEN AT CLOSE MEMORIAL PARK
2400 S. Scenic - Springfield, Missouri
Questions or comments, email: news@friendsofthegarden.org
Visit the web site http://friendsofthegarden.org
[ add comment ] | permalink
Gardens growing economy
Voice of the Day - Springfield News-Leader
Written by Galen Chadwick • July 17, 2009
Hey now. Let's hear it for everyone who added a new garden this year! Simply for the joy of it, or for a good cause, these forward-thinking folks are gardening with exuberance, intelligence and/or grit. The News-Leader's superlative reportage of the greening of the Ozarks is a big factor.
Informed estimates of new gardens in the Springfield Economic Area, range from 3,500 to over 8,000. Translated into dollars, this is an astounding boost to the local economy. Box store sales of plants and garden products are up 40 percent, and a 50 percent increase in some plant nurseries. A spokesman from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Company reports that the "vast increase" in their numbers came from first-time gardeners. "An educated guess," he said, "is orders are up maybe 75 percent to 100 percent over last year." Click this link to read the rest of Galen's article: http://www.news-leader.com/article/2009 ... our+values
A note from George: Want to post your own letter or comment? Send it by email: news@friendsofthegarden.org
[ add comment ] | permalink
Information provided by:
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI EXTENSION
SOUTHWEST REGION NEWS SERVICE
July 16, 2009
Enticing Butterflies to a Garden Benefits Plants and Owner
Nearly 200 species of butterflies call Missouri home, including the monarch, painted lady and great spangled fritillary. According to Patrick Byers, horticulture specialist, University of Missouri Extension, this large variety makes butterfly gardening both easy and fun.
"The first step to enticing butterflies into your garden is to locate it in full sun. Butterflies are sun lovers because they need the sun to warm their flight muscles. Another reason to site your butterfly garden in full sun is that many nectar-producing plants favor full sun," said Byers.
Byers recommend placing flat rocks in sunny spots to give butterflies something to warm up on. It is also important to provide shelter from the wind and colorful plants, especially those that are yellow, red, orange, purple and dark pink.
"Butterflies prefer flowers that provide a fresh, constant source of nectar, like milkweeds and many herbs. In general, butterflies are not attracted to plants that have fancy double flowers because these frequently have been bred for show at the expense of nectar," said Byers.
Some of the nectar plants that are best at attracting butterflies are blazing stars, asters, coneflowers, milkweeds, coreopsis, butterfly bush, single-flowered zinnias and lantana.
Other good choices for a butterfly garden include marigolds, bee balm, sunflowers, phlox, cosmos, lilac, rose verbena, New Jersey tea and heliotrope. Numerous wildflowers like goldenrods and ironweed may not be tidy enough for a formal garden but they could be included in a naturalized area or at the back of a garden bed.
"An important consideration in selecting plants is to pick species for a succession of blooming times in order to have nectar throughout the season. Nectar sources both early and late in the season are valuable because food can be in short supply at these times," said Byers.
Many of these food plants are common trees but they also include violets, dill, parsley, milkweeds, thistles, pawpaw and spicebush.
One way to extend the blooming period is to prune plants back early in the season to delay blooming and prolong the flowering period.
For more information or questions contact the nearest University of Missouri Extension Center or the Greene County Master Gardener Hotline at (417) 862-9284.
Or you may contact: Patrick Byers,
horticulture specialist
Headquartered in Greene County
Tel: (417) 862-9284
E-mail: byerspl@missouri.edu
[ add comment ] | permalink
A note from George:
Mimi Aumann is a member of the Friends of the Garden and is an artist who makes vessels from handmade paper fibres using pulp from area plants, many of which you can find in your own garden. There was an article featuring her talent in our FOG Summer 2009 Newsletter.
Local talent converges at Creamery Show is an article that was written by Camille Howell Dautrich that appeared in the News-Leader July 17, in the Style Section. Her article is about a large art exhibit of 133 works by approx 60 artists of the Springfield Regional Arts Council including Mimi. Read the complete article at this link: http://www.news-leader.com/article/2009 ... amery+show
It looks like Friends of the Garden members are taking over the news. Great work Mimi, I must get by the Creamery Show before the end of the exhibit July 27 and see your two interesting pieces, Vino Tuscany and Woodland Gatherings, that are on display!
The Creamery Arts Center is located at 411 N. Sherman Parkway with gallery hours, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday. For more detailed information call 862-2787.
[ add comment ] | permalink
The Luna moth: Green insects common in the state
Questions from George: Do we currently have the Luna Moth in our collection living in the Dr. Bill Roston Butterfly House at Close Memorial Park? Did you see the article Luna moth: Green insects common in state yesterday by Francis Skalicky in the News-Leader, page 4C? Read it at this link: http://www.news-leader.com/article/2009 ... n+in+state
Answer from: Chris Barnhart, George - If you stop by the BRBH today, you’ll likely see a dozen of them and more hatching. There are about 150 cocoons in the BH that we raised in those bags on the walnut trees.
Answer from: Bob Kipfer, Chris and Deb provided us with 150+ Luna Moth caterpillars which are hanging all over the tent and in the plant pots. They wiggle in your hand, a trait I used to get the attention of people coming through by saying, "Do me a favor, hold this for a second." When it kicks like a Mexican Jumping Bean, you have them hooked. There are several thousand people out there who are saying today, "I remember that!"
[ add comment ] | permalink
Calendar
