Notes from the Library #18

This rough plan from February 2003 shows the basic elements of the Main Courtyard, between the house and the underground wine cellar.  It is not to scale and it would be ideal to have more professionally rendered plans as we move ahead.

In the centre of The Main Courtyard is a circular pond, surrounded by an octagonal grassy area, raised above the white crushed limestone surface of the courtyard. This octagon and circular pond, the unifying feature of the entire design, was suggested by a well-known courtyard garden in Lucca, built by the Controni Pfanner family in the nineteenth century.  The Lucca courtyard is further softened by citrus in terracotta tubs and tightly clipped greenery.

The north-western side of the courtyard is formed by "The Moat" with access to The Hill Garden and The Top Terrace via a bridge. The north-eastern side is formed by "The Outdoor Kitchen", with access to The Hill Garden and The Wisteria Walk through a Cook House featuring The Mudgee Bush Oven.

Roughing Things In

As we move towards resolving the final designs for The Main Courtyard, an old landscaping technique is proving useful. We are roughly sketching in the "bones" of the design with something that, whilst not the finished thing, is close enough to give an idea of how this will eventually work.  It is quick, it is inexpensive and it can save a fortune by avoiding costly stuff-ups later.

Capability Brown used rods, blocks, sticks, stones and a small army of assistants to work out his grand designs, creating a style which defined the eighteenth century landscape garden and continues to influence designers to this day. That was in a galaxy far, far away and long, long ago but the principle of "roughing it in" remains useful.

Here we have set up an approximation of the walls for the future living room, which adjoins The Main Courtyard.  These low Besser block "walls", thrown together very simply in under an hour, show how the future doors from the living area will frame the "pond", currently marked by a pile of garden clippings,  that will one day sit at the axial centre of The Main Courtyard.  This framing creates a well resolved vista across to the plane tree which will be pollarded into the classic candelabra form.  The whole thing will need tweaking of course, but in essence, it is looking workable.  Or, as Mr Brown would have said,   "It has capability".     

Another View of This

In the Centre of The Main Courtyard.

When we excavated this "crater" eight years ago it seemed like such a good idea at the time.  Now it's a mess. Our original concept for the centrepiece of The Main Courtyard was an underground water tank which would store rainwater for use in the house. On top of the tank we envisaged a large octagonal pond.  Oh yes, and a fountain too.  But combining the functionality of a safe and reliable water supply with the beauty of a fountain seems way too complex.  Simple is best.

So the water tank is going elsewhere and in this area we will focus on beauty alone,  with maybe an esoteric dash of metaphysical symbolism thrown in to spice things up.  But the excavation for the planned tank is still there, slap bang in the middle of the courtyard.  It has been there since 2004 when this photo was taken from the top of the wine cellar.  Now it is ugly, it is unsafe and it is currently filling up with crap,  which recently even included the rotting carcass of a wallaby that fell in there and died. The Photo below shows the current state of play.

So what is the best way to fix up this damn hole?  We are playing around with a few options. Fill it in? Use the hole for a plunge pool? Create a pond and fountain as originally planned? A garden bed with a large birdbath? Even perhaps an aviary incorporating a fountain and a pond?  The plunge pool idea sounds good.  Oh, and a fountain too?

This Week's Blog will Not be Pretty

A great garden is a hell of a lot of work and it takes a hell of a lot of time to achieve a worthy finished result. Its not like an episode of "Backyard Blitz" or any of those other crappy television home makeover shows that pollute the airwaves and it doesn't happen magically in just a few days with a few hot hunks in sexy tight shorts making garden magic look easy. In the process of getting to the point of being "finished" it can be messy and it can be ugly and it takes a long time.   This week the blog will concentrate on an area that is still messy and is still ugly and that still needs a lot of work - The Main Courtyard  between The Big House and The Wine Cellar.

The first step in moving towards a garden that is "finished" is the formulation of a clear plan, setting a direction that could, over time, realistically  achieve the desired outcomes - functionality, beauty and sustainabilty.   Of course a garden is never actually "finished". Gardening is about "the journey not the destination" and all that D&M kind of stuff; but that's another whole debate, so for the purposes of this blog a simple sketch setting out a few simple ideas for the future of our Main Courtyard will have to do.   

Creative input into this design process would be really great so if anyone has ideas on turning this important part of The Drip into the truly wonderful thing that it can become,  then chuck a COMMENT on the blog and help us create something special.  A thought from current favourite guru, the Mexican architect Luis Barragan, might serve to poke us along.  "Beauty is the oracle that speaks to everyone."

What's Blooming This Week?

Grevilleas are still budding up at this time of year, having been in full flower for the last few months

The first frosts are due soon and the grevilleas will probably slow down then.  This variety "Peaches and Cream" has proven to be very able to deal with our heavy frosts.

Grevilleas are being used to mask  a fence line that is designed to make The Main Courtyard secure from invasion by hungry beasts.  Two "wings" of Grevillea flank each side of the Wine Cellar, forming this important barrier, between The Main Courtyard and The Hill Garden.

The Irish Yews in the Horse Paddock

This Irish Yew, Taxus baccata Fastigiata,  was the first to be planted in The Horse Paddock.

The yew is a universal symbol of regeneration, transformation and rebirth. Today is Good Friday, the commencement of the Easter period; branches of the yew tree have traditionally been used in the celebration of Easter and in the ancient festivals upon which the Easter rituals were based. This is a tree with a very long story indeed.

We are propagating more Irish Yews from cuttings.  The plan is that that in time they will be a major feature of this arboretum, marking the points of the compass around the central, circular lawn.  For more about this,  read the section entitled A Special Project on the page Propagating Plants at The Drip.

Autumn Colour in The Horse Paddock

The American Section in The Horse Paddock

Acer saccharinum in the American section

The Chinese section of The Horse Paddock

Quercus rubra showing orange colours this year