This month sees the 25th anniversary of my first ‘Gardens’ column for The Spectator.
This month sees the 25th anniversary of my first ‘Gardens’ column for The Spectator. This is an event more interesting to me than to you, dear reader; indeed, if asked, you might well have said 40, 20, or five years. It is, of course, only a number (as Clint Eastwood said about approaching 80) but this anniversary has encouraged me to reflect on what has happened in gardening in the past quarter-century. It has been eventful, to say the least.
In 1984, gardening was still dominated by the post-war ‘low-maintenance’ movement, which encouraged the planting of utilitarian ground cover, as well as heathers and conifers, often in island beds, à la the ‘gardenesque’ style invented in the 1840s. Shrubs generally were still popular, but roses, with the exception of David Austin’s English Roses, were losing ground; people still made rockeries of alpines but hardy perennials were gaining in popularity. Kitchen gardening was unfashionable and allotments were fast falling into disuse, or being built over. Garden centres had just about taken over completely from ordinary general nurseries. The long-running debate over the use of peat as a constituent of growing media was about to begin.
‘Heritage’ and ‘conservation’ were words just gaining real traction, but large gardens were still under threat from decay. There was no Heritage Lottery Fund to provide money for crumbling fountains or visitor centres. The County Gardens Trusts and NCCPG (Plant Heritage) had not long been founded, and the Garden History Society was still very small.
Employing a garden designer was not considered an option for any but the rich, and there were only a few places where you could study it properly. There was not then a professional society for garden designers. Conceptual gardens were unheard of, as was guerrilla gardening. Sophisticated gardeners planted according to the theories of the Edwardian lady, Miss Jekyll. They did not know of the New Perennials Movement; grasses were what grew in the lawn.
Television had not yet discovered the makeover garden but Geoff Hamilton, presenting BBC Gardeners’ World, was helping to make organic gardening widely acceptable. Gardeners’ Question Time on the radio gave practical advice, peppered with arch pleasantries.
In 1984, there were 85,000 members of the Royal Horticultural Society, up from 67,000 ten years earlier. The RHS owned one garden, at Wisley in Surrey, and staged monthly shows at their two halls in Westminster, as well as Chelsea Flower Show. So crowded was the show that there was a real chance it would be moved to Osterley Park.
The two major developments since 1984 have been climate change and the coming of the internet. With the exception of farmers, no single group of people in this country is more affected by climate change than gardeners. We have reacted swiftly, choosing tenderer and more drought-tolerant plants. We also think far more about sustainability and our responsibility to wild life: organic gardening is now the norm, if only because most pesticides have been withdrawn from sale to amateur gardeners.
As with so many aspects of life, the internet has had beneficial effects but is now undermining traditional horticultural retailing and publishing. In the long term, this may harm gardening, since it is pre-eminently a sphere where personalised advice is important.
The great gardens are in far better nick, at least in part due to the Lottery, about which we were all so snooty. Makeover gardens have come and gone. Television gardening is thinner and poorer, although radio advice is remarkably similar to what it was, in format at least. Allotments are still being built over but, where they exist, waiting lists are long. Garden centres have got rather better; small nurseries provide for plantsmen but find it hard to make a decent living.
Three recessions have knocked some of the stuffing out of the specialist societies, although cultural changes, including the reluctance among young people to join organisations, have not helped. Since 1984, the Royal Horticultural Society has taken over three gardens in the regions and runs several large regional flower shows as well, not to mention Britain in Bloom. However, the Westminster shows have shrunk to a shadow. Chelsea numbers are now restricted. The Society’s membership, though much greater at 363,000, is the same now as in 2004. (More on the RHS’s travails anon.)
There are far more garden designers around, but not all of them can design gardens. Many amateur gardeners are far more design-conscious and adventurous than they were; many of the rest still cleave to the ‘gardenesque’ style. The practical skills shortage is acute, despite a substantial inflow of women into the profession.
So the gardening landscape has altered remarkably in such a short space of time. Only the adamantine changelessness of gardening remains. It is comforting to think that, in 2034, it will still consist of weeding, pruning, sowing, picking, planning, dreaming, eating and snoozing…
Ursula Buchan’s latest anthology, Back to the Garden, which includes many Spectator articles, is published by Frances Lincoln (£16.99).
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