British Rose
Penelope Hobhouse offers advice on creating a proper English garden in the Texas heat.
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| GARDEN: Penelope Hobhouse |
Penelope Hobhouse, the grande dame of English gardening, recently came to Dallas to address the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta. While she was here, we talked about the pros and cons of planting natives, how to create a proper English border, and the rigors of dealing with Texas terrible heat.
D Home: You’ve designed gardens in the United States, including some in Texas. How did you fare with such a dramatically different climate?
Penelope Hobhouse: I actually began with a Fort Worth client’s home in Maine. Fortunately, I had already traveled to Maine and taken many notes on what was growing and blooming while I was there, so I had a good deal of information to work with. After that project was complete and they asked me to design their garden in Fort Worth, I was a bit more comfortable working on another continent.
I began by researching Texas’ growing conditions. Because Texas is so vast, I first had to find out what kind of soil and weather existed in the Fort Worth area. I then read as much as I could about which plants grew and flourished here. I worked my design around all of this information, but with mixed success. I discovered that even though certain specimens were touted as being appropriate for the area, they did not thrive and had to be replaced. This taught me that there is a certain element of trial and error here that doesn’t really exist in England. Though many plants are marked “full sun,” there are actually very few that want full Texas sun.
D Home: What particular challenges do Texas gardeners face?
Hobhouse: Well, there are many. The climate is quite variable. You have terribly hot weather and then freezing weather, and sometimes they occur within 24 hours of each other. This is very hard on plants and this substance you call soil! In England we can just stick a plant in the ground and it will grow. Here you must amend, amend, amend. In England nearly everyone gardens, but here gardening is hard work. You have to really want to garden in Texas. One must study and experiment with plants and become something of an expert.
D Home: That is one reason some people here focus on native varieties. What do you think of the trend toward native plants?
Hobhouse: Everyone wants to preserve native plants in their respective habitats, but many native varieties are not appropriate for urban gardens. We would be in trouble in England if we could only use native plants as we have very few native varieties on our island. I truly can’t imagine a garden in England without imported varieties.
However, I think that specializing in one type of plant helps new gardeners learn about gardening more easily. By narrowing the field of information down to a single category, such as native plants or blue flowering plants or whatever, they are better able to manage their studies. After one category is mastered they can move on to another topic of gardening or group of plants.
D Home: English borders and gardens are still extremely popular here. What advice do you have for people wanting this style?
Hobhouse: Repeat colors and patterns throughout the border. Don’t ever put in just one of anything. Huge circles or semicircles of annuals just look like you’re showing off. You don’t have to repeat with the exact same plant, but form and color should feel the same. Rosemary Verey [another well known English garden designer, now deceased] told a story about working on the design for a border with another designer one afternoon. After several hours he turned to her and said, “But we’ve only done a quarter of it,” and she replied, “Nonsense. Now we just repeat.”
D Home: What about color choices?
Hobhouse: I don’t use red in borders anymore at all. It advances and dominates the design. I also don’t use purple foliage plants. They create a great dark hole in the garden. Actually, I am moving toward fewer flowers– a simpler, more contemplative look. But I love having flowers in my house so I have a large cutting garden.
D Home: Any final words about gardening in Texas?
Hobhouse: Well, I just think that if I were a plant, I wouldn’t want to live in Texas.
