Hairy Gardeners Birthday treat to............................

Yes, I remember him. Real old school, tweed trousers and pipe sort of guy. He probably wouldn't have approved of women gardeners!

I always enjoy a visit to Barnsdale and come away with planting and design ideas each time. In fact the vitis pergola under which I am sitting right now was directly inspired by something I saw at Barnsdale. Looking at your photos I spotted the benches with log storage underneath.
Simple but brilliant.

I think the massive strength of Barnsdale is in the planning and design of small urban spaces and I would like to see that developed more as they seem to have the space. It would be good if there was more new stuff to see every time I visited. I really like the way that they have mocked-up small gardens scattered around surrounded by parkland, it suits the way the majority of the population live and I think it's not unreasonable to say that GH revolutionised the treatment of such spaces.

However, I think the garden needs to keep all that but also move on. After all, it's only for the over60s that GH now has any relevance so I think they should introduce some sharp contemporary elements to make the garden more attractive to younger gardeners. They can still keep his philosophy of recycling, organic and creativity but update it somewhat.

Although I generally support GH's non-consumerist attitudes, perhaps they need a slight rebranding and better marketing to pull in more custom to fund maintenance and development. If the garden ever has to close because it is not commercially viable then it wouldn't be much of a memorial, after all.

 

I beg to differ, I may have just had a birthday, but I am not Derby and Joan yet

I agree with a lot of what you say, as long as they keep the principles and don't go too Contemporary, lots of hard landscaping is a real turn off for me (even though I have my fair share, but that is Mrs HG's doing).

On a personal note:

They may call them old time gardeners, me I prefer to think of Geoff and Percy, as more traditional gardeners.

As a hobby, you could find much less strenuous and time consuming, but would you get the diversity and changes that a garden brings throughout the year, plus the exercise and feel good of being out in the fresh air, hobbies like those are not common.

Problem is, too many people are too busy to keep a garden and want it to keep itself mostly, therefore traditional gardening methods are old school and out of favour, " oh I have to sit and watch this dvd with little Johnny or he won't go to sleep" I often hear as an excuse to not garden, hmmm, get out in the fresh air, get little Johnny doing stuff, and I would wager, he will sleep, but no, better to pour in x amount of concrete and slabs, pop in the odd 'instant' (expensive) plant and voila, if the plant suffers or dies, just replace it.

Not my sort of gardening.

We don't all have Monty's or Alan's acres to look after, and with a bit of thought, you can make gardening a little easier. Geoff showed us how to do this and his gardens at Barnsdale are a testament to it. More of the same please.

 

Oh me too!!!! *preens* I have my own team of consultants to hand (nowt wrong with that ):-

• Mrs Ogden (hair consultant)
• Elizabeth Arden (perfume consultant)
• Mr Mitcham - (hygiene consultant)
• Ms Rimmel at No 17
• Mr Colgate (or maybe a splash of Aqua Fresh -depends on how they pitch)
• Nivea (used to be David Niven, but - we out grow certain things, don't we )
• Mr Scholl
• Miss Dior

Oh the list is endless dah'lin! Needs must and all that. Of course there does come a point in time when one must reconsider economics and tempus fugit ... so, lately ... I've been thinking, the best "beauty" consultant I could administer (economically!) is to poke everyone in the eye just before I come into focus? Job done!

 

Who would have thought my little trip would have evoked such memories and discussion, that's the power of Gardeners Corner for you, thanks everyone for your thoughts and comments, it has made my day out even more special.

And if you have a spare few hours I know a garden I can recommend........

 

My thoughts precisely

Just like to add,My Dad is from the Percy Thrower era and he still gardens in a collar and tie,even in this weather

 

Lets all be thankful for that