Design ideas: landforms
There may be little call for an amphitheatre or grassy mound in the average suburban plot, but James Alexander-Sinclair feels that every garden is just that little bit better if it contains a hillock
James Alexander-Sinclair believes every garden can be made better by a hillock
Once upon a time landforms were known by different names; hills, perhaps, or maybe heaps. Call them whatsoever you wish but they have long been featured in gardens. The difference is that the technique of moving and forming large amounts of soil has become much easier and more sophisticated. Simply put, it is a hell of a lot easier to build a berm, bund or burial mound with a digger than it ever was with a gang of chaps with spades and wheelbarrows.
That is not to diss the labourer as they have been doing pretty impressive stuff for many centuries – I suppose the first landforms were burial chambers or even ridge and furrow fields. The classic defensive burh was a series of ditches and mounds built on the orders of King Alfred to protect the citizenry from marauding Danes. In more peaceful times the first garden landforms were developed by landscape designers, such as Charles Bridgeman, whose work can still be seen at Stowe, Rousham and Claremont in Surrey. It pops up again in Dartington Hall, Devon, where there are some fine grass terraces designed by the Arts and Crafts garden designer, Percy Cane.
But even with technology and skilled digger drivers surely there are only limited reasons for the average garden owner to think about landforms? True there is not much call for amphitheatres or grassy mounds in the average suburban garden but even there it can be useful.
We should pause here for a moment and consider the difference between a slick modern landform and a mound or hummock – the former is engineered and expertly sculpted: it has sharp edges and perfectly angled slopes and is obviously and unarguably a work of art. The latter are less disciplined but can be equally effective: we will be covering both forms.
One of the most practical reasons for landforms is to get rid of any excess soil that has appeared. If you were a stately home owner in the 18th century it might be because Mr ‘Capability’ Brown or Mr Repton had just dug you a lake or a new road. For the average householder it might be that you have just dug the foundations for a kitchen extension or sunk a child’s trampoline into your lawn. You are then left with some excess earth and rather than put it all in an expensive skip, why not make something out of it?
Perhaps, for example, you have an eyesore within view of your kitchen window – a ferret farm or power station. You could plant trees to block the view but know that it will take at least a quarter of a century for the trees to reach the correct height. However, if you use this free soil to create a mound then plant the trees on top you have instantly gained a decade. You have also made a high viewing point from where you can look back and down upon your garden – a new vista and a fresh way of seeing things.
Of course if you have more space then you can create something not only functional but magnificent. The current Master of the Mound (or Laird of Landform) is probably Charles Jencks who has made some pretty sensational examples at his Garden of Cosmic Speculation in Dumfries and at the Museum of Modern Art in Edinburgh. Elegantly curving and sinuous shapes dipping and swooping around dark ponds. They may not be that easy to mow (swinging strimmers on ropes is the usual solution) but my goodness they are lovely, not just as landscape features but as things that everybody, young and old, wants to climb. Another exemplar is Kim Wilkie who has made a six metre high grass amphitheatre for an hotel by the M25 and the awe inspiring Orpheus at Boughton House in Northamptonshire – on a smaller scale he made a tiered grass wedding-cake arrangement outside County Hall in London.
Of course your landform need not necessarily be turfed – often wildflower mixes work very well (particularly on poorer soils) and, of course, trees and spring bulbs are always good. I am sure that not all of you have space or inclination for a massive aggregation of soil in your garden but if both the urge and the opportunity come upon you then you will soon find that every garden feels better with a hillock.
James will be back in the June issue discussing paths.
USEFUL INFORMATION
Creating a landform can be tricky. There is a fair bit of engineering involved as soil is heavy and if you pile it too high, too fast and too steep then it will collapse like an embarrassed jelly. You need to be aware of soil structure, density and drainage. If you are building a hill then build it in layers carefully compacting each one as you go – but not compacting it so much that the water cannot escape (I did warn you this was tricky). If you’re turfing then you need to pin each turf in place using pegs or metal spikes. These need to stay until the turf has totally settled. I would suggest you consult a reputable and experienced landscaper who you can find from the Association of Professional Landscapers (landscaper.org.uk).
If you want too see how it should be done then many of the landforms shown on these pages open to the public. Northumberlandia, the Lady of the North (northumberlandia.com) is in a public park, north of Newcastle upon Tyne so you can visit her at any time. Boughton House (boughtonhouse.co.uk) is open this year for Easter, May Bank Holiday, for all of August and to groups at other times by appointment. The gardens at Hauser & Wirth (hauserwirthsomerset.com) open year-round and the gallery is good too. You’ll also find fabulous modern paintings and sculpture and landforms at the The Scottish Gallery of Modern Art (nationalgalleries.org) in Edinburgh. The Garden of Cosmic Speculation opens for just one day a year for Scotland’s Gardens Scheme (scotlandsgardens.org).