Slow design
In the scrubland of central Spain, British designer Tom Stuart-Smith has created a boldly experimental garden informed by the surrounding native marquis
British designer Tom Stuart-Smith has worked with a Danish winemaker to create a remarkable garden, conceived as an experiment, in the maquis scrubland of central Spain
The chalky soil of the Ribiera del Duero in central Spain is renowned for the minerality it imparts to the wine that is produced here. The area is less celebrated for its suitability for gardening, as the long winters can be harsh and the even longer summers punishingly hot and dry on the open slopes of the Duero Valley. Spring and autumn barely feature. But for designer Tom StuartSmith and his client, Danish winemaker Peter Sisseck, the unpropitious environment has proven to be an invitation for a horticultural experiment that has been as rewarding as it has been challenging, with a result as unusual as it is beguiling.
On the southern slopes of the valley is La Granja Alnardo, an HQ for Peter’s vineyards a visitor centre that doubles as a place to stay when he and his wife are in the area. Helping to knit the property together is the two-acre garden initiated by Tom and maintained by Peter and one gardener. The plot extends around the stone-clad Modernist main building and tumbles down the rocky hillside towards the farm, nominally extending uphill through scrubby maquis towards the valley ridge.
The main area of garden ranges across a wide area of the slope below the building, extending along a terraced walkway towards a pool and gym building. The native plant community on the open scrubland of these steep valley sides consists of the evergreen oak Quercus ilex subsp. rotundifolia, Juniperus thurifera, santolina and a prickly genista growing on the gypsum-rich material that passes for soil. This narrow range of plants has been augmented by other – mostly native – plants, some of which, including cistus and rosemary, are not particularly common locally but have taken to the environment well, and are spreading beyond the confines of the ‘garden’ area around the property. At first sight, Tom’s plantings appear extremely naturalistic; it is only on reaching the edges of the horticulturally maintained area that the intensification and variation becomes apparent.
Tom and Peter pick their way through the planted areas, identifying those plants that have thrived in this climate and those that have performed less well. There have been large numbers of the latter, but that was always part of the understanding between designer and client: “Nowhere have I felt more strongly that what I am doing as a designer is setting a process in motion,” says Tom. He came up with a matrix planting plan with the rhythmic intensity that characterises his style, dependent on key native plants such as Santolina chamaecyparissus and S. rosmarinifolia, Geranium sanguineum, Helichrysum italicum, Dorycnium pentaphyllum, Cistus albidus and Euphorbia characias, as well as maquis herbs such as rosemary and hyssop. Tom did not make conventional planting plans but used colourful plans like a Damien Hirst spot painting to describe the planting pattern. A wide range of other plants play a supporting role, many sourced from specialist French nurseryman Olivier Filippi, who helped with the selection. Among those from Filippi’s stock that are now performing well are species of phlomis, thyme, perovskia, salvia, euphorbia and achillea, the latter making a spectacular summer show. Tom says Filippi’s plants fare better than most because (like Marina Christopher) he grows them in soil as opposed to peat-based compost, which lessens the shock when they are planted out. But the challenge remains considerable: finding plants tolerant of lime, extreme cold and drought. There have been many casualties.
Tom and Peter knew that trial and error would be a decisive factor, and the rocky, open site did prove too much for a disconcertingly large proportion of the 2016 test planting of 40 species (ten specimens of each). Seven thousand plants were laid out the following year and it has been salutary to see how many have succumbed, and to accept the slow growth of many of the survivors. But the plants that have thrived – notably the achillea, phlomis, rosemary, dianthus, euphorbia, thymes, Geranium sanguineum, anthemis, phillyrea and cistus – have formed a hummocky, shrub-dominated plant community that acts as a visual continuation of the wider landscape. There have also been some unplanned bonuses, such as the erect native grass Stipa barbata, which thrives on the slopes. The original planting was oversown with perennial and biennial seed, in consultation with ‘pictorial meadow’ designer Nigel Dunnett, and it is from this layer that the achillea and anthemis derived, though Tom anticipates that their presence will lessen over time.
This experimental approach is unique in Tom’s portfolio and pushes the boundaries of what we think of as a garden. “This is the only project I’ve done where I haven’t made a bird’s-eye [speculative] drawing of how it will eventually look.” It is clear that Tom and his client do not know quite how the garden will turn out. One senses that they both find this rather exciting.
USEFUL INFORMATION Turn the page for more of Tom’s experimental planting combinations
Right Santolina, rosemary and Achillea tomentosa dominate the vegetation around the building, their rounded forms complementing its angularity. These plants thrive on the poor, chalky soil, and can survive extreme heat and cold.
NOWHERE HAVE I FELT MORE STRONGLY THAT WHAT I AM DOING AS A DESIGNER IS SETTING A PROCESS IN MOTION