MY GARDEN LIFE
Charleston’s new gardener, Harry Hoblyn
QTell us a bit about yourself ? As a child I grew up in the countryside and I’ve always loved nature and the outdoors. My dad had a farm in France that I would spend time working on. This experience continued into adulthood as I spent time travelling the world working and living on various farms – including a spell on a coffee farm in Colombia. This all contributed to an interest in working outdoors. I have →
a passion for plants like some might have for music – for me horticulture is a whole world of wonder.
QWhat sets Charleston apart from other gardens?
One of my favourite quotes relating to the garden is from Angelica Garnett. She said: ‘The garden here was not a gentleman’s garden or a gardener’s garden, it was always an artist’s garden’. Charleston is very much focused on vibrant coloured plants, which were intended to create a palette for the artist residents. If you look through their paintings you can see that they are alive with colour, just like the gardens here.
QWhat plants would you say are most representative of the ‘artist’s garden’?
Cardoons and artichokes were a favourite of the Bloomsbury
Group because of their amazing architectural forms. Silvery foliage is seen throughout the garden thanks to Santolina chamaecyparissus
– cotton lavender – and Dianthus allwoodii ‘Alice’. Hollyhocks and red-hot pokers can also be found – they were once cut and displayed in vases to be painted by Vanessa Bell. I like to recreate some of the floral displays that you can see in the artwork of the Bloomsbury Group. Some gardens have a cohesive colour scheme, Charleston is very much about creating a vast canvas.
Q“I FEEL AN AFFINITY TO THE BLOOMSBURY GROUP AS I ADMIRE THOSE WHO MANAGE TO COMBINE GARDENING WITH SOME FORM OF ARTISTRY”
What areas of the garden have you been experimenting with recently?
I’ve been trialling a Japanese edible flower called shungiku, a variety of chrysanthemum that is a common ingredient in Japanese cooking. If all goes well I hope it will feature on the Charleston menu at some point.
QHow can people bring a touch of Charleston’s unique style to their own garden?
The whole ethos behind the garden at Charleston is that it is a tool for spawning creativity. You should choose plants that you are drawn to visually, that you love as standalone pieces for vases. Let self-seeders do their thing and allow things to run wild a bit. Charleston has also always been a space where food is grown. During the COVID-19 crisis we had a glut of lettuce, which we gave to a local food charity in Brighton.