Munstead Wood

May 30, 2012

Munstead Wood

Munstead Wood is a name I've seen on many plant cultivars. We spent a few hours looking for Gertrude Jekyll's house and garden. This would be her personal garden that she cultivated while professionally producing garden designs like Hestercombe. We're pretty sure her house was in or apart of the buildings in either photo. It's hard to say, the land had been subdivided during the wars. We asked those few people we say, one being a gardener, and they didn't even recognize the name. I found that odd. The English are crazy about gardening. Don't they know their garden history?

My path

Garden Fluffer, Personal Gardener, Fine Gardening, Market Gardener these are some of the names I have toyed with as my official title or job description. Most would classify me as a maintenance gardener. But i do things much different than your basic gardening crew. It is all about the process or procedures that I use to make my green spaces.

Simple things, done well. A gardener’s influence on a space is through control. Pruning, thinning, dividing and moving plants around to create an authentic natural look. But this is far from Nature. Step lightly and preen like a large herbivore. Leave all clippings around its source to replenish and shade the soil, creating a good environment for seeds to germinate. Only remove weed seed heads, diseased material and anything sharp like rose thorns, all other green material is made into compost either in a formal pile or as a light mulch. Nothing looks more authentic than a plant mulched with it’s own leaves and twigs. That is my gardening process. Simply well.

This is on top of picking the right plant in the right place. When I am looking to fill a void, no matter if it’s an annual or perennial, tree or shrub, evergreen or deciduous; I start with California and Western US native plants. If nothing fits my requirements (exposure, water, form and floral timing, client preferences) then I look at plants from the other Mediterranean regions of the world.

This blog is my chance to show my work and those things that inspire and influence.

MUG | Mike's Urban Garden | MUG

May 30, 2012

Munstead Wood

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