Garden Design Lessons from Barnsley House
It was a rectory until 1932 when Rosemary Verey's father-in-law purchased it. The house was given to Rosemary Verey's husband, David, in 1951. By the time Rosemary Verey moved into the home with her family, she had some practical gardening experience. "Although I arrived here more than fifty years ago, I constantly try to see the garden with new eyes. This is a wonderful thing about gardening: trees are ever growing taller, shrubs developing, ground cover taking over. The scene changes and every year has its own character, influenced by frost, rainfall, and sunshine -- elements over which we have no control; but we can aim to plan so that each season has its moments of interest, with winter scent, spring blossom and bulbs, summer exhuberance and autumn colour." Let's Talk About Rosemary VereyRosemary Verey (1918 - 2001) came to gardening later in life, only seriously pursuing it in her 40s. Yet, her passion, coupled with a keen eye for design and an insatiable appetite for knowledge, propelled her to the forefront of garden design in the latter half of the 20th century. "Knowledge of the art of gardening surely includes an appreciation of the history of design, of the movement of plants from one continent to the other, and of writings of both the ancients and contemporary authors. A turning point in my gardening life was when I started collecting old books." She created garden elements at Barnsley House inspired by historic gardening trends from the time the house was built. One great example are the two Knot gardens along the side of the house. The designs were inspired from old gardening books. One was inspired by a 1616 English translation by Gervase Markham, while the other, called The True Lover's Knot, came from Stephen Blake's 1664 book called The Compleat Gardener's Practice.
Here is a photo of the Knot gardens from the time I visited. It's hard to make out the details, but you get the idea.
There is a great video on YouTube called Barnsley House: with its creator Rosemary Verey. I've included a link to the video below. I think it's inspiring to hear gardeners talk about their gardens and she has the most wonderful voice. Rosemary Verey reminds me of Tasha Tudor in this video. Let's Talk About the GardenThe book begins with Rosemary Verey providing some background into how her garden was created. "I never made a master plan of my garden. It has evolved slowly, probably because initially I knew little about design. Maybe this is the reason visitors say it is a restful garden, where they can relax and yet come upon unexpected corners. I find those words inspiring. It's easy to look at a garden after 30 years in the making and be fooled that is looked incredible from the start. The great thing about Rosemary Verey's Making of a Garden is we read how features were added year after year. She became a master of vertical space. The garden is made up of long vistas, focal points, and layers of shrubs, small trees, and mixed plantings.
Garden Design ElementsReading Rosemary Verey's Making of a Garden highlights several important garden design elements that we will start discussing next week.
I created a YouTube video about the 5 professional garden design tips we can learn from Barnsley House. That's it for this week. Thanks for being here. Happy gardening,
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Garden Moxie
I inspire Midwest gardeners to transform their ordinary yards into charming retreats. Through practical advice, creative ideas, and historical garden wisdom, I share ideas to inspire you to create a garden to enjoy year round.