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7 tips for creating an elegant garden on your roof deck or balcony

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Living in the city doesn’t mean you can’t have a beautiful garden. “The key is to visualize the end goal, and then work backward.” said Craig Jenkins-Sutton

by
S. C.

Whether it’s an apartment or a mansion, roof deck gardens can be accessible to everyone. Topiarius, a Chicago-based leader of urban gardening services, works with rooftops of all shapes and sizes to create the perfect escape.
According to Craig Jenkins-Sutton, President of Topiarius, the key to any roof garden isn’t about square footage, it’s what is done with the space available. “You can make a basic roof deck garden simply by adding a covering of potted plants, or you can make an elaborate roof deck garden by creating a sky-high park filled with trees and shrubs,” said Jenkins-Sutton. “The key is to visualize the end goal, and then work backward.”
Jenkins-Sutton provided the following tips on how to make the best use of any roof deck space.
1. Create a destination. A roof deck should be a place to enjoy spending time with friends and family, so it’s important that it’s a relaxing, inviting space—not a half-finished project that’s too cluttered or too stark. Consider what is wanted in an outdoor space. Is it for grilling? Garden? Watch TV? Read? Sunbathe? Eat? Play bocce ball? Add the elements to the deck that are appealing, while also making it an extension of the home.

2. Plan for privacy. Plants and containers provide a lush, garden feel, while also enclosing the deck. Consider using other products such as wood, Plexiglas or metal to create panels. Topiarius has also created box-like panels with lighting as privacy screens. And outdoor fabrics (solids and sheers) work well as curtains on stainless steel rods.

3. Find shade/shelter. The best decks are all-weather decks. By placing something overhead, like pergolas or an umbrella, the outdoor space can be enjoyed rain or shine. Pergolas, which are structures with four corner posts and beams running from side to side, come in all shapes and styles and they can be designed to cover partial or full spaces. For shade and privacy, grow vines on the structure or add retractable shades.

4. Go vertical. Build up, not out, to make the most of the limited space. Consider a water feature, artwork or even a “green wall” on the deck. Green walls are beautiful, but it’s important to know that in the Chicagoland climate (zone 5), the best bet is annuals.

5. Grow your veggies. Some of the best sunshine hits roof decks, so why not start an urban farm? Use simple containers to grow a tomatoes or herbs. For a higher crop yield, consider a raised bed planter. With a peat-based potting soil, rooftop veggies will be very happy.

6. Slake your plants’ thirst. Drip irrigation is key for container gardens, which need more water more often for almost all seasons in order to thrive. When building a new home, make sure to have a spigot with a backflow preventer installed in an accessible but off-to-the side place. For existing roof decks, run water lines from a spigot on the side of the house.

7.Find audio/visual aids . Whether ambient lighting, safety/directional lighting or entertaining lighting is being used, the ambiance of the space is important. Lighting can be hard-wired and incorporated into the whole design or accomplished through usage of outdoor lamps. And don’t forget sound. Consider incorporating outdoor speakers into the design to transform the area into a prime party space.

by
S. C.
03 June 2013 Teatro Naturale International n. 6 Year 5

© REPRODUCTION RESERVED

The Root of It All: In need of garden help or advice?

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Would UW-Extension help develop plans for planting our yard and gardens? We have a lot of space and would like to put in some new gardens. We want to make good decisions about what to plant but we don’t really know how to do it. Also, we have a lot of shrubs and flowers in our yard that we don’t know what they are; can you identify them for us? Will master gardeners come to our home and help us? We could pay them. — Robert, Racine.

UW-Extension and the master gardener volunteers provide educational services to the community using university research and resources. Our purpose, to which we commit, is to teach, learn, lead and serve, connecting people with the University of Wisconsin and engaging with them in transforming lives and communities. There are many ways that we work to serve our communities, but we are not a horticultural business so we do not hire out for private gardening services.

We do provide assistance in other ways, however. There are many publications on our UW-Extension publications website at http://learningstore.uwex.edu that can help you choose the right plant for the right place and learn more about gardening. Also, our master gardener volunteers, who work as plant health advisers, can help you identify plants if you bring in plant samples or photos of the plants you would like to know more about.

These volunteers have different areas of specialization and interest; some enjoy working with community members on garden design, some enjoy teaching others about vegetable gardening or use of native plants. They all can help you with identification of flowers and shrubs.

In addition, the plant health advisers excel at disease and insect questions, and will help you figure out why certain plants may not be doing well.

We have master gardener volunteers at the Racine County Office Building at 14200 Washington Ave. in Sturtevant on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon, and sometimes on Wednesday mornings. We also have master gardener volunteers on Tuesday mornings from 9 a.m. until noon, and on an intermittent basis at the Burlington UW-Extension office, located at 209 N. Main St. These volunteers answer the phones, respond to email inquiries and work with walk-in clients on all gardening questions. Be sure to thank them for their service to the community.

They volunteer their time out of a desire to learn more about gardening, but also because they want to teach others how to make good gardening decisions. Our landscape and gardening decisions affect us in many ways, impacting our quality of life, our pocketbooks and the environment.

If you would like to have someone come to your home and help with garden design, plant identification and garden labor assistance, we have many horticulture professionals who provide excellent service in this area.

We are fortunate in Racine to have an abundance of excellent local greenhouses, nurseries and landscaping businesses; at least one of them should have someone who can meet your needs.

Another place to search is www.findalandscaper.org; this is the Wisconsin Landscape Contractor Association website which lists the landscapers who are members of this professional organization. A quick search will give you a list of people to call in our area.

For more information on garden design and maintenance, visit our Wisconsin Horticulture site at http://hort.uwex.edu.

More questions?

Master gardener volunteers serving as plant health advisers are able to answer your questions at mastergardeners@goracine.org or by calling the Horticulture Helpline at (262) 886-8451 (Ives Grove) or (262) 767-2919 (Burlington).

Dr. Patti Nagai is the horticulture educator for Racine County UW-Extension. Submit your questions for The Journal Times QA column to Dr. Nagai at Patti.Nagai@goracine.org and put “Question for RJT” in the subject line.

Landscape designers can help prune your yard plan into shape

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Landscape designers can help prune your yard plan into shape

HANDOUT

Landscape designers can help prune your yard plan into shape

A narrow strip of land beside a house can be difficult to landscape. (Courtesy Peggy Krapf/www.HeartsEaseLandscape.com/MCT)

Landscape designers can help prune your yard plan into shape

HANDOUT

Landscape designers can help prune your yard plan into shape

A paved path, seating, plants and privacy can turn a small strip of land into an intimate garden. (Courtesy Peggy Krapf/www.HeartsEaseLandscape.com/MCT)

Landscape designers can help prune your yard plan into shape

Peggy Krapf/www.HeartsEaseLandscape.com via McClatchy-Tribune

Landscape designers can help prune your yard plan into shape

A narrow strip of land beside a house can be difficult to landscape (top left). With the right design, it can become an intimate garden with a paved path, plants and seating (top right). Transform a small area of a yard (bottom left) into an outdoor room with stylish and comfy outdoor seating (bottom right).

Landscape designers can help prune your yard plan into shape

HANDOUT

Landscape designers can help prune your yard plan into shape

Stylish, comfy seating invites guests to linger a while. (Courtesy Tami Eilers/www.mcdonaldgardencenter.com/MCT)




Posted: Sunday, June 2, 2013 12:00 am


Landscape designers can help prune your yard plan into shape

BY KATHY VAN MULLEKOM
Daily Press

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Never underestimate the value of professional landscape designers. Trained to know what plants work best and what designs function best, they can save you time, money and heartache.


“There is much more to landscaping than popping shrubs around a house,” said Peggy Krapf, a member of the Virginia Society of Landscape Designers (www.vsld.org).

“Good landscaping has a real artistic component — integrating architecture, plants and functionality — similar to interior decorating.”

Here’s what Krapf and two other Virginia landscape designers say about good garden design:

Consider the architecture: “I love to bring the architecture of the house into the garden,” said Krapf, of Heart’s Ease Landscape and Garden Design in Williamsburg. “Connecting them with fencing is a wonderful way to enclose the garden — making it feel like an extension of the house. Be sure to use compatible materials and colors in the outdoor spaces. If your home has a brick foundation, be sure to choose a matching or blending color for walks and pathways. Pick out paint colors for fencing, furniture and sheds that echo the accent or trim colors on the house. Choose a favorite flower color and repeat it around the garden for a cohesive look.”

Create a plan: “Develop a plan, make your wish list, set your budget, know the local climate and imagine how you will use the space. Also, consider maintenance,” said Eric Bailey, of Landscapes by Eric Bailey in Newport News. “Do you enjoy the garden? How much time do you have to spend? Do not restrict your landscape to only plants. Decks and patios transition your home from the inside out. If you have a patio, consider a pergola or arbor. If you have a garden path, consider a gate.”

Evaluate curb appeal: “Look at any issues that steal attention from the front door. … Hide trash and recycle cans from view,” said Tami Eilers, of McDonald Garden Center in Hampton.

“Always consider the colors and architectural design style of the house when choosing plants, flowers, paving materials and pots for front yards. Ideally, paving materials should reflect the same color as the roof.

“Placing a tree between the curb and the house gives a sense of added depth to the front yard; 90 percent of front-yard shrubs should be evergreen.

“Keep your house numbers and front porch well-lit, visible and clean, because this is the first place an arriving guest will see. Keep shrubs well below windows and clear from paths.”

© 2013 Richmond Times Dispatch. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Sunday, June 2, 2013 12:00 am.

Effort to save bees and other pollinators includes Florissant garden

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Grace Amboka from Nairobi, Kenya, and Charling Chen, a recent Washington University graduate, share a common purpose: Saving bees and other pollinators and growing more fruit and vegetables.

Concerned about the world crisis of declining bee populations, they and 26 other college students are designing and helping plant pollinator-friendly gardens in Florissant, Nairobi and Tucson, Ariz. Across continents and cultures, they say, they hope to increase public awareness about the importance of hazards facing bees and the need for human intervention to help.

“Most people don’t connect the micro-scale of the bee to plants and then to the food on their dinner tables,” Chen said.

With fewer bees to pollinate flowers and vegetables, crops and food production are adversely affected.

The year-long program is called PAUSE, Pollinators/Art/Urban Agriculture/Society/and the Environment. It’s part cultural “cross-pollination,” part ecological mission and part arts and garden design. In addition to the students, the Kenyan group includes scientists from the National Museums of Kenya in Nairobi. The American staff and experts come from the St. Louis Zoo and Tohono Chul Park in Tucson.

Increasing the number of native pollinators is so important to the St. Louis Zoo that it has its own Wildcare Institute Center for Native Pollinator Conservation. Ed Spevak, Curator of Invertebrates, is the center’s director and is coordinating the project here.

On June 18, the Zoo will offer the public a “Bee Thankful” dinner featuring food made possible by bees and other pollinators. The PAUSE students will speak at the event, part of “Pollinator Week.”

Next week, Chen, Spevak, Brittany Buckles, a recent graduate of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, and Mary Brong, a graphic designer with the Zoo, will travel to Nairobi to see the pollinator garden there.

Last month, Spevak and a Kenyan group traveled to the Tucson garden. Then, the Kenyans stayed a week in St. Louis to help plant the Florissant garden.

The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has contributed about $86,000 to the $200,000 cost of the one-year program. The remaining costs are shared by the Zoo and its project co-sponsors in Kenya and Tucson.

Spevak hopes the students will carry the message of the importance of pollinators to the community and especially to their generation.

“We want this — the Florissant garden — to become a model for other sites around St. Louis,” Spevak said. “We want to show others how you can develop and design a community garden or even a park that is pollinator-friendly and have benefits for local communities and beyond. Pollinators are incredibly important for all of our survival.”

To help pollinators survive, the St. Louis students are building a large two-flower sculpture they designed for the Florissant garden. It will used by bees for a nesting habitat. Colorful asters, sunflowers, cup plants and cone flowers also will draw and retain them.

In addition to Chen and Buckles, other participants are: Aaron Mann, an art education student at UMSL, Anna Villanyi, a Washington University communication design and anthropology major, Bingbin Zhou, a graduate student in architecture at Washington University, Trincy Nyswonger, a wildlife biology major at Lewis and Clark Community College, Heather Richardson, an anthropology major at SIUE, Brianna Hamann, a speech communication major at SIUE, Julia Gabbert, a Webster University student in journalism and environmental studies, and Shannon Slade, an architecture major at Washington University.

“Some people are fearful of bees but they’re so essential for our food,” Buckles said.

Other Missouri pollinators they hope to attract to the Florissant garden are butterflies, flies and ruby-throated hummingbirds.

The Florissant garden, at 601 St. Charles Street, by Old St. Ferdinand Shrine, now serves as Florissant’s Community Garden. Under PAUSES’ plans, it will be expanded to cover 3.5 acres.

Once completed, it will offer visitors a chance to stroll through prairie habitat, a wildflower walk, historic and Native American gardens and an orchard. A shared garden for local food banks will feed the poor and there will be raised beds for people using wheelchairs.

PAUSE is working with the city of Florissant, the Florissant Community Garden Club and Gateway Greening, which promotes community urban gardens, and expects to bring in the Missouri Prairie Foundation. Florissant gardeners are doing the day-to-day work on the garden.

GREEN SCENE Pride Inc. 25th annual Garden Tour to showcase landscaping

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ALTON — From flower beds to monuments to backyard chicken coops, this year’s Pride Inc. Garden Tour is truly a celebration of how landscaping beautifies both private and public spaces.


The 25th annual Garden Tour will be held from noon until 5 p.m. Sunday, June 9, showcasing nine home gardens, established gardens at Gordon Moore Park and the newly unveiled Western Military Academy Memorial, along with the second annual Art in the Garden Fair.

“We have a wonderful variety of garden styles this year that are really captivating,” said Debra Kannel, event chair. “I encourage everyone to come out, visit each garden and take some time to ‘smell the roses.’ Whether you are a novice or an experienced gardener, this year’s Garden Tour is sure to inspire our visitors to create some beauty in their own back yards.”

The variety of showcased gardens highlights the wide diversity of horticultural styles, which reflect homeowners’ individual tastes, as well as different growing conditions, ranging from shade to full sun.

One of the featured homes dramatically highlights the transformative effect of landscape design.

Building their home at 925 Rozier St. in 1985, Stephanie and Doug Mendenhall recently renovated their kitchen so it would serve as a more cohesive connection between indoor and outdoor spaces. The expansive windows provide ample views of their backyard oasis, which includes two patio areas edged with hostas, evening primrose, Shasta daisies, daylilies and liriope.

Although the couple enjoy looking out into the garden, they prefer spending time outside, whether it’s planting, weeding, mowing or taking time to savor the view.

“I love gardening, so it just keeps getting bigger and bigger,” said Stephanie Mendenhall, who spends at least an hour a day tending her plants. “That’s how we ended up with the hostas lining our driveway. Our lower garden at the back of our property is nice, because we can take plants from there and put them in other places.”

Mendenhall also uses decorative touches, such as placing pillows in turquoise and lime green to complement their gardenscape. Her love of vibrant color pays homage to her Mediterranean heritage.

However, Mendenhall describes her taste as “eclectic,” mixing contemporary design with vintage pottery, traditional wrought iron furniture, romantic candles and whimsical sculpture.

“We enjoy being out in the garden when the weather permits, and we eat dinner outside on most nights,” she said.

For Doug Mendenhall, “a cup of coffee and a newspaper in the morning” on the patio is a great way to start his day.

The other stops on this year’s tour include:

  • Jim and Patricia Belk, 1207 White Oak Trail, Godfrey
  • Felicia Breen and Chad Nelson, 2040 Alby St., Alton
  • Jean Cousley, 726 Belle St., Alton (Art in the Garden location)
  • Kent Hake, 1603 Liberty, Alton
  • Hank and Terri Hart, 4746 West Hill Drive, Godfrey
  • Christine and Gary Ilewski-Huelsmann, 436 Bluff St., Alton
  • Amy Meyer, 423 Bluff St., Alton
  • Gene and Sarah Ursprung, 19 Pond Way, Alton
  • Gordon Moore Park — Oriental and Rose Gardens and Heartland Prairie
  • Western Military Academy Memorial, 2009 Seminary, Alton

For the first time on the Pride Garden Tour, two of the showcased homes, Breen and Nelson’s and the Harts’, have chicken coops. The Breen and Nelson home also will be featured on Sierra Club’s Urban Farm Tour scheduled for the same day from 5 until 7 p.m.

Members of the Rose Society and Alton Park and Recreation Department will be available at Gordon Moore Park to share gardening tips and guide guests through the park’s Oriental and Rose gardens and Heartland Prairie.

“This is a great opportunity to learn more about our community treasures from local professionals,” Kannel said. “In the Rose Garden, rose experts will be on site, and ticket holders may enter into a drawing for a free rose bush.

“Also, at the Western Military Academy Memorial, people can visit the newly dedicated historical site that commemorates our rich history and reminisce to the sounds of the Alton Youth Symphony Chamber Orchestra.”

Complimentary cookies from Duke Bakery will be available for sampling.

For the second year, garden-themed artwork will be on display at the Art in the Garden Fair, located this year at 726 Belle St.

“Art in the Garden will feature at least 10 artists set up in tents throughout in Jeanie Cousley’s garden,” Pride Inc. Executive Director Sarah Ansell said. “Visitors can expect to find unique works by local and regional artists in a variety of mediums: painting, glass work, jewelry, fiber and mixed media.”

A longtime member of the Bucket Brigade committee, Julie Fraser, is a featured artist.

“Julie makes cupcake-style potholders from a variety of fabric designs, which will be specifically garden- and nature-themed for Art in the Garden,” Ansell said. “The proceeds from her sales support ‘Working Towards a Cure’ — a breast cancer charity that helps breast cancer patients with unexpected expenses that occur during treatment.”

Students from Marquette Catholic High School, ceramic students at Jacoby Arts Center and other local artists also will participate.

“It’s going to be a great tour this year. There are so many lovely gardens in our communities,” Pride Inc. President Karen Wilson said. “The Garden Tour is always a great way to kick off the start of summer and get some new ideas for your own garden.”

Tickets for the tour cost $12 and are available at the Alton Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau, Liberty Bank (all locations), Dick’s Flowers, Seasons Garden Center, Karen Wilson State Farm Agency, JMC Design Gallery Co-op, CNB Bank and Trust (Alton), Mississippi Mud Pottery or at the Pride office. A map with directions will be provided.

Tickets also will be available at each of the homes on the day of the tour.

Pride Inc. is a local, nonprofit organization dedicated to community beautification. Proceeds from the Home and Garden Tour will be used to support programs such as the Bucket Brigade, Student Pride, neighborhood improvement, and other beautification and service projects.

For additional information, visit the Pride website at www.prideincorporated.org. If interested in being on the Garden Tour next year, please contact the Pride Office at (618) 467-2375 or email a photo of your garden to pride@prideincorporated.org.

kbassett@thetelegraph.com

SMITH: Why schools need outside-the-box ideas

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Believe me, this wasn’t simply a bit of routine weeding and pruning. The SRHS students, whose hands-on program aspires to teach them life skills essential to becoming employed and as self-reliant as possible, restored and beautified Steele Lane School’s front yard.

They pulled trash out of the shrubbery and spread yards of wood chips in spots that were bare or weedy. And they placed potted plants to brighten the view of Steele Lane office staffers whose windows look out onto the back of an ugly wall.

When would the groundskeepers whose union filed a grievance over the kids’ project have performed that same work? Precisely never.

The essence of work — being diligent and thorough, taking and giving orders and functioning as a team — is what the inventive SRHS program tries to teach these students. kids. They don’t sit idle at desks but perform all sorts of creative, entrepreneurial tasks devised by themselves and by teachers seeking better ways to equip them for life.

The employees who could never hope to complete all of the landscaping work that needs to be done on school grounds aren’t in jeopardy of losing their jobs to these special-needs kids.

And even if they were, why are the schools there? To provide instruction and training children need to be prepared for adult life, or to provide contractual job security for groundskeepers?

Here, the teachers are striving to think outside the box, and they find themselves named in a union grievance for stepping on someone’s toes.

It seems the people griping about the move at the French-American charter school to substantially upgrade student lunches are doing the same thing as the union. They’re stifling creativity, complaining that what could become an model for schools everywhere isn’t fair because it’s not being provided to all the kids at all Santa Rosa’s schools.

Stay inside the box, the critics of the inventive SRHS living-skills program and the French-American school’s lunch program are saying. Keep all public-school kids inside the same box.

But drive past Steele Lane and imagine the endeavor and pride that went into that work, and get a sense of what can happen if we stand up for students to become unboxed.

SCREAMIN’ MIMI’S, possibly the coolest and creamiest ice cream parlor on Earth, came close to a disastrous meltdown the other morning.

Maraline “Mimi” Olson is so grateful that Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputy Vince Mestrovich noticed at about 2 a.m. Friday that the downtown Sebastopol shop was filled with smoke.

A ceiling vent fan had fried, dripping melted plastic onto a rack of paper supplies and igniting them.

Mestrovich alerted Sebastopol Fire, which got an engine there so fast that firefighters carried out the storage rack without spraying any water.

The relatively minor smoke and soot damage closed the shop on Friday, the last day of school and first day of ice cream season. But Mimi and her crew celebrated a catastrophe averted by lugging the goods outside in ice chests and dispensing free scoops and cups.

“The deputy and the fire department,” she rejoiced, “saved summer.”

THOSE FIRE ENGINES streaming along Highway 101 on Friday were bound to or from a memorial service at the Wells Fargo Center for Alexander Stevenson.

The ’91 Casa Grande High alum loved serving as a firefighter in Sonoma, Lake and Napa counties and never allowed brain cancer to dim his spark.

AT 2 P.M. SATURDAY the spirit and music of John Philip Sousa will fill the Healdsburg Plaza in an unusual, and free, concert.

The Healdsburg Community Band and the New Horizons Band will come together — 70 musicians, bedecked in black-and-white — to re-create a 1920s-era Sunday Sousa concert in a park.

They’ll play 14 greatest hits. That’s a lotsa Sousa.

(Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.)

Rethinking the lawn: Class will educate homeowners about drought-tolerant …

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The city of Mesquite will go under Stage 3 water restrictions on June 1. The water restrictions are being implemented to comply with the North Texas Municipal Water District’s water management plan.

As part of the new restrictions, lawn watering will only be permitted once a week on a specific day assigned by your address. The city of Mesquite, in conjunction with Keep Mesquite Beautiful, will be hosting a drought-tolerant landscaping class from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 1, at Rutherford Recreation Center, 900 Rutherford Drive.

“This is going to be a good class where people can learn what they can do to maintain their yards in drought conditions,” said Paige Swiney, executive director of Keep Mesquite Beautiful.

The class is part of the sustainable series that has been ongoing since the start of the year. This class will focus on sustainable landscape solutions that are beautiful, colorful, innovative, earth-friendly, cost-effective and drought tolerant. The workshop will include basic design, plant selection, proper watering techniques and other water-wise landscaping ideas. Attendees will receive free moisture meters and a plant selection guide.

The class will be taught by Lauren Miller, a landscape architect for the city of Mesquite. As part of the class, Miller will show before and after photos of a couple of yards that received makeovers to make them more appealing and drought tolerant.

“The use of native and water-wise plants in landscaping doesn’t mean your yard has to look like a desert hardscape. Learning to use irrigation wisely means you can have a beautiful landscape that will last through a hot summer,” Miller said.

Residents are invited to bring electronic photos of problem spots in their own yards to share as well. To preregister for the class contact Kathy Fonville at 972-329-8300 or by email at kfonvill@cityofmesquite.com.

IMPERIAL WHIMS

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In this 1890s steel plate engraving of the much-painted and photographed Taj Mahal, F. Frith and Co is acknowledged as its photographic source. Francis Frith was a pre-eminent travel photographer of the time when it was not unusual for lithographs to be based on photographs; it was more unusual, though, for the photographer to be named. However, this clearly was not likely in the case of Francis Frith, by then a well-known name in the world of travel and photography. He was originally a successful grocery shop owner whose fascination for photography coupled with a sharp business acumen soon saw the setting up of F. Frith and Co in 1859, a photographic views publishing company in Reigate, Surrey. In no time, it was producing photographs and stereographs for albums and, soon enough, the picture postcard. Frith made his way to the Holy Land and beyond, producing a copious number of images for the armchair traveller back home. By the end of the 19th century, on a rough estimate, his postcards of distant lands were being sold in as many as 2,000 shops throughout Britain.

Little surprise then that Frith sent photographers from his company to take images of the Taj. The present print (artist and engraver unknown), based on a well-composed photograph taken from the edge of the river bank that makes the monument tower and people in the foreground appear strangely dwarfed, was a useful addition to the growing body of visual and textual information available on the Taj. While in 1783, William Hodges was the first British artist of repute to paint the Taj, over a century before, Francois Bernier had written about its expansive walkways. Thomas Daniell and his nephew, William, had not only painted the Taj but also produced a small book of their prints entitled Views of the Taje Mahal at the City of Agra in Hindoostan, Taken in 1789.

Thus, when George Nathaniel Curzon visited the Taj for the first time in 1887, he had plenty to help him reflect about “the entrancing spectacle, the singular loveliness of it pouring in waves over my soul and flooding my inner consciousness”. In her book on British gardens in India, Flora’s Empire, historian Eugenia Herbert writes at some length on the controversial viceroy’s intervention in the landscaping of the Taj. Interestingly, though Curzon bombarded the Archaeological Survey of India and a whole posse of horticultural experts with views on how the re-designed gardens should look, his diktats did not seem to reflect the views of Capability Brown, the pre-eminent landscape designer of the 18th century, or even those of his own contemporary, landscape diva, Gertrude Jekyll. Like much else in his ‘reign’, Curzon, apparently, relied a lot on his own views of what the Taj gardens should look like. He had, of course, been to India three times before he became its viceroy in 1898, visiting monuments and gardens each time. Though he observed that the Taj was in “perfect condition”, he felt that the gardens needed considerable attention while keeping in mind “to restore nothing that had not already existed, and to put up nothing new”. Herbert observes that though the mausoleum itself escaped Curzon’s designing eye, the gardens were another matter.

The various images of the Taj gardens are most useful in their historical reconstruction and that by the brilliant 19th-century botanical artist, Marianne North, shows dense foliage of trees and flowering shrubs. Curzon wanted none of that and as Herbert observes, “set out to turn the Mughal gardens into an English park” with an orderly line of cypresses and low shrubs; the mausoleum, the pristine jewel in white marble, was to dominate and not be obscured by excessive vegetation. This was clearly a move away from the original landscape and as Herbert perceptively reminds us that for the Mughals “the garden setting was as important a statement as the tomb itself”. She added that historically the gardens were important spaces that often preceded the monuments. At a more formal level, important State visitors were received and entertained in them, poets recited their verses to an appreciative audience seated in comfort amidst perfumed bowers and, at times, armies were encamped in the ample lawns as well. The Mughal garden could be a focus of conviviality, of merriment if not bacchanalia, one where a verdant, somewhat overgrown expanse, nevertheless kept in mind the boundaries of geometric parterres. As late as the 1830s, Fanny Parks wrote appreciatively of the abundance of fruit trees, of bird song and of the rainbow colours of the flower beds.

All this was soon to go as George Nathaniel Curzon set about sanitizing the Taj gardens. While respectful of the detailing basic to the structure of the parterres, “English flowers” were banished in favour of lawns, and mahogany trees and palms, unnecessary obstructions to the vista, were pruned or removed. The viceroy had decided on how those who flocked to the Taj should view it: with little thought to historicity. Curzon mediated a new viewing for the eager tourist. The monument that had occupied such a special place in his heart was to glow in all its ethereal beauty from the minute one entered the 42-acre precincts. There was to be no competition from the gardens, even if this meant felling old trees and bushes that had been chosen and planted with such care by those to whom a garden was a space almost as sacred as the tomb.

The Taj complex occupied Curzon from almost the moment he arrived at Government House in Calcutta. As one of his biographers commented, “Agra . . . knew the fearful joy of five Viceregal inspections in six years”; each visit was followed by precise salvos aimed at the hapless officials of the ASI: the cypresses were too thickly planted; was it not possible to find bigger plants? Garish flowers needed to be removed; there should be more lawns… and so on. Even as he was planning to send Francis Younghusband to Tibet and planning on the Partition of Bengal, Curzon was continuing his interminable barrage of memos to the ASI and working on the Ancient Monuments Bill. As the work on the Taj complex neared completion, J.H. Marshall, who had been appointed its director general in 1902, commented with some bravado that the Taj and its environs could “hardly have looked more effective in the days of the Mogul Emperors than it does now.” There were others too who defended the viceroy’s foray into re-defining the landscape around the Taj: fruit and fragrance trees had been greatly admired — but perhaps Bernier and Tavernier had seen only young growth — and not the tangle of later years, they demurred.

Tall claims indeed which can be judged one way or the other with the copious visual and written material generated on the Taj Mahal over several centuries. A careful study of North’s paintings and the many photographs such as the present image taken prior to 1900 do indeed show rich vegetation and umbrageous trees through which the monument rises. The Curzonites altered much of that, and the contemporary viewer sees the Taj through the eyes of a 19th-century Western imperialist who felt that he could better the Mughal Empire’s aesthetic sensibility. He was not wrong in assuming that it is to the monument to eternal love that people throng from all corners of the world; the environs, he felt, must be kept tidily in place. Yet, one may well ask, was George Nathaniel Curzon justified in modifying for generations to come the context of that “snow-white emanation starting from a bed of cypresses?” Or, for that matter, why, armed as it is with a rich visual history and landscape and horticultural expertise, has independent India not thought of interrogating this supreme colonial intervention and recreated the clearly legitimate vision of yet another imperial power?

Gardens on all sides with room for landscaping

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WITH vacant possession this four-bedroom home in Derriford has two garages and driveway parking.

The entrance porch has self-cleaning glass and the reception hall has parquet flooring, a walk-in cloak cupboard housing meters, an attractive staircase to upper floor and a cloakroom with wc.

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The sitting/dining room has a wall-mounted slimline remote controlled flame-effect electric fire and French windows to the side and rear.

The open-plan kitchen has an extensive range of fittings, including base units and worktop surfaces, stainless steel sink unit, wall cupboards, integral hob and oven with extractor unit over and Travertine flooring.


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The breakfast/utility room has fixed cupboards, radiator, cupboard housing gas-fired combination boiler supplying central heating and domestic hot water, space and plumbing for washing machine and Travertine flooring.

On the first floor is a landing with contemporary staircase feature, linen cupboard and radiator.

The are four bedrooms and a bathroom.

The bathroom has a bath with shower fitting and hot and cold mixer tap, pedestal wash hand basin, wc, low-level suite, wall-mounted towel rail and radiator combined, tiled walls and tiled floor.

Outside the gardens on all sides are mainly laid to lawn but providing an opportunity for further landscaping.

There are also patio areas for al fresco dining.

There are two garages, one with a workshop recess.

The property also benefits from double glazing and gas-fired central heating.

Available through Shobrook Co (01752 663341) for £375,000.