The summer season is a natural time to recharge our bodies and minds, to get outside, to travel, and to see things in a new light. On the Wild Side, Experiments in New Naturalism, by Keith Wiley is a book that will help you do that all of that. Wiley, a ‘Somerset lad’ who grew up exploring the English countryside, and later became head gardener at The Garden House in SW England, presents a very personal look at natural landscapes around the world, and gives us inspiration for translating them into our own ‘wild’ places.
His philosophy of plant communities, and growing plants on a grand scale that matches their setting and climate (as seen in the wild) is beautifully illustrated through exquisite personal photographs of natural gardens in areas ranging from grassy meadows, woodlands, deserts, mountains, to coasts and cliff tops. He explores various planting styles, from using the color methods of impressionism to the form and shaping of plants for sculptural effects. He also explores how stone in the landscape should be used to add a new dimension, and how various types of water should dictate how and what is planted along its edges.
I came away from this book with a renewed interest in exploring natural systems for myself…. before they entirely disappear. I realize, sadly, that in some areas of the world, truly natural landscapes are becoming hard to find. Living here in the Pacific Northwest, I am blessed with having the wildflower fields of Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helen’s, and the Columbia River gorge almost in my backyard. I have enjoyed hiking and climbing in these areas and recall the thrill of seeing both the breathtaking view of a hillside aflame with Indian Paintbrush and Beargrass, or the more intimate setting of a small patch of Erythroniums blooming among the grasses and lichen under a cluster of oak trees.
I have evolved over the years into thinking that our mission as designers should be to give back some of these feelings to our clients. Many typical gardens today are boringly static and rigidly controlled, even as we attempt to provide our clients with beautiful and aesthetic arrangements. I recall seeing two large artic willows being robbed of their natural form with severe shearing, and turned into two giant ‘meatballs’ on the front lawn of a local home! How often we see this form of manipulation. How much more exciting a garden would be if we could see it change with the whims of nature…if we could allow plants to reseed, to rearrange themselves, and to take nature’s lead, not our own. This is only one of the lessons that Keith Wiley teaches us.
A favorite spot in my own garden is one that I have had very little to do with…a place where native grasses and Erythroniums (photo above) have spread out in a carpet under a huge Garry Oak. I watch for the display every spring, knowing it will always be different. This year Water leaf (Hydrophyllum tenuipes) has come to the party. Mother Nature, I have come to learn, is a great hostess!
On the Wild Side, Experiments in New Naturalism by Keith Wiley
256 pages..... ISBN 0-88192-636-1
$34.95 U.S.Published by : Timber Press, April 2004