John Brookes MBE celebrated his 80th birthday last week. He has been designing gardens for over 50 years, and is well known for his classic book Room Outside, which was first published in 1969. In my opinion John has done for garden design what Elizabeth David did for food a few years earlier, writes Bunny Guinness.
David introduced us to garlic, Mediterranean cooking and pasta, John opened our eyes to the possibility of designing great looking, functional spaces outside. As such, his ideas were equally groundbreaking. Up until then, as he put it: “We had been fed a diet of gracious living and country houses,” with glossy articles on immaculate lawns and ruddy rose beds.
Perhaps his enduring legacy is the validity of designing your garden and the necessity of it having structure. Apart from the obvious designs of larger gardens with avenues and walled gardens, small gardens were plant led.
Read the full article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/10409075/Happy-birthday-John-Brookes-the-king-of-garden-design.html
Comments