While I was a student at the London College of Garden Design, I started to explore what it means to create gardens in an ecological way. Before starting my diploma, I spent several years researching how we can restore balance to planetary ecosystems. I was fascinated by the ways that indigenous peoples speak about nature and their relationships with the living world around them. I immersed myself in understanding how twenty-first century lifestyles often leave us feeling disconnected from nature even though we are interdependent with all of nature’s processes. Ecological design tries to reconnect us with the natural world at the same time as creating biodiverse and biocomplex landscapes that help nature to thrive.
Embracing our interconnectedness with nature creates a different kind of relationship, one in which we think beyond a purely social, scientific or aesthetic appreciation. I loved reading Robin Wall Kimmerer’s descriptions of working in her garden in Braiding Sweetgrass. She spent years restoring her pond and describes how her life became materially and spiritually intertwined with it. She writes ‘I worked on the pond and the pond worked on me. Together we made a good home’. This feeling of connection to our piece of land increases our wellbeing – it boosts our mood, helps us to think better and can give us a greater sense of meaning and satisfaction with life. Ecological gardens connect you while nature flourishes too.
As I worked through my diploma, my own design principles started to emerge: work with what’s already there; understand how light and shade affect the garden; explore the soil; reuse materials if possible by crushing old stone or concrete; use a mix of native and introduced species to create complexity; create vertical layers of with trees, shrubs, grasses, perennials and ground cover. For sure, my principles will grow and change as I grow my business and I will write more about this. If you’d like to chat, please get in touch at gill@gillhallgardens.co.uk
https://www.gillhallgardens.co.uk/
Robin Wall Kimmerer Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Minneapolis, Minnesota: Milkweed Editions 2013
Cosmic Jive 