Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2008 | Page 69

GARDENING

Unlike other, more scholarly
tomes, his work included
contributions from Mrs
Gerard, which added greatly
to its appeal for lady readers.
and turned it into a bestseller
-it's still a classic today.
Only rarely did lady
gardeners have the upper hand
in the relationship. Queen
Victoria and her spouse,
Albert, were known to be
very keen on their gardens
at Osbome House on the Isle
of Wight and in Scotland at
Balmoral. He did the layout
and she enjoyed the results,
often writing about the garden
in her diary. It was due to
their joint interest that the
Royal Horticultural Society
became Royal, and that
fashionable gardens became
essential for the rising middle
classes who wanted to keep
up with the Joneses. But the
actual gardening was done
by hired hands or the poor;
ladies didn't get dirty.
In wartime Britain, land
girls took over jobs men once
did, and once the chaps were
accustomed to seeing the fair
sex thus attired they were freed
from giving instructions, and
allowed to get hands-on in

their gardens
at home.
Since then
lady gardeners
have forged
ahead. The
reigning queens
of on-screen
gardening
today, are the
likes of Charlie
Dimmock,
Rachel de
Thame and
Carol Klein.
But for anyone
who thinks for
a moment that
the girls just
do the soft jobs
and leave the
hard work to
us chaps, I'd
just warn them
that Charlie Dimmock packs
a mean chainsaw. On Ground
Force, she was the only one
out of all of us licensed to
use one, with or without a
visible means of support.

choc-a-bloc at weekends and
bank holidays. Vita became an
expert in the art of creating
plant associations. Her famous
"white garden" Is still a shining
example today. She was also
the first of the well-known
lady garden writers, knocking
out her weekly piece from
her studio at the top of a
tower overlooking the garden
that was her test bed and the
source of her inspiration.

HM Queen Elizabeth the
Queen Mother had a good
eye for gardening, creating
a stunning garden In almost
impossible conditions on the
Caithness Coast, at the Castle
of Mey, In the shelter of the
ancient walls. It contained
all her favourite plants and
was planned to peak during
her holiday there. It still
looks brilliant today and
you can join the small army
of friends of the Castle of

life

Mey to help with its upkeep
(www.castleofmey.org.uk).

Beth Chatto is a
contemporary gardener,
nursery-owner and many
times Chelsea goldmedallist,
whose garden was and still
is an inspiration. Where
would we be now without
her guiding hand? It was she
who led the trend away from
"safe" shrubs and ground
cover gardens and encouraged
us to be adventurous with
perennials in the 1970s. Her
books The Dry Garden and
The Damp Garden are still
regularly reprinted today.

Helen Dillon is Ireland's
first lady of gardening, and
her remarkable patch in
Dublin is well worth a visit.
Opinionated, good-humoured,
but above all talented, Helen
Dillon has a devoted army
of fans, of whom I'm one.

Alan's all-time
great lady
gardeners list
Gertrude Jekyll , Edwardian
garden-maker extraordinaire,
took to gardening when her
eyesight grew too poor for
the fine arts and needlework
that were her original passion
she's always depicted wearing
spectacles that look like
the bottoms of bottles.

Vita Sackville-West stayed
at home to keep on top of the
garden while husband Harold
Nicolson, a diplomat, plied
his trade all over the wor1d.
She created Sissinghurst
(with Harold helping with
the planning), which today
is the National Trust's most
visited property. If you are
thinking of going I strongly
advise timing your visit for
off-peak weekdays since it's

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