We caught up with George Carter, award-winning garden designer and owner of Silverstone Farm, to talk about all-things garden design, his inspiration and style. George was kind enough to lend us his beautiful garden and barns in Norfolk for our SS23 photoshoot, which provided the perfect backdrop to the Florentine collection.
HOW AND WHERE DID YOUR GARDENING CAREER BEGIN?
It began by being commissioned to work on the National Garden Festivals in the 1980s. They were urban renewal projects in depressed parts of industrial towns, and with Raf Fulcher we did several large scale schemes including two amphitheaters. This led to exhibiting at the Chelsea Flower Show for the first time in 1985 which was titled “A Vision of Versailles”. Even though it was only 20ft x 15ft it had impact and led to various other schemes inspired by 17th century formal gardens.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR DESIGN STYLE?
I have always loved gardens from the 16th to the early 18th century. They are often much simpler than you think and adapt well even to a very small scale. They respond to existing topography and relate well to houses in a very direct way, and have a calm order and geometry that is essentially modernist. The plant palette of them is limited, but native and Mediterranean planting predominates. Flowers are showcased in a rather jewel-like way: a different way of planting to the Gertrude Jekyll drift (which by the way I admire and like to use sometimes). What people often miss is that 17th century gardens, in particular, have elements that are really simple and sculptural. It is an accident of history that early Modernism in architecture wasn’t quite sure which way to go with the gardens that accompanied its buildings. After a brief flirtation with formality, Le Corbusier, for instance, chose an informal landscape park, of the type that Capability Brown might have devised, as most appropriate to the new architecture.
WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF DESIGNING A GARDEN?
In small gardens the relationship of the garden with the house is paramount. The views out from the house and the engagement of the inside with the outside are the starting point. The axes of the garden come from the principal windows and doors of the house. In larger sites the topography of the site and the aspect to the sun are the initial considerations. The architectural style of the house is also important, and to some extent dictates the style of the garden. Again in smaller gardens the boundary treatment is important as it provides the backdrop to the scene. The ancient concept of dividing a garden scene into foreground , middle-ground and distance is also helpful - this applies to gardens of all scales. It is a useful way of deciding the colour and tone of planting - darker richer tones in the foreground, giving way to paler bluer tones adds to the effect of recession.
WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR YOUR GARDEN?
Given that I live in flat Norfolk (paradoxically I am quite high up with long views) I have taken inspiration from Dutch 17th century gardens which were on the whole small and inward looking, subdivided into “rooms” of different character. Dutch gardens were rather different from French Gardens of the same period and, being made on the whole by middle class patrons, were more in tune with the scale of gardens today. They have a different take on the illusionism and grandeur of French and Italian gardens: easier to realise and simpler in detail. I like the fact that they can be quite minimal and their leitmotif is “Green Architecture”.
WHO / WHAT / WHERE ARE YOU MOST INFLUENCED BY?
I think garden history is the greatest resource and it would be foolish to ignore such a rich seam of ideas. All the best ideas have already been explored and one only has to rediscover them. But if I were to name more recent practitioners I would think of Norah Lindsay, Geoffrey and Susan Jellicoe and Lanning Roper who all had a very individual take on planting and layout. David Hicks was an inventive and skilled gardener. His 1970s book on Garden Design is an ignored treasure. Going further back William Kent must have been a fascinating designer to work with - able to design anything from a costume, a house, an interior to a large park. Humphry Repron by virtue of his published works and Red Books is an endless resource of reasoned argument for why some ideas work and others don’t. Thomas Jefferson, though not a professional garden designer, had a very modern take on planting and design both at Monticello and Poplar Forest. His experimental use of native American plants and the design of woodland and farm landscapes is way ahead of his time.
HOW DO YOU DECIDE ON THE ARCHITECTURAL STRUCTURE OF A GARDEN?
It's very easy to work out the architectural layout of a garden - the principal axes are determined by the house and by pre-existing long views. In confined sites hiding distracting or unpleasant objects outside the garden give a clue to where camouflage is needed. Garden buildings make a good distraction and provide a necessary viewstopper. I have designed many of these in a variety of styles. I rather like the 18th century idea of a building as a simplified facade in timber - at a small distance it conjures up a three dimensional structure. The detailing can be very bold and simplified - at a distance this gives a better effect than the most refined ornamentation. Broad effects of light and shade both in building and planting are usually the most successful - so think big and plant in large blocks backed by very simple hedges of contrasting hue.