An Illusion Of Space: what a great article Jane!

» Jojo - what a great article Jane!

Your garden room article reminded me of a Rupert Bear story I read as a child, where Rupert and Bill Badger came across a ruined building, across one side of which a wall of ivy had grown, making the entrance invisible. This one image has become very important in my garden making. Rooms in a garden certainly invoke a feeling of wanting to discover. What is behind that door?

My garden is not small (by my standards). I have 1 acre, and 1/4 of it is fenced too keep the deer out. This area is rigorously cultivated and I have several 'rooms' there, one of which is where the chickens hang out. Another one is my blueberry room which I am very proud of now. It really is like a room now, as the Akebia vines have come grown up wires on all sides but one, to make walls. This wall also has a window, which looks into yet another room where tomatoes are generally grown in pots at the edges of a sunny sitting area. I like the way the formality of the house is repeated in this cultivated section, gently moving from completely civilized to completely uncivilized.

Outside the fence, everything changes and I have tried to leave it as is, except for a few foxgloves of different colours added to those who grow wild. It is really perfect in the wild area outside the fence, and interestingly enough, nature has created a few rooms of her own out there.

I love your suggestion of different floor treatments and it is one way of creating spaces and the illusion of change that I had never really considered at all. Thanks for your wonderful insight.

-- posted by Jojo