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Although nothing to do with oriental planting, I think we all hugely enjoyed the Productive Gardens, from the story of the gardeners' tools of 1914 still found hanging in ruined sheds, to seeing a working Pineapple House (heated to 120F with rotting manure, through honeycomb brickwork walls) and the last original Paxton vinehouse. Every detail was thought through by the 19th century gardeners, from the use of cobble drains taking water to a central cistern, to the “beavertail” glass panes in the greenhouses, which direct the water away from the wooden frames. Gardening was not just art and a spade: it was science and engineering too, and only 100 years later we are scrambling to rescue that knowledge.
At Pine Lodge we had the pleasure of being guided by co-owner Raymond Clemo. Pine Lodge is unusual in that it is a much more recently created garden. In the mid-1970s, the Clemos were persuaded to open their then much smaller garden for a day, to raise funds for a hospice. More than 2,000 people turned up, and the garden has been expanding and opening to the public ever since. The Clemos are still buying land, and adding to the garden, the most recent addition being a field now planted as an arboretum. Its recent creation has not changed the tradition of oriental connections: 20 years ago Clemo saw an advertisement placed in the RHS magazine by a young man who wanted to go plant collecting in the Himalayas, and sent him a cheque. Pine Lodge now houses many of Chris Chadwell's introductions, and the relationship between Cornwall and the plant hunters continues. Students have now come to work at the gardens, including several from Japan, who have helped Clemo to create a replica of a traditional garden from Kyoto. Seeds were also contributed by colleagues at the Kyoto Botanical Gardens.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of Pine Lodge is its intimacy: it started small, and its most mature areas are the original densely planted mixed borders of shrubs, bulbs, and perennials, and its ponds and other water features, rather than its woodland gardens of huge rhododendrons, conifers, etc. Although the planting may be more exotic than most, its style is more familiar, and closer to something those of us with small gardens can aim for.
The Eden Project was a very different experience. Eden clearly has a manifesto, which is to educate, and our guide was a true evangelist.