"Sacha" wrote in message
.uk...
On 29/12/05 4:10 pm, in article , "michael
adams" wrote:
"Sacha" wrote in message
.uk...
Did anyone see the programme on the Heseltine's arboretum?
An upstart, who not only had to buy all his own furniture*, but
also had to plant all his own trees.
But good heavens above, so were many of those who employed Capability
Brown or Adam, for example! Where would gardens in this country be now
if the rich, landed, nouveau riche etc. etc. hadn't sent plant hunters
abroad on their behalf and funded entirely by their own fortunes? You
don't have to LIKE someone to admire the work they do, the legacy they
leave, do you? Or do you?
....
Yes but that was 200 years ago. Those people were true innovators at
the time. Nobody objects to that.
The point is that by their very nature, trees take time to mature.
And so any such scheme will probably need at least 50 years before it
will look anything like at its best.
It will probably take at least 20 years even, before anyone is any position
to decide whether particular plantings or groupings are a success or
not. Regardless of who was responsible.
Or to put it another way -
"Arboretums can make a poor choice for short-term self-aggrandisement"
michael adams
....
*a remark made by Michael Jopling in respect of Heseltine, quoted
in Alan Clark's Diaries and often misattributed to Clarke himself.
Clark's grandfather was in fact a Glasgow Cotton maunufacturer who
founded the family fortune. While his father Sir Kenneth "Civilisation"
Clark had to buy his own Castle, Saltwood in Kent, from Bill Deede's
family who lost all their money in the Wall St Crash,
Tsk. Imagine being successful.......... The whole of English history is
full of such stories and incidents. I think it's wonderful - makes it all
the richer. Upstart to Duke in two generations - three if they're a bit
slow with the hooks and eyes.
Remember that old saying about rags to riches to rags in three
generations?
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)