Sissinghurst – the Moat Walk
‘In the afternoon I moon about with Vita (Sackville-West) trying to convince her that planning is an element in gardening. I want to show her that the top of the moat-walk bank must be planted with forethought and design. She wishes just to jab in the things which has left over. The tragedy of the romantic temperament is that it dislikes form so much that it ignores the effect of masses. She wants to put in stuff which ‘will give alovely red colour in the autumn’. I wish to put in stuff which will furnish shape to the perspective. In the end we part, not as friends.’
Tag Archive: vita sackville-west
- Young Gardener, by Orest Kiprensky, 1817
‘Honour the gardener! that patient man
Who from his school days follows up his calling,
Starting so modestly, a little boy
Red-nosed, red-fingered, doing what he’s told,
Not knowing what he does or why he does it,
Having no concept of the larger plan,
But gradually, (if the love be there,
Irrational as any passion, strong,)
Enlarging vision slowly turns the key
And swings the door wide open on the long
Vistas of true significance.’
Vita Sackville-West, The Garden, 1946
Old School Gardener
Old School Garden 