Emmanuel de Quillacq spent most of his childhood moving all over France. But after studying landscape design at the distinguished École du Paysage in Versailles, he felt a deep need to reconnect with his roots. So in 1990 he moved to his grandparents’ farm in French Flanders, a stone’s throw from the Belgian border, between Dunkirk and Lille.
The house was in a derelict state. There was rubble everywhere and the grounds were bare of any trees, apart from a lone walnut tree and a couple of willows. A long period of renovation and clearing started – the wheelbarrow years, Emmanuel likes to call them. He describes this process as a ‘natural system’. “You have to be patient,” he says, but the result is thoroughly at one with its environment.
Eventually Emmanuel was ready to work on his grand design. This would be a garden of chambres vertes or green rooms, each with a different theme, and linked with paths and corridors. The experience would be of contrasting light and dark areas – creating a sense of anticipation and excitement.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der April 2023-Ausgabe von Gardens Illustrated.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der April 2023-Ausgabe von Gardens Illustrated.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
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Field of Dreams - The naturalistic gem Hans Gieszen has created in former meadowlands near Utrecht in the Netherlands is the culmination of a lifelong passion
Ever since his mother gave him seeds as a small boy, gardening has been a passion for Hans Gieszen. He is completely self-taught, relying on garden visits and books for instruction, with one book in particular, Dream Plants for the Natural Garden by Henk Gerritsen and Piet Oudolf, influencing his style. “It was fascinating,” says Hans, remembering his first encounter with the book. “All those photos – pictures with mists and these tall and low plants and grasses. I realised I couldn’t do it in my small garden, but I kept dreaming and reading about it.”
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Passing the baton
The celebrated nursery and garden at Marchants Hardy Plants in East Sussex is now being managed by a new team, who continue to inspire visitors with innovative planting
My sweet gourd
Clark Lawrence, an American living in the heart of Italy's pumpkin province, loves growing different cultivars of pumpkins and ornamental gourds for their sweet flavours and fabulous looks
ANDY JASPER
The new CEO of the Eden Project on his excitement about a new chapter, the legacy he's left at the National Trust and his joy at heading home to Cornwall
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In just under nine years, the owners of Arvensis Nursery in Wiltshire have created a mature garden that displays their high-quality perennials
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From cool pastels and foliage to hot colours, designer Jo Thompson creates three stylish container combinations for autumn
