CEDRIC MORRIS was a modern Arcadian: that is, he lived for the present. In spring and summer, he painted and gardened at Benton End, in Hadleigh, Suffolk; each winter, he headed south to Mediterranean or African shores. Shortly before his death in 1982, at the age of 92, he tore up the photographs of himself taken in Man Ray’s studio in 1920s Paris, when his dancing with the socialite Duff Twysden—and his looks—made the clunky Ernest Hemingway jealous enough to mock Morris and his lifelong lover Arthur Lett-Haines—or ‘Lett’—in the night-club scene in The Sun Also Rises (1926).
Morris did not miss his beautiful youth. But he did care about what happened to the plants he had grown at Benton End, a Tudor house bought in 1940 to become an art school. Beth Chatto, his protégé, would compare the walled garden there to a ‘collector’s cabinet’.
At this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, the Nurture Landscapes Garden has been designed by Sarah Price as an evocation of that lost garden. The bearded irises Morris bred in painterly colours will catch the eye first; Sarah Cook’s display of Benton irises —each named after a person or pet, such as Duff, Nigel (after his lover Nigel Scott) and Menace, a cat—was the sensation of the Marquee in 2015. But by a remarkable story of horticultural legacy, the garden will also re-unite many of the species plants that Morris collected on his winter trips.
Bu hikaye Country Life UK dergisinin May 17, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Country Life UK dergisinin May 17, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery