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Garden Glass - Urban Chic

I was reminded yesterday of one of the garden fads that has passed on - sadly, I think, because the gardens that were created during its time were truly imaginative and stylish. It was the elemental garden - Air, Fire and Water being the elements used (earth being a bit of a given, in the circumstances) and even a few Wood and Metal gardens were built. The elemental garden was a late nineties derivation of urban chic and it was swiftly superseded by the Feng Shui or Combined Element garden, which used all the elements in 'harmony' to create peace, prosperity and, presumably, plant heaven! Anyway, I thought of this because I was visiting a graphic designer who has clung to his old-style elemental garden, despite being told by all kinds of New Age consultants that it has 'bad Feng Shui' and I have to say it still looks wonderful to me. His is an Air garden and it works with the following ingredients: colour, light, glass, fragrance, sound.

• The colour range is pale to deep blue


• The light is subdued but from multiple sources - wall lamps, floor lamps, blue glass shades, underwater lights in a round blue pool that looks like a shallow mirror and is topped by a white 'cloud' made of ceramic


• Glass is the key feature, and he has wind chimes, glass tables, deep blue glass coasters and wine-glasses, a glass sculpture of an angel ascending etc


• The fragrances are light and citrus-based, nothing heavy or musky. So he has raised flowerbeds that contain: lemon balm (variegated) lemon verbena, narcissus, a white lilac, and in winter snowdrops and chionodoxa as well as miniature iris that are light blue and slightly fragrant


• Sound comes from the wind-chimes which are made of glass and metal and from a underfloor speaker system which plays ambient music.

Element gardens work really well if you have a small space, often already paved or concreted, or a roof garden. They can be cost effective to construct and are spectacular on the eye.

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