To answer your questions ... Caspian Robertson, A la Mode Dining - An edible garden, Moscow Flower Show, June 2013.

Flowers, herbs and vegetables fill the large raised beds arranged at angle in the small garden presented by Caspian Robertson, Surrey Gardens, at the Moscow Flower Show 2013, A la Mode Dining. Two shrubs give height at the opposite sides of the structure, whose wood panels in the back echo the thin layers made of oak of the beds. From these, two iron spirals rise as decorative elements and practical supports to hang pots. In the front, a small table with two glasses of wine expresses the full potentialities of the garden better than many words: the pleasure of gardening, the joy of harvesting and the pride of cooking and eating home grown products in a beautiful setting. The idea is nicely supported: the list of the vegetables and herbs cultivated is available with the menu especially created with them by the famous chef Jean-Christophe Novelli. But, the list is just a suggestion, an open invitation to experiment with flowers and recipes in a daily contact with nature.

A la Mode Dining, design.

Experiencing the garden day after day allows a closer observation of nature, and the discovery, in all minute details and in the unexpected particulars, of its incredible work. Its perfect proportions speak of harmony and order, whose secret laws have always fascinated men. In A la Mode Dining, these ideas are suggested by quoting the Fibonacci’s sequence. This is a mathematical sequence, discovered by the Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci in 1202, where each number is the result of the sum of the two previous numbers, starting from 0 and 1, that is 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 ... . The sequence can be found, with amazing regularity, in the natural world, for example in the numbers of petals of some flowers, from columbines to daisies, or in the pattern of the bracts of a cone, or of the scales of a pineapple. In the garden, the spiral pattern of the two iron ribbons is the geometrical transposition of this sequence. An invite not to forget, between salad and thyme, this universal rhythm.

Caspian Robertson, A la Mode Dining Garden

Writing this post, some questions came up and Caspian Robertson, the young garden designer with studies at the English Gardening School and Merest Wood and a growing international experience, kindly answered me.

TravelinaGarden: A la Mode Dining is a contemporary garden suitable for a corner in New York as well as in Paris or in Stockholm. According to your experience in Russia, which elements would you change, in the selection of plants or in the decorative elements, to make it  more "Russian"?

Caspian Roberston: Where as the design remained constant the planting has heavily adapted for the Moscow show. This was a necessity due to the sever winters experienced in Russia compared with the temperate conditions of the UK. There are some exceptions to this, such as a selection of the David Austin Roses that where selected for there hardiness, "Munstead Wood" is a particularly good example of this, which boasts a fantastic fragrance.
The planting was also changed to better fit with the Russian preference for bright, sharply contrasting colours as opposed to the more reserved pallets that are very much in vogue in the UK at the moment.

Plant List

TravelinaGarden: The garden in Moscow was full of beautiful flowers and vegetables. How do you see this garden in late autumn? Do you prefer "ready-to-flower" annuals, to have instant effect, or perennials, to follow the cycle of nature?
 
Caspian Robertson: The garden was first built for an Autumn Exhibit, thus heavily made use of fruits, vegetables and other autumn produce. (see attached plant-list and photo). I have always preferred planting to encompass herbaceous perennials and deciduous shrubs, as well as a wide a season of flowering interest as possible. This not only extends the time for which the garden looks inviting for visitors but also better provides for pollinating insects.
Naturally, for the purposes of a show the planting is somewhat biased towards the show dates! 

TravelinaGarden:  In your garden, nature is beauty, pleasure and something useful and necessary. Quoting Fibonacci and his Golden Ratio, which aspect of nature you wanted to stress and why?   

Caspian Roberston: It was the classical philosophers of ancient Greece that first recognised that nature is intrinsically connected with mathematics, music and the arts. Indeed they did not distinguish between art and science, which I largely believe is a healthy stance to adopt whist in the creative process.
It is, therefore, no coincidence that the Fibonacci sequence and golden ratio -which is found throughout the natural world - is considered so appeasing to the eye by artists and architects alike. Its use in the garden was a recognition of its role in plant physiology as well as a means of enjoying the inherent beauty of its form.

Fibonacci's Spiral

Fibonacci numbers in sun flower

TravelinaGarden: What are your projects for the next future?

The Tregothnan Tea Garden, Mood Board.

Caspian Robertson: Immediately after the Moscow show I was building a show garden at the Royal Horticultural Society's Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, where I won a Silver Flora Medal for "Bugs in Boots", an ecological garden for insects that preserves rain water. This has led to a very interesting design in Saudi Arabia which is taking most of my time theses days. I will then be re-building Bugs in Boots for someone who bought it after the show right after my next show garden: "The Tregothnan Tea Garden", which I will be exhibiting at the RHS's Malvern Autumn Show.

Hopefully then I shall have a few weeks to start preparing another garden for the Moscow Flower Show 2014! 

Photos:
TravelinaGarden, Moscow, June 2013, except for:
A la Mode Dining, design, from the official presentation.
Caspian Robertson, A la Mode Dining Garden, Plant List and The Tregothnan Tea Garden, Mood Board, Caspian Robertson.
Fibonacci's Spiral, from: http://www.atuttoportale.it/didattica/botanica/botanica.aspx.
Fibonacci numbers in sun flower, from: http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/The-Numbers-of-Fibonacci-and-Nature-2.jpg/

Link:
Caspian Robertson Surrey Gardens
Shelley's Barn, The Old Farmhouse
Hermongers, Rudgwick, West Sussex RH12 3 AL
01403 824034 07980 554010
www.SurreyGardens.org
Jean-Christophe Novelli
www.jeanchristophenovelli.com 

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, Cape Town, at the Chelsea Flower Show, London.

Colonel Bird's Bath - Chelsea Flower Show, 2013.

I smiled when I saw a small piece of South Africa in the Great Pavilion at the Chelsea Flower Show in London last May. Inside a circular structure, the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens’s team had recreated two of the oldest parts of the famous Gardens in Cape Town: the Dell and the Protea Garden. A perfect tribute to celebrate the centenary of these Gardens that, on 1st July 1913, officially began their activity under the direction of Henry Harold Welch Pearson (1870-1916), botanist, with studies at Cambridge and training at Kew. He had reached Cape Town as Professor of Botany at the South Africa College in 1903, and, fascinated by the indigenous flora, became determined in creating a botanical garden devoted to its to study and preservation. Already in 1911, Pearson had identified a suitable area for this project at the feet of Table Mountain.

Bird's Bath - Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, 2011

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The land, part of Sir Cecil John Rhodes’s bequest to South Africa, was in poor conditions, but its superb position and beautiful views captured Pearson’s attention. Among the overgrown vegetation and the ruined buildings, he found precious springs of fresh and clean water where he decided to begin his work. With the help of Joseph William Mathews, the first experienced and enthusiastic curator, Pearson planted trees to shade this area, channeled the water and restored the bird-shaped pool where, now as then, spring water was collected before being used. Colonel Christopher Bird, one of the previous owners, had built the simple bird outline with Batavian bricks around 1811, creating, with this amusing self-celebration, one of the main points of interest of the Gardens.


 

Flowers - Chelsea Flower Show, 2013.

In August 2011, when I was spending a couple of weeks working with the Cape Town Garden Volounteers at Kirstenbosch, there were pale yellow Clivia in full bloom in the beds nearby the pool, shaded by tree ferns and high yellowwood trees, Podocarpus latifolius. In the natural environment, dappled shade and light breezes modulated the colours and scents of the flowers that I found faithfully reproduced at Chelsea with ferns, asparagus, Zantedeschia, Streptocarpus, Plectranthus, Impatiens, and the bright red round heads of Scadoxus. At Kirstenbosch, more plants grow along the cobblestone paths that emerge above the Dell in a natural amphitheatre where Pearson arranged his collection of 400 cycads, today, the oldest and most precious Living Collection of the Gardens.

Cycad Amphitheatre - Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, 2011.

The Protea Garden is not far. After Pearson’s premature death in 1916, the Gardens were further developed, and the area devoted to Proteas was completed in 1926. Protea, with Restio and Erica, are the main components of the Fynbos vegetation, the unique flora of the Cape Floristic Region. Around 9.000 species, of which 69% are endemic, grow in the area that stretches between Clanwilliam and Port Elizabeth, the smallest floral kingdom of the world. Fynbos natural vegetation mainly includes low, evergreen shrubs, with small leathery leaves, growing in poor acidic soils, but also an incredible variety of bulbs that create unforgettable landscapes in spring. At Kirstenbosch, Fynbos families are arranged side by side along the Fynbos Walk. During my stay, we spent a day working in the beds of the Erica Garden planting dozens of pots of ericas before the rain. I'm very proud of my little contribution that is growing against the imposing peak of Castle Rock.

Flowers - Chelsea Flower Show, 2013.

Landscape - Chelsea Flower Show, 2013.

Kirstenbosch won its 33rd gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show with these gardens that remind us of their origins and of their important work, more and more focused on the reintroduction of plants in the wild, and on projects to spread knowledge of this incredible flora among people. At the same time, the rich display recalls the hundreds of flowers that, over the centuries, had reached Europe from South Africa. For many of them the sensation they made at their first appearance vanished long time ago, but the beautiful Proteas retain their exotic and mysterious appeal, a message not to forget the importance of preserving biodiversity in our global world. This has always been the aim of Kirstenbosch, a botanical garden that, unique in the world, is entirely devoted to the spontaneous flora. Oaks planted by Pearson to shade and cool the Dell one hundred years ago were later removed to plant indigenous trees. Pearson's idea to create a place to preserve the natural vegetation is now a consolidated reality, of which people who strolled under the Great Pavilion at Chelsea Flower Show have seen a sample, hopefully, a tempting sample.

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, 2011.

Photos:
TravelinaGarden, Chelsea Flower Show, London 2013. Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, Cape Town, 2011.

Further Reading:
Mike and Liz Fraser, The Smallest Kingdom, Richmond, Surrey, Kew Publishing, 2011.

Further link:
Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Rhodes Drive, Newlands,  Cape Town, South Africa.
http://www.sanbi.org/gardens/kirstenbosch

Cape Town Garden Volunteers. For details on this year's trip contact: Patricia Walby, Denise Battersby and Tom Herbstein.
www.capetowngardenvolunteers.co.uk/‎