In the northernmost parts of Scandinavia, the growing season lasts 60 days. The rest of the year is essentially a prelude to or recovery from winter. That’s all you need to know to understand the locals’ desire to spend every possible minute living outdoors, lying in nature. And classic landscaping elements like a picnic table, outdoor bathtub, and stylish restrooms are great for getting you through the summer months.
These are not people who take their country home and gardens for granted. They also don’t fuss over them or try to force nature to adopt artificial symmetry. Self-sown wildflowers thrive. Manicured lawns and neatly trimmed shrubs, not so much.
The son of a gardener from the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Danish garden designer Gudmund Njeland Brandt created modernist landscapes in the early 20th century that also celebrated the country’s sandy stretches of coastline, meadows and scrubby forests.
“What people look for in flowers and the reasons why they grow them can be very different; some people are particularly fond of the purely décorative effect of flowerbeds, while others are in an entirely different intimate relationship with plants and especially appreciate individual beauty and the whole vegetarian life,” author Brandt wrote in “Stauder.” “For the latter, perennials are the plants that more than any other express the appearance of the dawn and the seasons”.
Follow the example of architect Brandt in your own home and garden: soften sharp corners with a scattering of flowers. Before planting wild shrubs of perennials, draw the scale of the space in your manor house, farmhouse or cottage so you can understand the basic geometry.
If the front of your country house has similarly sharp lines, create a looser look in the flowerbeds to soften the effect of the architecture. Think: wildflowers, vines, shaggy hedges and shrubs.
Use natural and recycled materials in materializing your design ideas. Aged wood, old benches and metal containers turned into flower pots are a gentle invasion of nature’s realm.
Use colors found in nature. As a background, gray, brown, white and green will complement the plants and trees in the surrounding landscape.
Use a minimalist approach to hard landscape design such as paths and fences – “less is better” – so they can blend in with the natural surroundings.
Don’t try to tame your garden. After flowering is over, leave the seed boxes in place. Encourage volunteers to grow in the cracks. If you feel the urge to severely prune something, try having picnics until it disappears.
Learn from your plants. Pay attention to the ones that are blooming in your garden; they are happy with sunlight, soil and water conditions. Let them spread the way they want to
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