……OF SPECIAL INTEREST……THE GARDEN MUSEUM, the U.K.

Garden Museum Literary Festival 2023: Tickets available now! We are delighted to announce that the next Garden Museum Literary Festival will be held at Parham House, West Sussex on Friday 23 and Saturday 24 June 2023, hosted by Lady Emma Barnard and her husband, James. This boutique annual festival is Britain’s only travelling Literary Festival, with previous hosts including Chatsworth House (2022), Helmingham Hall (2021), and Houghton Hall (2019). Each venue provides a space over two summer days for us to celebrate the best in garden writing and to share what inspires us in gardens. Parham House is one of the country’s finest Elizabethan houses set at the foot of the South Downs in West Sussex. This beautiful place, with its award-winning gardens, has changed little over the centuries and remains a family home. The festival will include talks by some of the UK’s most influential and award-winning garden designers and authors, as well as opportunities to explore the magnificent historic gardens and house at Parham. Limited tickets available so don’t hesitate! Weekend Tickets (Friday and Saturday) Standard: £225 Friend: £190 Concession (Young Frond/Student/Unemployed): £95 Day Tickets Standard: £140 Friend: £120 Concession (Young Frond/Student/Unemployed): £60 The festival programme will be announced at a later date. Book tickets Images: Parham House photo by Elizabeth Zeschin; Parham Long Gallery with vine leaf pattern painted by Oliver Messel, photo by Jonathan Wilkinson

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THE GARDEN MUSEUM NEWS …the UK

Sow, Grow Eat A new programme for teenagers to explore horticulture and cooking Do you know any teenagers aged 13-17 based in South London who might be interested in dipping their toes in the career of a gardener, food grower or chef? We are looking for up to eight teenagers to join our free ‘Sow, Grow, Eat’ programme, which involves spending one Saturday a month at the Garden Museum for ten months. Participants will learn sowing, planting and gardening skills in our greenhouse and gardens, then in our studio kitchen we’ll do hands-on cooking sessions using some of the produce grown throughout the year. No prior experience necessary, just an enthusiasm for plants! Apply by Monday 13 February Programme runs March – December Find out more Life Drawing Class Lucian Freud: Drawing Plant Portraits Back for a second session by popular demand! Lucian Freud is infamous for his gritty, fleshy nudes, and so inspired by our current exhibition Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits, London Drawing Group will be offering a life drawing class like no other. Set against the soaring backdrop of our central nave space, and nestled amongst a backdrop of lush plants, our incredible model Lily will be posing in, with and amongst our leafy friends. Tickets include access to the exhibition, guided instruction and bespoke drawing exercises throughout our Life Drawing class. Fri 24 February, 6.30pm – 8.3pm £30 Standard, £25 Friends / Young Fronds Book tickets Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-77): View Across the Rooftops of Lambeth Palace A rare 17th century sketch of the view from our medieval tower is currently on auction with Sotheby’s. We take a closer look at what we can learn from the sketch in this article, reproduced from ‘Sotheby’s New York January 2023 Catalogue: Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries’: Wenceslaus Hollar’s bird’s eye view of Lambeth House (Palace), official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, is a splendid example of the artist’s dynamic ‘on the spot’ sketches. It has not appeared at auction since the drawing was discovered in a sale, in 1931, by the art historian, Iolo A. Williams. Its re-emergence, as a work by Hollar, provides a wonderful opportunity to delight and delve into the world of this fascinating Bohemian artist, whose drawings rarely come to the market. Born in Prague in 1607, Wenceslaus Hollar was a prolific draughtsman and printmaker, who is perhaps best known for his visual records of mid 17th century England. His drawings and prints of London before the great fire of 1666 are historical documents of great importance, as well as aesthetically appealing images of a bygone world. Keep reading

Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits Exhibition Catalogue Can’t make it to see our Lucian Freud exhibition in person, or want to find out more his artistic relationship with plants? The exhibition catalogue is available now in our online bookshop! Beautifully illustrated with examples of Freud’s plant paintings and etchings, this catalogue includes interviews with Freud’s longtime studio assistant David Dawson and daughter Annie Freud. Order your copy for just £20 Buy a catalogue Call for papers! Visions of Welfare Conference This May we are hosting an international conference discussing the role of women in the creation of the spaces of the post-war Welfare States, co-hosted by the Women of the Welfare Landscape Project, the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain and the Women in Danish Architecture project. The importance of quality open spaces for health and wellbeing has been highlighted more than ever by the Covid-19 pandemic. And historically the provision of well designed, accessible, open public spaces was a crucial part of a wider concept of economic redistribution. While previous research has uncovered the work of many individual ‘heroines’ and celebrated iconic design projects by women, this conference invites abstracts that consider the role of women in creating the spaces of the period internationally with the aim of looking beyond individual achievements and professional boundaries. Abstracts of 200 words are invited and should be submitted online by Monday 30 January 2023 Tickets to attend the conference will be available soon Find out more Object of the Week: Illustrated Letters in the William Shute Barrington Archive By Alice Ridgway, Archivist January 16th marked ‘Blue Monday’ the most melancholy day of the year. However, mine was brightened by discovering some charming drawings in the William Shute Barrington archive, which we hold in the Archive of Garden Design. The archive contains correspondence, plans, plant lists, sketches and paintings between 1920-1940 relating to the gardening career of Viscount William ‘Bill’ Reginald Barrington (1873-1960). After a career in the military, Barrington restored and redesigned gardens at a number of stately homes in East Sussex and further afield. His gardening philosophy aimed to give the illusion that a garden had existed forever, stating that ‘its relationship to the surrounding fields, hills and buildings should have a naturalness borne of scrupulous attention to detail’. The letters I found were sent by Guy Roderick Falkner, an unknown gardening friend of Barrington. They thank him for his plant cuttings and hospitality and give short updates about his horticultural projects. My favourite drawing features two cartoon birds – most likely a depiction of the tame pair of starlings that lived with Barrington alongside his partner, Violet Gordon Woodhouse. Keep reading Images: Sow, Grow, Eat illustration by Ross Bennett; Plant Life Drawing photo courtesy of Luisa MacCormack; Visions of Welfare Conference © Fortepan / Szabó Gábor

Garden Museum 5 Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB gardenmuseum.org.uk

Tea Time…….

Today we received a special “gift” sampling of nutritional, medicinal, herbal tea recipes. The art of herbal tea preparation is a ritual of creating the perfect delicious blend and flavor balance. It encompasses a mix of select herbs appropriately measured to create flavor, nourishment, and served in calm and peace ….with love and care.

Enjoyed by those who treasure

“the art of tea.”

• ••••••••••• •

Tea Pots

Tea Leaves

Tea for 2

Tea Prep

Tea Cup

Tea Lover

Tea & Writing & Books

Tea Party

Tea and Sympathy

Tea….a hug in a cup

Afternoon Tea

Tea Sandwiches

Wedding Tea

Art of Tea

Tea Samplings

Tea Mixing

Tea Shop

Sweet Tea

…….thank you dearest friend…….

……having tea now……

feeling very warm

and very relaxed!

A Child Is Born

Glory to God in the highest….and Peace to His people on earth.

•  AMEN •

…what Christmas is all about…

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Dear Gardening Clients

Friends…..

Wow….we sure do miss all of you. It was such a fantastic gardening year. Most of you were generous  to trust us to plant new things in your gardens. And you also were with us the entire summer and up to fall by subscribing to our “seasonal maintenance” program. In fact, you were all with us up to the end of November. We completed late fall clean ups for all of you and we are confidant your gardens are in great shape for spring.

Thank You very much for your business this year. Thank you for trusting us and thank you for letting us use our judgment in caring for your property. Truth be told, it’s hard for us to let go in late November. Your yards are our gifts from heaven. Gardening is our joy and our “calling.” It is quite simply our honor to  care for your property. We are so grateful for your work and the long term relationships we have built with you.

Please have a healthy, safe and joyous Christmas.

Blessings to all….,.

”CONTESSA”

THE GARDEN MUSEUM News, the UK

Sarah Price: Designing a Cedric Morris-inspired Garden For the 2023 RHS Chelsea Flower Show, The Nurture Landscapes Garden built by Crocus and designed by Sarah Price will be inspired by artist-plantsman Cedric Morris’ garden at Benton End. To find out more about what to expect from this exciting project, we had a few questions for Sarah:How did this project come about? Nearly four years ago, I was lucky to visit Benton End, and spend time immersed in the garden. It was April and demure fritillaries and Anemone pavonina scattered the long grass like a beautiful tracing. Entrancing, and as close to a medieval mead as I’ve ever seen, this filigree was a physical and enduring memory of Cedric Morris’ plantings. This visit to Benton triggered memories of Sarah Cook’s mesmerising display of Benton Iris within the Pavilion at Chelsea in 2015. The poise of the Iris and their wavering hard-to-describe colours were pure, visual pleasure! Together with Cedric Morris’ paintings, these two experiences helped to build up a picture of Benton End as a place of astonishing creativity; a place latent with inspiration for a Chelsea garden design. Knowing that the plants and materials of a Chelsea garden could support the reimagining and reopening of Benton End gave the project added depth and longevity… Keep reading Merry Christmas from the Garden Museum! This is our last newsletter of the year, the next Garden Museum News will land in your inboxes early January. If you’re planning to visit the Garden Museum over the festive season, please make a note of our Christmas closure: Garden Museum: last day open Wednesday 21 December, re-opening Monday 9 January Garden Café: closing after lunch Friday 23 December, re-opening Monday 9 January We hope you all have a restful break, and look forward to welcoming you back in the New Year! Plan your visit

Object of the Week: Christmas Tree Growers, c.1912 This photo from the 1912 publication One & All: Gardening Annual of Amateurs & All Garden Lovers shows two men pulling up the year’s Christmas trees, location unknown. Gift of Tony Elphick Explore our collection online Images: Illustration for The Nurture Landscapes Garden courtesy of Sarah Price Landscapes

Garden Museum 5 Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB gardenmuseum.org.uk

Contessa Explores A Writing Career

Hello ContessasHome Friends….

After blogging for fourteen years, and writing about gardening, yoga, my store in Delray, daily reflections and my spiritual prayer times, I am led to pursue my newest “calling.” I want to write a book. I have gazillions of thoughts and ideas in my head about things to write about. I have decided to pursue a writing career. My blog is and will remain a continued communication tool, in order to be able to keep in touch with all of you…..my gardening friends. 

I have been thinking about writing professionally for about two years. Today I visited the library to find a few books about how to start a career in writing. I will be doing some studying and some writing. I’m not sure where I’m going exactly…but it is all about getting started. Will it be a novel, or a series of short stories, a devotional, poetry or a collection of daily spiritual reflections. I do not know that yet. But “beginning” is where I will start. Creating characters possibly, making characters come to life, inventing a story and a writers style all come in to play. Being a writer will require some solitude, research, writing and rewriting and using the inner resources of my mind to gather all the material I’ve stored in my brain for these last fourteen years while I was blogging. My inner urge to write comes from my creator. I am no accident and neither is my inner urge to write. It’s all part of His plan for me. My best self so to speak. Diving deep into my mind to explore so many things I have learned about my life, my previous careers and just simply about learning. Life long learners are interesting folk. We have lived and grown and shared. This new adventure is a place I’ve not been before. But it’s been planted as a seed in my heart and so I will begin…..and I bring with me, for support and encouragement, my best friend, and the love of my earthly life and my soul mate. [JB/MP]

Tonight I’ve brought four books home with me from the Duncan Library in Delray. All very different. Each focusing on writing……and so now, for a week or so…. I will become a student of others research about writing. I will share with you as I go along in this new and scary, but exciting writing journey.

“Contessa”

GARDEN MUSEUM NEWS, the U.K.

A year of art and gardens awaits! We are delighted to announce our 2023 exhibitions programme: Private & Public: Finding the Modern British Garden The interwar period in Britain saw a flowering of artists retreating to plant and paint in their gardens. This exhibition will bring together intimate depictions of private gardens and public green spaces by artists including Charles Mahoney, Evelyn Dunbar, Eric Ravilious and Ithell Colquhoun. Presented in partnership with Liss Llewellyn. Works will be available for purchase in aid of the Museum’s educational programmes. 22 March – 25 June 2023 Find out more Jean Cooke: Ungardening Jean Cooke (1927-2008) was not a conventional gardener, once describing ‘ungardening’ as her hobby. But she derived much inspiration from her overgrown London garden and the cliff-top meadow at her Sussex cottage. Emerging from the shadow of her difficult marriage to the artist John Bratby, this exhibition will spotlight Cooke’s long-underrated yet magnificent garden paintings and expressive portraiture in a museum setting for the first time. 19 July – 1 October 2023 Find out more Frank Walter This exhibition will present the landscape and nature paintings of Antiguan artist Frank Walter (1962-2009), exploring his genius as a gardener and early conservationist on the islands of Antigua, Barbuda, and Dominica, as well as one of the most distinctive figures in modern Caribbean art. Guest curation by Professor Barbara Paca, Ph.D., O.B.E. 18 October 2023 – 21 January 2024 Find out more Gift Membership for Christmas Fancy going to all of our 2023 exhibitions for free? Garden Museum Friends can enjoy unlimited free entry year-round! Membership also includes discounted event tickets, Friends Private Views, 15% discount in the museum shop, a complimentary copy of the Garden Museum Journal and priority booking to our popular garden visits and Literary Festival. Or why not give a year of art and gardens to a loved one for Christmas with a gift membership? Membership starts at just £36 a year. Friends Membership A thank you to Bertie Leffman, long-time supporter of our Horticultural Traineeship By Matt Collins, Head Gardener We were saddened by the news recently that Bertie Leffman, a long time supporterof the Museum’s Horticultural Traineeship, had passed away. Bertie’s generous annual donation, which was given in memory of the pleasure he took visiting gardens with his late wife, has since 2013 enabled us to run a successful, unique and increasingly popular traineeship programme. Match-funded by the National Garden Scheme, it offers one gardener each year the opportunity to work with me in the gardens here and engage in the Museum’s busy and exciting schedule of horticultural talks and events, while also getting to spend time in gardens nationwide (and occasionally abroad), learning alongside fantastic plantspeople from head gardeners and landscape designers to floral artists, growers and garden writers… Keep reading Plant of the Week: Mexican tree dahlia (Dahlia tamaulipana) By Matt Collins, Head Gardener Two years ago we marked the flowering of our enormous tree dahlia in a stand alone piece for the museum newsletter, however its blooming this week has been so spectacular — and right on the cusp of frosts — that I wanted to mark the occasion once more, with a ‘Plant of the Week’ dedication. In fact, watching for a crown of amethyst-pink flowers to appear on this behemoth of a dahlia (D. tamaulipana, a rare species dahlia introduced to the UK from north east Mexico by plantsman and collector Nick Macer) has become something of an annual fixture in the garden calendar: a ‘will they/won’t they’ each year, as we gaze up at fattening buds hoping a sudden temperature drop won’t prevent their unfolding. Had this week’s weather arrived a little sooner, this may well have been the result. But once again we’ve been treated to a final and fleeting flicker of colour to close out the year. The slow progression of this tender perennial is a quiet delight: throughout the growing season it is no more than a leafy foil for the various bulgings and bloomings of the courtyard; a steady swelling that by autumn would equal a garden shed in size; a small elephant, maybe. In October we stake and support its bowing branches, with a stake the size of a fence post sledgehammered-in somewhere towards the middle and string woven between stems as inconspicuously as possible. Once trussed, we await the morning when gathering buds are suddenly spied — usually by one of our volunteer gardeners — as if sprouted over night. If we’re lucky, the first violet flowers open by December. Earlier this week I stood watching a solitary bumblebee moving from flower to flower, which I’d not seen before: might this be the year we get seeds? In the New Year there will be bud break on the fatsias, and then the melianthus, followed by the erythroniums that creep through the courtyard planting. Soon after, spring bulbs will emerge, which promise to put on a great show. But for now we celebrate another fantastic, energetic, eventful year at the museum in the presence of rare flowers.

About our gardens Object of the Week: Mary & Pete (1948) by Anthony Gross British printmaker, painter, war artist and film director Anthony Gross painted this picture of his children Mary and Pete in their Chelsea garden in 1948. Mary recently visited the Garden Museum to see the painting in person for the first time in years, and shared the story behind it: “It was painted in 1948 when we lived in Old Church Street, Chelsea from 1945 to 1958. We seem bored with posing and would prefer playing with our toys and swinging on the swing hanging on a branch of the pear tree. It was spectacular when in blossom in spring and seemed to invade the house. In fact, it influenced the short story ‘Bliss’ by Katherine Mansfield written by her in 1918 when she was living two doors down from our house. A few words about my green fabric horse seen in our toy box: he was my favourite toy and I adored him and ever since green has been my favourite colour, but I cannot remember his name…!”  This painting was acquired for the Garden Museum Collection through the HLF Collecting Cultures scheme. Explore our collection online Images: Evelyn Dunbar (1906-1960), Invitation to the Garden, c. 1938, image courtesy of Liss Llewellyn; Jean Cooke, Through the Looking Glass (1960) Oil on canvas © Royal Academy of Arts, London, photographer John Hammond; Sailboats through Coconut Palms, oil on card, 33 x 28 cm, no date Frank Walter; British Flowers Week Late 2022 © Graham Lacdao; Garden Museum courtyard photo courtesy of Gardens Illustrated © Eva Nemeth; Mexican tree dahlia in the courtyard garden © Matt Collins; Mary & Pete (1948) by Anthony Gross, image courtesy of the artist’s estate

NEWS: THE GARDEN MUSEUM – the U.K.

Beautiful & Useful Craft Fair this Sunday! Don’t miss our annual Craft Fair this weekend if you’ve got some Christmas shopping to do: we’re filling the museum with some of our favourite designer-makers so you can support small businesses and gift your loved ones something special handmade by artisans this Christmas. We’ll have ceramics, textiles, knitwear, jewellery, prints, candles, leather goods and lots more. Tickets include entry to the museum, with an optional ticket upgrade available on site if you’d like to see the exhibition Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits. Sun 4 December, 10.30am – 5pm £7 Standard, £6 Young Fronds, Free for Friends Book tickets The Garden Museum granted National Portfolio Organisation status We are over the moon to announce that the Garden Museum was recently successful in our application to Arts Council England to become a National Portfolio Organisation! This funding will allow us to develop three areas of work: our activities for families, free events bringing our Nave space to life, and festivals and fairs including the return of our Festival of Fairytales and a new Winter Flowers Week. We are hugely grateful to Arts Council England and DCMS for their funding to help us achieve our vision for the future of the museum 2023-2026. Lucian Freud Exhibition Catalogue out now! Our new catalogue accompanying the exhibition Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits is beautifully illustrated with examples of Freud’s plant paintings and etchings, with an introduction by Garden Museum curator Emma House and an essay by guest curator Giovanni Aloi, as well as interviews with Freud’s longtime studio assistant David Dawson, and daughter Annie Freud. To celebrate its release, we’re sharing an extract from the conversation between Giovanni Aloi and David Dawson: David: Has Annie [Freud] told you about the zimmerlinde? Giovanni: Yes, she did. I found the whole story very fascinating. Do you recall anything interesting about Lucian’s relationship with plants in his studio? David: Yes, my impression is that Lucian painted plants when life tended to become tumultuous and his relationships with other people were strained. Or when he simply could not find a model to paint. Giovanni: That’s interesting. It also appears clear, looking at Freud’s body of work, that he painted the same plant multiple times. Am I right? Are these the same plants in each work? David: Yes, they are, and I still have some of them in my garden. I still keep them here—the zimmerlinde in Large Interior Paddington (1969) sits outside in its large pot. The aspidistra Lucian painted in Two Plants (1980) is out there too. He painted it again in a work with me and Eli laying on the bed (David and Eli, 2003). Aspidistra is called the “cast iron plant” for a reason. It is indestructible! There was also the imposing pelargonium behind the sofa in Large Interior (After Watteau) 1981. The plants tend to live their own lives in the studio and he let them do their thing. The way he dealt with plants was very much in line with how he led his life… Keep reading Christmas at the Garden Café Host your Christmas party at the Garden Café! We’re taking bookings for groups of eight or more on our Christmas menu throughout December, available for lunch every day, as well as Tuesday and Friday evenings up until our last service of the year, lunch on Friday 23 December. Bookings by email only – contact cafebookings@gardenmuseum.org.uk Christmas menu Freud’s Fruit Cookery Workshop Series: Apples This workshop series led by our Food Educator Ceri Jones is inspired by the fruits in Lucian Freud’s paintings. Each of the fruits we have chosen from his work take us seasonally through autumn to winter and are paired with complementary ingredients to create a two-course vegetarian lunch, which you will enjoy after a hands-on class learning how to cook. December’s class celebrates the apple! Menu Celeriac & apple soup with toasted hazelnuts Cheese, apple, & thyme soda bread Apple galette with vanilla crème fraiche Thurs 8 December, 11am – 1pm £40  Book tickets

Object of the Week: ‘The Rites of Spring’ Procession Pamphlet By Alice Ridgway, Archivist Last week I was surprised to see a pamphlet announcing ‘Rites of Spring’ flash past as I leafed through some American field notes in the Joy Larkcom archive. A further glance informed me of a ritual pageant of giant puppets and mobile sculptures. In this pageant, Gaia, the earth goddess, is kidnapped by New York developers. Her release depends on the butterfly angel guide and its nature spirits… The modest black-and-white programme clearly needed further investigation. Reading through, I found it to be packed full of information about ‘Rites of Spring’ the 6th annual celebratory procession to protect over 50 New York community gardens. It seemed to be an exciting event: A DAY-LONG PAGEANT VISITING THE NETWORK OF 50 LOWER EAST SIDE GARDENS SUNDAY MAY 26, 1996 8 HOURS OF ART, RITUAL, PERFORMANCE, MUSIC, DANCE, & POETRY! A CELEBRATION OF THE GARDENS LOCAL HISTORY & THE COMMUNITY Keep reading Images: Beautiful & Useful Craft Fair (c) Graham Lacdao; Festival of Fairytales (c) Francis Augusto; Still Life with Zimmerlinde, c.1950 Freud, Lucian (1922-2011) Credit: Private Collection. Photo © Christie’s Images/© The Lucian Freud Archive. All Rights Reserved 2022/Bridgeman Images; Cooking class at the Garden Museum (c) Graham Lacdao