Anyone who knows British garden designer Jo Thompson’s work will not be surprised by the title of her book, The New Romantic Garden. Over the decades that Thompson has been working as a designer she, has always created atmospheric gardens with a softness and sense of atmosphere and mystery. The 30 gardens that fill the book show how a modern romantic aesthetic can be applied anywhere—from a tiny city garden to the meadows of a country estate. Thompson’s text is delightfully laced with romance, too, with references to fairies, sun goddesses, and Narnia.
Above: Benton irises and roses mingle in this romantic London garden designed by Thompson. Photograph by Jason Ingram.
The “new” in the title reflects the fact that while Thompson’s work may feel nostalgic in some regards (there are many an English rose in this book), it is firmly of-the-moment. A longtime advocate of organic gardening, Thompson designs to support biodiversity and soil health, which are on all gardeners’ minds today. There’s also a looseness and a naturalness that will appeal to fans of the new perennial movement and more naturalistic styles. This book is a fresh perspective on what a “romantic” garden is today.
Photography courtesy of The New Romantic Garden by Jo Thompson (Rizzoli).
1. Start with the story.
Above: Romantic and natural, this garden has a real sense of place and to whom it belongs (writer Justine Picardie and her husband, Philip Astor). The wildflower meadow of mostly native grasses is peppered with a few nonnatives to extend the season of pollen and visual interest. Photograph by Rachel Warne.
For all of her designs, Thompson develops a story for the garden based on her clients’ desires and the place itself. For Thompson this involves “beating the bounds of the place and really getting to grips with the space,” plus trying to understand its history and what might have been there before. But she says, storytelling can be a delicate dance. “You want to avoid creating a pastiche,” she cautions. “If I’m working with a Tudor cottage near Canterbury, I’m not going to create a little Tudor medicinal garden, but there might be elements, like medicinal plants within the planting.” Likewise, Thompson says she trusts her intuition not to take a garden too far from its roots.
2. Let plants take center stage.
Above: This garden belonging to hairstylist Sam McKnight was once nothing more than a lawn. Today though, Thomposan says, the maximalist flowerbeds are themselves the garden’s architecture, which create a series of masses that both define and conceal. Photograph by Rachel Warne.
“I want the plants to take center stage–not the hard landscaping,” says Thompson, who advocates minimizing hardscaping. For Thompson, a garden is not a success unless it would still work with the hard landscaping removed.
3. Use hyper-local materials.
Above: In this Sussex garden, a path of local stone weaves through abundant wildflowers, including ox-eye daisies that have been allowed to stray from the meadow. Photograph by Rachel Warne.
For inspiration for hardscaping materials, Thompson says to observe the nearby natural areas and materials of the home itself. If possible, stick to natural (stone, timber, clay brick) and sourced from nearby. “Anything that isn’t just doesn’t work in creating a feeling of helping the land along, and appears instead as a massive intervention,” she warns.
4. If in doubt, grow roses.
Above: A tangle of roses in a corner of Thompson’s own garden are so happy she quips “they practically look after themselves.” Photograph by Rachel Warne.
Roses are front and center on the cover of Thompson’s book, and they are, of course, a staple of any romantic garden. Yet Thompson says she often hears from people worried that roses are not resilient, to which she says, that very much depends on the rose and where it is planted. “Have a look at the requirements that a rose has,” she says. “If it requires full sun, don’t put it in shade.” One rose in particular that she recommends for beginners is ‘The Generous Gardener’, a climbing rose from David Austin. (Thompson is a fan of David Austin roses, in general.) Thompson also notes she also doesn’t plant roses as a monoculture (which can make them more susceptible to disease); rather, she’ll plant them with companions like alliums, parsley, and other plants with pungent foliage.
5. Create a veil.
Above: Delphiniums planted towards the front of the border at a historic Kent estate create a high veil through which the rest of the planting can be glimpsed. Photograph by Rachel Warne.
An idea that Thompson shares in several gardens is a “veil” of tall plants with naked stems that you can see through. “Rather than abiding by the rules of tall plants at the back, medium sized plants in the middle, and low plants in front, I’ll put those taller, but bare-stemmed plants in the front and create this kind of veil that you just look through,” says Thomson. “It has the effect of candlelight: It just softens everything.”
6. Add softness everywhere.
Above: Thompson offers a new take on traditional shrubbery. Ornamental grasses combine with physocarpus, hydrangea, and acers to add softness and an unimposing weight in the part of the garden farthest from the house. Photograph by Jason Ingram.
In addition to a veil of tall, wispy flowers you can see through, Thompson says to avoid big chunks of plants with nothing between them to soften them. “There’s nothing romantic about that,” says Thompson, who notes that even roses, if planted all by themselves in a stiff Edwardian-style are unromantic. Thompson advises looking for plants that grow together in nature or look like they could.
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