AA-2026-28ABBA
On the image
Someone planned this border with the confidence of a person who has read a great many gardening books and believes colour theory applies to delphiniums the way it applies to neckties. The spires of blue delphinium were staked to stand at attention behind the snapdragons, on the theory that a garden, like a good office, should have a clear chain of command from tall to short.
This is the herbaceous border as practised in the 1960s, a style of gardening that required roughly the same hours of maintenance as a small farm but produced no food whatsoever, only the satisfaction of controlled abundance. Roses climb their supports in the background with the resigned patience of employees who have been promoted into middle management. Nobody in 1960s England considered this excessive; a garden that did not require staking, deadheading, and constant editorial judgement was assumed to belong to someone who did not care.
The whole bed reads as a small argument for order, won temporarily. By August the delphiniums will have toppled in the first good wind, the snapdragons will have gone leggy, and the gardener will already be planning next year's border as though this year's had been a rough draft rather than the point.
Visually related — by likeness
Herbaceous Border in Full Bloom, English-Style Garden, 1960s. 1960–1969. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-28ABBA. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/herbaceous-border-in-full-bloom-english-style-garden-1960s.
@misc{aaAA202628ABBA,
title = {Herbaceous Border in Full Bloom, English-Style Garden, 1960s},
year = {1960–1969},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-28ABBA},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/herbaceous-border-in-full-bloom-english-style-garden-1960s}
}TY - ART TI - Herbaceous Border in Full Bloom, English-Style Garden, 1960s PY - 1960–1969 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-28ABBA UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/herbaceous-border-in-full-bloom-english-style-garden-1960s ER -
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