Derek Jarman's Garden

Took a short trip to Dungeness which is on the coast of England, about 30 minutes from Great Dixter. It is a strange area with how it looks and the way you are affected by the surrounding environment. This is an area that is right on the English Channel, where there are alot of fisherman huts and not much else. It is a strange but beautiful area, where there is no soil or turf, just lots and lots of stones.... Which is what you mostly see when you arrive here, the brown and tan colors of miles and miles of stones. There is tons of beauty to be found here though..

Recently went to visit Derek Jarman's garden, called Prospect Cottage, on the coast in Dungeness. He was a well established artist and fell into gardening as well. Though he is no longer alive, his garden is open for all to visit. When I first got to London, I was able to catch an exhibition of his work at Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Park. Thihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Jarman

These fisherman huts were not fit to live in but towards the end of his life this is where he found comfort and solace. This is a very fascinating place to see and if you have the chance please do.

This is the view of his front garden, and notice how lively it is in comparison to it's monochromatic surroundings. Across the road you will find plants, which you will see, but not as colorful as his garden. You can see some of the old fisherman huts in the background, which are also very close to the water.

Derek Jarman would go for long walks in this area and bring back refuse that he would find and turn it into garden sculptures. He would build collections of work with the varied materials he found, such as wood, wire and anything else that would wash up on the beach. These sculptural pieces help create the mood in the garden and help set it apart from it's surroundings.


Here, on the side of Prospect Cottage, is typeface that recites the first stanza and last five lines of a poem, by John Donne, called The Sun Rising. It can easily be missed as it easily fades into the background of the house.

Some of the pieces were used to line up other views.
Such as this one.....

This is the view from the back of the house, and more of his found sculptures, with the nuclear power plant looming in the distance. On some days, I have heard, there is a constant buzzing noise in the air from it just adding another layer to this surreal area. The white blooms are sea kale, Crambe maritima and the yellow is gorse, Ulex europea.
Here are Escholzias in bloom with one of the wooden sculptures in the front yard.
And here growing all over the beach through the gravel is more sea kale.....It is literally growing and blooming everywhere, right up to the tide line. Closeup view.

On the way back we noticed the Echiums were beginning to bloom.