As It Is Now: Janet Boulton’s Garden – Late October 2021 (Absorb Films)

This film is a condensed account of making a garden from scratch, beginning in 1980; and it also marks the end of a period lasting over four decades. Being now in her 86^th year Janet Boulton’s scheme for the future is inspired by the need to reduce the time, energy and costs involved in maintaining this small but complex garden.

By leaving in place both the hard ground plan and the borders, with their inter-related structure of trees and shrubs, all the inscriptions and installations can remain undisturbed in their designated spaces. The main simplification lies in the decision not to introduce any more plants – neither perennials in the borders nor filling innumerable pots with seasonal displays of annuals. Consequently apart from the everyday tasks – raking the gravel, tending the paving and general pottering – the only essential work will be the twice-yearly routine of rigorous clipping and pruning to retain the basic form and design of the garden.