Peckerwood Garden: this masterful Texas garden offers visitors a vision of how a garden can integrate plant conservation, artistic design, and a sense of place

摘要

It is said that time never stands still in a garden. But in many gardens the changes are so gradual as to be almost imperceptible. Not so with Peckerwood Garden in Hempstead, Texas, which has been a work in progress for nearly three decades under the creative direction of owner John Fairey. Fairey's home and garden has gained international recognition over the years as a place of horticultural excellence. And just as public awareness of the garden has expanded, so has the place itself, with new planting areas appearing and original schemes constantly undergoing revision, the better to display the ever increasing collections of plants Fairey has brought in, mostly from Mexico and the American South and Southwest. Alterations have been executed in response to age and to force majeure: trees have matured to provide shaded canopies over previously sunny beds, and the tempestuous weather of the region--located some 60 miles west of Houston, Peckerwood is not far from the hurricane-prone Gulf Coast--has altered the garden layout and plantings. Peckerwood is never dull.