I visited a site on the coast near Charleston, South Carolina in the States this February for about four days. It was on a river estuary that eventually fed into the Atlantic Ocean. I had a enough time to wonder around Charleston, see a few old plantations outside Charleston and complete the work. As I write this it makes realize that it had been a very busy four days.

One of the plantations I visited was Middleton Place set above a river ( name supplied later ) that eventually flowed down through Charleston. It had been burnt twice, once by the British in the War of Independence and once by Federal troops in the Civil War. In spite of all this the garden survived......unsurprisingly the existing buildings are either reconstructions or ruins . The grounds were very beautiful with sculpted earth banks,ornamental garden areas planted up with groves of Camellias and sculpted lakes framed by large majestic evergreen oaks ( Q.virginianna I think). The house ( what remained) had been situated above the lakes and earth banks overlooking the river. The lakes had been created partly for decoration and partly to act as a water supply to power the mills. As a landscape composition its use of the basic elements of garden making ( earth, water, trees and sky ) was unrivalled better than many eighteenth century landscape park in Europe I thought.

Working in this climate made me realize how much you had to rely on the baisc elements I mentioned above. Decorative trifles such as perennial borders, rose gardens and the like just would not last second in this climate. The summer heat and humidity would obliterate them.

A possible job came up on the Island of Chios in Greece. On a map it looks as though it is part of Turkey in fact a boat trip takes about 20 minutes to the mainland. I loved the airport....small, intimate and it takes a second to walk through and grab a taxi. When I visited the site, spring was in full flood...wild tulips ( possible T.acuminata ) were in flower growing in the grass under the olives. At this juncture in the season it was warm, lush and very pleasant. Later as the summer heat builds up the soil will go brown and bake hard. Due to the dry winter the water table is low ( normally 1.25m a year but they have receievd only 30cm this winter ) and below that of the sea level. As a consequence the well water is saline and useless for irrigation. Chios was an old Genovese trading station. Quite a few of the old houses were constructed in this period ( middle ages) by the Genovese mainly as summer houses away from the sea. Now they are very popular restored by wealthy Athenians.

If this job materailizes then it will be interesting analysing the differences between Chios and Corfu. I suspect it will be more mediterranean in character...Corfu has this extraordinary mixture of garden flora and a better rainfall amongst other aspects.

The joy of working in this climate is the amazing plant. Oranges grow with Lemons ( as you expect) which grow with Quince,Apple and Pear.Oaks,Cypress,Olives and Sweet Chestnut all mingle.Roses and Bouganvillea run riot happily with each other through trees Sourcing plants to take advantage of this can be a problem. If you are preapred to be patient and add tot he garden slowly then you can build the plansrt. The unique feature of this Island is the rainfall....it is an amzingly green island ( especially when compared to the arid lands of Albania opposite just aross the sea)

The worst thing about this climate is the summer drought which normally runs from May through to September. Rainfall is normally 2.5m per annum and this falls mainly in the winter. This year we have had real problems with a dry & warm autumn. Winter has been dry too and spring is now just round the corner. This means that the irrigation tanks are not full and expensive town water will have to be purcahsed.

On this particualr site the house came first before the garden an Architect called Pericles, a builder called Herculkes and the local cafe owner known as Adonis. The house as amazing views of Albania and is surrounded buy tall Olives planted in Venetian times.