I am not quite sure were I am going with this entry on walls but no doubt it will emerge. They are a reflection of the surrounding landscape. For the moment suffice to say that this collection of photos were taken whilst out and about visiting gardens.

This nineteenth century wall in Ireland near Cork. It is a lovely weathered granite grey colour with the rusty back fern (Ceterach officinarum) growing on it. It is quite a mixture of sizes and shapes. When the client asked how this wall was to be included in the master plan it set me thinking. As a consequence I now have a good stock of wall photography. 

This grey stone wall in the photo above was taken in the Yorkshire Dales about five years ago. It was built at Throstles Nest a project I have been involved in for a few years now. It is quite new and there has been no time yet for any rusty back ferns to establish. It is pretty typical in terms of style and construction for the Dales. It seems amazingly even in its colouring and I love the way it builds up in scale from the large stones at the base to the smaller ones at the top.

 I went to the island of Chios, a Greek  Island,  in the spring of 2007 for a prospective job. Chios was once a wealthy Genovese colony in the Middle Ages. As a consequence it has these amazing old merchant houses dotted around the landscape. Nothing came of the project but whilst there I noticed that a number of the older walls used this decorative motif in the mortar. This wall was on a lane near the site of the prospective garden. On the other side of the wall was one of the old merchant houses I just mentioned. I am not quite sure how it is constructed. It looks like they stuck maltezers into  the lime mortar.

Another Greek Wall. This one on Corfu where I have been working on for about ten years. I think the owner of this wall was inventive but clearly short on the readies.