Merlin Townsend

The enticing ruin garden @chanticleergarden with its sentry-like weeping spruces, Picea abies ‘Pendula’, guarding the entrance. The playful and theatrical garden room contains a stone table that doubles as a reflecting pool. In the flooded room are overflowing basins with floating faces intended to have the expression the sculptor, Marcia Donahue, ‘would imagine a rock to have, not anxious, but solid and meditative’. The planting appears to be enveloping and commandeering the abandoned ruin, with plants chosen for foliage, form and texture rather than flower, consisting of a mix of hardy and tender plants. A highly artful and creative space at the beautiful Chanticleer garden in Wayne, Philadelphia. #bodnantgardens #chanticleergarden #pleasuregarden #sissinghurst