Garden Chintz

I meant to add this to my last post, but it was getting too long. I spent much of Saturday afternoon in a state of some astonishment that the same garden centre where I bought Clovis the Coffee Plant was also boasting a range of Laura Ashley seeds, which do indeed originate with the famously floral clothing shop of the same name. They come in themed ranges with names like 'antique', 'classic', 'tranquil', 'harmony' and 'rustic' and are generally marketed as 'take your individual style outdoors', which presumably means that having been sold an 'individual style' by the shop, you can then eradicate any possible originalit..., sorry, disharmony, by bringing your gardens into the overall 'look'. I suppose it at least has the advantage that mothers will now be able to play exciting camouflage games with the kids without having to wear any unappealing shades of khaki. Just blend with the poppies!

Now aside from the incredible silliness of having a seed range named 'rustic' and the irritation of such overtly packaged and fashion conscious gardening, it strikes me as utterly hilarious that a clothing designer that made its name with floral patterns and chintz should now be attempting to export flowers from fabrics to gardens rather than, err, the other way round. Whatever next, painters of landscapes encouraging people to get out and look at the countryside every once in a while?

Because I can be a pretentious artsy student sometimes, it reminds me of a passage by the strange and brilliant Halldor Laxness in his novel 'The Atom Station'. 'When the peace of Autumn has become poetic instead and being taken for granted...when the last day of the plover becomes a matter of personal regret...the horse becomes associated with the history of art and mythology...the evening film on the farm stream becomes reminiscent of crystal...then the time has come for you to say goodbye. The world-bacterium has overcome you, the countryside has turned into literature, poetry and art and you no longer belong there.' And this is just about a girl looking at a stream! Goodness knows what he would have made of the seeds.