April 01, 2022
“I am Federal Twist,” declares James Golden in the preface of his book The View From Federal Twist: A New Way of Thinking About Gardens, Nature and Ourselves (2021). Of course all gardens are personal creations, and good ones have an expressiveness and emotional quality that transcends mere plants and makes them feel like an extension of the gardener. But Federal Twist, James’s garden in New Jersey, is as much an idea as a physical place or arrangement of plants. The “view from Federal Twist” — also the title of James’s highly regarded blog, named for the rural road he resides along — isn’t just what can be perceived with the eyes. His chief view is inward-facing. A talented writer as well as garden maker, James gives free expression in his book to the emotional, poetic nature of garden creation, and of living within a garden. Reading The View, you fall under his spell and come to a deeper understanding of what it means to connect with a piece of land through gardening.
It’s one of the best garden books I’ve read in quite a while, one in which the words matter even more than the photographs, although these are quite good as well, and numerous. Only the cover image is by a professional garden photographer, Claire Takacs. All other photos were taken by James, with a lingering focus on the exuberance of high summer and the melancholy of late autumn.
I visited James’s garden last October and wrote about that experience here at Digging. (The garden photos in this post are my own, from that visit.) James’s garden — a strolling garden of wet-loving prairie plants on a sloped clearing in a forest — has garnered much acclaim for two reasons: he broke a lot of gardening conventions in creating it, and he’s shared about his acceptance of the site’s ecology and his design decisions so thoughtfully and eloquently on his blog.
What conventions did he break?
- He didn’t clear the site. He planted directly in existing growth with big, muscly plants that could outcompete weeds.
- He didn’t amend the mucky clay soil. Instead of changing his conditions to suit plants he might have wanted or that are traditionally considered garden worthy, he selected plants (through experimentation and failure) that thrive in the naturally occurring wet soil.
- He made plants — masses of big, prairie-like plants — the main event rather than as decorative accents around a patio or other “people spaces.”
- And although his garden is decidedly naturalistic, it isn’t dogmatic in the way naturalistic gardens sometimes are. He doesn’t truck with natives-only ideology. And he doesn’t garden specifically for wildlife, although he delights in the wild creatures that live in his garden (except for deer, which he fences out). James gardens first and foremost for himself.
His garden, he writes, is “a prairie of the imagination like none that ever existed in nature, but one that looks as if it belongs to its place…It is an ecological garden in which every plant is adapted to the conditions of the site — but it is more than that. I wanted the garden to make physical an interior emotional world.”
Emotion is what drives his garden making. Also memory and a sense of connection with the land’s human history and that of his agrarian ancestors in Mississippi. His ultimate goal, he says, was “to transform a derelict, waterlogged woodland into a garden of emotional power.”
James shares many moments of emotion and poetry in talking about his garden, like this one: “The clearing is like a cove at the edge of the sea…In twilight the plant forms may take on imaginary sea shapes, the round, feathery miscanthus becoming a giant sea anemone, rising spires of silphium and inula looming as mysterious sea towers; the whole garden, a sea floor swaying slowly in darkness.” I lingered over such descriptions. They resonated with memories of transcendent moments in my own garden.
In reading The View From Federal Twist, you come to understand how looking inward may be the most important part of garden making, not only for one man but for anyone who aspires to garden.
Disclosure: Filbert Press sent me a copy of The View from Federal Twist for review. I reviewed the book at my own discretion and without any compensation. This post, as with everything at Digging, is my own personal opinion.
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Digging Deeper
Come hear an in-person talk about art and garden design on Thursday, April 7th. Patterson Webster, a garden writer, garden travel guide, and accomplished sculptor from Quebec, will be in Austin to share her knowledge as my next Garden Spark speaker. The talk will be held in a beautiful outdoor setting at Barton Springs Nursery. Only a handful of seats remain, so email me today for ticket info. No walk-ins; advance tickets only. Come learn something new and hang out with fellow garden lovers!
Learn from gardening experts at Trowel & Error, the annual symposium at Mayfield Park in West Austin. After a 2-year COVID hiatus, the symposium returns on Saturday, April 2, from 9:30 am to 1 pm. Designer Colleen Jamison will be speaking at 11 am, along with entomologist Wizzie Brown at 10 am and rose expert Theresa Anderson at noon. Located at Mayfield Park, 3505 W. 35th St. A suggested donation of $5 gets you in.
Need design help with your yard? Hire me as your personal garden coach! Maybe you need replacement plant ideas after the big freeze. Or maybe your landscaping has grown tired, and you want fresh curb appeal. Or perhaps you’re ready to get rid of some lawn and create a pollinator garden, bird habitat, or hangout space for you and your friends. I’m here to help! Contact me to let me know what’s going on, and let’s figure it out together. My range is Austin and suburbs within a 25-min. drive of NW Austin, but I’m flexible and can travel farther with a surcharge, so let me know where you are. Weekday morning appts. only.
Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. Check out the 2021-22 schedule. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.
All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.