Chaos Garden, the garden according to Cleve West

This entry was posted on Airthe attachment of Vanity Fair Dedicated to design, on newsstands until April 15, 2025.

PAlso, over the years, with six gold medals at Chelsea Flower Show, Cleve West He is a famous designer of Giardini, famous not only for the aesthetic of his landscape compositions, but also for the philosophy behind us, very respectful of the environment, always listening to nature and every need.

Vegan convinced, author of the book The Garden of Vegan (Pimpernel Press, 2020), always brings his ethical visions in his work: «I try to do careful gardening to cause the least possible damage to other life forms. For most of my career I have committed myself to what is called “biological gardening”: I do not use herbicides or pesticides, and I have always put in the foreground the impact we have on insects, amphibians, birds and mammals, trying to mitigate the annoyance we cause. Now, however, the “vegan gardening” takes a further step forward: I do not use any product of animal origin in the garden, such as manure or fish flour, no blood and no bones. Clearly, I know that it is impossible not to damage or disturb the invertebrates and the smaller life forms during our daily activities, but welcome any way to reduce the annoyance to these small invisible creatures. It is an ongoing job, but we have our first customers who ask us precisely this approach, which is very comforting and exciting ».

How can we harmonize our lives with nature?
«First of all, recognizing the fact that we are part of it and that we depend on nature for our own existence. Secondly, learning as much as possible on the life cycles of animals and plants in order to have a better understanding of how they could be influenced by our interventions. Thirdly, abandoning unsustainable systems such as agriculture and intensive fishing, which play a huge role in the collapse of biodiversity, while exploiting resources and accelerating climate change “.

Now everyone talks about his “Chaos Garden”: what characterizes him?
“I did not know the term” Chaos Garden “until, at Chelsea Flower Show, I did not make this garden for Centrepoint, the charity body that provides accommodation and support for homeless people. The garden was that of a demolished house, where the ornamental plants that had once been cultivated there coexisted with the so -called weeds, such as nettle, tarassaco and vilucchio, who had colonized the space. Chelsea Flower Show boasts of horticultural perfection, but who are we to say how perfection appears? Do we know for sure that native plants are extremely beneficial for invertebrates and other life forms, why should we not allow some to cohabit with their ornamental cousins? In general, in gardening, I would adopt a more relaxed approach, “live and let live” ».

What is the secret to maintaining a luxuriant and aesthetically beautiful garden?
«The perceptions of beauty vary enormously. My aesthetic barometer has been reset several times over the years, but today, a beautiful garden for me is a garden full of life, insects and birds. In this period I like to see which plants survive in hostile environments, those that grow in abandoned industrial sites or in the cracks of the sidewalks ».

What will the garden of the future be like?
“It is difficult to say. But, if the notion of a garden that enhances its wildest side began to have a certain influence, tomorrow’s gardeners could be more relaxed about it, and they should not worry that their Garden appear a little scruffy. The gardens are not only for people, but for every type of life form, which
In the end it helps us to keep us alive ».

Rebekah Kennington