Inside U.K. Everything's blooming in the British garden By Richard Payne	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
イギリスのガーデニング人気 5月からようやく暖かくなるイギリスは、今が花盛り。先月は、恒例のチェルシー・フラワーショーも行なわれ、この時期、特に園芸店は忙しくなります。園芸人気は最近一層高まっており、イギリス人は、庭の大きさにかかわらず、個性的な庭づくりに精を出しているようです。

Trying to make contact with anyone in Britain at the moment could prove to be tricky business. It's not that we're being impolite, it's just that our attention might be on other things, or rather one thing in particular — the garden.

Britons are fascinated by gardening at nearly any time of the year, but it's at the start of the summer when the interest is at its height. These are supposed to be the warmest months of the year for us, although any of you who have visited our country might have found to your cost that the sun doesn't always shine when it's supposed to.

Undeterred, the British gardener is determined to have his or her patch of land looking its best. To this end, millions of pounds and almost as many hours are spent on all kinds of items to improve appearances.

Most people aren't too adventurous. They're happy to have a neat, green lawn that's well kept and surrounded by a few bushes and flowers. This has been the traditional style of garden since just after World War II when people had a little more money to spend on less essential items.

Today, however, some gardeners, or those with "green fingers" as they're called, are more adventurous with their designs. It doesn't matter if you own a tiny courtyard or wide stretches of countryside, the individual style can still be applied one way or another.

A lot of unusual ideas come from the Chelsea Flower Show, an annual event that takes place over a week in London and which draws crowds not only from all over the U.K., but also the world. Here, professional gardeners show off their skills using rare flowers and plants, water features and even stone and wood materials.

The event is organized by the famous Royal Horticultural Society (www.rhs.org.uk) who has the queen mother and the queen as its figureheads. Prince Charles was among the entrants this year and won a silver medal. Top of the lot, though, was a creation by Professor Masao Fukuhara entitled, "A Real Japanese Garden," that did indeed feature a full-scale garden carefully moved into place tree by tree and bamboo shoot by bamboo shoot.

Some 170,000 people visited Chelsea this year, many of whom were members of the RHS. The RHS is an organization that started on a small scale in 1804 but which now gives 1,000 lectures and demonstrations every year, has a Web site that attracts nearly 1 million hits a year and features 30,000 different plant names.

In fact, Japan's love of things outdoors is featuring highly in our country right now. As part of the Japan 2001 Festival, Kew Gardens in London has unveiled six gardens created by six Japanese designers in the size and shape of a typical British garden.

Some critics insist gardens should evolve over a long period of time, even many years, not created over a weekend with instant features. But people are not willing to wait when there are garden centers within easy reach selling everything possible to add a quick new look.

Robert Jackson, manager of my local garden center, says: "We've never been so busy as we are right now. People spend up to 200 pounds (¥34,000) in one visit on trees, plants, flowers and such.

"Gardening has become the latest fashion trend for all ages. Young and old, men and women are in my shop every weekend and they know just what they want. They're very knowledgeable.

"I think it's a very relaxing way to spend your free time. People rush around so much, they need the garden to slow them down. Although what you might see in the garden today is different from, say, 10 or 40 years ago, the idea that gardening is a great hobby for all the family remains as true today as it's always been."

4 With gardening being such big business, it's not hard to see why British television is full of programs on the subject, making celebrities of their presenters. Magazines, too, are always offering advice on what you should be doing in the garden, whatever the time of year. 15In Britain's towns and cities, there isn't always the space for large trees or ponds, so many do away with grass altogether and have stone floors with pots and hanging baskets full of colorful, sweet-smelling flowers. The trend now is to make the town garden an extension of the house, which is to say: making it an extra room only without a roof!

For those stuck at the top of a block of flats, or others who simply want their gardening on a grander scale, there's the wide variety of public gardens and grounds of stately homes to visit across the U.K. Maintained by the National Trust, these places of historic interest are visited by hundreds of thousands at this time of year.

And you don't always have to go out of town for open spaces. Every British city has a commitment to large open spaces. London, for example, has 8 sq. km of parkland in the center alone. Regent's Park, Hyde Park and Wimbledon Common are among the favorites for locals and tourists alike.

Shukan ST: June 15, 2001

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