A garden of ancient Greece: a new addition to Green Templeton

A new garden reflecting the world of ancient Greece and taking inspiration from the Radcliffe Observatory has been planted at Green Templeton College.

Head Gardener Michael Pirie and Assistant Gardener Carolyn Serra explain the meaning behind the beautiful new addition to college:

This year’s garden contains a number of allusions to the world of classical antiquity and the architecture of the Radcliffe Observatory.

The focal point is a woven basket set amongst acanthus plants (acanthus spinosus) which represents the origins of the Corinthian Order of architecture.

According to the Roman author Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (c.75-15 BC), better known simply as Vitruvius, whose work De Architectura or The Ten Books of Architecture is the only surviving explanatory record of the origins of the classical orders, the Corinthian came about in the following way: A young woman of Corinth died from an illness. After her burial, a nurse placed a basket on her grave and covered the top with a stone to protect its contents. Unknowingly, the basket was placed on top of an acanthus plant, which grew up around the basket and its leaves, being forced outwards by the stone, developed a recurved shape. This characteristic feature of the capital of the Corinthian order can be seen at the top of the columns of the tall windows on the Tower of the Winds.

In front of the basket are a group of low growing stemless thistles (carlina acanthifolia) which are native to Greece and suggest both the origins of the stylised flower forming the central ceiling plasterwork in the Tower, and the rosettes that decorate the wings of the Observatory on its south side. Behind the basket is a stone trough of classical design planted with oleanders.

When the Observatory was repaired in the 1960s, two Coade stone features were replaced as a result of wear and tear. The discarded elements were rescued from a skip by Bernard Fagg, the archaeologist curator of the Pitt Rivers Museum who lived next door at 45 Woodstock Road. They were subsequently given to Green Templeton College by his widow and have never previously been displayed. In creating this garden it seemed an appropriate moment to show them off, since they are both a relic of the Observatory and a feature of another order of Greek architecture, the Ionic.

The spirals in the capitals of the Ionic order represent, according to Vitruvius, the graceful curls in the hair of a woman, whose slender proportions both the Corinthian and Ionic orders are based on. The stouter male form is represented in the Doric order, which may be seen in the Observatory dining hall as pilasters. In buildings that incorporate the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders, such as the Observatory, they normally appear with Doric columns at the bottom, followed by Ionic, with Corinthian at the top.

The idea to place a spade towards the back of the border came from the rectangular panel on the Observatory representing evening, just below the balustrade and facing the Doll Building to the north-west. The recumbent figure lying on the ground is taken to represent a labourer (or perhaps a gardener) at the end of a hard day’s work with the tool of his trade beside him.

The plants chosen to populate the border have as far as possible been chosen from the flora of the eastern Mediterranean.

UPDATE: The garden has been flourishing all summer! The photographs below were taken in August 2019.