CHAPTER 8
MINIATURE SINK GARDENS
Take the concept of dish gardens and model landscapes, but execute it with miniature garden plants. Take the outdoor plants of bonsai, but don’t dwarf them unduly or train them into unusual shapes. There you have the mixture that makes up these specialized miniature gardens, called “sink” or “trough” gardens for the old-fashioned stone sinks and horse troughs they were planted in when the fad first swept England, some thirty years ago.
Now, the old sinks and troughs are practically nonexistent, and the name is anachronistic. But I have been totally unable to dream up anything better. “Sink garden” is a specific title for a composition of plants or a landscape scene in small scale, planted in a sturdy, sink-like container, grown outdoors and used in limited ways to decorate the garden and grounds. No other phrase seems to define it.
My interest was originally aroused by the books of Anne Ashberry, England’s sink-garden specialist, and by the warm affection she has for her specialty. But it was not until I began to work with miniature plants in our Connecticut gardens—and to find out what a great variety is available—that I was inspired to plant a sink garden of my own. Originally, I was intrigued; soon, I was fascinated; now, I’m an addict. With the flimsiest excuse I’d have so many of them it would look as if our grounds had broken out with measles.
These sink gardens are not for big, burly gardeners who like cabbage roses and gaudy shrubs. They’re for connoisseurs who appreciate the minuscule perfection of a tiny plant, more effectively displayed at eye level. They’re for those who grow alpines and other difficult plants and find them less finicky under these controlled conditions. They’re for gardeners who can’t, or don’t want to, squat in the hot sun for hours, weeding or transplanting; who want the pleasure of creating gardens, but take the accompanying chores in small doses. And sink gardens are for people, like me, who simply find irresistible charm in the miniature.
If our grounds were spacious, I’d find a place where I could have a collection of sink gardens, set up on pedestals and arranged in neat rows, so I could move easily from one to the next with the watering can. But they’re probably much more ornamental and distinctive if used the way the few we have now are.
Instead of a sundial at a break in the shrubbery border, we have a sink garden set on a two-foot column of mellowed brick. Two narrow gardens outline the corner of the small patio by the front entrance. A small sink garden enlivens a shelf beside the door to the lath house. There’s one at the end of an old stone bench.
Or you can display one of these gardens against the wall at the end of a garden walk; as a centerpiece on the lawn or terrace; on top of a low wall or at the edge of a balcony; in place of an inanimate statue or urn. If possible, let the background be light and not bright-colored; neutral shades show off the plantings to best advantage.
CONTAINERS
Picturesque old sinks are obviously not available to us, and any horse troughs I’ve seen have been much too monstrous. Miss Ashberry casts her own containers of concrete (its porosity is excellent for plants), and we can do the same.