The other day I was watching The Secret Garden… alright, we’ve all seen it, haven’t we? Me too, multiple times—though I’ll admit I didn’t finish it this time. But it got me thinking about something I want to share.
We’ve all been influenced by that film, and honestly, it’s funny how tiny details from movies creep into our daily lives without us noticing.
You’ve seen (and probably walked through) gardens that feel like they’re straight out of Harry Potter, Blade Runner, Mamma Mia!, Beetlejuice, or even Pirates of the Caribbean.
Maybe yours is one of them, and you just haven’t realised… but that’s where the inspo comes from.
The setting really matters, doesn’t it?
The Secret Garden
For example, if you’re a Secret Garden fan, you’ve got to embrace the chaos.
Wild vines, broken gates, even a rusty old key (the kind from Grandma’s cupboard) strategically placed on the ground. Let roses clamber over everything….carefully, mind you, because they’ll wreck stuff otherwise.
Unless you’ve got loads of space and it’s nowhere near the house, tread lightly!
Blade Runner Garden style
Fancy a dystopian garden? Neon lights (never direct—always bounced off surfaces), metal sculptures, and ornamental grasses left wild, with spotlights underneath. Can you picture it? What a scene!
Typical isn’t it? You wait 20 years for a dad and then three come along at once.
Switching gears, imagine terracotta pots everywhere. Seriously, scattered about with lavenders spilling over their edges, an olive tree (real or fake, because our weather’ll murder the real one), and a lone, sturdy table… ready for you to climb up and belt out a tune. Mamma mia! Iconic.
Go ahead, make my millennium.
Now, if you’ve got a wooden fence handy, picture painting it black-and-white, planting a bunch of “weird” plants (even a few carnivorous ones), and hanging a sign that says “Welcome (?)”. Very Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice… you get the vibe. You’ll freak out the neighbours……….if you haven’t already.
Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate.
Got old or reclaimed wood lying around? If you don’t know what to do with it, hit me up… but otherwise, think barrels as planters, thick rope fences, a ship’s wheel in the middle of the garden, even an old anchor here and there. For paths, use weathered (but treated) wood. A garden that’s basically a ship! Aye, pirate!
P.S. Your compost bin can be the ship’s treasure!
Here’s to the fools who dream
Short on space (or patience)? Go La La Land instead. String lights, pastel hues bouncing off surfaces, citrus trees dotted about… can you feel the vibe?
See? Nothing too wild….just your imagination and your (questionable or not) taste in films and settings. Obviously, the sky’s the limit. You could plonk a piano (preferably broken) in your La La Land garden… but that’s up to your wallet.
It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door.
For the Lord of the Rings fans, a Hobbit-hole garden is all about cosy chaos. Plant round doorways of thyme, let moss swallow your garden path, and chuck in a dwarf conifer or two. If anyone asks why your lawn looks like a sheep’s bedhead, just mutter about “second breakfast” and walk away.
Pugsley, sit in the chair…
Fancy something darker? The Addams Family garden is where it’s at. Dead-looking plants (hello, black mondo grass), gothic arches draped in ivy, and a skeletal bench you “found” at a car boot sale. Add a koi pond and pretend the fish are piranhas. Wednesday Addams would approve.
life finds a way….
Now, Jurassic Park. Yes, really. Swap velociraptors for ferns the size of a Transit van, add a screeching parrot (close enough to a pterodactyl), and bam—you’ve got Isla Nublar in suburbia. Warning: ferns spread faster than Jeff Goldblum’s chaos theory.
How fast can you pack?
Struggling for space? Go full Grand Budapest Hotel with symmetry and whimsy. Box hedges trimmed into geometric perfection, pastel-painted planters, and a tiny fake lift in the corner “for staff”. If your roses aren’t pink enough, squint and blame the lighting.
Practical tips for the cinematically challenged:
- Use outdoor projectors to screen films onto a bedsheet hung between trees (classier than it sounds).
- DIY “Oscar trophies” from spray-painted gnomes.
- For The Sound of Music vibes, spin in circles on a hill until you’re too dizzy to care about weeds.
Pro tip: Tuck mirrors behind plants, ideally between walls and foliage, to create an “infinite garden” illusion. Point and say, “That way… that way’s the secret garden!” Just watch the kids don’t bonk their heads! 😊
