Garden Talk

So how  do you liven up that  austere area of gravel, low hedges and grass in front of your grand house?  It needs to be tied into the romantic parkland  beyond. Simple, give life and colour to the composition by setting out stands with huge macaws whose "violent scarlet and blue and green  plumage and raucous calls will enliven the picture considerably".    You will find this fabulous suggestion in Russell Page's "The Education of a Gardener".