Ulf Nordfjell at Millesgården

Ulf Nordfjell's vegetative spheres built with pratia plants at the main terrace of Millesgården at Lidingö near Stockholm.

Since last year, Ulf Nordfjell, a Swedish landscape architect maybe most know for winning the "Best in Show" award at Chelsea in 2009, has been invited for a long-time collaboration with the the gardens at Millesgården, home and atelier of the Swedish sculptor Carl Milles and his Austrian wife Olga who lived there during the first half of the 20th century.

Flowerbed inspired by Josef Frank's fabric called Aralia; detail with a Ricinus plant.

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During this second year into Ulf's work with Millesgården, he co-operated with two colleagues to build an exhibition called "Between Sky and Sea", to create interest and breathe some new life to the almost century-old gardens there. Initially, I wondered how Ulf's Nordic, poetically modern style would go together with the quite pompous, Mediterranean influenced style of the gardens, but he had combined both quite elegantly, building huge spheres covered with delicate little blue star creepers, and filling the flower borders with delectable flower combinations.
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"Fuchsias are the most feminine of plants" according to Ulf. He placed them in classic terracotta pots at Olga's terrace.

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Mediterranean notes were provided by rows of laurels, olives, fuchsias and lemons planted in classic terracotta pots on the terraces, and they seemed to thrive and complement their monumental but historically sensitive surroundings quite naturally. It still felt like Ulf's work at Millesgården was in its early stages, and I am curious to see how it develops over the coming years.

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Lemons in terracotta pots in front of one of the ateliers.

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Millesgården is situated on Lidingö, an island just outside Stockholm city center. Carl Milles, who had initially studied cabinet making and carpentry before leaving for Paris and studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, became a hugely successful sculptor with numerous commissions both in Sweden and internationally. Between 1931 and 1950, Carl was professor at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, USA, and delivered at the same time several public and private commissions at both sides of the Atlantic. Millesgården is a monument for his life's work where everything is on a grand scale, from the buildings incorporating Carl's ateliers to the stone terraces and replicas of his sculptures.