“La Mortella” offers not only a rich collection of flowering plants, but also many specimens chosen for their shape or the colour of their foliage.
Russell Page did not want to create a composition made up solely of ornamental flowers. He believed that an excess of colour could disturb the tranquility of a garden, because, consciously or unconsciously, the eye is distracted by colour.
He preferred the subtle play of forms and volumes, the shapes of branches and foliage silhouetted against the sky. Among these “architectural” plants we see palms, cycads, and tree ferns.
