A late visit to the 40 - class - old , 3.5 - acre Ruth Bancroft Garden convey home the capability of a mature stroll garden to serve up mystery and awe .
Here ’s one of my boeuf with lawn : where is the mystery ? We live within this awe - inspiring raw world , teem with divers wight and plants . We have a make - in fascination for other living things ( 1 ) . Why would we construct our daily environments in such a way that we stave off being fascinated by them ?
alternatively , why not kindle this enthrallment in our everyday , average experience ? inquiry shows how authoritative the experience of raw landscape is for children ’s sound brain , body , and aroused ontogeny ( 2 ) . Would n’t our adult animation be rich from these experiences as well ?
A recent visit to the 40-year-old, 3.5-acre Ruth Bancroft Garden brought home the capacity of a mature stroll garden to serve up mystery and awe.
As I gaze across a vast , unbroken sea of lawn , it practically shouts out a need to rein in wild nature ’s capriciousness and secret . Why would we want to do this ?
Perhaps we are acting instinctively to create opened spaces that give us an uninterrupted horizon , because that feel dependable . But does it really ? The groundbreaking body of work ofarchitect Christopher Alexander , among others , shows we are more likely to feel safest with foliage at our backs , standing at the bound of a glade ( or , indoors , in a doorway or alcove surveying the room ) . That would mean we need , somewhere on our property , foliation strong enough to supply us with shelter .
For many of us , particularly those not used to pass clip in angry places , too much “ nature ” in a place can prompt fears of getting lost , of encountering Hydra or pile lions , of being unsafe or uncomfortable . During the form of give my talks about lawn alternatives , I ’ve mouth with many a mortal who is loath to walk in ankle - deep turfgrass , much less ducking inside a thicket of head - gamey shrubs .
Does this picture of a bare foot partly obscured by ankle-length grass make you uncomfortable?
Does this painting of a stripped foot part obscured by ankle - length Mary Jane make you uncomfortable ?
debar any wildness does trammel our chances of physical contact with these perceived peril . But in have denuded landscape , sheared carpets stripped of life and diversity , what are we giving up ? What potential experiences are we sell for our sure safety ?
We are not only switch the expiation of exploring and mention other forms of living ( 3 ) , but also the truly awe - root on experiences that nature can propose : of feel lilliputian and inconsequent in the face of its grandness and of feeling a splendid sensory faculty of belong to as part of its expansiveness .
Someday I hope visitors will stroll through my garden (newly laid out with lawn paths and mulched islands) and wonder what’s around the bend.
I say this is an extremely poor trade .
When we explore a born landscape , we get the expiation of work small - thou enigma , such as “ hmmm , I question what ’s behind that hedging ? ” But that is just the root of our enchantment . Spending time in such a landscape painting , open up ourselves to its surprises and unpredictability , we start to work connections with that place and its plant life and fauna . We get down to read their quirk and characters , and in knowing them , to see ourselves in relation to them . This fosters a sense of belonging , a certain possessiveness .
Now we are talk about big - m Mysteries , as in arcane knowledge of how the world works — include some knowledge about how we ourselves ( being part of nature ) piece of work . This noesis can not necessarily come from scientific cogitation , but from personal experience that prompt a more worked up / ghostly understanding of the man ’s patterns and lessons and our place in it .
So here ’s my convoluted logic in a nutshell : we do not form attachments to simple , well legible , to a fault intimate landscapes like lawn ; it is the mysterious , divers , complex landscape — those we must expend drive to make intimate , and that may cue some discomfort along with pleasure — that prompt us to send down our origin .
What do you call up ?
Someday I go for visitor will saunter through my garden ( newly laid out with lawn paths and mulch islands ) and enquire what ’s around the bend .
Notes
