The Owner Built Home & Homestead
(Page 13 of 23)
In Western gardens we seek more of the comforts or
conveniences which people have come to consider essential
to their well being. Another factor is garden beauty; we
arouse interest through variety of planting, excitement
through planting sequence, stimulation through planting
color. In any case, it is the activity of people
which determines the form and character of garden planting.
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Modern landscape designers employ hundreds of devices in a
so-called "bag of tricks" to satisfy modern-day
beauty-and-comfort requirements. For instance, a shrub can
be planted to create a dozen different effects, depending
upon its placement and relation to human scale; if the
plant is above eye level it can function as protective
enclosur. if it is kept to chest-height, the effect is more
of spatial division; if the planting is waist-high, it
functions as a traffic control element; knee-height gives a
directional aspect to the planting. It is the
human scale—in the event, the person's
height—which relates and measures the garden
elements, fences and trees as well as shrubs. And the human
line vision determines whether these landscape elements
will provide privacy, separation or direction.
Eckbo is surely the most noted representative of the modern
landscape movement. His book, Landscape and
Living, is a clear statement and concise presentation
of modern landscape objectives and practice: Eckbo-gardens
are beautiful designs of plant-structure relationships, and
contain all the amenities so eagerly sought by up-to-date
home owners. In all of his gardens you will find the plant
and structural elements well selected. Also, the
groupings—forms and masses of plant
elements—are well arranged. Furthermore, the whole
scheme is very practical from maintenance point of
view.
But minimum maintenance with maximum charm and "out-door
living" is not, in my book of planting-design, quite
enough. Modern landscape designers miss the boat entirely
as far as designing for spiritual "uplift" is concerned.
Where can one find a garden (this side of the Orient) which
gives man essential revitalizing contact with the plan
growth and fecundity of the earth? The Chinese captured
this essence in their garden plans, and themselves gained
strength and inspiration in the garden space. And I find
very few modern garden-designers with any concept of
Spieltrieb— the playful instincts expressed
in plant forms and garden structure. The idea that a garden
can be a home of gaiety, of imagination, of
fantasy—as well as a place for meditation and
repose—seems alien to modern thought on the subject.
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