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William R. Hoppé & Associates |
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"Since the start of history, man has found At first blush, the question appears so simple and its answer so "obvious" that, by and large, one tends to dismiss it, out of hand, as being just too frivolous to even ask. Yet, despite the fact that there are more than a thousand garden related sites on the internet, that our libraries are fairly bulging with books on "gardening" and "The Famous Gardens of ..." (fill in the blanks) that dozens of magazines are devoted to the subject, and that most newspapers carry weekly garden columns, that "simple" question remains one that many Americans would find difficult to answer these days. That this is so shouldn't come as a big surprise. By and large, we Americans, unlike our European counterparts, have never fully experienced the joy of living in small, well designed, private gardens. All that 99% of us have ever experienced and lived with over the past 30 to 50 years is the open, park-like, decorative type "landscaping" that (like picture frames) surrounds our homes and defines our neighborhoods. So, while a great many of us know (and care) a great deal about "flower gardens", "herb gardens", "vegetable gardens", "rose gardens", "perennial gardens" and -even- "water gardens"; i.e. about "gardens as plots of land on which to grow plants" the vast majority of us (including, I might add, a surprisingly large number of our architects) know little, if anything at all, about "gardens as places in which to live." Our dictionaries, too, reflect that same sorry state of affairs. Our 1997 edition of Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has this to say about what a garden is; "Garˇden /noun/ Etymology: Middle English gardin, from Old North French "jardin", of Germanic origin -- garten; akin to Old High German gart, enclosure -- more at YARD -- Date: 13th century 1a: a plot of ground where herbs, fruits, flowers, or vegetables are cultivated ;1b: a rich well- cultivated region 1c: a container (as a window box) planted with usually a variety of small plants 2a: a public recreation area or park usually ornamented with plants and trees <a botanical garden> 2b: an open-air eating or drinking place 2c: a large hall for public entertainment - garˇdenˇful /noun" Disappointed with this, shall we say, less than "informed" definition we once spent a couple of hours at the public library to take a look at what all of the other dictionaries had to say on the same subject. Frankly, we came away dismayed. Dismayed to find that none of them carry the type of a definition for the word "garden" that would fit gardens like, say, "Versailles" in France, or "Dumbarton Oaks" in Washington, DC., or, -heavens forbid- a small garden behind an ordinary urban/suburban American home. And, dismayed also to find that none of them define what "a landscaping" is, eventhough the word is widely used these days as a noun as in, "Isn't that a wonderful landscaping?" For purposes of this discussion, therefore, let us offer you our (dictionary style) definitions for those two words: "A (private) garden (n) is an outdoor place, space, or series of spaces, of indeterminate shape and size, open to the sky, enclosed either fully or partially by hedges or other plantings, or by a fence or a wall, or by a combination of such natural or man-made elements, usually found in conjunction with a private home or a building, designed; (a) architecturally to serve as an adjunct to and an extension of that structure; (b) aesthetically, to serve as a suitable visual compliment, back-ground, or foil for that structure, and (c) for the exclusive and practical outdoor use and enjoyment of the owners and the visitors thereof." "A landscaping (n) is an assemblage of plants, statuary, and other decorative elements that, like a frame around a picture, have been placed around a home or a building and about its grounds for purely decorative, ornamental purposes and to serve as a suitably aesthetic complement, background, and/or foil for such a structure." As those two definitions clearly suggest, the words "garden"; and "landscaping", are anything BUT synonymous, architecturally speaking! Where a landscaping, as such, cannot exist apart from and in isolation of the building or the house with which it is associated, a garden can and does! A landscaping cannot, because being "cosmetic" in intent and nature, its existence is purely a contextual one. Take away the structure which it graces, and all that you are left with are those plants and other decorative elements standing there, apropos of nothing, "arranged" in an order both the existence and the purpose of which are neither immediately apparent nor readily decipherable. Other than being able to see that all of those plants and objects seem to be grouped in various degrees of density along the perimeter of a, more or less, rectangular open (vacant) space, one would not be able to deduce any express relationships either between the objects and the plants themselves or between them and the empty space within their midst. Upon encountering it, one would, therefore, be tempted to ask, "What's all this decorative stuff doing here? Some sort of a yard sale?" A garden, on the other hand, has a meaning and a purpose all of its own. Being the equal of the home or the building with which it stands associated, it can, therefore, exist apart from and in isolation of it. Take that home away and the garden remains, recognizably, a garden. The fences, walls, and/or hedges which create, define, and enclose its space(s) and the elements inside and between them like walks, paths, brick or stone terraces, lawn areas, ponds, pergolas, flower, herb, or rose beds, lighting fixtures, and what have you, taken together, form a coherent whole that is instantly understandable to anyone! The ONLY question one might ask upon "discovering" this garden (absent its associated home or building) would be, "What's this place doing here in the middle of no-where?"
After examining this garden, one would be struck by the similarities
between it and the ruins of a centuries old building the roofs of which have long since disappeared allowing one a bird's eye view of the organization of its
interior spaces. That would lead one to realize that, like a house, a garden is first and foremost, all about
"space" The only difference being that, in the case of the house those spaces are roofed over while in the case of the garden, they are left open to
the sky. Seen in THAT light, a more apt definition of "a garden" would then read; That discovery, in turn, would lead one to conclude that, like a house, a garden must be designed to be "lived in, used and enjoyed by people". To accomplish that purpose it follows that its spaces must be well designed, and arranged and organized in a logical manner. A house composed of a warren of ill-proportioned rooms, thrown together ad-hoc, helter-skelter, and without any apparent regard for the day to day needs of its occupants, would be declared a disaster area regardless of the beauty of its exterior and interior architecture. And, rightfully so! In that same sense, a garden composed of ill conceived and proportioned outdoor "rooms" arranged and organized so badly that its owners cannot use them for the purposes for which they were intended, would be a disaster area regardless of the beauty of its structural elements, its plants, its flowers, its furnishings, and its other embellishments. Where the final test of a good house is how well it serves the needs of the folks who "live" in it, the final test of a good garden is how well it "works" in a like manner; i.e. how well it allows its owners to "live" in the garden and there to do the many things that they would normally (weather permitting, of course) do outdoors. To be an enjoyable place in which to "live", a garden must offer, if not total seclusion in all of its parts, at least a modicum of privacy in some. Like a house, it must, therefore, have "walls" to shield its occupants from the prying eyes of those who have not been welcomed inside. In fact, if one is not going to insist on ANY privacy anywhere within the garden; if one doesn't mind to sunbathe in full view of the neighbors and the passing public or if one doesn't care that every uninvited Tom, Dick, and Harriette can readily tell what one is serving the dinner guests out on the terrace (or the deck), there's scant reason for having a garden at all! In that case, one would do just as well to "install" a decorative, garden-esque type landscaping to give the property the requisite "curb-appeal", and be done with it! All of which brings us to the following, final point. As its efinition states, a garden must be designed to "serve as an adjunct to and an extension of the house" . Beyond the matter of mere convenience, the definition implies that, to be well designed, a garden must offer outdoor living spaces that complement and unite with their indoor counterparts to the extent that, together, they form an inseparable whole the overall utility and beauty of which is far greater than the sum of its parts. On this note, let's end this discussion with the thoughts expressed in "What a Garden can Offer" on our very next page!
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