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Gardens - A World Wide Panorama - June Solstice 2006
G. Donald Bain 2006-Jun-12 16:58:00
GARDENS - A World Wide Panorama - June Solstice 2006
by G. Donald Bain
As a professional geographer, I am hoping that "gardens" as a theme
will elicit a worldwide spectrum of diverse environments and cultural
expressions. Nobody need travel very far to find an interesting
subject, or interpret the theme as a metaphor. Just look around,
think about what makes gardens in your particular place special and
distinctive, then find a good example with photographic possibilities.
Gardens range from prim little front yards, just lawn and flowerbeds,
to elaborate landscapes with plants originating from all over the
world, or for that matter fruits and vegetables. Some gardens are
small and private, others open to the public and world famous.
One way of looking at gardens is that they embody our ideals for a
vegetated space - filtered by cultural context and physical
environment. What makes a garden in Arizona different from one in
Connecticut, Hawaii, Italy, Mexico, Alaska, Japan, or Brazil? Each
will have distinctive aspects that set it apart from the others.
First, of course, there is what the physical environment allows.
Cold, wind, heat, drought and soil type all limit our choices. My
cousins in Canada simply cannot grow some of my favorite California
plants, and I cannot get oleanders to bloom on our foggy ridgetop.
But given our ability to alter the environment, even more important
than physical factors are our expectations and desires. What do we
want from a garden - organic vegetables, brilliant flowers, species
native to the region, unusual plants from all over, shade from the
sun, shelter from the wind, impressive vistas or intimate spaces? How
do we want to manage it - manicured, casual, or wild?
Each culture evolves its own aesthetic of landscaping. Some are
widely understood and emulated - everyone recognizes a classic
Japanese garden, for example. But most gardens are subtle variations
on a cultural/environmental theme, modulated by local circumstances
and individual preferences, and sometimes by institutional mandates.
Every major city has one or more famous gardens, often city parks.
London has the Chelsea Physic Garden, established in 1673 to collect
and study medicinal plants. San Francisco has the Japanese Tea
Garden, a by-product of the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. Kyoto is
famous for its temples, including the unique raked gravel Zen
gardens. The Missouri Botanical Garden in Saint Louis is a world
leader in botanical research as well as a public park. Banyan Park in
Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui is covered by a single huge
banyan tree.
Vegetable and fruit gardens reflect culture and environment. In what
environments would you expect the following to be grown: olives,
apples, papayas, avocadoes? Tomatoes, rhubarb, vegetable marrow,
okra, tomatilloes?
Botanical gardens serve two purposes, research and public education.
Some display the vegetation of the world, others focus on the local
area. They are usually laid out geographically and all the plants
should be labeled. Some contain unusual or unique plants, such as the
Victoria lily at Kew Gardens near London, or Captain Bligh's
breadfruit on the West Indian island of Saint Vincent.
Gardens, with their often complex three dimensional structures, offer
a lot of creative photographic possibilities. I can imagine a
panorama with distant vistas in one direction, enclosed spaces in
another, and a bed of striking flowers right up close. Or shot from
just above the soil level. A formal garden shot on the axis of
symmetry, a riotous tropical garden with fruit and flowers in all
directions.
There is great variety in what might be encountered in a garden
landscape. I see ponds and fish, sundials, statues, stone lanterns,
stepping stones, terraces, hanging baskets, follies, hammocks,
fountains, dry streams, herbaceous borders, scarecrows, lily ponds,
lawn tractors, maybe even a shrubbery. Ever seen a ha-ha? Greenhouses
make tropical environments possible at any latitude.
How about some mirror-ball panoramas? Get a silver Victorian gazing
ball (like a huge Christmas tree ornament), photograph it with a
moderate telephoto lens, unwrap it into a panorama (CubicConverter
will do this). The ball could be placed on the ground between the
plants and photographed from above, giving a rabbit's level view. Or
it could be suspended in mid-air and photographed from underneath.
Captions will be important for this theme. If the garden consists,
for example, exclusively of plants from South Africa (even though it
might be in California) the caption must explain this, and why. If
the garden was designed by "Capability" Brown, we will want to know
who he was - and about that ha-ha. What are the urban allotments
found in the British Isles, how did they originate, and who was
George Russell? What is special about Monterey's "Sensory Garden".
What is pollarding and why do we find London plane trees all over the
world?
So, take a good look around you, try to interpret the physical and
cultural reasons for what you see planted, where and why. Choose a
garden, large or small, private or public, flowers or vegetables or
lawns. Find a way to bring out its special beauty and interest in
your panoramic photography. Learn all about it and write a good
caption. Easy!