beauty in imperfection
Let’s start with the Renaissance. There is no doubt it was a very important period in human development. It is during this era that the ideas and dreams about exploration of the world came into fruition.
Humans started to dominate the globe thanks to the discovery of numerous new technologies, as well as the possibilities that the Gutenberg print gave, to facilitate the communication and exchange of knowledge and ideas.
Knowledge became more accessible to the masses, and fields like philosophy, art, architecture and science were more able to influence each other. All of these developments gave people more courage and they created the belief, that there are no limits to the possibilities of the human mind. This was an era, which marked the beginning of mans’ domination over the world and nature.
The notion of taming of nature and the wild is clearly reflected in the gardens created during the Renaissance.
Ian L. McHarg in his book Design with Nature reflects on this humanist expression of man and nature.
McHarg writes: Man imposes his simple, entertaining illusion of order, accomplished with great art, upon an unknowing and uncaring nature. The garden is offered as proof of man’s superiority. (...)
Here the ornamental qualities of plants are paramount - no ecological concepts of community or association becloud the objective. Plants are analogous to domestic pets, dogs, cats, ponies, canaries and goldfish, tolerant to man and dependent upon him; lawn grasses, hedges, flowering shrubs and trees, tractable and benign, are thus man’s companions, sharing his domestication.
Borrowing from Euclidean geometry, order and harmony were imposed upon gardens of this period. We can see how symmetrical and proportionate they were.
The Renaissance gardens were organised, with many repeating, geometrical structures like squares and rectangles dominating the space. Often with box hedges sculpted and shaped into decorative patterns, with evenly separated rows of terracotta pots containing citrus trees.
Moreover, to show the power and the wealth of the owner, these gardens were adorned with more decorative elements, for example fountains, sculptures, terraces or ornamental balustrades. There is no doubt that these gardens were highly manipulated and artificial environments.
This approach clearly shows the unbalanced relationship between the nature and man.
The notion that nature should serve humans persisted for centuries and was visible in many garden styles that followed. They all reflected the idea that the garden should be beautiful and attractive all year round.
Today different trend is clearly visible in planting design. It allows for a more loose, accepting, gentle and less controlled approach.
This approach allows us to think about a garden as transient, temporary and not finished space and to accept the natural changes it experiences, particularly how time impacts the plants, trees and surrounding environment. It is about seeing the beauty and ugliness, the changing colours and decay, and to embrace all of it.
What we can do with our gardens to promote this more gentle attitude?
Simply by keeping in place untidy, spent and tired blossoms, dried grass stems, seed heads, fading leaves, with their disappearing colours, we prolong the seasonal interest in our gardens. We should accept the passage of time and the natural changes that occur. We need to praise all the rhythms and seasonal change in our gardens, not only in spring and summer, when most plants put on the biggest flowering show, but also when the colours disappear and fade.
When we are left with bare stems and dull looking, shivering seed heads, we add another dimension to our gardens. Is there anything more beautiful than the low autumn light shining through the skeletons of dried flower stems…?
Moreover, by simply allowing nature to go through all its seasons and embrace the changes it experiences, we learn how to be more in tune with the cycles of nature, more accepting and more patient.
At Hastate Design we are aligned and deeply committed to this philosophy.
We design for all seasons and encourage our clients to be brave and accept this more soft and gentle approach to gardening. It may not be easy to accept untidy, messy, spent and decaying garden, but let’s try, be more attentive, curious and look for that hidden, subtle, quiet beauty in imperfection.
Peter Kahn, Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington, says:
Interacting with nature teaches us to live in relation with the other, not in domination over the other: You don’t control the birds flying overhead, or the moon rising, or the bear walking where it wouldn’t like to walk…one of the overarching problems of the world today is that we see ourselves in domination over rather than in relation with other people and with the natural world.