Let us meditate upon gardeners who give their gardens to the public. Pure determination in dirty gloves. Let us meditate upon their gardens.
Descanso is one of those (on a grand scale!). There is Lotusland in Santa Barbara; Rancho Los Alamitos, the Hortense Miller garden in Laguna Beach is a local example. The Ruth Bancroft garden in Walnut Creek is one as well.
I discount the Huntington and the Biltmore--places like that--because those are the estates of plutocrats.
'Mr Ripple' is not a plutocrat:
Let us meditate upon those places donated by hands-on gardeners, not the super-rich.
What special qualities gives those gardens a future after the gardener is gone, or retired?
A certain amount of money, of course--the gardener must be able to afford to give the land, and to possibly create a trust to support it financially in some way, either with her own money or with her charisma, to attract others to join her cause.
The neighborhood must tolerate the additional traffic. Space for parking, so mundane a thing, matters.
Gardens need committed volunteers--to lead tours and pull weeds and raise money.
Seasonal events, like sculpture exhibits and Christmas light walks, help to bring in more visitors than just the plant-nut.
A collection of compelling rarities of the plant world might help. Or that the land was particularly beautiful place, or the home a historic home.
Or that the garden contains plants of such choice rarity in a particular area that they are of interest to those who have never seen such plants.
There should be a large enough population in the area to ensure sufficient visitors and volunteers.
Of course, the garden should be beautiful.
Who starting a garden today will, in forty or fifty years, live to see their life's labor of love become a public treasure?
Which public gardens we know and love today will become in a generation apartment blocks or landfills?
We all know most gardens do not outlive their creators.
So much love, so much work, effort and passion, for such an ephemeral creation.
For to sit on a sunny afternoon and look around.
The plants--at least the genus and species upon our earth, if not the particular specimen--endure far longer than the gardens we set them into.
Sometimes they survive only in gardens.
Sometimes the garden becomes a source of new and innovative varieties, a place for botanists to study or create, to hurry along the evolutionary process.
Perhaps we humans, who think ourselves the masters of this planet, are merely tools plants exploit for their own advancement.
Wouldn't that be funny? The joke would be on us.
Though I cannot think of a more noble Kingdom to serve, than the Kingdom of Plants.
What a great post! I love that you found so much beauty and lushness there (I did too) where I think quite a few Flingers found only ugliness (and heat). I remember hearing someone refer to it as "that big cactus garden." Deep thoughts here. I AM a slave to my garden and my plants.
ReplyDeleteIf you are not used to xeric gardens, they are a shock. It takes time and knowledge to appreciate them for what they are, doesn't it?
DeleteI am a tool, no doubt about it.
ReplyDeleteIn a good way!
DeleteA special and thought-provoking post. Gardens exist in time, like the performance of a beautiful song or a delicate piece of glass, destined to end, the balance so fragile. I think it's the very ephemeral nature of our creations that makes them extremely special in the moment. Are gardens a reminder of the temporal nature of all passions, all beauty, all things? I bet Boris and Natasha know!
ReplyDeleteB&N know when it's time for dinner. They have their priorities. :)
DeleteYou correctly suspect we are slaves to the plants. Read several compelling arguments in The Botany of Desire if you think otherwise. Ruth Bancroft apparently was convinced.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder--they feed us, clothe us, protect us, AND they look pretty AND a lot of them smell pretty. We can't blame ourselves!
DeleteServing the Kingdom of Plants - I like that. Once again you got some great photographs. I was just looking at the pictures Judy took at this garden. I really enjoyed this place, both the plants and the sculptures (I'm glad we arrived while the sale was going on). It was not what I would consider beautiful, but it was exciting and fascinating. Not the kind of garden I would want to have at home, but I'm very glad I got a chance to see it.
ReplyDeleteYou get to appreciate the beauty of the xeric after a while. Of course it would never work in your climate. We gardeners are pragmatists--we learn to love what works in our own climate--sometimes!
DeleteNicely done Hoov ...I love this garden enough to have been a member for many years, taken hundreds of photos, and thank Ms Bancroft sincerely for her gift to us.
ReplyDeleteYour pictures that I have seen are much better of this garden. I had a struggle with the light and the heat. Too much of both!
DeleteSuch a great post. Your words are so well chosen--I read them twice.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Gerhard, you are very kind!
DeleteI loved reading this meditative, insightful post, Hoov, and I also love that this garden is where we met in person. Thank you for introducing yourself, since you'd been a bit of an enigma to me, even after you kindly let me use your beautiful aloe picture in my book. Your photos here are particularly lovely as well, and I like what Alison said -- that you found so much beauty in a place where others saw only dust, spikes, and heat. Well done!
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoyed meeting you, Pam, however briefly. It was very hot in that garden for our visit, but just the sort of plants I really love--the stubborn, odd survivors.
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