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Thoughts about Inspiration, a prologue to the garden season
by Ruby Weinberg
Transport yourself to a hot, sunny summer day. You sit in the shade of your patio attached to your chair like moss affixed to a rock. What better time, you think, to decide which area of your garden is most in need of landscape renovation.
Difficult as it is to desert the comforts of the shade, you walk around a bit to examine those places that have really been bothering you. Last week, when the weather was more invigorating, you had determined to remove some of your overgrown conifers. This week, you decide that they really are not so bad and do not need to be replaced.
And then there's that steep, grass eroded slope that is so difficult to mow. In the heat of this day, improving it doesn't seem imperative. A better idea is to immediately sign up for a trip to Alaska which is sure to be pleasantly cool.
Procrastination, that thief of time, is part of being human, and we all suffer from it at one time or another. But sooner or later, the dedicated gardener will not be able to escape the fact that anticipated projects should progress to the planning stage. Since it is inspiration that fuels activity, maybe that is what you need to get you started. But human beings are a capricious lot. The kind of inspiration that worked for you in the past might no longer motivate you today.
An old Chinese proverb says: "A single conversation with a wise man is worth a month's study of books." How true this was for me when I was twenty-five years old and wondering what on earth I should do with the barren lot in front and behind our new suburban house.
In those early days, it was a teacher, Richard Walters, whose inspiring talks motivated my landscaping efforts. Walters was then the much loved Superintendent of Parks in Maplewood, New Jersey. Since that time, other creative words from enlightened instructors, extension service experts, garden club lecturers, or talented friends often lead me to tackle a part of the garden that I've been avoiding.
Throughout the years, it is the written word that generally has the greatest staying power with me. I find that the most adhesive advice is in one or another of my favorite books. Let us suppose that under consideration is whether or not to include a new feature in my older garden.
In mulling this over, I ask myself again:
What is the basic style of my garden?
Will this add-on feature require a change to other parts of the garden that are now entirely satisfactory?
How well will the new fit in with the old?
The solution is usually within the pages of something I have read.
You, too, should answer these questions before committing yourself to an Oriental pool, a wildflower meadow, a trough garden, an informal cottage display... By extracting a few concepts from the writings of an admired designer, you can decide at your leisure whether that new feature will be an exciting addition or an attention-getting misfit. When you have found the words of a compatible designer, return to them in moments of impasse. Whether those ideas are oral or written is not important as long as you respond to them.
There are other ways of jolting our procrastination. Sometimes membership in a horticultural society or garden club is the way to go, all the better if it meets regularly in a place that is convenient for you. This is most helpful if your interest is in a particular kind of plant such as rhododendrons, alpines, conifers or perennials. Although there are few, if any, non-professional groups that specialize in landscape planning, garden interests usually overlap and your club might frequently call upon designers, rather than strictly plant people, to speak to its members. If not, they need to be encouraged to include them.
Don't worry about incorporating the ideas of others into your scheme because your own property and your own interpretations will be unique. How well I remember my first view of a distinctive garden containing outcroppings within a geologically complex ravine. The owner planted it as a series of magnificent rock gardens. Many years before his death, I asked this gentleman for permission to visit. His answer surprised me: "Yes, but only if you promise not to imitate my ideas." It was amusing to imagine that anyone might try to do so because the site is so unusual. No two properties are exactly the same, and it is highly unlikely that any designer could make a carbon copy of an existing garden.
Public parks, botanical gardens, and arboreta are maintained specifically for both the enjoyment and education of visitors. If you feel intimidated by the size and scope of public developments, there are some organizations that permit visits to private gardens. The Garden Conservancy is such a group. Occasionally, botanical organizations also arrange private garden visitation days. Very possibly, some of them are in your own area.
Do remember, though, that if you're looking for applicable ideas, try to locate gardens in a style that suits your situation best. It is interesting to see how divergent our ideas of beauty can be, but suitability to your land should come first and foremost. For example, formal gardens edged with boxwood and heavily pruned trees and shrubs may be the antithesis of a pastoral ambience that you are trying to preserve.
A walk to observe other landscape designs in your own neighborhood might help you decide what pleases you and what you'd just as soon avoid. Even better, garden travel abroad can be a stimulating experience. But wherever you go, the do-it-¬yourselfer renovating a garden should not try to compare his own efforts with a grand development employing dozens of professional gardeners. Accept it as a noble work of art worthy of close observation, but leave it, as one would do after admiring a Rembrandt painting.
If we move out of our own little world for a while, we may find just the right amount of inspiration to stir us into action.
But do hurry.
Like the butterfly that deserts the flowerless garden, inspiration can quickly fly from our minds. Catch hold of it as soon as you are able and let it awaken your thinking processes.
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published April 21, 2008
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