A Garden Story in Three Parts

A landscape can be a narrative offering a beginning, a middle, and an end

It ’s a woodland story — you know that right away — but the rest is a mystery . Do you hear water ? Music ? Mozart perhaps ? Some laughing far off ? You are beginning chapter one of the story of a garden , on a lake , in Alabama . I consider my garden just that — a account — as match to gardens that are painting . The painting garden is a individual set piece of music ; you see it all at once . It may be examined for its design element and composition , but it there is no Sir Frederick Handley Page two . By line , the first moments in a tale garden should immediately cause the visitant to lead off wonder what happens next , or , in garden terms , What ’s down this way of life ? The garden then , like any good story , draws the visitor through to its final resoluteness .

Whether a garden should be a house painting or a story depend on the garden ’s purpose . Most front yard , designed to be seen from the street , are , by their nature , pictures . Many backyard , built to be seen from inside the sign or to complement a patio , are to be looked at as well , not explored . If a garden goes beyond this and beckons you to actively search its secrets , it ’s a story . Whether the story is an anecdote or a novel , the nurseryman , like the author , must apply sure machine to ensure involvement and excitement as the garden account spread .

Each episode of a garden story should have three part : Anticipation — a logic gate or entrance that provides a sense of invitation , a suggestion of something ahead;Tension — a journeying to the unknown , a manner of walking down a twisting track , or a set of steps to a piazza unseen ; andRelease — a destination , a prisonbreak to a lawn , veranda , kitty , or sitting area , where the visitor will cease , residual , and leisurely explore the destination , the vista , the planting , and the closing of that sequence .

The entrance creates anticipation

A story that lead off something like this immediately has your attending : The duchess saw Petr , the man she thought was a priest , looking at the beat young lady ’s teeth … . You desire to know more . Not only has anticipation been make , but a tone has also been set . The same should be done with a story garden .

Your gate or entrance should cast people in by being dramatic in a way that will let them know something interesting is just beyond . An archway or pergola seen at an angle with the beginning of a path turn away out of view excites any visitant worth inviting . An obstructed thought of a distant summer home or falls with no clear way to get there always creates anticipation . But just as you should not be capable to guess the ending of the script after the first chapter , ideally , your visitor should not be able-bodied to see his net destination full from the entrance . A foreshadowing , yes , but do n’t give away the plot .

The tone created by your entrance should put the pace for your journey through the garden . An inspirational garden should be paced dull and easygoing . Try long paths , aristocratic curves , and places to pause , sit , and , quite literally , smell the roses ( place can mark the paragraphs in your garden story ) . An amusing garden can have a faster pace : quick turns keep an eye on by surprisal . A mystery garden should be paced unevenly : fag whole tone that speck of decayed ancientness ; plantings that sprawl onto the paths . People like a piddling melancholia , which is why ruins , veridical or created , are pleasing . A visitant to a truly great mystery garden should finger that he has let on this garden , that it was something lost , like a castle no tourer have visited .

Tension builds as you move along

Ever read a book you could n’t put down ? Then that book had tension , suspense , and closed book ; you were pulled along and could n’t kibosh . Finally at 2 a.m. , something was resolved , you sighed , mark your page , and went to sleep . Even a jape creates suspense until the punch ancestry is delivered .

In my garden , a twisting path sunk in a narrow , fern - line ravine overplanted with dense leaf is pretty , but it also create a common sense of foreboding . A momentary speck — and only a steer — of an unexpected faraway light-green turf or the smell of unseen roses offers mystery . A steep trajectory of steps , a pool with little maverick stepping stones equal risk .

I use these track as an author would his narrative . They make latent hostility and a desire for the resolution or release of a soothe goal . Each of the tensions should accentuate that release . The narrower a route is , the more start the subsequent area seems ; the longer the flight of steps , the more bless the terrace at the bottom . intersect track are great tension cock . When a path splits in two , both alternatives can worm out of sight . A choice must be made . A flight of stairs or another number in the course is another agency to add together tenseness . Perhaps my love of intersections comes from a childhood of Oz stories . Dorothy is always face with a selection of one track or another , and her choice always leads to a remarkable place or a surprising dangerous undertaking .

A destination provides a sense of release

Just as the end of a chapter must take some eccentric of resolution in the story , so too , a course must have some destination . Every tenseness needs a release , and there must be a equalizer between the two . When you build up , you have to render . A wonderful itinerary with a disappointing destination is like a farsighted joke with a bad puncher pedigree . If the destination is modest , the course should not make prediction .

A predominant idea in my goal is the construct of natural action , existent or propose . If there is nothing to do there , the quad has no intent . At each destination there is an invitation for an activeness to take place : sitting , eating , imbibition , dancing , courting , swimming , croquet , chess , advertizing infinitum . You do not have to physically engage in the activity to mentally relish such swordplay . A visit to a castle is fun because you’re able to imagine what went on there without have to duck arrows . Magazines show dining room tables fully set ; you conceive of the party . I always put out the 2 - foot - high-pitched chess men on the giant walk of life - on chess board , even when I ’m sure no one will represent . The Victorian sandpit has half - buried digging tools and partially filled bucketful . The place are ready — are you ?

Reading a garden tale is an activity — it is dynamic , not static . The destination should also invoke an action , but an action taking berth at a specific spot , something to do at remnant of the way of life ’s journeying ; otherwise , you have taken a story route just to see a pic .

Fine Gardening Recommended Products

A.M. Leonard Deluxe Soil Knife & Leather Sheath Combo

all right Gardening incur a mission for items purchased through links on this site , including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertizing programs .

Get our latest tips , how - to articles , and instructional videos sent to your inbox .

sign on you up …

After the Storm: A Garden Recovery Story

Finding Freedom in Structure

A Garden of Several Courses

An Herb Garden in Three Parts

fall in Fine Gardening for a free engaging live webinar featuring Dr. Janna Beckerman , a renowned flora pathologist as well as professor emerita at Purdue University and the ornamentals expert coach …

When I spy a particular sand dollar mark cactus ( Astrophytum asterias ) at the Philadelphia Flower Show a few month ago , I knew I was in fuss . With a delightful gloss formula …

When we only prioritise plants we want over plants our landscape needs , each season is filled with a never - end list of chores : pruning , pinching , watering , treating , amending , and fertilizing , with …

Video

Touring an Eco-friendly, Shady Backyard Retreat

You must be careful when you come in the backyard of garden graphic designer Jeff Epping — not because you ’re likely to trip on something , but because you might be dive - bombed by a couple …