Just Seven Days Until Spring
· Escape Garden Design, Aspen, Colorado
Some gardens are created to move through, and some gardens are created to be in.
What makes a garden a place to be?
When you make a place to 'be', you need two things: a sense of enclosure, and a sense of view. Enclosure makes you feel held. A view gives the eye somewhere to rest. Together, they let the body settle.
How do you create enclosure?
Enclosure can be soft: a curve of tall grasses, a low stone wall, a hedge of viburnum. It does not have to be dense to work. It only has to suggest that this place is set apart.
What counts as a view?
A view can be near or far. A near view might be a single specimen tree, a basin of water, a careful arrangement of stones. A far view might be the mountains beyond. The best gardens hold both: the close detail at hand, and the wide horizon past it.
And then you sit. And the garden does its work.
Seven days until Spring. May you find a place to be.
Common questions
What makes a garden feel restful?
Two things working together: enclosure and view. Enclosure, even something as light as tall grasses or a low wall, makes you feel held. A view, near or far, gives the eye somewhere to rest. A seat that has both is a seat people return to.
How do you design a sitting area in a mountain garden?
Set it apart with soft enclosure, orient it toward a view, and give it a close detail to study, such as a specimen tree, a water basin, or a stone arrangement. In the Aspen area we also consider sun, wind, and the long view to the peaks.