Garden taboos

Each year spring seems to come later and later.  So while I wait for my seeds to start and the last of the snow to melt, I am drawn to old garden guides to help me understand the ideas behind historic gardens.  

Written around 1000 CE by a Japanese court noble, Sakuteiki, which translates as “records of garden making,” is one of the oldest garden guides.  Full of advice, it provides the secret ingredients required to create harmony and balance in the garden.

Sakuteiki advises gardeners to take inspiration from nature: “Travel throughout the country and one is certain to find a place of special beauty.  However, there will surely also be several places nearby that hold no interest whatsoever.  When people make gardens they should study only the best scenes as models.  There is no need to include extraneous things.” 

One of my favorite sections of the Sakuteiki relates to Geomancy (the root of the practice of Feng Shui).  This section taps into the energy of the earth to create harmonious spaces. 

Here are sample quotes come from the chapter called Taboos:

“[On] using a stone that once stood upright in a reclining manner … that stone will definitely … be cursed.” 

”The best ponds are shallow. When a pond is deep, fish become too big and big fish cause problems for people.” 

“When building hills, the valleys between them should not face directly toward the house for… it is unlucky for women of the house to be faced with a valley.”

“Do not set stones where rainwater will drip off a roof onto them.  Anyone hit by rainwater splashed off such a stone will develop terrible sores.”

At first these quotes may seem out of place in a garden guide. But East Asian gardens always feel wonderful, so I believe that there is merit to these bits of wisdom.  The courtyard at the Lingering Garden pictured above shows how the advice shared in Sakuteiki can play out.  Each stone is positioned as if in nature and carefully placed to create balance and harmony.  A valley formed by rocks creates a pathway and cuts the garden at a diagonal, which does not face the house directly.

Check out Sakuteiki and enjoy garden inspiration from a thousand years ago.  Or just look at more Chinese and Japanese Gardens. 

Source: Google Books

Romance in the Lingering Garden

As February is the month of romance, I'd like to continue to celebrate romantic gardens from around the world. 

One of these is the Lingering Garden in Suzhou, China.  Built in the 1590’s by Xu Tai, this garden delivers an idealized vision of nature.  The design focuses on harmony and balance, seamlessly integrating buildings, stone work, and plant material.

Street entrance to the Lingering Garden.

To reach the garden you pass through half a dozen intimate courtyards, linked by hallways lined with poetry and rock sculpture.  This passage is rewarded when the view opens up to a beautiful naturalistic lake that marks the center of the garden.  You know that you’ve arrived, and the water frames views of woodland and a wisteria covered bridge.  The lake is surrounded by a series of garden rooms—each one has its own feel and interest.

One of several intimate courtyards that ultimately open up to the central garden.

One room that I found hard to leave has a rectangular stone raised bed.  Lily turf provides an outline for a mound of peonies.  Various types of bamboo offer a simple backdrop.

The Lingering Garden of Suzhou, China. Simple, elegant, lush, romantic.  Check out this wonderful video if you want to learn more about this garden.

See more photos from Chinese gardens here.

 

Summer palace in Winter

Some believe that the development of the picturesque style in Europe was directly inspired by tales from travelers returning from China.

One example of a garden that may have inspired Europeans in this way is the Garden of Clear Ripples created in 1750 by Emperor Qianlong.

The hill and pond structure that we see in this garden, we also see in the scholar gardens of Suzhou and in Japanese gardens.  Dominant features in the Garden of Clear Ripples include Kunming Lake, which makes up 75% of the garden, Longevity Hill, and three islands connected by bridges. 

Traditional buildings enhance the garden and provide places to pause, relax. The garden is laid out to provide views and vignettes from key vantage points along the path.  The overriding theme is harmony with nature; some elements mirror features of the natural scenery found beside the Yangtze River.

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A sign along the main garden path explains that this section was inspired by a painting from around 1300 and reminds us that this garden was destroyed in 1860 and rebuilt in 1992. (click on image to read the text)

On the winter day of my visit, the garden was quite busy.  I was told by my guide that during the spring and summer this garden is packed.  A pile of dragon boats stored in a cove wait for warmer weather to carry passengers into the lake.

The story of this garden follows the modern history of China’s relations with the West which resulted in its destruction, and re-creation several times. 

In the 1840’s, silk, porcelain, and tea exports from China flooded into Europe, but few Western goods made it into China.  In an attempt to offset the trade imbalance, the British East India Company began importing opium from India into China via middlemen.  Chinese efforts to stop this led to the Opium Wars.  During the 2nd Opium War in the 1850’s, Anglo-French forces destroyed the garden.

Abandoned for a generation, the garden was rebuilt in the 1890’s and renamed the Summer Palace for the Empress Dowager Cixi. When the Empress allied herself with the Boxers, an anti-foreign and anti-Christian group, attacks on missionaries and diplomats resulted in another Western military mission in China. During the invasion in 1900, the garden was destroyed once again.  Today the garden holds pride of place for the Chinese and is protected as a Cultural Relic. 

Learn more about visiting this garden here.

 

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.  NY Times. October 27, 2013.  Empress Dowager Cixi in the gardens of the Summer Palace. Click on photo to check out June Chang's new biography about Empress Cixi.