I saw the neatest book the other day on using stone for your landscaping. It had some very interesting things that I thought might appeal to you. (And if it doesn't... oh well.) I thought that I would remind you (yes, again) about theme in designing your project; but to do it in a different way, by giving you some history in landscaping design--starting with the Chinese garden.
One historian claims that the Chinese dynasties expressed their power and wealth by how they established their garden. It is a proven fact, again according to this historian, that some dynasties already on the ropes actually collapsed by draining their treasuries (and the people's good will also) to build their garden. The few books that I have read on the subject all agree that the Chinese believed in a culture of the arts, and this was all portrayed in their garden. How did they do this? By using stone. An old Chinese philosopher said, "Stones are the bones of heaven and earth," by using stone they attempted to portray stone in an exotic manner. Now, there was a lot more to the Chinese philosophy, but that would take far too much time. So let's move over to the Japanese.
Where the Chinese tended to pile up stones into large heaps, the Japanese used stones singularly, or in small groupings. Again, this was done to portray basic philosophical beliefs in that stone was used to "put the heart in order." For, example, a large, tall vertical rock would equate the mood of austerity and determination; whereas a large, rounded rock meant warmth and authority. A low, flat-headed rock symbolized stability and placidness and a rock that tapered down meant peacefulness and serenity. The tall vertical rock was used then as an accent near the top of a rock hill and as a major stone in a waterfall composition. Large rounded rocks were often the centerpiece of a group of rocks, and sometimes were used to accent the tall vertical stones. And the list goes on and on. To continue on with this would be another study all its own.
The Romantic period of the 18th century began to appreciate the informal beauty of using rough and large uncut stones, and they began to use these in more of a centerpiece, usually in waterfalls or outcroppings or large stone formations. What they were trying to introduce was a sort of wilderness in the garden. This began to change in the 19th century, when lanscaping patterns became more geometrically formal in their design. Italian Renaissance gardens began the trend of elaborate gardens when they began to use water features and ingenious fountains. Similar stone and water features, combined with geometrically precise planting beds called parterres, eventually led to the extreme formal French and Italian gardens. These were designed to impose order, harmony and proportion. The classic example would be the French Garden of Versailles by Louis XlV.
Okay; so enough of garden history. Where does that leave you? Well, probably nowhere, but whatever, it was an interesting study to do. Actually, what I wanted to again stress was the importance of theme in landscaping design with stone. You can also use design to evoke many feelings when people walk through your garden area. Do you wish to create the feeling of wildness and the natural look? Or how about order and preciseness in design, like the French in their grand gardens. You can create all of these things, once you sit down and plan it all out. In the next few articles, we'll be discussing stone and what's called stonescaping in design, and finally how to use stone. We'll talk about herb gardens, cottage gardens, romantic gardens, and gravel and checkerboard gardens. Also we'll look at urban gardens terrace gardens and many others. So, until next week, see ya'!
Originally published in the Daily Courier July 13, 2000