During the Covid pandemic my wife and I really got into gardening. I had planted vegetable gardens in years past with mixed results, but during this period we started growing plants from seeds and built a growing station next to our kitchen.
We also began to study formal garden design. We became fans of Monty Don’s documentary programs on British, French, Mediterranean, and Japanese gardens. Our favorite episode was a documentary on Paradise gardens from the middle east.
From all of my reading and watching of lectures about gardens it has become apparent to me that gardening is a spiritual act. Within the Judeo-Christian and Muslim traditions the idea of gardens originates with the story of the garden of Eden.
The book of Genesis states:
And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
But of course the story goes on to describe how Adam and Eve are cast out of the garden.
Early European formal gardens as well as Middle Eastern garden designs out of Iran were an attempt to recreate paradise. You will notice that formal gardens are enclosed by either high hedges or walls. The etymology of the word garden comes from the Anglo-Norman word gardin which means fenced in. A garden started out as being a fenced in yard. The fence represents the barrier between us and paradise.
Within middle eastern garden design you will typically see a hard wall barrier that encloses a symmetrical design that emanates from a central water feature from which four paths extend in perfect balance. The four paths represent the four rivers described in Genesis:
And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
Within the garden we see a variety of plants that range from ornamental flowers to vegetables and fruit trees. I am particularly fond of the idea of the paradise gardens of the middle east with their use of fragrant lemon and orange trees. The garden is a feast for all the senses.
Japanese garden design is not related to the story of Eden, but is still connected to spirituality. The deities of Shinto describe natural phenomenons. Every geographic location would have deities that held influence of the landscape. Unlike the geometric designs of western gardens, Japanese Gardens tend to try to recreate natural beauty that is made harmonious through the design.
So far, I have really only been thinking about the opulent formal gardens that were the domain of the wealthy and powerful. On a much smaller scale are the cottage gardens and our own back yard vegetable gardens and flower hedges. I enjoy thinking about how tending plants and gardens within our yards can also be a spiritual act. Gardening certainly nourishes my soul.
A couple of weeks ago I took a field trip to our largest formal garden in Spokane at Manito Park. The Duncan gardens were not in bloom yet but I found it to still be a wonderful time to make a few photographs that celebrate the hedges and the symmetry of the formal design as I pondered the ideas of paradise and my own mortality.
Kind Regards,
Ira