I've always loved math. I guess that's why I've always been drawn to the geometry of formal gardens. Some may think that formal garden design is boring, but to me it's soothing, calming, and relaxing. The lines, the balance, and the patterns bring a sense of order that my mind craves.
Of course, plants know nothing about geometry. I've read that true formal garden design is very difficult to achieve in gardens. The reason is simple. Plant two plants, and one will usually grow taller, fuller, or bloom more than its next door neighbor. Varying degrees of sunlight and soil differences can make a lot of difference, especially when you add in the factor of time.
In my own garden, I prefer formal structure with exuberant plantings. It gives my mind the order it craves, and the abundance of blooms that the gardener inside of me loves. Of course, it's also easier to hide mistakes that way, too. If one plant in a truly formal garden dies, it can spell disaster, especially if the plant is very large.
Measuring!
Pattern!
Math!
Geometry!
Wahoo!
Drawing new garden plans is always thrilling to me. And day dreaming can be dangerous when you have access to the internet and a credit card!
My head is full of math - and dreams! No better way to spend a rainy day afternoon than in a little gardening geometry!
What about you? Do you like math, too?
Pattern!
Math!
Geometry!
Wahoo!
Drawing new garden plans is always thrilling to me. And day dreaming can be dangerous when you have access to the internet and a credit card!
My head is full of math - and dreams! No better way to spend a rainy day afternoon than in a little gardening geometry!
What about you? Do you like math, too?
Actually I do like math. I like formal gardens too. I always consider mine formal country. Kind of a contradiction but that's fun. :)
ReplyDeleteCher Sunray Gardens
Yes, I consider mine kind of formally informal, too. I like that contradiction!
DeleteI try. I try to draw plans and make drawings and create defined, if not formal, spaces, but then I abandon them and go outside with a shovel and all bets are off. My garden plans and dreams wind up in my head, and then they get overturned. I can live with that.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand. Sometimes the drawn out plans don't seem exactly right when I go outside to implement them, so they get changed, too. The best part is - it's our own garden and we can do as we please!
DeleteI wasn't a fan of math until geometry class. Then I wanted to learn math to learn geometry and that ultimately led to my design career. You need the technical background to be truly good at design.
ReplyDeleteAt this point I don't draw the designs out on paper because it feels too much like the work I did for many years. I still use the skills and have fun with it.
Good for you for having fun with it. Having all the skills in place just allow you to be a little more free, and yet very successful, too.
DeleteI like elements of formality but overall I think my garden is more exuberant lets say. I have a knot garden I have been waiting for the box to grow together for years. Ha... It gets to looking fairly good then I redesign it. Add flowers in the empty spaces. I think that is it. Empty space makes me nervous. ha...
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Greenbow. I love your header picture. Gorgeous roses.
I am so jealous of your knot garden! I have wanted one for years, but haven't had the perfect spot. I'm trying to include one in my new plans - we'll see if that transpires! I know what you mean about empty spaces. It's so hard to wait until things grow in!
DeleteAwww..dear, you should become my student. I have a PhD in math, do research in it and teach it. That's why I guess I don't like geometrical garden - see geometry all around me all the time - and thus like wild garden :-). You should publish your plans; that will teach us novice gardeners how to design and plan.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed, Dr. K.L.! Interesting that you are so very good at math and want to be away from it at home. I guess home is where we go to relax, and a messy garden gives your mind the break it needs.
DeleteI like the logic, order, and predictability of formal gardens too. Probably because I grew up in England, when I first started gardening I was convinced that symmetry was required. Then I moved here, and I had to adjust my thinking though, as our terrain does not lend itself at all to symmetric, or formal, garden design. Have fun day dreaming...here it's often responsible for our to-do list getting longer!
ReplyDeleteYou are right - this day dreaming has made my list grow by quite a lot! But it's all fun! :)
DeleteI know EXACTLY what you mean on soooo many levels
ReplyDeleteHolley, you have to try the landscaper program..it takes some getting used to but once you got it...it further wets the appetite for your vision
DeleteI really should try it. Thanks for reminding me! I think I'd love to see it virtually - so much faster than in real life! :)
DeleteI'm not very good at math, could never get my mind around it, dreaming of new garden beds however, I am very good at. And I really enjoy the planning and planting process. Happy day dreaming.
ReplyDeleteI, too, love it all - the planning and the planting. And, of course, buying the plants, too! :)
DeleteI don't dislike math! And I don't do a lot of measuring in my garden and I really should.
ReplyDeleteI am always bugging my husband about where the measuring tape is! I especially like the one that rolls along the ground. :)
DeleteMath isn't really for me...Geometry in a garden is beautiful, but maybe because of math, I don't have any geometry...I dream of a new bigger greenhouse.
ReplyDeleteI dream of a greenhouse, period! Maybe I'll find a spot for one while I'm daydreaming!
DeleteNew garden plans and more play with garden geometry? Woohoo! Exciting times ahead and exciting to do indeed :)
ReplyDeleteI used to hate maths but I've learned to reconcile with it in recent years.
Yes, I have a lot of land, so I can always dream up new garden plans! It's the implementing of them that is slow!
DeleteWhile I like math and formal gardens I cannot get them to work for me....I do admire those who can...I like the idea of using google earth. My view is obstructed by my 10 mature trees but it would be fun to draw the gardens in.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a lot of trees, but I can see where that would make a world of difference! It's always interesting to me how my garden looks from above, vs. what I see from here.
DeleteI never thought of using Google maps to get an overview of my garden, great idea! I find taking long shots of my garden with my camera often shows me things I don't see when I'm walking by. One thing is true no matter what, you definitely have to keep on top of those garden beds, they like to move around as they grow!
ReplyDeleteSo true! My garden is already quite a bit different than what is shown on Google maps. But I can easily draw those areas in. It's a fun way to play!
DeleteI don't like math! However your first paragraph where you say your day dreaming of new garden areas and you just can't help yourself sounds exactly like me! I'm the same way...and it's raining here!
ReplyDeleteI hope you have fun in your day dreaming, too! :)
DeleteHolley, I love to look at my garden on Google map and always upset if the long shadow closes my straight paths and oval lawn:)). I do have plan 'what to do' but no math!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about those long shadows. It really can distort things!
DeleteI'm not sure math enters into it, but designing new gardens is the most interesting part of gardening to me! My gardens are not formal here, as it would not be appropriate for the setting. Nor am I a good enough gardener to keep those visible mistakes to a minimum. I need the camouflage of chaos . . .
ReplyDeleteThat's why I love "abundance". Guess I could have called it chaos! :)
DeleteYes! My favorite garden designs are formal, but for practicality, I love loose plantings inside of a stricter framework as you do. The part of math where things seem to get tricky for me tho is balancing the creativity, credit card expenditures & the bank balance. Leave that part out & math is dreamy and perfect. ;-)
ReplyDeleteKeri
You are so right! That balancing the budget thing can get very complicated! haha
Deletegeometry is so strange..it's the only time I ever made a c...yet today...I am quite good at it because I use it in the art form rather than the math form...loved your post!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it interesting that everyone's mind works differently. If only the teachers could teach each student in the way they learn best. What a smart world we would live in!
DeleteI like designing gardens, and am still working as a free-lance garden designer. I just renewed the drawing of our own garden because we got a new garage. I shall show you on one of my blogposts coming weeks.
ReplyDeleteHow fun to work as a garden designer! I think we creative people need an outlet like that. I've often wondered what I will do when I finish adding new garden beds here, and only have to maintain.
DeleteI agree that formal designs like four square gardens can be soothing. But I think the geometry needs to be balanced with abundant color and texture in order to keep from passing from soothing to regimented or sterile.
ReplyDeleteI agree 100% with you. I love abundance combined with the formality. I think I would love to have a formal garden like Versailles, but the gardener in me needs the plantings, the blooms, the color, etc. to be happy!
DeleteAnother reason strict formal is harder to achieve is because in its simplicity is often design complexity. Look at modern art for clues. Most that find it unappealing do not understand the underlying design principles. Others just don't like it for the rigidity.
ReplyDeleteGood idea about looking at modern art! I will now see some of those paintings with a different perspective!
DeleteIndeed, mathematicians are not necessarily good accountants.
ReplyDeleteSo true! I love math, but always hated accounting. It's different. Plus, accountants work with money, and that's something I hate to think about when I'm designing new garden beds! ;)
DeleteThere can be something very restful about formal gardens, all that order lets the eye and mind relax. Do you use the golden ratio? I love geometry but never quite round to using it in the garden, though I do spend hours planning and replanning areas of the garden.
ReplyDeleteI have never been able to adopt the use of the golden ratio successfully in my garden. For some reason, I guess it and my garden (or perhaps it's it and me) don't mix. I would love to somewhere, though. Just to see it.
DeleteThank goodness plants can't read! If Romanesco were to hear what you wrote about plants knowing nothing about geometry, they would be shaking their fractal curds in fury!
ReplyDeleteI, too, use Google when assessing a new garden. It is so useful. Have fun with your design!
haha - Yes, I forgot about the Romanesco! You are totally correct about it using geometry! :)
DeleteI like circles, curly cues and mostly arches but I hate MATH I Love gardening but need ideas on how to add to my garden as I have gone all around the edges with beds and made a path around the perimeters with beds and arches. What's next????I have a few circles at the corners and long rectangle beds. I love looking at others ideas and try to find thing I can use or tweak for my garden.I would love to get rid of the grass and just have winding paths but DH says NO! So what's a girl to do? I need to have lots of opinions!!!
ReplyDeleteGosh, Gwen, good luck! My DH would love to not have any grass to mow! ;) Your garden sounds beautiful. If you want to enlarge it, though, can you just move the beds forward a few feet so that you have more room but your husband still has some grass? Or plant a bed in the middle of the lawn, so that he has grass all around, but you get more room to plant that way? Or, would he consider having the pathways grass, with flower beds on either side all throughout your garden? How about adding a curve outward in the middle of the rectangular beds? I hope you can come up with a solution. I know I will hate it the day I can't add any more areas to my garden.
DeleteSeriously? Geometry? I couldn't even get through algebra!
ReplyDeleteI bet you're using geometry and don't even realize it! :)
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