The Spirit of the Times – Six Garden “Muses”

There are two important concepts that give meaning to a garden: the “genius of the place” – its pervading spirit that gives it its sense of place – and the spirit of the times – its “zeitgeist.”  By zeitgeist we mean that, in any given society, there is a certain language, culture or range of concepts that are commonly understood – a spirit that animates people to action or contemplation.  In the context of gardens, the spirit of the times keeps changing as cultures evolve.  We speak of the six garden “muses” as reflective of the spirit that inspires garden design.

1. Faith – a way to accept the inexplicable, the unknown, the spiritual.  The earliest gardens had their roots in a faith that could provide alternatives to the forces of nature and daily life that deaden humanity.  Cloister gardens became a place of religious seclusion.  Walled gardens that once offered reassurance in turbulent times have given way to a reverence for nature and concern for ecology.

2. Power – whether the power of temptation, or of the creator to expel beings from paradise, or of the Sun King to dominate subjects and nature alike.  Louis XIV’s Versailles emphasized elegance and power through vistas, long steps and promenades, rushing waters, and fountains.  A garden may express personal or cultural power or suppressed desire for it.  It may represent a vital temporary refuge that restores personal power in this hectic, modern world.  And, it may also reflect the growth of community necessary for collective caring and action.

3. Order – gardens are often an unconscious expression or conscious concretion of an order that is important to us.  We make sense of the world and our role in it by systematically arranging people, events, the environment, and values into an order.  Garden styles and types reflect the order of nature, as envisioned by landscape architects, through the use of various landscape elements and styles such as a paradise garden, a formal garden, a heavily clipped topiary garden, or a knot garden.

4. Cultural expression – the garden is a record of the uniqueness of a culture in time and place.  For the wealthy, gardens may be aesthetic retreats or spacious hunting grounds; for suburban families they may serve as outdoor living rooms; while for working people, community gardens may be basic to their families’ survival and a way to help share the fabric of the community. 

5. Personal expression – from elaborate rock gardens to front lawns peopled with plastic elves and raccoons, gardens are a joyful window through which to view the lives of our fellow human beings.  The garden is an everyday place where people feel free to be creative, to express themselves, to retreat from the outside world, or to act on their values.

6. Healing – the elements of earth, water, plants, sun, and wind can heal and nurture us with restorative energies.  The garden is a place where we often go when we are sick, depressed, or in need of inspiration.  At the same time, it is a way to repair and heal with our own energies the larger damaged natural world – our collective global garden.

From Francis, M. & Hester, R.T. Jr. (1995).  The Meaning of Gardens.  Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.