Plant Pillars

Abstract

ABSTRACT To sustain the idea of the design of a garden it is essential to look at the plant materials that they are constructed with. We as gardeners, do not use solid materials as our building blocks, we rely on malleable plant materials to build our design. The materials vary over the season, which makes them complex to define. The impressions of a garden is experienced through the expressions of its aesthetics, and without solid documentation of the form, structure, colour schemes and more, it is difficult to form an understanding of the garden as a whole. The essence of a design lies in the plant materials that the gardener crafts and arranges in a specific way to create an aesthetic expression. In my work I have developed a method for the craftsman (or –woman) where the intangible plant materials and the subtle/distinct effects of colour and form and their aesthetic values can be measured utilising the system of a plant catalogue. How will we understand what makes a good and sustainable design if we don’t find methods to document and assess the aesthetics and the craftsmanship behind it?

Keywords

• plant materials
• aesthetic values
• garden design
• research methods
• plant catalogue