Gardens of the Mind

Monday, March 21st
by Editor, Soiled and Seeded

Gardens of the Mind

The features and forms of the garden are revealing themselves once again with the snowmelt well underway. Gardeners are out pondering last seasonâ€™s successes and failures, weighing all possible additions, rearrangements and colour combinations.

To contribute to the stack of design literature amidst the trays of emerging seedlings we are embarking on our very own garden design theme for the next few posts. A theme that provides an alternate narrative; gardens not strictly guided by architectural integrity, colour or scent, but are firmly driven by ideas. These conceptual gardens address mathematics, toxicity, sound and cosmology.

Medlan Lucan and Durian Gray's book The Decadent Gardener has provided some loose inspiration. The authors draft several themed gardens that are far from pretty and pleasant. Bent towards peril, ruin and spectacle, their conceived designs include the Cruel, Fatal and Synthetic Garden, the Garden of Venus and the Garden of Oblivion. For these eccentric English chaps, it is the Garden of the Mind that holds the most promise.