One of the purposes of the garden has always been to grow exotic plants. These plants were souvenirs of one's travels, and the plants growing in the garden showed others where someone had been. They also served as a way of bringing back a bit of the beauty that one had experienced, and experiencing it a bit again. People have created gardens like their interior space, to evoke the feeling of another place. From my recent trip to Italy, I wanted to have some of those things that I experienced there, but with easy access from home. I wish I could get pizza like that I had in Rome, or the gelato in Florence. I would love to have a garden like that at Villa d'Este. But no matter what I do with the garden, it will never be Italy.
Similarly, my hikes into the mountains in New Mexico are such a joyous experience. There are magnificent vistas, open skies, and great plants. I wish I could bring that sense into my garden. But how can that be done when New Mexico's natural landscape are all about space, and my yard is a few yards deep and not much wider? How can the grandeur of the wild be taken into a private landscape? I suppose it really can't. We can miniaturize the landscape somewhat, but that does not reproduce the sensation. Using the concept of borrowed landscape only gets you so far. It seems that the only way to get it, is to experience the natural landscape as it is.
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