Left Brain/Right Brain and Matisse…

The Dual Nature of Garden Design

A curvy bridge at Chanticleer in Wayne, PA. Voted the best public garden in the US for a reason - it is one of the best! Here the granite blocks act as the interface between the bridge and asphalt road - a practical and creative stone apron for sure.

Creating a garden employs both the practical and the creative sides of our brain. The rational, logical left brain knows plant names, analyzes shade patterns and assesses drainage. The intuitive, imaginative right brain encourages us to see a plot of ground in unique and creative ways. The dual nature of landscaping is celebrated in these posts – I share plant lists, tool lists, helpful hands-on techniques and also insert inspiring philosophical musings that make you think.  It is the practical coupled with the stupendous. For example, a rock garden in a botanical garden may have the name next to each plant (left brain) set in glorious natural rockery setting that inspires (right brain).  

Check out ‘Dream Catcher’ Cherry - Zones 6-8 Large, single, clear pink flowers clothe the upright branches before the emergence of the dark green foliage. Fall brings orange-red to purple foliage color. A choice for a specimen tree for small yards, group plantings or as a street tree. Deciduous.

This bifurcated understanding was best described by the French Impressionist artist, Henri Matisse, when Gertrude Stein asked him, whether, when eating a tomato, he looked at it the way an artist would. Matisse replied: “No, when I eat a tomato, I look at it the way anyone else would. But when I paint a tomato, then I see it differently”.

I hope that my garden-making ideas culled from a lifetime in the profession will have you seeing your garden differently, just as Matisse described.

ah, Matisse. This is his ‘Acanthus’.