Landscaping Beyond Plants

By George Graine, Fairfax Master Gardener
“Gardens are the result of a collaboration between art and nature” — Penelope Hobhouse

A new venture in landscape design awaits you if you read “The New Tech Garden” by the iconoclast garden designer Paul Cooper (Mitchell Beazley — Octopus Publishing, 2001). This book is truly inspirational and will broaden your garden experience and opportunities. It explores the potential use of man-made materials and alternative planting mediums including steel, plexiglass, textiles, glass, wood and more in order to create a contemporary design and lifestyle for your gardening pleasure. No doubt you are aware that the image of a garden is always in a state of change. In addition to seasonal change, consider reflecting styles, needs and technology of the times. Repeat — this book is like a trip that will take you to a broader gardening experience.

Cooper is well aware of the traditional approach to design; however, he has a decidedly different take in this regard. He challenges “. . . the traditional concept of the garden and questioning how we make gardens.” Although his book was published more than 20 years ago, his ideas are still fresh. It makes one wonder how these ideas are being incorporated into some garden designs of today. Page upon page of “The New Tech Garden” are filled with color photos of “. . . ambitious multi-media purpose extravagances.” Indeed, these may appear as radical installations yet they are exciting and thought- provoking as you turn page after page where you will find a plethora of different landscaping styles.

One needs to keep an open mind and consider how new techniques using man-made materials will contribute to a much broader concept of your own garden. If you stop to consider the evolution of gardens from years ago, as well as those from gardens from around the world, this might give you pause. The idea of a new tech garden is really as much of a challenge as you might consider. The fact is that we have been using non-plant material such as wood and stone in our gardens for a very long time. On the other hand, the use of other man-made materials, as noted above, will release you from conventional design elements. Some of these changes can be traced back to the late 1970s so that new tech has been slowly evolving for about 50 years.

Cooper challenges the value of traditional design and longevity by replacing some elements with a more colorful and vibrant visual style. His point is to emphasize changes vs. the status quo. Dare to be different and experiment and see the reaction. If you were to study design history, you would come to the conclusion that change evolves. To further make this point, look at clothes and automobile design and even fairly recent food design and tastes. Change is all around us.

Although landscape designers and gardeners are slow to react (adjust?) to technology, nevertheless, it is available for those who dare. Essentially, new landscapes and gardens have adapted old styles to new problems and then created alternatives for the landscape. Perhaps it is past time to reject the preconceived limitations of traditional garden design. Consider replacing it with a garden that is less entrenched with horticultural niceties of plants by using some of your own unorthodox expressions. In other words, your garden need not conform to a particular style but rather can be an expression of your own conversion and perhaps an experiment. By doing so, this may become an inspiration for others as they may think — Oh my gosh, why didn’t I think of that?

Chapters following the book introduction provide a Heinz-type of responses starting with what could be called the shock of the new. Sections on high tech solutions include many examples, such as the kinetic garden where movement is featured. There is also a section on instant gratification that goes beyond potted plants. To be sure, the author notes in his section of “The Soft Garden” that “Not all contemporary architecture and three dimensional design is concerned with the use of hard-edged or high pressure materials.”

In summary, “The New Tech Garden” will help you realize that you have the potential to consider how new materials can be incorporated in your own innovative and individualistic garden. Even if your garden is unconventional, it can still be low maintenance depending on the plants you chose to enhance your own new tech garden. The book provides numerous examples of urban garden spaces for those who may be interested in an unconventional landscape or a garden for pleasure rather than constant labor. Garden on!