gorgeous gardens

As mankind evolved, and our need for perpetual wandering ceased, we began rooting ourselves to the land. As civilization progressed, so too did our cultivation of the ground. But more intriguing to me than agriculture—as growing food was an obvious necessity—was our desire to control nature solely for the purpose of creating something beautiful.

villa Taranto in Italy

Bamboo Gardens in Kyoto, Japan

Bamboo Gardens in Kyoto, Japan

Today a garden encompasses anything from a few sparse but strategically planted pansies or a small patch of herbs, to the gardens of Versailles. In the most formal of gardens, the work of these landscape architects can surely be considered forms of high art, nature itself their primary medium.

Many of these gardens are open to the public. These astonishing botanical spaces provide a certain kind of introspection and appreciation for man’s intersection with nature; a welcomed respite from our lives spent checking emails behind concrete walls.

the topiary garden at Levens Hall

the topiary garden at Levens Hall

a grand stairwell is covered in verdant plant life

a grand stairwell is covered in verdant plant life

 

Vertical Garden

undulating steel comprises the frame for this captivating vertical garden

Garden of Spec2

Scotland’s famed ‘Garden of Cosmic Introspection’ by landscape architect and theorist Charles Jencks

 

Keukenhof Gardens - Netherlands

Keukenhof Gardens – Netherlands

Wisteria tunnel at Kawachi gardens

Wisteria tunnel at Kawachi gardens

“No two gardens are the same. No two days are the same in one garden.” – Hugh Johnson