Out
in the
Garden - Generous Landings
I went to Long’s Lumber last week and bought a small table and four benches to place under the Heptacodium tree. Sara approved; she said the benches were just the right height for the table. Yesterday I went back and bought two new rocking chairs and a coffee table for the patio as well as a bench for underneath the crabapple tree. Over the weekend I chatted with my neighbor who was in her backyard spray painting her outdoor furniture. We were both hopeful that this season we might actually spend more time sitting down. The furniture I bought looks solid and glows. It is made from cedar and after I applied a light stain it looks alive. It invites one to sit down and rest. I think of my purchases as an investment in rest. This season I am determined to spend more time in the garden resting and observing. My purchases were also inspired by Design Principle # 5 of Walter Cudnohofsky, one of my favorite landscape architects: sepa-
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By Judith Fetterley
rate movement and landing. My deck and patio and the new furniture provide a clear landing space for anyone who arrives in my garden, whether they follow the path around the garage or come through the house and out the sliding door. More important still, they provide landing spaces that are generous, proportioned to the size of house and garden. A common problem I observe when called in for a garden consultation involves landing spaces that are too small. For example, a deck or patio off the back of a house needs to be large enough so that those sitting on it do not feel they are about to fall off the edge of the deck or be crushed by the house. People often skimp on the size of a deck or patio because of the expense of construction but no better investment can be made than in creating landing spaces that are sufficiently sized. The same can be said for movement spaces. If a path is too narrow those walking along it may be made to feel tipsy or anxious. Therefore be generous in the spaces you create for people to move through and rest in your garden. While decks and patios with chairs and tables constitute one obvious source of landing, there are many ways to create the rhythm of movement and rest throughout a garden. When I built the path to my front door (and luckily I have a sufficiently generous front porch, rare for new construction these days) I created a series of small landings where the path turns and widens to allow one to stop and observe the view from that angle. Any path can be constructed to provide places to rest while you move towards. Remember that landing spaces can be where the eyes alight as well as where
the feet pause. So, for example, if you have a specimen tree at any point in your garden you can make it into a landing simply by figuring out how to direct the eyes toward it. My path turns and widens to allow my visitors a view of the large doublefile viburnum in my front yard, a pleasure to observe in spring, summer or fall. Still, benches are best, and this year I have placed benches and chairs throughout the garden to allow views from many angles. When visitors come to the garden, I now invite them to sit as well as to walk, to rest as well as to move. The rhythm is fundamental, it is the pattern of our heartbeat. Driven by angels as well as demons, I have never sufficiently rested. This season I am determined to do it differently. As a start, I am going to try to set aside some part of every week free from work and for observing what may be going on in the garden at that moment. Today is a good day for me to make this vow as I have finished spring cleanup in my own and clients’ gardens and am poised to begin the season of planting. It is good to create generous landings in the work of the garden as well as in the viewing of the garden. We shall see how far I get before I jump up from my bench, pick up my tools and fall to work trying to fix that wee problem I just noticed over there by the pear tree! Judith Fetterley lives and gardens in Glenmont, New York. She also runs Perennial Wisdom, a garden design business for new and existing gardens. She can be reached at fetterleyj@gmail.com.