The philosophy of gardening "indeed, it is the purest of human
pleasures". All the crystallized wisdom of the world and all her
sages urges that there is a desperate need for the healing, humanizing influence of gardening in this fast and fractious modern
world. "In such times," says Bertrand Russell, "I do not think Happiness is ever attainable until I talk with my gardener."
Yes, gardening is an age-old recipe for Happiness. "Who loves a garden still his Eden keeps."
MINIATURE V. SMALL
Miniature gardens are real gardens in the truest sense and
not merely plants growing in small containers. The true
miniature garden is a replica of a full size garden or a natural
scenic vista reduced to the Lilliputian proportions of a small
container. A kind of scale model, if you like, where trees and
other features are reproduced by the cooperation of exquisitely
lovely dwarf plants that present the semblance in age, colourings
and beauty of their more majestic relations. A complete miniature
rose garden can be designed and planted with perfect, ravishing
little rose trees that grow no more than a few inches in height. Or
you can reproduce a scene from any country in the world complete
with mountains, lakes and rivers. Or, in complete contrast, a
tiny formal garden or an amusing novelty for the house.
A true miniature garden can be a perfection of neverending
appeal and interest. It is a world of imagination and of ideas.
You can make your ideal, your Dream Garden, into a living
reality that will change with the seasons, radiant with beauty,
and a piquant -almost wayward- charm, and imbued with all
the romance which your individuality can devise.
MINIATURE AS A RELATIVE TERM
In the strictest gardening sense, "miniature" is, perhaps, a
somewhat relative term. A small, a very small, garden is not
necessarily a miniature. A miniature can be of many -even
quite large- sizes and yet still be a miniature. For instance, a
model village could be reproduced in a square foot or, like
famous Bekonscot, more than a quarter acre. It is a matter of
proportions or scale. A Japanese garden is usually associated
with small dish gardens and particularly with the unique
dwarfing of trees. In actual fact, however, a Japanese garden is
based on the reproduction of a large-scale scene in miniature, and
that reproduction might cover the area of an acre or more.
The
small scale miniature Japanese gardens built in shallow dishes
was originally intended for those people who had no land of
their own. In the same sense you could use the whole of a small
back garden to produce a miniature of, perhaps, a famous beauty
spot proportionately reduced in size.
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