“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” Marcus Tullius Cicero
This SDG is more art and anthropology than botany. Ranging across historical periods and styles, we will learn about the key ingredients of world famous (and lesser known but inspiring) landscapes to reveal, in broad terms, the evolution of garden design over time. Beginning with the classics, we will look at Italian Renaissance and French royal gardens. Moving from traditional and formal, we will explore Cottage, Mediterranean, Modernist, and cutting-edge gardens. In addition to French Formal and English Cottage gardens, we will investigate a a diverse variety of cultural styles: Japanese Zen, Persian, and Dutch gardens. What would be the world of landscape without learning about some of the masterminds behind these amazing creations? We will visit the contributions of select designers such as Frederick Law Olmsted, Gertrude Jekyll, Piet Oudolf, and Los Angeles landscapers Terremoto and Judy Kaemon of Elysian Landscapes. Finally, we will examine some contemporary issues as they relate to gardens -xeriscaping /Water and genetic engineering.
“The lesson I have thoroughly learnt, and wish to pass on to others, is to know the enduring happiness that the love of a garden gives. ”Gertrude Jekyll
