Landscaping As An Aspect Of Humanity

| Sunday, April 24, 2011
By Adriana Noton


When it comes to landscaping nature has a huge advantage of human beings. Endless amounts of time, wind, rain and cycles of growth and decay work effortlessly to create breathtaking vistas that cannot be matched by human endeavour. Even the most exquisite ancient gardens cannot rival natural landscapes but they do represent the best things that human beings can do. As such, beautiful gardens and landscapes are of particular pleasure and admiration.

A man made environment does have the advantage of representing human ingenuity and taste. Landscaping involves skill and patience in order for particular purposes to be met. Where Capability Brown was required to create a beautiful but classical garden design his 'follies' might seem superfluous but that superfluity has a reason and certain flair behind it.

A significant difference between human beings and animals lower down on the evolutionary scale is that human beings modify their environment significantly. Others do not get much further than nest building. It is true that ants live in extraordinarily successful communities but they appear not to have freedom of speech, or a free press or any such thing. Larger animals like tigers are even more pathetically dependent on their habitat remaining the same if they are to survive. Human beings are distinguished by their ability to modify their environment, and landscaping is the art form of that.

A big difference between human beings and animals that are lower on the evolutionary scale is that human beings alter their environment to suit their purposes. Tigers in India are threatened with extinction because they are dependent on a habitat that they are unable to change. Human beings scramble to create conditions that will enable other species that are threatened with extinction to survive. The people who do this are motivated by aesthetic appreciation or intellectually motivated emotions. These may be regarded as being among the higher attributes of humanity. Landscaping fits in there too.

Landscaping has a long history in human affairs. There are also current works of seminal importance and many websites and articles on the topic. Anyone who wishes to study privately has a wealth of information that can be easily accessed.

Many online courses are available and there are also colleges and educational institutes that offer structured instruction leading to official qualifications. These may open up new avenues for people with passion and enthusiasm for beautifying places. Certainly it is highly satisfying work for this interested.

The principles of aesthetics apply to landscaping. As an artist chooses a focal point on his canvas and arranges details that align with it, or as a writer chooses a thesis and composes words in harmony with it, so a landscaper strives for unity, harmony and beauty. His artistic and practical skills are directed to that.

Whereas writing a novel may be a solitary exercise, making a film requires team work. The director cannot do his work without the help of actors, camera people and a host of others, and yet he takes ultimate responsibility for success or failure. So too the garden architect has to work with clients, horticulturalist and laborers. Unless he is given carte blanch the client will quite often be more difficult than anyone or anything else.

In addition to being a team work, Landscaping Thornhill has to deal with weather, the changing seasons and the endless cycle of growth and decay. If a landscaper can create a fundamental design that will accommodate constant change and be a work of art for all seasons he may well be satisfied.




About the Author:



0 comments:

Post a Comment