Last night I was describing the Huntington Gardens (at the Huntington Library) to a friend and realized that I’ve never heard of a German garden, or a French garden, or a Spanish garden. Why is that? Instead, there are Japanese gardens abound, and a fair amount of Chinese gardens as well. Other than that, there are themes based on plant type or ecosystem – rain forest, desert, wetland… I find that Japanese gardens tend to focus more on the features – zen gardens, bonsai trees, and bamboo – whereas Chinese gardens have a slightly stronger focus on architecture – pagodas, stylized gateways, and small buildings. Both definitely have a water element present (particularly a lake), which isn’t always the case in other gardens.
Western gardens seem to be more about flowers, an open field of grass, and greenhouses. But in terms of a country or culture having a particular type, I can’t say that I’ve heard of any. Is it just me or do Asian cultures have greater cultural identities than Western cultures?
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