The definition of a garden.

What constitutes a garden? What image does the word ‘garden’ conjure up in our minds? There are so many attributes – scent, colour, texture, design – it’s difficult to find the alchemy. We might, perhaps, think first of somewhere we would find flowers, because the scale of likeable flowers is immense. But, what about sanctuaries – places of meditation, herb gardens with their curative properties, contemplative Japanese gardens with no flowers, wild ones where freedom of spirit reigns, front and back gardens and spiritual grottoes? It’s a shame we only have this one word ‘garden’ to describe so many diverse creations.

Our vision of a garden could be anything from a back yard covered in concrete, with a handful of terracotta pots cluttered in a corner and some honeysuckle tumbling over the wall, to a very disciplined one containing only stones, foliage and water - the epitome of elegance and design. But, if it’s somewhere to sit on a rush chair over a drink, a place for sunlight with a pot of thyme nearby, then, even though it might be lacking many of the things we attribute to a garden, it would still be a place of contemplation and paradise to the owner.