Threatening Gardens
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Georgene A. Bramlage
- Kirk_Johnson
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Georgene A. Bramlage
- Kirk_Johnson
- biogardener
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Georgene A. Bramlage
- Thank You for an informative and concise article!
Thank you for highlighting the important topic of communicating gardens. with your article. The reference to Carol's earlier article as well as Traute's ongoing struggles are also so very important. We can only hope that Traute's garden struggles are about over.
This article on Threatened Gardens will be highlighted as the Feature Article on the Garden Community page for 31 August through 10 September 2005.
It is interesting that most American gardeners don't realize that what many have come to take for granted (communicating gardens) arose through political and social ideals popular in the late 19th century. Also, books and writings of A.J. Downing and F. J. Scott helped homeowners with the how-to-do-it aspects as they expounded on these ideals. Frank Waugh's writing in the early 20th century about Foundation Plantings put a choke-hold on the communicating gardens conformity ideas. Many communities are still mattied to these earlyideas.
One of my favorite books that runs counter to these ideas is The Front Garden: New Approaches to Landscape Design (Paperback – February, 2001) by Mary Riley Smith (ISBN: 0618083421).
Georgene
-- posted by Georgene A. Bramlage
» Kirk_Johnson - Re: Thank You for an informative and concise article!
In response to Thank You for an informative and concise article! posted by Cercis:Do you think that there should be any community standards? I can sort of understand them for front yards and maybe very messy backyards, but what happened to Traute was horrible.
-- posted by Kirk_Johnson
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Georgene A. Bramlage
- Re: Thank You for an informative and concise article!
Kirk,
My knee-jerk response is a responding "NO!"
I know of two communities within MA that have frontage (front of house / shop) restrictions (through the Planning Board?)but need to look them up to see if they apply only to architectural changes or the entire frontage.
I also have a wonderful cartoon from the 30's-40's which speaks to this phenomenon...if I can't find and link to it on line for you to see, I might have to scan it 
I personally believe what happened to Traute was mean-spirited and vindictive. On a greater level it reminds me of the attitude of some of my childhood neighbors toward the lady I write about in my article The Chair.
Georgene
-- posted by Georgene A. Bramlage
» Kirk_Johnson - Re: Re: Thank You for an informative and concise article!
In response to Re: Thank You for an informative and concise article! posted by Cercis:I haven't had to think about community guidelines since I moved to the southern Oregon coast in 1978. My older brother lives in the Eugene area. His neighborhood obviously isn't too restrictive because some people have removed their front lawns and replaced them with "barkscapes" or with lush plantings of shrubs and herbaceous plants. Those more individualistic front yards do damage the visual harmony of the neighborhood.
-- posted by Kirk_Johnson
» biogardener - Update on Traute's Situation
Just last summer, my garden was again in the spotlight, because my next-door neighbor made one last desperate attempt to force me to conform to the community standard which in this neighborhood is weedy herbicided and pesticided front lawns to which I, as an environmentalist cannot subscribe.Just yesterday, I wrote an update of what has happened with my garden since Carol wrote her article. I call th article "From Curse to Blessing." You will be surprised by the outcome.
If you click on the link "Environmental Issues" in the top left column of the page, you will find other articles on similar Canadian situations. In every case where a municipality tried to restrict gardeners from expressing their individual convictions, the laws have been struck down by the courts. Winnipeg never had any such restrictions, yet here is where the most cruel demolition occurred in my yard, and as Carol points out, not in my front yard. It happened in the backyard. The front yard demolition was supposed to follow, but was stopped by the supervising police officer who noticed that the city had no authorization for what they were doing.
-- posted by biogardener
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