We (better half and kids) have just returned from a 2 plus week tour of China and Hong Kong and while the usual sights (the Great Wall, Shanghai Bund, the Peak) and weather have been memorable, I haven't forgot about you, beloved reader of things horticultural and botanical.
I'll be posting some ideas and images from our latest trip occasionally. I don't intend this to be a travelogue about the "must sees" in China (which, if you've ever been part of a tour, can take up pages of discussion about the merits of visiting yet another jade factory!) but rather some visuals about Chinese landscape and garden design that I noticed and wish to share.
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| How far will this take you? |
At the beginning of the trip, we visited this short section or "sacred way." It's about about a 2 kilometer long path between two gates and is lined with statues, hedging and, in this section, weeping willows. It wasn't busy so I was able to take some nice shots (that is, without throngs of people in my shots!)
The willows work so perfectly. Could ginkgos or sycamores be just as effective?
It was magical setting, with the shrill buzz of cicadas enveloping us on this hot and humid day.
The scale of the path tells you that you are quite unimportant in relation to the owner of this place!
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| Following the silent hedges... |
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| Silent, immutable, inscrutable |
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| Repetition, symmetry and massing are powerful design concepts here |
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| Shen Gong pavillion (I found the hedging and enclosed turf incongruous) |
