I was fortunate to be able to attend a lecture last Thursday at Brandywine Conservancy by Rick Darke. It was entitled, "The Livable Landscape" and Rick ranged over a wide territory of subjects concerning the natural and thoughtfully built environment.
Rick has written a book I think is necessary for the desktop of everyone who gardens in our region: The American Woodland Garden: Capturing the Spirit of the Deciduous Forest (Timber Press, 2002). The book analyzes existing natural landscapes around us: the colors, textures, how they change over time, how they look different morning versus afternoon or through the seasons, and how we can apply these patterns to the places we garden.
Rick's talk covered some of the material from his book, including the phenomenal series of pictures he took of the same Red Clay Creek scene he photographed daily for more than twenty years. It not that the scene is extraordinary—it's beautiful but not altogether uncommon—it's just wonderful to have the time-lapse experience of watching it change with the weather, the sun and moon, floods, death and growth.
But Rick also talked about those parts of the built environment that attract us: the machinery in the garden. Worldwide there are huge industrial places that we aren't making anymore, that we never will again, and that there are opportunities to reuse and benefit from them. He showed pictires of the massive cokery in Essen, Germany that is now a garden, park, and cultural site. And Rick talked about the proposals to turn New York City's abandoned High Line railroad into an elevated linear greenway.
He loves that the landscape never completely hides what was there before: the fencerow trees that mark a property boundary, patterns and signs of farming. He invites wildness into the horticultural landscape by celebrating the dead tree stump that attracts a pileated woodpecker to its insects, and by planting the native species that support wildlife. Rick showed pictures of the small home he bought and over the years transformed from a landscape of lawn and yews to a deciduous garden with four season interest, comfortable nooks and beckoning vistas, machinery-era sculpture, and one that is low maintenance and environmentally sustainable. Rick Darke challenges us to look critically at our own home landscapes and at the natural places around us.
