What Does Your Garden Show? Explorations of the Semiotics of the Garden

Abstract

Etymologically, garden has been defined by the fencing in or enclosure of an outdoor space for the use of humans—for the cultivation of food; for aesthetic, sensual, and emotional experiences; and for the nurturing of the human spirit. Gardens not only reflect our interactions with the land through our physical work with soil and plants but also act as “a mirror of the society which creates it” (Bequette, Gardens: A cultural flowering. UNESCO Courier, p. 44, 1997). Through their design and use, gardens act as texts that can be explored to gain insight into historical and current relationships with the land. Symbolically, gardens can also illustrate philosophical predilections and metaphysical relations. This chapter, through a historical exploration of the semiotics of the garden, considers the signs and what is signified by the garden text. From the academies of ancient Greece to medieval monastic gardens to villas of the Renaissance to the Baroque state gardens of Versailles, it follows traces of power and privilege of the individual, family, state, and church. The chapter also looks at current shared community and school gardens and looks forward meditating on who and what is present and absent and how representations of power and privilege are cultivated in the garden.