Trees surround us and fill our gardens, for the most part, but we often ignore them. Read any article about gardening and you will see that many of us focus downwards to the smaller annuals and perennials in our gardens. Yet, it is the trees that bring the structure — the bones — the foundations of most gardens. Too often, though, trees are relegated to the edges, the fringes of our garden. One look at the photo below and I think you will see the importance of trees in our landscapes. Just as you might place a piece of sculpture, a garden folly or a bench where you want to draw attention in your garden, a tree can establish an amazing focal point — especially a beautiful tree like this one. You could also opt for a flowering tree of some sort, if you wanted an even more dramatic impact, at least for part of the season.
Of course, one reason we don’t think of trees as focal points in our garden is that they don’t provide the immediate gratification of smaller, prettier plants and flowers. Trees take time and patience, two things that seem in short supply these days. It takes a patient gardener to plant a tree that won’t mature until their children or grandchildren are around to see them. That is just one more aspect that makes them so special, though. Trees bring beauty into our garden, but also store memories. They watch over our lives and help us recall the special moments that have passed beneath its branches.
Format: Glass plate negative.
Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.
Repository: Tyrrell Photographic Collection, Powerhouse Museumwww.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/collection=The_Tyrrell_Ph otographic
Part Of: Powerhouse Museum Collection
General information about the Powerhouse Museum Collection is available at www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database
Persistent URL: http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=30971
Acquisition credit line: Gift of Australian Consolidated Press under the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme, 1985
Previously in Garden History:
- Sunnie-Holme, Home of Annie Burr Jennings
- “The Dunes,” Frank Bestow Wiborg house, Highway Behind the Pond, East Hampton, New York
- Henry Edwards Huntington house, Oxford Road, San Marino, California. (LOC)
- Pittville Gardens, Cheltenham, England
- “Willowmere,” Rear Admiral Aaron Ward house, 435 Bryant Avenue, Roslyn Harbor, New York (LOC)
- “The Appletrees,” Henry Eugene Coe house, Southampton, New York
- Thornewood, Tacoma, Washington
- Mrs. Francis Lemoine Loring house, 700 South San Rafael Avenue, San Rafael Heights, Pasadena, California. (LOC)
- Tatham Garden
- ‘Santa Barbara Mission, 2201 Laguna Street, Santa Barbara, California. (LOC)
- Your victory garden counts more than ever!
- “Villa Sciarra,” George Wurts house, via Calandrelli, Rome, Italy. (LOC)
- Whitworth Gardens, Darley Dale, Derbyshire, England
- John & Lizzie Wilson from Boston in Bradenton, Florida, 1951
- Paris Exposition: gardens, Paris, France, 1900
- Wisteria blooms in Davis Garden (Locust Valley, New York), 1930
- “Killenworth,” George Dupont Pratt house, Glen Cove, New York, ca. 1918
- A Garden Under Glass, Nice, France, c1865-1895
Garden History is a blog series for A Gardener’s Notebook with Douglas E. Welch, using the photos available from the Flickr Commons.