Jensen & Page Reflection
Both Jen’s Jensen and Russell Page are poetic naturalists who successfully describe the intimate relationships among plants. They write to share their own experiences with plants in hope to teach the delicate art of planting that should accompany design. Both speak to the importance of the horticulture science when practicing landscape design. Together they recognize a designer is only as good as the harmonious or inharmonious plant combinations they choose.
In “Siftings” Jens Jensen does this by sharing many stories of his own visual experiences with landscape. He breaks down scenes to explain why they are composed so beautifully by different elements. Additionally, he gives character to different plant species to reflect his own relationships with these plants. The human characteristics he animates trees with provides a transparent and perfectly understandable palette of plant material. The way he describes plants with these human attributes begins to explain how that material is understood by experiencers of space. For example, he writes, “Cottonwood is a sturdy chap. He dares it alone. The storms seem to have no effect on his many branched head” (Jensen 46). We can all resonate this description of a person to the type of atmosphere …show more content…
These range from small spaces with conifer frames to city parks with concrete frames. Firstly, he wants us as designers to understand the importance of foundation, frame, base and theme. This begins with a “genius loci” he states, a focal point to start with (Page 147). Here we extract elements and patterns from the locus, and then the entire rest of the space’s elements can riff off of this foundation. To plant through this process allows for unity to reside in the garden. Keeping true to this unity is a difficult task, Page uniquely explains why in this
Both Jen’s Jensen and Russell Page are poetic naturalists who successfully describe the intimate relationships among plants. They write to share their own experiences with plants in hope to teach the delicate art of planting that should accompany design. Both speak to the importance of the horticulture science when practicing landscape design. Together they recognize a designer is only as good as the harmonious or inharmonious plant combinations they choose.
In “Siftings” Jens Jensen does this by sharing many stories of his own visual experiences with landscape. He breaks down scenes to explain why they are composed so beautifully by different elements. Additionally, he gives character to different plant species to reflect his own relationships with these plants. The human characteristics he animates trees with provides a transparent and perfectly understandable palette of plant material. The way he describes plants with these human attributes begins to explain how that material is understood by experiencers of space. For example, he writes, “Cottonwood is a sturdy chap. He dares it alone. The storms seem to have no effect on his many branched head” (Jensen 46). We can all resonate this description of a person to the type of atmosphere …show more content…
These range from small spaces with conifer frames to city parks with concrete frames. Firstly, he wants us as designers to understand the importance of foundation, frame, base and theme. This begins with a “genius loci” he states, a focal point to start with (Page 147). Here we extract elements and patterns from the locus, and then the entire rest of the space’s elements can riff off of this foundation. To plant through this process allows for unity to reside in the garden. Keeping true to this unity is a difficult task, Page uniquely explains why in this