Water as a "sacred element" in southwestern gardens
Softleaf yucca (Y. recurvifolia)
I nearly always read the last page of a magazine first. So when my Garden Design (Sept/Oct 2009) arrived today I flipped to the back to read about Arizona landscape architect Christy Ten Eyck. I’ve seen her work featured in magazines, and I admire her strong connections between garden and the surrounding landscape, her emphasis on native plants, and her clean-lined style.
Our native softleaf yucca in bloom
In Austin we’re rather preoccupied with water right now, or the lack thereof. Although it’s raining (again!) as I write this, Austin gardeners are facing big decisions this year on the kind of plants they can keep alive if this weather pattern continues. Personally, I’m moving toward an even more xeric plant palette than I’ve used in the past, with fewer flowering plants (though I still love them) and more architectural cacti and succulents, palms, and grasses.
Softleaf yucca flowers hang like waxy bells from a vertical bloom spike
As I muse about water use in my own garden and in Austin as a whole, something Ten Eyck said in the Garden Design interview resonated with me:
Q [Garden Design]: With natural water sources scarce in the Southwest, how do you use it in a sustainable way?
A [Ten Eyck]: Water is a sacred element, essential for an outdoor space. We try to celebrate the path of water when it comes—typically in flash-flood fashion. We design small water features and “ephemeral fountains” that run intermittently like a desert arroyo.
Also:
Q [Garden Design]: What has inspired you?
A [Ten Eyck]: Brimming bowls, as in Moorish gardens, inspire me by using the least amount of water for the most effect. They suggest that water is abundant, which of course it isn’t in an arid climate.
I think I can consider my stock-tank pond a “brimming bowl” of sorts. The still water reflects the sky and trees as in a dark mirror, and it brings a visual coolness to the garden.
For certain I agree that water is a sacred element in the garden, and the gardener’s spirit, as well as her plants, may droop without it. I think Austinites will become more creative about incorporating symbolic water in their gardens, as Arizona gardeners—and Moorish gardeners centuries before them—have done.
All material © 2006-2009 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
I think gardeners as a whole, no matter where they live or what the climate is like, are more in touch with just how sacred water is. It kills me when I see automatic sprinklers cycle on while it is raining or when people just let perfectly drinkable water run down the drain while they brush their teeth or shave. I am glad you are finally getting some rain.
The bees have consecrated your water garden Pam. You are mightly blessed already for having the foresight to garden as you do.
Thanks Pam. Water has been scarce here in Houston also this summer. Rain barrels are sounding like a very good option for me to get me through these dry spells.
Water is essential and even when it is abundant it should be considered sacred. The wet weather of June and July in New England has now given way to two weeks plus of not a drop and it really takes very little time for plants to suffer from thirst. Your pictures are reverent.
A sacred element, indeed, Pam. And we’re saying a prayer of thanks at our house tonight for the blessing we got this evening.
Funny, I read that last page just today as well. I totally agree with her sentiments and yours. I think you’ve done a spectacular job with your pond and if the strange weather trends continue, you’ll find it even more sacred. However, I wish you rain, rain, rain right now!
I hope you get the rain you so desperately need — your tank-pond looks terrific! My parents, whose house shares a reservoir with several others, have two rain barrels that keep their flowers thriving during drier spells…though drought hasn’t been a real problem in the east this year, thankfully.
I love idea of water as a sacred element, but of course, most religious faiths recognize water as such. Perhaps it’s time we gardeners keep this thought in mind as we go about planning the water elements of our gardens. Thanks for some food for thought.~~Dee
We finally got some rain! Two short showers last night worked their way up to .04 inches in our digital rain gauge. It’s not much, but anything is better than nothing. It’s amazing how just that little bit perked things up. We are grateful.
You certainly don’t take water for granted, and it’s life giving nature fits with the idea of the sacred. It’s a wonderful idea for any garden, anywhere, to incorporate water as a sacred element.
Your Yucca is beautiful! I think a lot of people are planting plants that need a lot less water.
Jake
Great post Pam! I too received my latest copy of Garden Design but like to save it until I have a free hour to devour the whole thing cover to cover. It is so easy here in the Pacific NW to forget how scarce water is elsewhere. Sure we have virtually none in the summer here in Portland but in just a couple months we will be drowning in it.
It’s so easy to forget what a blessing water is. Thanks for the reminder.