The Matrix

One of my favorite exhibits at the Flower Show was this one on the Matrix.

It didn't use the term "matrix" but that's what it was about.

The exhibit information at the show noted that it was meant to get folks to focus on what is below, the soil that plants grow in.

Represented by the grid supporting the various trees. The views were very different above and below.

The soil is the matrix in which the plants are imbedded. And while the sense of order shown below appealed to me, the natural world is not like that (except maybe for the laws of physics and even then the more we learn ...).

And certainly once at the level of biology things are much messier.

More like this, even as it still reflects the underlying grid order. 

And it is the order that appeals to us in gardens, versus the "hodgepodge" of the natural environment. And it is that order that allows us to discern that it is a garden at all.

🌳  🌳  🌳  🌳  🌳

The last time my Dad visited our place, he referred to our "hodgepodge" gardens. And he was right in that ours was not then a very ordered space. It still quite isn't there yet, albeit a bit by design, with our "no mow" zones just allowed to grow wild. And of course the yard blends seamlessly into the woods, the very thing that contrasts with and allows us to recognize gardens as gardens.