Steep slopes
 

I am looking for gardens or parks in a temperate climate that have
been developed on a sloping site, whether a natural hillside or
man-made. The idea is to examine and compare gardens (both public and
private) on precipitous slopes as a design challenge. Often this
ground got and still gets terraced - but other means of coping with
the slope have been developed. It is of great interest to this study
to first of all find existing examples of gardens where the slope was
turned from a nuisance into an advantage i.e. made an essential part
of the design.

TIA

Steep slopes
 

The message
from (Xpamh) contains these words:

I am looking for gardens or parks in a temperate climate that have
been developed on a sloping site, whether a natural hillside or
man-made. The idea is to examine and compare gardens (both public and
private) on precipitous slopes as a design challenge. Often this
ground got and still gets terraced - but other means of coping with
the slope have been developed. It is of great interest to this study
to first of all find existing examples of gardens where the slope was
turned from a nuisance into an advantage i.e. made an essential part
of the design.

There are several famous natural-terrain examples in the Highlands and
Islands of Scotland. Crarae and Brodick Castle gardens are both over a
hundred years old, and owned by the National Trust of Scotland which has
a website..they are also well documented in books.

The other one, in Perthshire, belongs to Geoffrey Dutton and is only
about 40 years old (but stunning).He has written a couple of books about
it, and has also written extensively about his garden in the Royal
Horticultural Sopciety's journal (called The Garden).

None has been terraced. The steep slopes are adapted with zigzag
paths, gorge bridges, rock and wooden steps, etc.

Janet.

Steep slopes
 

Xpamh wrote:

I am looking for gardens or parks in a temperate climate that have
been developed on a sloping site, whether a natural hillside or
man-made. The idea is to examine and compare gardens (both public and
private) on precipitous slopes as a design challenge. Often this
ground got and still gets terraced - but other means of coping with
the slope have been developed. It is of great interest to this study
to first of all find existing examples of gardens where the slope was
turned from a nuisance into an advantage i.e. made an essential part
of the design.

TIA

On the Pacific coast of North America, see the following (some of
which might be considered more subtropical than temperate):

Descanso Gardens, La Cañada Flintridge (near Los Angeles), southern
California, USA; extensive plantings of camellias forming a
camellia forest under native oaks; in bloom season (December
through February), stand at top of slope and look down into the
garden for a spectacular view. http://www.descanso.com/

University of California Berkeley Botanical Garden, Berkeley (San
Francisco Bay area), California, USA; sections representing various
parts of the world. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/

Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island (north of Victoria), British
Columbia, Canada; created in an old limestone quarry; peak blooming
season is last two weeks of July through first two weeks of
August. http://www.butchartgardens.com/main.php

--

David E. Ross
http://www.rossde.com/

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