{"id":9820,"date":"2024-08-29T07:16:54","date_gmt":"2024-08-29T11:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enchantedlivingmagazine.com\/?p=9820"},"modified":"2024-08-29T07:16:54","modified_gmt":"2024-08-29T11:16:54","slug":"paradise-grows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enchantedlivingmagazine.com\/paradise-grows\/","title":{"rendered":"Paradise Grows"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><div id=\"tdi_1\" class=\"tdc-row\"><div class=\"vc_row tdi_2  wpb_row td-pb-row\" >\n<style scoped>\n\/* custom css - generated by TagDiv Composer *\/\n\n\/* custom css - generated by TagDiv Composer *\/\n.tdi_2,\r\n                .tdi_2 .tdc-columns{\r\n                    min-height: 0;\r\n                }.tdi_2,\r\n\t\t\t\t.tdi_2 .tdc-columns{\r\n\t\t\t\t    display: block;\r\n\t\t\t\t}.tdi_2 .tdc-columns{\r\n\t\t\t\t    width: 100%;\r\n\t\t\t\t}.tdi_2:before,\r\n\t\t\t\t.tdi_2:after{\r\n\t\t\t\t    display: table;\r\n\t\t\t\t}\n<\/style><div class=\"vc_column tdi_4  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<style scoped>\n\/* custom css - generated by TagDiv Composer *\/\n\n\/* custom css - generated by TagDiv Composer *\/\n.tdi_4{\r\n                    vertical-align: baseline;\r\n                }.tdi_4 > .wpb_wrapper,\r\n\t\t\t\t.tdi_4 > .wpb_wrapper > .tdc-elements{\r\n\t\t\t\t    display: block;\r\n\t\t\t\t}.tdi_4 > .wpb_wrapper > .tdc-elements{\r\n\t\t\t\t    width: 100%;\r\n\t\t\t\t}.tdi_4 > .wpb_wrapper > .vc_row_inner{\r\n\t\t\t\t    width: auto;\r\n\t\t\t\t}.tdi_4 > .wpb_wrapper{\r\n\t\t\t\t    width: auto;\r\n\t\t\t\t    height: auto;\r\n\t\t\t\t}\n<\/style><div class=\"wpb_wrapper\" ><div class=\"wpb_wrapper td_block_empty_space td_block_wrap vc_empty_space tdi_6 \"  style=\"height: 32px\"><\/div>[vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]<span class=\"dropcap dropcap2\">H<\/span>erein lie <a href=\"https:\/\/enchantedlivingmagazine.com\/make-a-cozy-corner-in-the-garden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">gardens<\/a> to dazzle the senses and boggle the mind. Some are meant for a community, some just for you; in a few, you should not touch, taste, even breathe, lest ye be harmed \u2026 Some you will have to fight for.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">All are within reach if you want to try out your green thumb. Working your own plot can be a form of meditation; it connects you to the cycle of life and rebirth, gives a little aromatherapy, deepens your thoughts and your connection to both natural and human-made worlds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Maybe we were created in a garden, maybe not. But something has always driven us to shape and prune and rearrange the plants we find in nature according to our varied ideas of beauty and convenience. That means a garden is not exactly \u201cnature\u201d in the sense of what\u2019s growing wild and doing its own thing: It is <i>cultivated, <\/i>meaning that a human has decided what to grow, where to grow it, and how to keep it flourishing in a complex tapestry of plant life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">That\u2019s not a bad thing. A garden can be every bit the artwork that the <i>Mona Lisa <\/i>is.<\/p>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><b>SECRET<\/b><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\">First of all, you need a secret garden.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">A garden that\u2019s for you and only you\u2014ideally growing where no one else can find it\u2014is part of your self-care, your inspiration, your self-expression. It is the place where you relax and reflect. Secrets emphasize your independence and resilience; something that\u2019s just for you can make you stronger. And, incidentally, that\u2019s good for your community and your planet.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">We come to our secret spaces in different ways. Perhaps you\u2019ve stumbled upon a little plot of land somewhere, formerly well tended but now growing wild in an unhealthy way. You yearn to bring it back to its original glory. Let Frances Hodgson Burnett\u2019s 1911 novel, <i>The Secret Garden, <\/i>be your guidebook. In the classic tale, an unloved, unwanted, and frankly unlikable orphan named Mary Lennox is sent to Yorkshire to be raised by a distant relative. There she hears tell of a rose garden lost behind a stone wall somewhere and neglected for the last decade. As Mary searches for the garden and then learns to restore it, her temperament improves; she makes friends and even solves a <i>Jane Eyre<\/i>\u2013worthy mystery about the cries that tear through the manor at night. The garden makes her want to be a better girl, and in turn she makes the manor\u2019s menfolk better too. This book has long provided a handy metaphor for the way girls view gardens and their own bodies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Secret gardens are very personal \u2026 and synonymous with women and, metaphorically, their bodies. That high stone wall represents your virtue, ladies\u2014or in more modern terms, it is your self, and you can choose how far to open it up to other people. Or you might struggle not to get stuck in a garden that\u2019s imposed on you, like Alice in <i>Through the Looking-Glass, <\/i>wherein every attempt at taking a new pathway just leads right back to the house.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">A personal garden was a lifelong project for landscape artist Mien Ruys (1904-1999) of the Netherlands. It was conceived over her lifetime as a series of \u201cexperiments,\u201d occupying thirty so-called \u201crooms.\u201d Each one of those rooms has an identity that was important to Ruys\u2019s own growth, from her very first\u2014a harmoniously composed \u201cwilderness\u201d laid out when she was just twenty\u2014to a water garden and more. Both privately and professionally, Ruys celebrated perennial flowers and layers of color rather than monoculture lawns and single-species beds, and she popularized the \u201cdesire path\u201d\u2014a trail not planned but created naturally by the feet of animals and humans, meandering as the fancy takes them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Many cities feature small horticultural gems hidden behind walls. You pass a courtyard door just as it swings shut, and you glimpse a miniature parterre, a formal garden with symmetrical flowerbeds, everything balanced and stately. Or in London, you make a pilgrimage to the Chelsea Physic Garden, founded in 1673, where you find five thousand healing plants behind a tall brick wall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">When you create your own precious sanctum sanctorum, you don\u2019t owe anyone a glimpse of or a say in what you\u2019re growing. That\u2019s the idea. If you don\u2019t have a wall, put up a privacy fence. Grow a tall hedge. Or just let the trees and bushes around your property go wild and create a thorny tangle<i>. <\/i>Use the space within for painting, writing, reading, dancing, meditating\u2014whatever feeds your most secret self.<\/p>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><b>MAZE<\/b><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\">A maze is perhaps more a garden feature than a garden in its own right\u2014but have you ever been lost in one? The twists and folds of boxwood or yew hedge make the space telescope to contain entire worlds. And they just might include a secret garden too.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">A maze represents the path we take toward enlightenment. In Christian (and formerly Christian) tradition, labyrinths are a part of religious allegory, whether growing from hedges or laid out in stone on a cathedral floor. There might be just one path to the center, or you might have options. Either way, as you aim toward the peaceful space in the middle, sometimes you seem to be getting very close to grace and fulfillment, only to find another turn taking you back to the outer edge. Frustration and feeling lost are a part of the allegory you\u2019re living\u2014wait, I mean part of the fun. When you finally reach the center, you might find a fountain, bench, or tower in which to contemplate the journey and the future (or sneak a quick kiss or photo with the person who got lost with you). If you\u2019re lucky, no one else arrives for a while, and it is your personal Eden.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">A single fragrant rose blooming alone there is sometimes called the <i>rosa mundi, <\/i>the rose of the world (not to be confused with the garden rose of that name). The name is a nod to Rosamund Clifford, the alluring mistress of England\u2019s King Henry II. Folklore says that to protect Rosamund from seducers and a jealous queen, Henry built her a castle that was also a knotty maze, with the beauty in a garden at the center. That single flower can also refer to the <i>Roman de la Rose, <\/i>an epic French poem of the 1200s in which the Lover seeks to find a beloved who is represented as a rose blooming behind a complicated stone wall. A labyrinth with love in the center is a powerful symbol for all sorts of quests, and for life itself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Mazes are featured at several ch\u00e2teaux of the magical Loire Valley, which brims over with almost too many treasures. At Villandry\u2014world-famous for all its gardens\u2014the squared-off labyrinth follows a traditional Renaissance pattern and there\u2019s just one path to the center. And at Chenonceau, the brightest jewel in the valley\u2019s well-studded crown, a round maze is a short hike from the castle and a world apart. Surrounded by woods, it\u2019s a get-yourself-lost puzzle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The most famous garden maze in the world is at Hampton Court, near London, and it\u2019s a notorious wedge-shaped puzzle that takes an average of twenty minutes to solve. Designed around 1700 at the behest of William III (a.k.a. William of Orange), it\u2019s a star in its own right, having been featured in Virginia Woolf\u2019s 1919 novel, <i>Night and Day, <\/i>and Michael Bond\u2019s <i>Paddington Bear and the Marmalade Maze. <\/i>You\u2019ll also recognize it from the movies <i>Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again <\/i>and <i>The Favourite, <\/i>the series <i>Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, <\/i>and a dizzying array of other inked and filmed productions. Perhaps getting lost there is just what you need for your next big chapter.<\/p>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><b>HANGING <\/b><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\">The second-most famous horticultural hotspot in history, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, were designed around 600 BCE with the intent to make a tall building look like the mountainous landscape of a queen\u2019s former home. Trees and plants were cultivated on a series of tiered terraces that rose toward the sky in a marvel of engineering and irrigation. Webs of scent floated down from all those blossoms, entangling passersby. They looked toward the sky, wondering \u2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">The Hanging Gardens were in fact one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World\u2014and they are the only such wonder for which we have no archaeological evidence, since they were lost to an earthquake in 226 BCE. Or maybe the evidence is all around. Seeds that blew off a rooftop sowed the surrounding area with flowers and trees that now are simply what grows.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">A hanging garden (you have deduced by now) doesn\u2019t so much hang as it rises. Its plantings are not rooted in the earth; it brings soil up onto a human-made structure. So those kitchen herbs you grow on your windowsill qualify, and so do the potted trees and plants on your rooftop or balcony.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">Hanging gardens are some of the most spectacular\u2014and planet-friendly\u2014you\u2019ll see today. For Willie Wonka\u2013style dramatic impact, visit the Jardins Suspendus de Marqueyssac. Located in V\u00e9zac, France, on the grounds of a turreted castle, the site is the dreamchild of a military man who retired in 1861 and unleashed his creativity (beating his sword into a ploughshare, as the saying goes). There are fifty-four acres of otherworldly topiary, cyclamen, and secret nooks and pathways growing on terraces hewn into the cliffs above the Dordogne River. Not to mention dozens of peacocks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">In a more casual hanging garden on Manhattan\u2019s Upper West Side, the High Line stretches for almost a mile and a half along an old spur of New York Central Railroad. The tracks almost vanish under plantings inspired by the weeds that once struggled along them; railroad ties emerge here and there as a flirty reminder of how this refreshing space emerged out of the arc of history, industrialization, and urban decay.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">Like the High Line, your own hanging garden can create a green-lunged haven with a big environmental impact. In Paris, the bee and butterfly populations surged after a citywide push to grow pollinator-friendly flowers on rooftops and balconies. Urban green corridors like the High Line and the hanging gardens of Paris\u2019s La D\u00e9fense can reduce nearby temperatures by as much as ten degrees on a hot day. You can attract pollinators with plants like black-eyed Susans, cosmos, lavender, verbena, coneflower, and more. Choose organic plants and seeds to avoid chemicals toxic to the pollinators.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Here\u2019s hoping that we can beat more swords into garden trowels.<\/p>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>POISON <\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Maybe you\u2019re a modern-day Brother Cadfael who lingers for hours over an herb garden. You rub sweet, pungent basil and lavender between your fingers; you harvest lemon balm to heal scratches, oregano for digestion, saffron for insomnia. I hope you also have a sizable patch of mint, because some people swear by it as an antidote to poison (no guarantees here). And somewhere just down the road, someone is growing mugwort, henbane, devil\u2019s cherries, and angel\u2019s trumpets, all with malicious intent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">As an idea, the poison garden is probably as old as horticulture or even agriculture. In the words of Renaissance physician Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, a.k.a. Paracelsus, \u201cThere is no substance which is not poison. The difference is in the dosing.\u201d This means that even the wonder drug that has saved your life could be the same substance that ends it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">It\u2019s a quick jump from a monastery\u2019s garden of healing to a witch\u2019s (theoretical) plot of malevolence. Medieval people looked on monastery gardens with approval, but any wisewoman\u2019s medicinal garden might be a plot full of ingredients to render a woman infertile, a man impotent, a cow dead of the bovine plague <i>Rinderpest. <\/i>And sometimes it did happen \u2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">Here are a few of the greatest hits we love to see in a poison garden:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">\u2022 Foxglove, or digitalis: As a medicine, it can bring the beat back to a slow heart; in a different dose, it could speed a heart up so fast that it beats itself out. It also makes some very pretty flowers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">\u2022 Hemlock: This is the plant that sent Socrates off to his reward. Even if you never brew that particular tea, you should keep some hemlock growing as a monument to women and men who know too much and dare to ask questions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">\u2022 Belladonna: Popular for Ancient Roman murders, this <i>extremely <\/i>poisonous plant was ingested during the Renaissance\u2014in small quantities\u2014to dilate the pupils and make eyes appear bigger and brighter. At what price beauty \u2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">\u2022 Mandrake: The infamous root looks like a human figure, right down to the genitalia (which are usually seen as male, sometimes female). It is so potently poisonous that it must be harvested in the full moon. Don\u2019t be alarmed\u2014it screams as it leaves the earth, yes, but that\u2019s just science.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">You\u2019ll find all these plants and more in the Alnwick Garden in Northumberland, England, where the world-famous Poison Garden does not mince words or toxins. Over a hundred species of deadly, hallucinogenic, and narcotic plants grow behind tall iron gates. Entry is by guided tour and for intrepid souls only; although your guide will prevent touching and tasting, visitors have been known to faint from inhaling the air in which laburnum, hellebore, opium poppy, and much more respire in deadly photosynthesis. The same warnings apply at Ireland\u2019s Blarney Castle, where the poison garden is intended to educate visitors about commonplace plants that turn fatal when cooked into something else\u2014soaps, jams, teas \u2026 It really is all in the dose and, in this case, the concentration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p6\">A poison garden is perhaps the ultimate secret, or it should be. A very tall fence should keep out the most curious neighbors and help make sure that there\u2019s enough toxic material left for your needs.<\/p>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_cta h2=&#8221;Continue Reading!&#8221; txt_align=&#8221;center&#8221; style=&#8221;flat&#8221; color=&#8221;grey&#8221; add_button=&#8221;bottom&#8221; btn_title=&#8221;Subscribe Today!&#8221; btn_style=&#8221;flat&#8221; btn_color=&#8221;mulled-wine&#8221; btn_align=&#8221;center&#8221; css=&#8221;&#8221; btn_button_block=&#8221;true&#8221; btn_link=&#8221;url:https%3A%2F%2Fenchantedlivingmag.com%2Fcollections%2Fsubscribe|target:_blank|rel:nofollow&#8221;]<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><i><a href=\"https:\/\/enchantedlivingmag.com\/collections\/digital-downloads\"><img data-dominant-color=\"35392c\" data-has-transparency=\"true\" style=\"--dominant-color: #35392c;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-9627 size-medium has-transparency\" src=\"https:\/\/enchantedlivingmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-04-at-6.46.50\u202fPM-229x300.png\" alt=\"Flora and fauna issue of Enchanted Living Magazine\" width=\"229\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/enchantedlivingmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-04-at-6.46.50\u202fPM-229x300.png 229w, https:\/\/enchantedlivingmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-04-at-6.46.50\u202fPM-780x1024.png 780w, https:\/\/enchantedlivingmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-04-at-6.46.50\u202fPM-768x1008.png 768w, https:\/\/enchantedlivingmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-04-at-6.46.50\u202fPM-1171x1536.png 1171w, https:\/\/enchantedlivingmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-04-at-6.46.50\u202fPM-320x420.png 320w, https:\/\/enchantedlivingmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-04-at-6.46.50\u202fPM-696x913.png 696w, https:\/\/enchantedlivingmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-04-at-6.46.50\u202fPM-1068x1401.png 1068w, https:\/\/enchantedlivingmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-04-at-6.46.50\u202fPM.png 1518w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 229px) 100vw, 229px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/enchantedlivingmag.com\/collections\/digital-downloads\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">To continue reading order a physical or digital copy of the Flora &amp; Fauna issue from Enchanted Living.<\/a><\/i><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><em><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Subscribe now and begin with our <\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/em><b style=\"font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">Flora <\/b><span class=\"s2\" style=\"font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\"><i>&amp; <\/i><\/span><b style=\"font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">Fauna <\/b><em><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">issue!<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n<p>[\/vc_cta]<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_column_text css=\"\"]Herein lie gardens to dazzle the senses and boggle the mind. Some are meant for a community, some just for you; in a few, you should not touch, taste, even breathe, lest ye be harmed \u2026 Some you will have to fight for. All are within reach if you want to try out your [...]","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":9821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[82,91],"tags":[3016,905,904,3015,3008,3005,3011,3007,3012,3018,3009,3014,3003,3010,3006,3004,1998,1363,3013,3017],"class_list":{"0":"post-9820","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-essays","8":"category-writing","9":"tag-botanical-wonders","10":"tag-fauna","11":"tag-flora","12":"tag-garden-art","13":"tag-garden-design","14":"tag-garden-maze","15":"tag-green-thumb","16":"tag-hanging-garden","17":"tag-healing-plants","18":"tag-historical-gardens","19":"tag-horticulture","20":"tag-labyrinth","21":"tag-paradise","22":"tag-personal-sanctuary","23":"tag-poison-garden","24":"tag-secret-garden-inspiration","25":"tag-self-care","26":"tag-susan-cokal","27":"tag-toxic-plants","28":"tag-urban-gardens"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Paradise Grows &#8211; Enchanted Living Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Explore the fascinating world of gardens, from secret sanctuaries for personal reflection to the dangers of poison gardens and the intrigue of mazes. 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