  Hey everyone -  check out my new website:  www. plantladyland. com I'm enjoying the landscape design history class I'm taking right now -  it's all about how different cultures have interpreted their gardens .  it's amazing the extraordinary lengths middle eastern cultures would go to to create garden oases in the desert and how the garden of eden and the idea of paradise as a garden developed out of this barren landscape .  And then there's the perplexing and intriguing world of asian landscape design -  where gardens were created to entice and confuse the senses -  nothing is out in the open .  all the paths are winding and multi- tiered through grottos,
 by ponds,  and up hills and into moon viewing pagodas -  where false endings seemed to signify a closure but really,  should you look more closely,  actually might lead to a whole new pathway.  It's refreshing to see the way gardens have not always been simple cookie- cutter,  sanitized versions of the American grass lawn and meatball hedges .  where differences were celebrated more and character was often prized over attempts at aesthetic perfection.
