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https://www.positive.news/society/the-garden-artwork-that-positively-reframes-weeds/>
"The Turner prize-winning architecture practice Assemble, together with garden
designer Sarah Alun-Jones, have created their first garden: a project that
challenges our negative associations with weeds.
Now established at Begbroke Science Park, part of the University of Oxford, The
Weed Garden is built with materials sourced locally in the Cotswolds. The walls
and furniture are made from grey and cream oolitic limestone (a type of
limestone made up of small spheres or ‘ooiliths’ that are stuck together by
lime mud]) sourced from Grange Hill Quarry, 28 miles away. Enclosed by a large
beech hedge, ‘weeds’ such as linaria, hawksbit, teasel and verbascum reach to
the sky, alongside wild grasses.
The focus on weeds is especially apt as, from 1960 to 1985, Begbroke was home
to the headquarters of the UK’s Weed Research Organisation – one of the world’s
most influential centres of weed science, where weed killers were developed and
tested.
“The jumping off point for the design of the garden came from the horticultural
definition of a weed, which is simply ‘a plant in the wrong place’,” explained
Alun-Jones.
“People often think there’s a lot more to it than that, maybe some kind of
scientific definition, but it’s simply a question of perception. We took
inspiration from the plants that were found on the site when it was a derelict
car park. Some of these were ‘weeds’, as well as wildflowers and native
species.”
Alun-Jones explained that many weeds are closely related to prized cultivated
plants but have been classified as ‘bad’ by generations of horticulturalists
who prized neatness above everything else.
“The garden aims to show the complexity of these relationships, and to chip
away at the lines that we draw to judge certain plants and put them into
categories that are in reality quite blurry. Weeds also serve many useful
purposes, from cycling nutrients and protecting soil to providing food and
habitat for insects. If we can learn to see them slightly differently, many are
also incredibly beautiful.”"
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*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
