Landscape gardening is supposed to be  an art form……the most cherished of all art forms……for in nearly every human culture known, Paradise is a Landscape Garden!

In the ideal,  landscape gardening is to the eye what Beethoven is to the ear.   Unfortunately in today’s American culture, neither are practiced, neither seen nor heard.    At best we live in the noisy  aural world of Prince where the body is stimulated not the mind and soul.

Class 1   9:30 am Saturday, May 7:  “LEARNING TRICKS OF THE TRADE”      Can the human being  create for the eye  what the beauty of  Beethoven or Brahms,  Tchaikovsky, Handel, Verdi, and such   have done  for the ear?

The eye is easier to fool than the ear!!   The class session will be held at my home landscape garden in Minnetonka….address available below.

The magnificence of glorious classical and religious music never came from a college  lecture.   It came from a human  soul, ear, and training requiring an enormous amount of  skill, native and learned,  and hard work conquering  various musical instruments to create beauty to inspire self and  those who might be around to lift the listeners’  soul.   It died as an art form almost a century ago.

Learning the tricks of the landscape garden trade  ideally requires knowledge of plants, plant habits and characteristics and  plant placement in the landscape garden to cause  beauty with the primary goal in mind,  to inspire both you and  the  soul and mood  of the visitor.   Pianos, horns, and violins are not needed.  Imagining balance, color, contrast, height, width,  focus, fragrance, framing, privacy, repetition,  scale, shapes,  sizes, texture, shadows are.

Gardens in America have long thought to be flower beds and vegetable gardens.   The landscape garden whether on the home or business grounds has been nearly universally ignored.

Garden life limited to hostas, lawn,  spiraeas along the house front foundation  and a maple in the middle of the front yard, if well maintained can be attractive.  It is usually not very  high on the inspiration scale of most landscape gardens.

Class 2   9:30 am Saturday, May 21:   The Art of Planting in the Landscape Garden.       Why plant?  What to plant?  Where to Plant?  How to Plant?  How to maintain the plant and  the landscape garden?…..will be reviewed and demonstrated at my home in Minnetonka.

Class 3   9:30 am Saturday, June 4:  The Art of Pruning and Positioning Plants in the Landscape Garden.   When, where, time,  and how to prune  to control size, shape, repair and maintain plant health and  direct the eye.   Review of tools and equipment will be demonstrated.   Class will be held at the Pat Kessler grounds

Class 4   8:30 am Saturday, June 11:    Garden tour of  a  ‘handful’ of  local  Landscape Gardens.   Until further notice  Landscape Garden participants will gather at my home grounds, 14624 Woodhill Terrace in Minnetonka MN.   The tour should last around 3 hours.)

The fee for those signing up for all four sessions is $100 per person, paid in advance of the first class.   Fee for the tour only is $35……for each class separately is  $30 per session.

For reservations, questions, or further information please call  Glenn Ray of Masterpiece Landscaping, Ltd.  at 612-919-5300.