Issue 750

Growing Gardens
with Julia Hancock

A piece of peace

It is timely at Christmas to think of peace, and after the shocking events of this year, I can think of no better way to end 2001 than with a discussion on peace gardens.

What's a peace garden?

It can be anything you want it to be - as simple as one special tree or rock, or as complex as a mini park featuring fountains, ponds, trees, shrubs, flowers and sculptures and statues. It can be a beautiful urn on a balcony containing a lily and a couple of fish. It can be a sandbox on a front door step containing a shell. It can be enclosed within an aquarium where fish dart among floaty weeds. Think of a place where you feel most comfortable and which is most meaningful to you.

What can I do here?

Peace gardens are places to play, meditate, sing, read, dance, celebrate life, overcome violence. They are also classrooms where people of all ages can learn to observe the wonders of nature. They offer a sanctuary from stressful situations, a place where you can just 'be'. Why not install two seats: call one a friendship bench where problems can be discussed, conflicts resolved and forgiveness achieved; call the other seat a bench of dreams, and collect your ideas each day in a journal or diary to act upon later.

Peace plants

If you wish to construct a botanical testament to peace, keep it simple. A pretty deciduous tree such as an maple (Acer palmatum) brings new hope each spring with its fresh buds, welcome shade in summer, a warm glow in autumn with its golden red foliage, and in winter it lets the warmth of the sun's rays percolate through its bare branches. We're all familiar with the olive branch of peace, but other horticultural symbols of peace include peace lilies (Spathiphyllum spp.), and prayer plants (Maranta spp.). Acacia is a symbol of friendship, almond and hawthorne of hope, mugwort of happiness and myrtle of love. No other plant symbolises peace more evocatively than the 'Peace' rose, developed by Francis Meilland in France in 1945 and now regarded as the most significant rose of the twentieth century. Sacramento, California is the home of the International World Peace Rose Garden which was established in 1988, and is one of many around the world. My peace garden contains trees planted for every friend and family member who has visited me, each conjuring an image of that person as I wander past it.

Plant-free peace

If plants are not your persuasion, a peace garden can be developed around a rock, or a sculpture. Sacred stones crop up all over the world, from the ancient cairns in Scotland, to Stonehenge in Britain, the pyramids of Egypt and the stone faces of Easter Island. Many believe these to be directional markers, pointing the way to a meaningful message. A Zen garden containing raked gravel is one of the most peaceful environments on this planet. You may like to paint or etch a word or quote which has a special meaning to you onto a piece of stone or wood.

What not to include

Peace gardens are places where is no room for jealousy, anger, resentment, guilt, pride, selfishness, arrogance, bigotry and revenge - leave them all outside the front gate. Why not place a rubbish bin there to dump all your mean thoughts into as you pass through into your peaceful place? Pick a flower to carry in with you instead.

Go in peace. Of course, the very best peace gardens are the ones we cultivate in our own hearts. Happy holidays.