Landscape gardening technology in China

First, adjust measures to local conditions and conform to nature.

According to local conditions, that is, according to different base conditions, there are mountains and mountains, and water depends on water, and fully grasping the beauty of natural scenery for our use is actually conforming to nature in garden planning and layout. Another meaning of conforming to nature is to shape the landscape in the garden according to the formation law of natural landscape, so that the landscape in the garden is full of natural and naive charm. The main purpose of garden art is to create (or transform) the beauty of landscape, making it more concentrated, more exquisite and more convenient to watch. The mountains and rivers of the motherland are graceful, especially those traditional scenic spots that have been evaluated by predecessors. They are beautiful without mountains and water. Beautiful natural scenery provides inexhaustible materials for garden creation, but gardening is not simply to imitate nature and reproduce the original, but a practical process of shaping more beautiful scenery than natural scenery through artistic labor with landscape elements such as mountains, rivers, flowers and trees and buildings. This requires artists to seriously summarize the different forms of natural beauty and its formation laws as the basis for their artistic creation.

"Lively splash" is the water pavilion across the stream in the west of Suzhou Lingering Garden, and it is also the end of the stream scene. A clear stream slowly flows out of the maple forest, and you disappear there, as if through the pavilion. Although the water has stopped, it is still moving. Flowing water, small pavilions and verdant hilltops are full of liveliness and vitality of natural scenery, which is really a wonderful idea of artificial creation in garden landscaping, and it is indeed appropriate to use the title "Lively Spilling the Ground". Si Kongtu, a poetic theorist in the Tang Dynasty, wrote in his poem: "Angry and lively. Lively and full of energy, the spirit is exposed, away from paper. " In order to achieve the artistic effect of "although it is artificial, it is necessary to make the garden full of vitality and organize the landscape naturally". This is the scene of "lively splashing on the ground". The small building is placed in a rockery and hill surrounded by Yellowstone, with streams flowing out in twists and turns and maple trees standing on both sides of the river. If you take a nap here on a crisp autumn day, you will definitely feel full of life and refreshed.

Specifically, the law of landscape art in dealing with mountains and rivers (that is, overlapping mountains and managing water) is "the mountains are expensive with veins, the water is expensive with energy, the veins are general, and the whole garden is vivid". In fact, mountains have pulse potential and water flows actively, which is the most common law of natural landscape. If the mountains in the garden are mixed into a pile without context, and the water in the garden is passive stagnant water, then even if the pavilions are exquisitely designed and there are many kinds of flowers and trees, the whole garden will not be vivid. Therefore, the first step in gardening is to determine the direction of the mountain, dredge the water source in the garden and let the mountains and rivers blend naturally. If the garden is built in a natural mountain forest, it should be built according to the pulse of natural mountains and rivers, which is what Ji Cheng said in the Ming Dynasty: "There are heights and depressions, curves and depths, overhangs and levels, openness and frankness, and it has its own natural interest". If the garden is built on the flat ground, it should also be "ploughed up and dug down" so that the whole garden can be coordinated and unified according to the needs of the scenery.

Cui Yongshan Villa is a natural slope of Huqiu Mountain outside Suzhou, which rises step by step according to the mountain situation. The garden gate faces south, and more than ten simple bluestone steps lead tourists into the simple garden gate shaded by green trees. There are three porch houses in the door, built among the ancient trees on the hill. It was a view of a small building in a deep mountain. Not far from Xuanbei, there is a raised platform. The pavilion on the platform is called "hot spring", which forms a corner with Xuanwu and a steep hillside. It is a small building that guides tourists to climb mountains, which not only increases the spatial level before and after the small garden, but also leads people's attention to high places. On the west and north sides of the pavilion, there are rockeries piled with lake stones under the cliff of Zhenshan, which are connected with each other, and flowers and trees such as oleander, crape myrtle, Pinus bungeana and pomegranate are planted in the middle. The garden wall is hidden among rocks and flowers and is not conspicuous. The scenery in the park is integrated with the natural forest scenery outside the park, which is full of vitality and interest. When natural rocks and artificial trails overlap slightly and come to the platform of the main building, you will see a lush scenery at the foot of Tiger Hill. Looking up, it is the majestic tiger hill. According to the context of the natural landscape, the artificial small garden is in harmony with the big landscape. Cui Yongshan Villa adds color to the famous Tiger Hill scenery, and the Gu Shan Tower in Tiger Hill has also become an indispensable borrowing scene for the small garden.

"Ask the canal to be so clear, because there is running water at the source." The basic relationship between mountains and rivers in landscape architecture is that "mountains are born of water, and water turns with mountains". Only flowing water can bring vitality to the mountains; Only the water with vitality can vividly reflect the landscape of the garden. If the water in the garden is a stagnant pool, it will rot and deteriorate, and there is no natural beauty at all. For this reason, Ji Cheng pointed out in "Gardening and Metallurgy": In the early stage of gardening, it is necessary to "investigate its source, drain its source and examine its source water". As long as natural water is introduced, it is easier to obtain living water. Such as the cold spring in Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou and Er Quan in Jichang Garden in Wuxi. In a garden with land, the source of the spring itself is a very good scene, such as the difficult old spring in Jinci, Taiyuan, and the Baotu Spring in Daming Lake, Jinan. In some gardens, the larger water surface is used as the city's regulating water source and livestock reservoir, such as Kunming Lake in the Summer Palace in Beijing. Urban gardens should also clear water roads and enter natural rivers. Portal bridges and pavilions in ancient gardens were set up to control the outer river and the inner water (such as A Dream of Red Mansions). In some urban gardens, there is really no way to connect living surface water, so gardeners will drill several wells in the deepest part of the stream pool according to local conditions to connect the surface water in the garden with underground living water to ensure the vitality of water. This method is often used to save water in areas with high groundwater level in the south of the Yangtze River.

Su Dongpo, who loves scenery, once commented on the architecture and plant landscape in the garden. Plants and trees are like famous festivals, and over time. "It means that as long as you have money, the terrace building can be built immediately. However, the flowers and trees in the garden can not grow immediately, and it takes more than ten years or decades to grow. It can be seen that the poet attaches importance to garden plants. Green is the color of life. If there are no plants in the garden, it will become lifeless. Therefore, flowers and trees are necessary factors to make the landscape lively and lovely.

The planting of garden plants, like landscape, should conform to nature. The principle of planting flowers and trees in ancient Chinese gardens is to let them grow naturally without artificial constraints. Therefore, in ancient gardens, you can hardly see the straight roads, trees trimmed into geometric shapes and very symmetrical and regular flower beds in western gardens. Almost all the plants in the garden are stretched and full of business. They often cross together, just like in Shan Ye. In Gu Zhuo, the old trees that can draw postures, as well as various flowers and fruits that can be changed at any time, such as peaches, plums, begonia, persimmons and other fruit trees, reflect each other in the garden, adding a lot of natural flavor to the scenery in Shan Ye. In some urban gardens in Suzhou, people can also enjoy the wild interest of "old elm trees near the shore, weeping willows near the water, and secluded trees coming out" (two islands on the pool in the middle of the Humble Administrator's Garden) and the urban forest landscape of "maple leaves full of trees, peach Liu Yin" (hills in the west of the garden).

Another manifestation of plant configuration adapting to local conditions and conforming to nature is not seeking the preciousness and completeness of varieties. Some common tree species in rural Shan Ye, such as elm, locust, poplar, willow and ginkgo, are all guests in the garden. It's some lower plants, such as moss on the stone, compound stone winding like a net on the fake mountain peak, books and grass growing in the gap under the stone, small shrubs and Indocalamus growing on the ground, which can also be seen everywhere in the garden. They not only increase the natural interest of mountain scenery, but also play the role of "Tibetans", covering up some traces left by axes and chisels, and are good helpers to create natural and vivid garden landscapes.