ABSTRACT
The flows of garden-design models around the globe create a dynamic field in which imported approaches interact with local settings in a range of ways. This chapter explores the encounter of garden-design models and local settings at the level of individual elements, focusing in particular on geological features in gardens. Gardens are often referred to as having a ‘design language’, a term which immediately evokes ideas of conversations, quotations, and translations, when considering the interactions between an imported model and the local setting. The metaphorical synthesis of nature and language is deeply embedded in Western culture, and establishes the idea of a ‘natural language’ of a setting which interacts with the imported language of design. Landscape calques mimicked natural features, translating elements from another landscape language into physical form. The faux geology exemplifies the operation of a calque, or ‘trace’, of a natural feature, and the artificial rocky crags are a key element of the invented landscape.
