Great Gardens Continue to Teach Us

SECOND YEAR STUDENTS VISIT STONEFIELDS

Some gardens continue to reveal new lessons every time they are visited.

Second year students of LCGD Australia visit Stonefields by Paul Bangay

For the second year students of the Garden Design Program, the annual visit to Stonefields has become one of the most anticipated experiences of the academic year. Widely regarded as one of Australia's most influential private gardens, Stonefields offers students the opportunity to experience first-hand how structure, planting and time combine to create a landscape of enduring significance.

Led by LCGD Australia director Brent Reid, the visit encourages students to move beyond photographs and published images and experience the garden as it was intended: by walking through it.

"Great gardens continue to teach us," says Brent Reid. "No matter how experienced you become as a designer, there is enormous value in spending time in significant landscapes and understanding how they evolve, mature and reveal themselves over time."

— Brent Reid, Director, LCGD Australia

For students, the visit provides an opportunity to discuss design decisions, study spatial relationships and consider how scale, proportion and planting work together throughout the garden. The experience builds upon the principles explored throughout the Garden Design Program while demonstrating how those ideas are resolved within a mature landscape.

While books, plans and photographs remain important learning tools, there are aspects of garden design that can only be understood through direct experience. The way spaces unfold, the relationship between enclosure and openness, and the atmosphere created through years of careful stewardship become far more apparent when experienced in person.

Visits such as Stonefields form an important part of the Garden Design Program, allowing students to engage with significant gardens and deepen their understanding of landscape design beyond the classroom.

LCGD Australia extends its sincere thanks to Paul Bangay for his ongoing generosity in making this experience possible for students each year.

Photography by second year student Ross Malloch.