Monthly Archives: April 2011

The Green Man in landscape architecture, garden design and world culture


The Green Man, Woman and Child

Members of the Green Family

Wiki has a useful entry on the Green Man in world culture. He can be ‘a sculpture, drawing, or other representation of a face… Green Men are frequently found on carvings in churches and other buildings (both secular and ecclesiastical)…. Found in many cultures around the world, the Green Man is often related to natural vegetative deities springing up in different cultures throughout the ages. Primarily it is interpreted as a symbol of rebirth, or “renaissance,” representing the cycle of growth each spring’.
My interpretation is that the Green Man is a symbol of the relationship between Human Nature and Wild Nature. He would be a good subject for an international design competition. Could the two figures in the photographs be Green Children and, if so, where is the Green Woman?.

The Green Woman

The Green Woman


Two days in the lives of two London trees in spring 2011

I was concluding that the leaves would never return to London’s trees when, in the snap of two fingers, the spring is rushing ahead. The above two photographs were taken two days apart, as March turned to April. The weather was much colder than usual before Christmas but since then has been relatively warm.

Three days more growth

The same scene three weeks later