Dead Men’s Geraniums
Domestic Gardens as Sites of Bereavement
Nikki Webber
Supervisor Dr Ruth McManus
Summer Studentship 2005/6
The New Zealand Context
• The domestic garden is
an important feature of the
New Zealand national
identity and is considered
a major leisure activity.
• There are approximately
1,023,034 gardeners in
New Zealand today.
1
The Garden as Spatially Distinct
• The domestic garden is a
tangible space distinct
from the home.
• It is more immediately
open to change due to its
continually evolving
nature.
• This makes it an ideal site
for social renegotiation
and the reconstruction of
self.
Why is the garden important in
examining bereavement?
• Bereavement is one of the
most radically life altering
experiences people can go
through.
• It disrupts peoples sense of
ontological security and
often makes them question
their own concepts of
selfhood.
• The garden, as a popular
site of leisure where identity
can be renegotiated, is thus
significant in examining grief
and bereavement.
2
The Meanings of Gardens
• In looking at gardens in relation to
the social process of bereavement
we must also consider the popular
symbolism so often associated
with this space.
• Domestic gardens are man made
constructions with a great
capacity for cultural meaning.
• Popular symbolisms often
associated with the garden are:
– The garden as lost paradise
– The garden and the life cycle
– The garden as being closer to
nature
Paradise Lost
• Historically, humanity sought a
reassuring relationship with
God through the garden
(Francis & Hester Jr. 1990:4).
• A large number of religions
mark the garden as symbolic of
paradise, harmony, temptation,
sin and reconciliation.
• The myth of the Garden of
Eden “Makes of every garden
an image, however pale in its
reflection, of that lost paradise”
(Francis & Hester Jr. 1990:
252).
3
The Life Cycle
• The garden has also
popularly come to
symbolise growth, death,
and new life.
• Trees and flowers are
often planted to
commemorate a birth or
death, allowing the
gardener to imagine an
intertwining of the human
life span with the longer
history of the garden.
A connection with nature
• It has been suggested that
the garden fills an inherent
human need to connect
with nature.
• Schama argues; one of
humanity’s most powerful
desires is the ‘craving to
find in nature a consolation
for our own mortality’
(1995:15).
4
The garden as empowering
• Leisure in the domestic
garden can provide a
source of empowerment
and alternative discourse.
• There has been a recent
increase of interest into the
benefits of horticulture
therapy.
• The garden as pet: control
in the guise of love
A garden with a difference
• Brian Edington is a
Christchurch man
whose memorial
garden has become
somewhat of an
attraction to locals
and tourists alike.
5
In Conclusion…
• The domestic garden is a
spatially distinct and
adaptable embodied
space which can be
viewed as extremely
significant in allowing
bereaved people to deal
with loss and construct
new social identities.
6