Chapter One: "Green Dreams:Gardens" Reading/Response

      Chapter one Green Dreams: Gardens, to me this chapter started of a little bit confusing. The author Robert Harbison, makes a lot of metaphors and references that I didn't get, but when I did understand them it was very satisfying. To me its like the author is going between reality and dreams. The chapter is about all different gardens and how he perceives and views them. He talks a lot about all the symbolism happening in all the gardens. He goes into great depth when he is describes the gardens.
      What I enjoyed learning from this was all the different types of gardens there are in the world. The garden I envisioned the most from the reading was the Japanese sand gardens (from page 13).  I can just imagine how simple and beautiful it must be to just appreciate the natural beauty as art. This chapter really shows how art and nature collide and how people often try to mix them together.
     What I got out of this reading is that all gardens have their own meaning and have something to tell and they all differ from each other. Everything can be symbolized even if the artist has a specific meaning behind it, I feel like it is still up to the viewer to make their own narrative. This chapter really awakens me to all the space around us and for me at least makes me want to go out and reexamine everything I've seen.