I’ve been thinking about texture lately. Texture is one of those generic garden topics like “color” that every garden book dedicates an obligatory chapter. Photos of hostas, ferns, and other foliage plants often follow. Despite the rather clichéd use of the word in garden literature, the idea of texture in the landscape does not seem fully explored. So to better understand what texture might mean in landscape sense, I turn to music.
According to one source, texture in music means “a structure of interwoven fibers.” In music, texture refers to the way multiple voices (or instruments) interact in a composition. Texture in music is a way of understanding hierarchy. Which voice is prominent? Are they all equal? How do they combine to create the whole? Already my mind was spinning about materials in a landscape. Texture is not just about a type of plant (i.e. big leaf foliage plants), but about the way materials or plants work together to create effects. That got me thinking: how do we combine materials for artistic effect?
Music theory describes four types of texture in music: monophonic, polyphonic, homophonic, and heterophonic. Now before you glaze over, each of these concepts has some rather fascinating ways of understanding texture in a landscape setting. Consider these visual analogies:
