Gardens, gardening culture and the development of a semi-vernacular garden style in Batho, Mangaung, 1918-1939: a historical perspective

[摘要] Topiary had been a feature of European gardens �?particularly those laid out in theNetherlands and Britain �?for centuries. Since the occupation and subsequent colonisationof the Cape of Good Hope, first by the Dutch and then the British during the 17th and 18thcenturies, the South African garden style and gardening culture had been strongly influencedby these two gardening nations. Importantly, such cultural influence was not limited to thewhite colonists' gardens and gardening culture. Due to acculturation and inter-culturalinfluencing, the garden style and gardening culture of South Africa's black people and otherindigenous groups were influenced by white gardeners' preference for formality, symmetryand, above all, topiary.The traditional African vernacular garden/field, which may be described as an 'agriculturalgarden' and/or 'horticultural field', was characterised by an orderly yet mostly informallayout and the absence of a strict separation between gardens (vegetables) and fields (crops).Due to British and European influence, particularly in the region which became known asSouth Africa, the vernacular food-only gardens of some black people and indigenous groupsgradually became semi-vernacular. The once informal layout of gardens and fields hadbecome more regimented and seed was sown in rows instead of scattered randomly.Furthermore, the ancient Western and traditional African concept of a garden as an enclosedarea was reinforced by the white colonists' taste for gardens enclosed by clipped hedges.British and European missionaries who had established mission stations across thementioned region also played an important role in strengthening a gardening culture amongthe 'Bantu'-speaking black people and other indigenous groups, such as the Khoesan.Furthermore, mission schools and training institutions were used as vehicles to promote'industrial education' for black people and indigenous groups. Gardening and Nature Studywere considered industrial subjects which not only taught learners the principles of practicalgardening but also promoted a predominantly formal garden style. During the 20th century,industrial education became official policy in government-funded black schools to secure asteady supply of suitably trained manual labourers for the 'white' economy, includinglabourers to work in gardens and fields.During the 19th century, the taste for formality and topiary spread to the region beyond theCape Colony, including the Transgariep, which became the Orange Free State republic withBloemfontein as its capital (1854). Bloemfontein's first gardeners were of Dutch, Germanand British origin; consequently, the local garden style and gardening culture wereEuropean. Due to the increased availability of cheap black manual labour, Bloemfontein'sgardens were maintained by black garden labourers. In the white people's gardens, the blackgarden labourers were exposed to a preference for the formal garden style and topiary,particularly clipped hedges. The development of 'gardening relationships' between whiteemployers and black labourers led to the transference of gardening knowledge and skills,including topiary skills.Bloemfontein's oldest locations, notably Waaihoek and Cape Stands, were not devoid ofgardens. However, the Bloemfontein municipality deemed it necessary to encourage locationresidents to beautify their domestic surroundings by erecting decent houses and laying outsmall gardens. In addition to food-only gardens, food-and-ornamental gardens becameincreasingly popular. Rapid urbanisation after the end of the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902)caused a substantial increase in Bloemfontein's black and coloured population, whichresulted in overcrowding and the development of slum conditions in the locations. Themunicipality's efforts to address this challenge reached a climax with the founding of Batho(1918) as one of the Union of South Africa's first 'model locations'.Thanks to the efforts of influential municipal officials, Bloemfontein's 'model location' wasturned into a 'garden location' with plots made big enough to allow space for the laying outof gardens. Measures taken to encourage residents to lay out gardens paid off and, in duecourse, semi-vernacular location gardens �?in this case, topiary gardens �?were laid out inBatho. Batho's topiary gardens may be described as simple formal axial gardenscharacterised by English cottage-style planting inside a formal framework. The outstandingfeature of most Batho gardens was the presence of topiary, including clipped hedges, shapesand living sculpture. Essentially, an ancient European garden art was indigenised andAfricanised in the location environment and, in the process, turned into a phenomenondescribed as 'township topiary'. Since Batho's founding, its gardening culture had beensustained by the transference of gardening knowledge and skills �?including those related to'township topiary' �?from one generation of gardeners to the next.

[发布机构] University of the Free State