The Wisdom of the Gardener— Gilles Clément

“Books about gardens do not speak of wild animals, except to explain how to fight against them. Nothing is said of the natural inhabitants. Books stubbornly omit them and do not mention the moles of Babylon, the dragonflies of Versailles, the snakes of the Alhambra. And yet, they must still find a home in these places. However, neither of them participates in the artifice proper to gardens. Tradition excludes all living animal and plant species that elude the gardener's dominion from the gardened territory. Wandering beings have no place in it.”

Based on these reflections, Clément constructs the particular vision of the garden and the gardener's wisdom in its management that he presents in this book.