BEATRICE'S AFRICAN-AMERICAN YARD SHOW GARDEN

BEATRICE'S FRONT YARD SHOW GARDEN

Early last spring I spotted a garden filled with decorative elements that had a certain  type of folk quality.  

Beatrice working in her garden

A woman was working around the garden so I  stopped my truck.  We introduced ourselves to each other.  Her name is Bernice Logan, a sweet, lovely lady that lives in Garrard County, Kentucky. I was a stranger to her yet when I asked if I could photograph her and her garden -- she was glad to do so. 

A yellow painted rock with flowers

She walked with me around her garden pointing out certain decorative elements and mentioned where she got them. It was early spring, green plant life was poking out of the soil -- the only blooms were those of daffodils.  


Many gardeners  design their gardens unaware that their designs are intuitive -- a  result of traditions ingrained from long-past garden influences. 


As Ms Logan showed me the various parts of her garden I got the distinct feeling I was looking at remnants of an African-American garden tradition. This tradition is described by garden researchers as a yard show. 

A semi-circular rock painted by her children's grandmother 
-- reflecting their sports interests

Her garden filled her entire small front yard. Following are the features that could qualify her garden as an African-American yard show

-- Circularity appeared as a strong visual in the overall design. Circles around trees, circular rocks, tire, cauldron.

-- Overall it has a non-linear design -- more of a thoughtful process of,  "I think it would look good right there." 


-- Material elements were a complexity of  items. There was an abundance of statuary animals, a tire, a hanging iron cauldron, lights,  garden edgings,  bricks, and several others elements.  


-- Elements reflecting nature. Rocks both painted and non-painted, a nest, and a hunk  of a tree root arranged loosely from a cauldron tripod, plantings, decorated tree stumps. 


-- Light and/or reflective materials. Christmas lights surrounding the porch used year round. Also small ground hugging solar lights. 

A circular garden bed containing animal figures and rocks surrounded by  circular brick edging -- a young tree in the center

The elements described above in Ms Logan's garden, could have been found in typical traditions from her cultural past. 

Nodding yellow daffodils  growing up through a young tree 
containing an abandoned nest -- found and placed there by Beatrice.

A yard show is a compilation of elements plus more. Yard show gardens can be either spare or abundant in material items. Most yard show gardens seem to be located in the front yard.

A circular turtle shell on the turtle figure placed 
on the side of a circular old black tire.  

Certain meanings that were mysterious and spirtual were part of the yard show history.  Examples of some meanings are that of a circle element, such as a tire, which relates to circles of the spirit, bottle trees to capture bad spirits, and plantings around the house of protective herbs.

Her porch Christmas lights -- part of the front yard show 

As gardeners in general, we are usually unaware of some of the traditions that we put in our gardens. As we put decades or even centuries between us and our inherited gardening traditions we become unaware how they  influence us as we lay out our space. Look at how you design  -- compare it to other gardens in your area and identify the similarities. Perhaps these similarities are your  intuitively designed traditions. Intuitive design can tell us about traditional stories from our past.  

A circular caldron with circular birdfeeder, 
hanging circular teapot and natural root that tops it off.. 

African Amercan yard shows are a facinating topic. I would heartily recommend Places of the Spirt for its fabulous yard show photos. Also, two other books that are well researched on this subject are listed below. 

As planting time descends on us once again, look around your neighborhood for  traditions that abound in many of their gardens.

References:

1, Keep Your Head To The Sky: Interpreting African Home Ground
Edited by Grey Gunder


2. Places for the Spirit: Traditional African American Gardens
Vaughn Sills  (Photographs and text)


3. African-American Gardens and Yards in the Rural South 
Richard Westmacott