Garden culture as heritage: A pilot study of garden culture conservation based on Norwegian examples

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness of garden culture conservation. In current garden conservation frameworks, garden owners’ values of their heritage gardens are rarely considered. What do garden owners value the most? What does it mean to heritage conservation? What are the objectives of garden conservation when taking garden owners’ views into consideration? Using data collected through qualitative interviews in Norway, we discover that garden owners most value the interaction with their garden and the feelings gained from the interaction. Also, we find the term ‘cultural heritage’ is confusing to the interviewees, since over half of them do not perceive their gardens as a cultural heritage. We compare the values of the interviewed Norwegian garden owners with those extracted from historic garden conservation charters and the values of gardens in a broader literature. The comparison shows that the values realised through the interaction between people and gardens are largely missing from current conservation approaches. Next, using theories from David E. Cooper, David Phillips and the Living Heritage Approach, we argue that the values embedded in the interaction between people and gardens are crucial in terms of fulfilling the goal of heritage conservation, and that garden owners’ values should be considered in conservation guidelines. In the end, we present a new approach to conserving garden heritage: garden culture conservation. By replacing the term ‘heritage’ with ‘culture’, we avoid the confusion of the meaning of ‘heritage’ to the public and extend the area of conservation to include both historic and ordinary gardens, as well as both tangible and intangible dimensions. Garden culture conservation aims to reinforce the connection between people and gardens, thus keeping alive garden culture in society.