Re. Garden Philosophy LARGE

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I enjoyed Gay's article, and know what she means, but I also liked David Feix's spare, architectural garden in the Berkeley Hills.  In this discussion and in my gardening in general, two quotes come to mind:

"A garden is no more a collection of plants than a poem is a collection of words."

- I don't remember the source, but an authoritative garden designer, I think.

"Good taste is death.  Vulgarity is life."

- I think the British fashion designer Mary Quant.

I'm always torn between wanting every conceivable plant, and wanting a harmonious composition of fewer plants, and it's always a bind.  Most trees look best in groves of their own kind, but then where can I put that Clethra arborea, or Crinodendron patagua, or Quillaja saponaria?  So, I try and compromise, and create a grove of reliable, site-appropriate trees, like olives, and throw in the occasional rarity, like a Quercus tomentella, and hope the garden will be both harmonious and interesting.

It's an internal struggle I don't expect to resolve anytime soon.

-BenWiswall