Re: How guilty should I feel?
Thanks to everyone for your responses and encouragement/concerns. Part of
the attraction for me is that the design incorporates a sweet bay magnolia
(which I know nothing about except the smell is intoxicating and it won't
shade out my (dare I mention it) *zoysia grass*) and holly bushes (that
looked marvelous reflecting the streetlight at night)--both plants I have
been trying to work into my other areas but never seem to fit. Here they
were all together :).
I will be cautious and alter the other plantings since--probably like all
of you--I want mine to look like my *own* (there is where the guilt comes in!)
Thanks again!
Bob, Linda, and "Jake" the Airedale (and garden) terrorist
NE Kansas
Zone 6a
At 10:01 PM 5/11/99 -0500, you wrote:
>> A house near us recently had a landscape design put in by a firm I have
>> admired but can't afford to work with. They have a planting scheme around
>> their yard/street light that looks great and would be exactly what I would
>> love to have around *mine*.
>>
>> My question is how guilty should I feel when I steal the idea? Or should I
>> wait a year "grace period"?
>
>Hi Bob,
>
> It all depends on how much of the idea you're stealing, and how much
> is inspiration for another idea.
>
> There was a fascinating article in the May 1999 Horticulture magazine
> about this very topic -- it appears that last year's gold medal winner
> at the Royal Horticultural Society's Chelsea Flower Show is being
> accused by Jacques Wirtz, a famous designer in his own right, of
> plagiarizing one of his reknowned works.
>
> In fact, Wirtz is so steamed about the whole incident that he is
> now threatening to sue for breach of copyright and stealing intellectual
> property rights. Says his lawyer,
>
> "I don't see why you can protect the design of a house, or the text
> of a book, or a painting or an opera or choreography -- but not a
> garden. It is after all the expression of an idea. Even if an
> idea cannot be copyrighted, the unique expression of that idea
> should be."
>
> So to be safe, stealing isn't a particularly good idea. Borrowing
> ideas to expand or improve upon them should be safe, however (i.e.
> copying Ligorio's Villa D'Este at Tivoli would be distasteful, but
> creating a garden with a central sight-line with terraces, fountains,
> and rooms at the end of perpendicular sight-lines would be okay
> (although the whole point is moot since copyright laws don't apply
> to this 400+ year-old garden)).
>
> All legalities aside, how far away from your house is the newly
> designed landscape? If it's too close you might just be in danger of
> being tacky. :)
>
>Chris
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
>message text UNSUBSCRIBE WOODYPLANTS
>
>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE WOODYPLANTS
