Virtual Tour: Garden of Cosmic Speculation - near Dumfries, Scotland

The Garden of Cosmic Speculation, is at Portrack House, near Dumfries in South West Scotland. It is a private garden created by Charles Jencks.





Although some parts seem to leap right from the pages of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, according to Wikipedia, "the garden is inspired by science and mathematics, with sculptures and landscaping on these themes, such as Black Holes and Fractals. The garden is not abundant with plants, but sets mathematical formulae and scientific phenomenae in a setting which elegantly combines natural features and artificial symmetry and curves."












"It is probably unique among gardens, and contrasts nicely with the historical and philosophical themes of the less spectacular but equally thoughtful Little Sparta." (Set in the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh, Little Sparta is Ian Hamilton Finlay’s greatest work of art.)

Unfortunately, the garden is private and not open to visitors! Sometimes it is open to raise money for the Maggie's Centres, a cancer care charity named for Maggie Keswick Jencks, the late wife of Charles Jencks. But I couldn't find any events or openings online. The closest we all may come to actually seeing it is the book: The Garden of Cosmic Speculation.

Although, we do have our own artist-made, garden-as-sculpture at Opus 40 in Saugerties, NY. (We'll feature it as our next virtual tour.)

In the meantime, we'll leave you will this final image: (Can you imagine that this is someone's private garden!?)



For more images of the Garden of Cosmic Speculation here is a slide show on flikr