There are bible gardens, which aim to have every plant mentioned in the bible. There are victorian gardens. Herb gardens. White flower gardens. Black flower gardens. Carniverous plant gardens.
I've been thinking what goes into a freethought garden? Somehow I keep thinking it's like my garden, which is a hodgepodge of everything. But that doesn't make it any different from any other.
I don't know. Darwin studied orchids. Not practical in most yards. There are plants that grew among dinosaurs - horsetail, monkey puzzle, cycads, fern trees, ginkgo. Again, not to practical in most yours.*
Thoughts? I googled but didn't come up with anything.
Beautiful sundial. In one object, the sundial tells us some history, some astronomy, and some history of human thought about the earth, the sun, and the seasons. So cool!
Steph, a sundial would be perfect! The sundial shows how our planet is turning and revolving around the sun, which connects our thoughts to the solar system. You are absolutely might! I think I need to buy or make one.
Perfect science project for you. I bet a lot of kids wished they'd thought of that. Not too surprisingly, I did one on plant propagation! Forgot about that. I think it won 3rd prize. I was really proud of it. It had flowers, flower anatomy, sprouting seeds, bulbs cuttings. Also, as a good Baptist boy, I thought I was being brave and outrageous by calling sexual reproduction, "sexual reproduction". Silly boy.
Excellent idea. I like your examples too.
Further thinking about this, prompted by Steph's idea about Sundial. I think the freethought gaden would embrace it's place in the ecosystem and in the cosmos. That means including non-plant aspects, including the Sundial that Steph recommends.
Also, the freethought garden includes animal species - welcome for birds, such as bird feeder or birdhouse, and plants that attract birds. Birds eat insects that can make gardening difficult.
The freethought garden would attract beneficial insects, that eat harmful insects, and pollinate fruits vegetables and flowers. To do that, there should be plants that attract such insects, and avoidance of pesticides. Examples are many of the herbs, and onion (allium) family plants that have umbels of many tiny flowers. Chives, garlic chives, blooming onions, allium varieties (zillions), coriander, yarrow, lavender all attract insects such as bees and hoverflies.
Evolution and development of the garden's localized ecosystem means no 2 freethought gardens would be alike - especially in different areas. I imagine if they have to be alike, of follow a single model, that would not be very "freethinking". An arid freethought garden would have cacti, succulents, maybe palms and yuccas. A tropical freethought garden would have cannas, bananas, papayas, mangos, citrus.
If a freethought gardener finds frogs in their garden, that is reason for celebration. Or hummingbirds. Or other insect eating birds. Or discovers a "weed" that turns out to be a nice flower, tree, or other useful volunteer.