Garden

Location:

Behind my house in Elmwood.

Use:

Growing flowers, water plants, koi and frogs, parking the car. 

What rooms or parts of the space can I move freely in?

I can move freely in all of them at this point, since I'm the owner.

Are certain kinds of behavior expected of me in different spaces within this larger space?

Not in different parts.

Does my behavior change as I enter or leave this particular place?

I carefully inspect and try to maintain the environment.  I water and feed and weed.  I take lots of pictures.  I am responsible for the space.

Does my gender, race, language, etc change how I use or am permitted to use, or how I am expected to use this space?

As a middle class white person in this mixed neighborhood, with a restored historic house, my role is well understood.  I've got the resources to maintain and develop this property & I will do it.  Ken, the previous owner's relationship was more complicated, because he was an educated, middle-class African-American.  He restored the house and developed it in a somwhat flashy, ideosyncratic way.  He apparently got a lot more flak about it, I suspect because he was filling a typically white role.

Give examples of how you think history impacts how I am expected/permitted/decided to use this space?

In recent history, the garden was not a garden, but it also was not fenced off, and neighbors parked their cars and changed their oil in the lot.  They weren't happy when Ken fenced it off and make it a more private space.

Where do I get my "cues" about how to use the space?

Primarily by the fact that it is a neatly configured garden, with lots of big plants.  I did need a tour and written instructions from Ken in using the space.  The pictures we saw of the garden in summer showed us that we should just try to maintain the garden as it is, at least for now.

How does history impact this space?

The lot was one of the first developed in the area.  The house has endured through the histor of the neighborhood and is a symbol of its recovery.

What could I teach someone using this place?

Pond ecosystems.  Plant biology.