GARDEN PLANTING AND ITS CULTURAL CONNOTATIONS IN SUZHOU'S CLASSICAL GARDENS

In traditional Chinese culture, trees and flowers are rich in cultural information; garden plants and their configuration abound in conventional cultural connotations, symbolizing the owner’s sentiments and personality. Sentimental Chinese people experience a gamut of moods and sense the relentless passage of time when flowers are blooming and withering, and the moon is waxing and waning, which reflects the unique plant cultural landscape displayed in Chinese gardens. Plants serve as one of four essential elements in gardening because of their irreplaceable shapes, colors and charm. They are a major component in landscaping, favored by people due to the cultural connotations associated with these trees and flowers. People have developed a great interest in plant landscaping in classical gardens, as in ancient China, a garden owner’s artistic conception and sentiments were often conveyed via the plants. The beauty of nature is artistically represented in the niche environment of a garden when trees and flowers are purposefully selected and planted according to conventional esthetics. Garden landscaping corresponding to conventional rules required of landscape paintings, stele inscriptions, horizontal tablets and couplets leads to “unity of nature and humanity”. Classical gardens display strong historical traits and cultural identity as a result of thousands of years of deposits of Chinese history and culture.