A Trip to The Shakespeare Garden

Some Thoughts about A Place. Come chill with me.
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[@stormRed]

This has the feeling of a program that would be broadcasted right before the end of the world. Let's make it so it doesn't become that.

[@Superphilipp]

"The End -- Created by Kyle Kallgren"

[@TheMadwomen]

...Ha. I miss outside...

[@miss1of2]

Just found this chanel in early 2021 and I need to ask was this comment made in 2020 or late 2019. Cause oh boy was it a little bit of a prediction!

[@TheFavorista]

The purple flowers around 0:56 are spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana). They have cool super-triangular flowers, but in a twist they are an American species that is an interloper in this Shakespeare-themed garden as opposed to a non-native species that was introduced to the Americas because of Shakespeare.

[@alexmayzlakh8004]

"There's certainly enough floral imagery in his works to fill sizable plot of land" is definitely a statement

[@AllyCraig]

"What we choose to sing about, write poetry about, immortalise in word, we may also immortalise on Earth." In other words: "So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee."

[@iluan_]

This reminds me of a work of náhuatl (what you call Aztec) poetry, called Cuicapeuhcóyotl (The beginning of the songs) . In it, the narrator enters a place named Xoxitlalpan, which translates literally as "the land of flowers". There, he collects the most beautiful flowers that will bring joy to his people, and engages in some deeply metaphorical conversations with a hummingbird and a butterfly.

[@GrainneMhaol]

You turned an ordinary afternoon's stroll into a meditation on time, art and the eternal dichotomy of nature and culture. Even your short videos are special, Kyle, and always appreciated.

[@niteflitetheknitter]

Thank you for this little tour around the Shakespeare garden, and for exploring what humans consider "important nature" and why. Honestly reminded me that Americans didn't value the wilderness until John Muir wrote about it (and became close friends with Teddy Roosevelt and therefore became Important).

[@keiththompson9435]

Feels like a last statement on CBS Sunday Morning. Not bad.

[@halfpintrr]

I love this video. You are a poet. This feels a bit melancholy again. What a pretty garden. The world is ending but we can save it, I hope. The roses are beautiful as well.

[@DavidJBradley]

What a beautiful idea for a garden, and a moving little video.

[@manicpixiefangirl4189]

But what about the Tudor Rose Kyle!? Did you not bother to look for the most perfect and TOTALLY REAL Tudor Rose!? I hear it’s the most exquisite of all flowers. 🤪

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

I see what you did there 😉

[@watchm4ker]

"Useful to Humans" has been the single greatest survival trait of species for thousands of years. Once humanity had learned agriculture, animal husbandry, and architecture, we reshaped species at will, over generations, to better serve our use. Conversely, any threat to us is exterminated without pity. What wolves or cats we couldn't domesticate, we hunted, and we only relented on the verge of extermination, because we took pity on them. We take no such pity on disease, and have treated the eradication of each affliction as triumphant victories. Even the current outbreak of measles is fueled, not out of a desire for conservation, but of paranoia regarding the methods used. In truth, any talk of "minimizing" humanity's impact on nature is civilizations too late.

[@halfpintrr]

It can never be fully reversed and that I’d argue is a good thing. Nature is romantic but also terrifying and threatening, and I do not weep for plagues and their wailing widows. Nature must be respected, ‘tis true, but I refuse to let it kill us.

[@paulmitchum8658]

"Arroz by any other name..." -- A joke I tell at dinner because I can't help it.

[@midnighthope7752]

would still get stuck behind my tonsils

[@idrils]

More of those quick reflexive videos threading different themes and observations together please! It’s intellectually stimulating, but it also feels more free and personal on your side. Loving it

[@KowaiZuzu]

I was just taking a break from gardening when this notification came. It fits the mood perfectly.

[@tjzambonischwartz]

This managed to evoke Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot in it's eloquence. Goddamn.

[@tjzambonischwartz]

ULGROTHA thank you Captain pedantic piece of shit

[@reubencanningfinkel5922]

It hurts. Right? I mean we discover and share this beauty implicit our greatest art...we create these poems, we create parks, monuments. But it's all fucked. The poems were written on pages from a felled tree. The trees are being vanished. The video cameras microchip survives so much longer than the footage itself, in an ocean, a landfill, in the soil. The park is erected on what was once woodland. We choose only the prettiest flowers as emblems for the beauty of art. We make cities that eat away the world. I hear you Kyle. It hurts because there is beauty and horrible destruction simultaneously. And its our fault for seeing both sides of it--of making and destroying. This is a lovely channel and a real KZbin gem.

[@NacodaLupine]

so this is an older video and idk if you check these comments often but this was the video that inspired me to go find the Shakespeare garden. it was autumn in nyc in 2021 and the still thick sheen of green on the leaves was starting to turn gold - i walked for hours, getting lost in the body of the park and for a while i just put my phone down and listened. there’s such a beautiful hum to nyc. eventually i found the garden. the flowers were long gone but golly what a sight it was. so thanks for inspiring me.

[@scifikoala]

Wow. There is a little Shakespeare garden on my college campus, in the Humanities building courtyard. I used to hang out there sometimes before class, and always made a point of walking past it on my way to grab a coffee in the student neighborhood nearby. Shame I graduated, otherwise I would probably reflect on this video every time I visited

[@Spiritwhisperer11]

This was truly striking and beautiful. Your thoughts about what and how humans immortalize nature are very interesting. And it moved me to tears in less than 5 minutes

[@weirdaljedifan2]

Fly away home, little starling.

[@UltimateKyuubiFox]

I’ve only now realized the brilliant meaning of that line in Silence of the Lambs. Hannibal Lecter views Clarice Starling as a beautiful thing that doesn’t belong there.

[@Drforrester31]

Fly, fly, fly

[@ruthdiamond6039]

A lovely video, Kyle. I’ll try to get to the Shakespeare garden sometime this summer.

[@danaeckert6824]

I'll be honest: I gasped and clicked immediately as I thought you had flown to California to see _our_ Shakespeare Garden at the Huntington Library in San Marino. It focuses mainly on the plants that are mentioned in A Midsummer Night's Dream. This was a lovely meditation, even if you didn't come to see us here on the west coast. Thanks for posting.

[@Lucholosabe]

So refreshing to see so many flowers in your video! Here, in the very south of the planet, winter begins and we have to wait until september for that amazing colours and smells. Thanks for this present and for your great narration :)

[@edwardtjbrown1979]

oh, my! tis much gaiety and merrymaking afoot in the garden.

[@Stardog202]

A couple days ago I visited the Oxford Botanical Gardens. This video reminded me of that experience. From carnivorous plants in the greenhouse to the open gardens's walls of plants from around the world.

[@rachelb.2803]

Thank You for uploading this video. I used it as material for our discussion about 'Shakespeare Garden' today. I worked with DDA Community, and it's fun for having virtual trip on this COVID-19. They love the video.

[@corhydron111]

This is a Vlogbrothers video and I don't mind

[@henryglennon3864]

Nice, but where's that red and white Tudor rose that Mr. Roland Emerich put in that movie of his? Pretty big omission, if you ask someone with brain damage.

[@thatguyoverthere1410]

They seriously brought all these flowers from Europe to America just because Shakespeare talked about them and his plays? 😵 Regardless you're the only person I know who to make a video about this. Good work.😀👍

[@bdslade]

Fantastic video Kyle! Thanks for sharing!

[@jeswicas]

I enjoy your videos so much, could listen to you talk about anything for hours! Much love to you, Kyle ♥️

[@florahibernica]

Lovely. You did smell the same roses, but the way: garden cultivars are propagated by cloning (cuttings, or grafts) not from seed. Most don't make enough pollen to produce fertile seeds, because instead of stamens the flowers make the extra petals that humans find appealing. There's a lesson in there somewhere, too.

[@natmar8308]

Your mention of starlings was very...thought provoking. As our world is changing very drastically (climate change, mass extinction, etc) the animals that are urban and suburban pests might end up being the most adaptive and resilient. It's interesting to imagine a far-future North America where starlings may have an entirely different ecological role... all because Shakespeare mentioned them.

[@pinkwings8036]

Your videos are always such a thoughtful place, thank you.

[@Demolitiondude]

I've waited a while to watch this. Considering I'm centrist ergo evil. Gardening is probably both the easiest and hardest thing to do. My being a country boy, it was easy to pick up, and still the hardest to master. To be fair, I did a vegetable garden and it was fun. Now I'm limited to a peace Lily and if I'm lucky a Venus flytrap. Your not limited to a plot of land. As long as you got a pot and soil, your set. Follow the instructions on the seed packet, pod, or starter. South or west windows for the best sunlight, and set a day to water. If you're going the Shakespeare theme, you got the list. Just visit Lowe's, home Depot, or any local agriculture store big or small.

[@wess9900]

A week on I wish I could "like" this again because this is just one of the nicest videos I have ever watched. I love Sci show and their short videos; this is like sci show but about beautiful things, like your Casablanca video too

[@AspelShuyin]

You're certainly a poet yourself, Kyle. You give something bittersweet to ruminate on.

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

Such a beautiful, thoughtful video. Thank you for making it!

[@Jessamine29]

Your wording in this video is really lovely-- the idea of a garden of poetics is really quite beautiful

[@Jessamine29]

@ULGROTHA apologies. I hope the edit is to you're satisfaction ;)

[@killjoymcquire6340]

If it has not already been defined then I am willing to say that this deserves its own category in terms of video-essays. I suggest it should be called poetry.

[@HughDingwall]

Great video! On the topic of plants surviving because they appeal to us, there's actually a whole book by Michael Pollan called "The Botany Of Desire" that looks at this idea. Dr Sarah Taber (you can find her on Twitter) also talks about this with regard to bees, and the tendency of humans to pay more attention to them than to other pollinators.

[@SonofMrPeanut]

This was a well-observed short subject, and well timed as I was helping my parents this weekend w/ a major front yard renovation. In the need for California's yards to go drought-tolerant, they made a lovely, distinct arrangement.

[@davehandelman2832]

That was really special, Kyle. Thank you!

[@fantaghiro1389]

So... the reimagining of The Tempest as a Enviromentalist Fantasy Story in the cartton Journey to Melonia (that you reviewed years ago) makes a lot more sense now. Shakespeare can't have exactly "invented the human", but was one of the autors who came close to captures the complexitys of being a human with diverse background through the multiple layers that can be found in his plays.

[@jerimcgee]

At the 1 minute mark the flowers are "Widows Tears" Tradescantia or also called spiderwort

[@aimeemariet]

That purple flower at 1:00 is spiderwort. Viola tricolor is more like a large multicolored violet. The columbine was probably done blooming.

[@mistertea603]

Just went there this summer, inspired by this video...Incredible stuff and a wonderful video

[@MagusManders]

Beautiful thought poem

[@grizzlygreenwood2989]

A BHH video by any other name would be as poetic and filled with longing for the past and dread for the future.

[@UltimateKyuubiFox]

I’m not sure which past he’d ever deign to long for.

[@davidhadler1]

I did not know about this. I'll have to go visit. Thanks.

[@raphaellaS2]

Such a lovely, lovely video!

[@operaanimelover369]

This is amazing! I would have to go there one day.

[@ozlekosusturu]

I've definitely seen/smelled rosemary in the garden before! I think on the second level to the corner at the right? This was last year though, I didn't check this year.

[@larala21mil]

this is just lovely

[@171QA]

Beautiful video, both verbally and visually.

[@rafaelfernandez6626]

This was nice. Thank you

[@zaftra]

Ironically, Starlings are nearly gone from the UK, not seen one in 20 years and more.

[@mayaneff3728]

cowslips are a type of primrose, they are yellow and bloom in spring, so you did miss them

[@BuddyL]

Lovely.🌹💐🗽 Shame I'll never get to see it in person.🎭

[@cameronmarnoch5236]

Really liked this video Kyle. Thank you

[@samtheanthro]

Funnily enough I just happened to be watching your whedon much ado about nothing vid when I hit KZbin home and saw something new from you! Lovely little video and some good food for thought

[@hanzundfranz]

Happy midsomer Kyle.

[@MajaBiana]

Viola tricolor is a small, wild, yellow, white and purple flower and looks a little like violets, just taller and with different leaves. I don't think it would thrive or survive in conditions as these (as they appeared in the video; it needs a sandy ground), so it's probably not there anymore?

[@apizzathatgiantforthesimpl5191]

Sounds like an amazing place to visit. If I ever go to Central Park, I am going straight there.

[@penelnorman7383]

The tone of this video really Ecoes a certain trip through hyper-reality, complete with wax gardens.

[@dannytheman1313]

I know its not his style but I would love for kyle to do a live event maybe like an hour or two where he just reads Shakespeare plays or something.

[@Yossus]

As everyone's putting their comparisons in the comments - I thought it was very Thoughts from Places. Great video!

[@magillfoote]

This was profound.

[@tomboz777]

There's me thinking you went to Stratford Upon Avon.😏

[@AtheistPilgrim]

Heeeeey. We've got a Shakespeare Garden out here in Golden Gate Park, too!

[@terri8372]

Dang it! I used to live in San Francisco and go to the park all the time, and I had no idea. I loved the botanical gardens they have there and never saw the Shakespeare-themed one.

[@maugos]

You're definitely right about whether something lives or dies due to its appeal to humans. Just look at pandas.

[@alienbacon656]

« Gardeners have certainly claimed him as one of their own, like everyone else did. » ...DAMN

[@celinak5062]

The curse of enjoying the little things in life. Names like eye of newt was actually names of food, scishow did a vid on it. 1:20 some would interpret that as her not trying to kill herself, but induce her menses

[@celinak5062]

Or said another way; hamlet be a loony fuck boy

[@1980rlquinn]

But did you find the Tudor Rose???

[@lostfan29]

Sigh so lovely

[@WikiSorcerer]

Still waiting for that Blackadder episode.

[@lucyskyler21]

Been thinking about this a lot, though with less classical forms of art, I think mostly because of "climate change vision", where you see disaster in everything. I play Pokemon and think hey, koalas have been immortalised through this Pokemon, but will kids in 30 years time even recognise or know about the animal it's been based on. I spent so many days of my childhood playing Club Penguin, and now penguin colonies have a survival rate of 0.005%. When I played them as a kid, the games were an opportunity for exploration and what an 8 year old constitutes as 'adventure', and now they seem like time capsules, a little glimpse into a world that was once explored before it was destroyed.

[@Esmoxe]

We still know about dodos, if you think about it. Extinction doesn't mean bring expelled from humanity's memory.

[@lucyskyler21]

P6 Hero I get that, but I personally don’t find it very comforting? Dodos and mammoths have always made me incredibly sad, and now extinctions make me even more so because we have more knowledge and more choice, and we’re still not saving them.

[@Arachnes_Corner]

Kyle, you're sounding like me during a depressive episode. It makes beautiful art, but I'd prefer that you be well.

[@Garland41]

I only have one problem... I've never been able to smell flowers...

[@juneguts]

[@sataprescott7588]

The impending doom of it all is ever-present, sure. Your point about roses, specifically, is of intense interest. Roses are one of the most human-altered species of flowering plant out there. Medieval roses were substantially different in both appearance and bouquet. Naturally, Shakespeare is talking about an individual rose, and not the enduring idea of "rose"-ness. I have been investigating emerging ideas of what the world will be like as we move forward. I'm in Chicago area, and that bodes well for me, though I'm watching the farm lands suffer. My friends in the south eastern U.S. are struggling with floods and heat and bugs. But here I am, in relative peace, with a veritable embarrassment of flowering plants.

[@sophiesimpson1626]

Hi good video. Can you please do a video on Pan's Labyrinth?

[@tomboz777]

Sophie Simpson you seen nerdwriters video?

[@LaNoLaCola]

Will we get to see more of Kyle's vacation footage?

[@fermintenava5911]

So, instead of "What's in a name?", we have Stat Rosa Pristina Nomine, Nomina Nuda Tenemus... Which makes me really wish Kyle would go back to talking about Eco...

[@Peringon]

This isn't a video-essay, this is video poetry. Kyle's a poet with the camera as the Bard was poet with the pen.

[@GrubStLodger]

For the flowers are great blessings. For the flowers have their angels even the words of God's Creation. For the flower glorifies God and the root parries the adversary. For there is a language of flowers. For flowers are peculiarly the poetry of Christ. Christopher Smart 'Jubilate Agno' 1763 -Look into him, he's really interesting.

[@rustyshackleford9799]

No red and white tudors roses? weak

[@TomCantDance]

No Tudor Rose though? Disappointing

[@davidliddelow5704]

You did this entirely so you could do the fad out to sounds of nature, didn't you?

[@bubblegum4331]

Kyle, are you ok? I'm concerned. You were used to compare the western theatre of Shakespear to the japanese Noh theatre just to name one of the many great videos you've made. What's happening these days??!!

[@Levi-cb7vg]

Kyle, are you okay? Your videos lately have seen like the thoughts of a person who is depressed. Fatalistic even.