Pruned gardens demonstrate that growth isn't merely faster or slower, but genuinely *different*, with branches prioritizing new growth points and leaves adapting to available light. Such changes aren’t errors from some ideal form; rather, they are responses shaped by past care and current circumstance—a negotiation between intention and the existing conditions of the plant itself. Recognizing this interplay allows us to understand development not as stemming from a single cause, but as an ongoing process where inherited traits and environment continually inform each other.
