That is an interesting definition of redesigning, INK--that is, redesign as erasing and replacing with a new design.

Renewal, restoration, renovation, or rejuvenation of a garden - each to some extent entail keeping intact parts of the garden's design, plant material, theme, feeling, color scheme, and so on.

Keeping, editing, adding, changing but not erasing is what we are after here.

How do others see the 4 R's?

G.

I like the term "sensitive restoration," borrowed from Old House Journal. To me it means taking into account not only the decisions you know were made at the time, but the circumstances and reasons for making those decisions, maybe even the underlying philosophy. (Obviously, a lot of times we just don't have much information, but we do the best we can.) Secondly, it involves evaluating needs of the present day that might overide sticking to the original concept.

It's all a part of the changes brought by time. Cherished trees grow big enough to shade out cherished flowering shrubs and perennials. The U.S. government puts in a four-lane highway. They dam up a river. DH or DW is allergic to the whatevers. An earthquake lowers the whole area by four feet, turning it into tidal bog. An exotic bug wipes out a whole species of trees. Sometimes we have to honor history without actually duplicating it. If you have a feeling for what the original gardeners were trying to do, you can extrapolate what they might have done if they had found themselves in the circumstances of today.

Egyptianonion

I like that term, EO: "sensitive restoration," Life seems particularly change-laden today. So much is ephemeral. Saving and honoring what has gone on in the garden before you, even if it is just a small thing, seems the right thing to do.