Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Flamboyant Flora .. Interlude at The Getty Center




The Getty Center Central Garden ... Part I
Angels Trumpet, a golden Brugmansia exudes fragrance in the evening garden.
Always wished I had the right place in my garden to grow Brugmansia 'Charles Grimaldi.'



Autumnal fireworks at The Getty are marked by flamboyant bougainvillea.
The Getty Center Central Garden has received buckets of press coverage
since opening in December, 1997.
An update on the design will follow in another feature.

Bamboo Muhly .. Muhlenbergia dumosa.
A specimen that captivated me, planted in large, prominently placed containers,
this grass or member of the grass family boasts a rather bristly texture and stately form.

Stunning color on an evergreen Tibouchina shrub - deserving of the name, Princess Flower.

Oxalis regnellii 'Atropurpurea'

A tree ...

... laden with pomegranates.

Ooh la la!

Part II to follow....

13 comments:

  1. Wow, a garden of abundance! Those pomegranates are especially bountiful!

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  2. This is an amazing garden. I would spend many hours here, in my dreams!
    Rosey (I like the oxalis!)

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  3. Hi.
    The unidentified grass looks like a bamboo muhly? I love the image of the golden brugmansia, stunning shot, I want one and I want it immediately!
    ESP.

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  4. I like the mix of the common with the unusual in the Getty Central garden. I've been growing the solanum for a number of years and it's still an uncommon selection. Although my original plant is long gone, this is one of those plants that self-sows politely around a garden. It's a pain to weed around its spines, but it's worth the upkeep. Definitely a very cool plant.

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  5. What beauty, I need to see a little of that blue sky in real life!! Fabulous photographs as usual and wow pomegrantes growing outside!! I reckon I'll be visiting this page a lot today, you don't even want to know what the weather is like here - seriously, I'm getting a daylight stimulation blub, it's so dark all the time.

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  6. Beautiful colors and shapes! Love those candelabras!

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  7. Christine,
    Abundance and pomegranates ... Happy Thanksgiving!

    ESP
    Thanks so much for the plant ID. Much appreciated. Hope you score a Brugmansia one of these days.

    Hi Rosey,
    Dreams on a sunny day... maybe in a backyard hammock? xo

    Tatyana,
    A candelabra for the holiday! Have a good one ;~)

    Carrie,
    I suffered in the same way in Chicago. The main reason I moved West.
    Daylight and a blue sky can work wonders. Hope your skies clear and you have a lovely bright day soon!!

    James,
    I was amazed to find one plant in my garden that had self-sown. It's not very vigorous, so I really should buy a new one. It sounds like your climate makes for a self-sown heaven - except when the plants are invasive :( S. pyracantha is one of the coolest plants I've ever grown.
    Cheers!

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  8. Absolutely beautiful! The combination of unusual plants work so well at the Getty Center.

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  9. Noelle,
    The combos are often over-the-top! Fun to explore for plant ladies like us :-0

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  10. Oh so many exotic flowers. Makes me think of summer which is never a bad thing!

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  11. This is one we return to often when we go down to southern california. Nice photos! I once heard someone speak at the school of landscape design at Cal who'd done the landscaping at the Getty. He was not at all happy with Irwin. Definitely felt Irwin's garden needed to coordinate with the rest of the architecture and landscape. I couldn't disagree more. It makes perfect sense for a place like the Getty to commission a garden-as-art-object for its grounds and I'm glad they did.

    It definitely challenges my sense of what a garden should be. First, because I find no sense of place there, something I accept given its primary status as an art object. Second, because the plantings do not represent horticulturally sound groupings. Manpower and upkeep are of no apparent concern so plants can be jammed in and painstakingly accomodated to make each happy enough, and if one fails there is one behind the scenes ready to take its place. Not so different from large estates where a gardener like myself may find it hard to relate to an army of help and a limitless budget.

    Still the rebar-bouganvilla trees and the steel plating that lines the zig zagging path are not hard to love. I also like where that water seems to originate from a rill above dropping down into a grotto at the level of the restaurant before cascading down the hillside. I was inspired to seek out and bring home a specimen of 'Guardsman' phormium after seeing it here. I can't imagine going to the Getty without visiting the garden again. Definitely worth it.

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  12. Thanks for leaving comments, Easy and Helen. It's a time of year when blooms can brighten a cold November day!

    Mark,
    An eloquent assessment of Irwin's aim and the garden's high points.
    The grotto was in dense shade with crowds all-round. I couldn't get any good photos of it, but I agree, it's a wonderful element (& one that I appreciate).
    I enjoyed linking back to your photos! Cheers, Alice

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