Showing posts with label Garden Design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Garden Design. Show all posts

Friday, July 1, 2011

Garden Design RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2011

Awarded Best Artisan Garden - RHS Chelsea 2011
Designed by Jihae Hwang (Muum), 'Emptying One's Mind' -- 'Hae - Woo- So'
represented a true first for the Chelsea Flower Show, a traditional Korean toilet.
The design worked around the concept of 'a place where you empty your mind' - which can also refer to a traditional-style Korean outhouse.
The charming, rustic building was surrounded by a landscape of herbaceous wildflowers & perennials, with lilac and camellia shrubs and a Magnolia denudata tree. Ferns, herbs and climbing vines added a lush, woodland ambiance to the setting.
The garden design's environnmental aspects included a half-basement accessed at the back to compost human waste for fertilizer. To walk the pathway, one experienced being refilled by the serene surroundings of flora, together with rock walls that gave the structure stability.
Sponsored by:
Suncheon Bay Garden Expo 2013 - Gwangju City, South Korean;
and Korean Cultural Centre UK

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Creating an Oasis : Glorious Garden Fountains






Chicago's Millennium Park - Crown Fountain by Jaume Plensa
Currently atop my short list of favored fountains.
All text and photos: Copyright © Alice Joyce
Think... Summer!

Fountains elevate the atmosphere of a garden, creating an oasis with a play of water... pleasing sounds that refresh. On a grand scale, fountains function as focal points within an expansive landscape design:

in historic settings...




or contemporary estate gardens.
Text and photos: Copyright Alice Joyce

A vineyard vignette encompassing a sequestered space for relaxation.


A contemporary terrace at a friend's home, away from the town.


Always a pleasant diversion to discover a chic garden shop while traveling,

or to be in the embrace of a formal parkland on a surprisingly sunny winter's day.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

The Chosen Few .. Botanical Assets


Blue Lotus
Photo: Little & Lewis
A final '2010' recap, looking afresh at scintillating botanical assets that contribute to a sense of place and style in 3 very different settings. In the new garden created by artist/ plantsmen...
Little & Lewis of Bainbridge Island, Washington, a blue lotus lures garden visitors to a lush spot in the landscape: Representative of the sculptural and horticultural tableaux associated with this exceptional team of artist/designers, and the unmistakable vitality of their work.


Eye-catching in its simplicity of design: the Moss Walkway at Stone Edge Farm.
There's nothing quite so exciting as visiting a landscape for the first time, and being stopped in one's tracks! Faced with a distinctive prospect such as this planting reminds me of why I revel in traveling from one garden to the next, never knowing what surprises await.

There's little that can be said about this stunning member of the Proteaceae family that is not apparent in the photograph. Yet, when I think how very recently these magnificent, drought-tolerant South African plants have become widely available in California and other U.S. regions where they may grow and thrive, I'm deeply thankful to be gardening at this time, and and in this place!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Fences, Walls, Garden Gates .. A Neighborhood Stroll

An artistic entryway.
Rainy season insectary plant: Prostrate Rosemary spilling over the rocks.
What's your garden style?
Drought-tolerant, cascading streetside plantings.
Boulders & bold plant forms lend structure to a front gravel garden.
A stepped design perfectly suited to the site.
A straighforward statement.
Mediterranean attitude.
Japanese influence.

...Privacy Wall...
Moroccan blue sets this front garden apart.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Essential Focal Point! A Parade of Garden Benches


One of the benches at .. Veddw in Wales


I can think of no other garden element as essential as a bench:
(Above: A private garden, soon to be featured on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz)

An element that can take an intriguing variety of forms...
...while expressing a distinctive style.

An element that makes a bold, artful statement!


Stone Bench/Blue Arbor - Alice's Garden
Or adds a highly personal touch. 
An element that can act as an architectural device, yet be totally inviting.
An element of beauty...
...or a spot to simply take in the surroundings.

A form that pays homage to great garden figures such as Lutyens.


Or reminds visitors of a garden-maker's most treasured place to enjoy the landscape.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Clamor .. Murmur .. Plash! Potpourri of Fountains


Provence, France
Still pools, cascades, clamoring waterfalls & splashing fountains.
A collection of magical water gardens photographed in Spring, Summer and Fall, 
appearing on Bay Area Tendrils in 2009. 
To connect to original feature, click on garden link.

Glen Ellen, California
Classical Chinese Garden
Portland, Oregon

The theft of content and photos on the Internet is widespread.
For now, I'll be taking steps to insert links back to my site.
Darioush Winery
Napa, California
Paris, France

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Elementary! Arbor .. Pergola .. Loggia .. Colonnade

Northern California


A look at garden structures . . appearing on Bay Area Tendrils in 2009. To connect to original feature, click on garden link: Fundación Rodriguez Acosta


Granada, Spain

Words and photos © Alice Joyce  Bay Area Tendrils             
The theft of content and photos on the Internet is widespread. For now, I'll be taking steps to insert links back to my site.
Kenwood, California
Russian River Roses
Healdsburg, California

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Garden Fever .... An Agreeable Condition

In a reflective mood since receiving the award yesterday on Blotanical,
for Best California Blog.
Although a few have been deleted, 
the tally shows 130 features on Bay Area Tendrils since January 13th, 2009.
One problem is not yet solved: 
I've yet to convert my library of thousands of slides from garden visits.
 Only a very few have been scanned, like a vignette from
I can never convey the sensory euphoria of fragrance and texture, the light and atmosphere
experienced while alone in the White Garden; totally immersed in its beauty. 


One of my first features included a scanned photograph of the doyen of English gardening shortly before his death: Christopher Lloyd, unphased by the rain, leads us from one garden room to the next on a tour of Great Dixter.
When I registered on Blotanical, I listed Great Dixter as the garden I wished most to see, 
and that I had, in fact seen it.
Actually, not true. 
Garden Fever is an agreeable condition, but forceful in its way. 
There are innumerable gardens I hope to visit, despite fond memories of 
Great Dixter's perfect presentation of Arts & Crafts structure with contemporary panache.

A garden writer can't go wrong when featuring a major historic site of exquisite resonance:
However...
when Bay Area Tendrils Garden Travel
 features a stunning Modernist landscape, 
such as the expansive
 in Paris, the response is generally less enthusiastic.
I love every type of garden, perhaps in equal measure.
I'll have to think about it, but this may be the case.

Events such as The Late Show Gardens
.... inaugurated this September in California Wine Country, 
give me reason to ponder and write about important issues such as climate change,
while soaking up ideas, innovative designs, 
and the opportunity to peruse the best of the best new plants.

The photo above - a detail - is from opening day of The Late Show Gardens,
the day after I first photographed 
during the Preview Party. 
Roasting temperatures in Sonoma caused the wall of ice to melt rapidly.

Today in my garden, Scrophularia 'Lemon and Lime' ...
I'm a plant geek, what can I say.
- Congrats to all the Blotanical finalists and winners -

It's a great group, good wishes to my California cohorts!
Town Mouse and Country Mouse
Daffodil Planter
Tulips in the Woods
Cindees Garden

Sunday, September 20, 2009

The Late Show Gardens - Future Feast ...Hope and Inspiration








Future Feast in The Garden of Flow/Accumulation
Suzanne Biaggi and Patrick Picard

The Late Show Gardens - September 2009






Under Construction.....




The Biaggi/Picard design focused upon the cycles of nature, or Flow,
Accumulation - interpreted as man's interruption of nature's rhythms.

The garden utilized watering systems that were meant to offer solutions to the results of accumulation.



Photos copyright © Alice Joyce
The alluring feast spread out upon the commodious table represents hope.

Charred saplings are featured among the garden's objects/symbols.

An intriguing garden to wander through.

Among Suzanne's inspirations? The mannerist gardens of Italy!
Photos © Alice Joyce
'Future Feast' may remain as a permanent installation at Cornerstone Sonoma, 
when The Late Show Gardens concludes.
Must wait and see......






Picard's expertise encompasses the garden's permaculture plantings .
Biaggi talked with me about how permaculture 
needn't always be rustic, as people might conjure it.

Shadows often bring another element to a design, as with a sculpture in an outdoor setting
 (or indoors with special lighting). 
In this instance, the repetition of the black saplings adds drama.
Can you feel the intensity of the sun on a late-summer day in Sonoma?

Saturday, September 19, 2009

The Late Show Gardens ... The Hermit's Garden


The Hermit's Garden .....at The Late Show Gardens
Designers: Kate Frey and Ben Frey


Kate Frey is known for her long stint as the garden director/designer of the lovely Bonterra Gardens - edible, ornamental and habitat - at Fetzer Vineyards, alas, now closed.
To my knowledge, Kate is a rare U.S. designer, having won medals, including 
a Gold Medal for her designs at London's Chelsea Flower Show.

Kate has worked recently with Ben Frey, her husband and owner of Rustic Towers. 
Ben "rescues" wood, bringing it back to life as eye-catching garden towers, furniture, buildings, gates, and other constructions both useful and playful. 


In The Hermit's Garden, the designers create a cautionary narrative.
Their artist's statement presents the image of "man striding from a pastoral, rustic past into an unreflective future where destruction of the environment occurs around him."

Detail from the figure pictured above.

"...the unquenchable desire of the masses for more of everything the earth has to offer has drained the land of water and life. The hermit cannot avoid the momentum of his shared destiny...."

While the garden's delightful aspects draw the viewer in,
I see the design as positing a future that will be bleak 
unless we collectively reassess and change direction.

Friday, September 18, 2009

The Late Show Gardens ... An Elegant Entryway

This page is UNDER CONSTRUCTION ...

Renewal
Designed by Gary Ratway and Mike Lucas

Entryway to... The Late Show Gardens




Massive, crushed gasoline tanks - the ultimate discarded salvage material - emerge as components in the show's elegant entryway design. The designers transform propane tank end cuts into shapely planters filled with billowy grasses.



The grid-like arrangement creates a calculated repetition that effectively
guides visitors at the entrance to the show.


Aligned in a soothing linear pattern, spheres of clipped box give rise to exuberant grasses, flowering perennials, and languid vines.

I loved this thoughtful, sophisticated design that so inventively combines the harsh material of rusted steel with the gem-like emerald green shrubs, and  thesoft hues and blousy textures of the grasses. 

Moving beyond beauty, the designers' statement speaks to the planting of "masses of grasses (in the crushed tanks) which bio-remediate contaminated soils." 
Their "fusion of high design and principals of sustainability,"
a complete success from my point of view!

The Late Show Gardens ... Innovative Design


This page is UNDER CONSTRUCTION ...

A Gala Evening Event ushered in The Late Show Gardens,
Taking Place in Wine Country at Cornerstone Sonoma, September 18, 19 & 20
Here's a Preview! 

The Grow Melt Project
Designers: Peter Good, Liz Einwiller, Adam Greenspan, Sarah Kuehl and David Fong

Calling attention to climate change, the garden features an austere yet sublime
 wall of glittering ice; its melting form generating a pool of water 
during the duration of the show.


As the sun set during the preview event, an opening appeared,  signaling the onset of the ice wall's conversion to water.
I'm returning to the Show today, where temperatures are expected to reach 90 degrees.

Moments after completion of the wall's construction, 
Peter Good attends to the garden's faceted stepping stones.

Monday, September 7, 2009

American Meadow Garden - John Greenlee ~ The Late Show Gardens


Gentle paths wind through John Greenlee's
The Mediterranean Meadow
A Garden Installation at Cornerstone Sonoma
Greenlee's design for 'The Mediterranean Meadow'' takes its cue from the prairies that once blanketed the Sonoma landscape.

Greenlee weaves together grasses and sedges in a palette of soft hues and contrasting textures, in alliance with California poppies. Shifting with the changing seasons and the sky above, the garden's naturalistic style exhibits an atmosphere colored by the weather or time of day: Its contours subdued on an overcast morning; aglow in the setting sun; or brillantly basking in the sapphire haze of a summer afternoon.


Greenlee’s plant selections were chosen to fit the Cornerstone site’s heavy soils, hot summers, and windy conditions; taking into account that the garden is sited on a septic mound!

Used on walkways: Carex pansa "makes a fine natural lawn,"
according to The American Meadow Garden.

Other choice grasses used in the meadow: Dark green Carex divulsa, "one of the best groundcover grases for meadows."Pennisetum 'Fairy Tails' P. 'Tall Tails.' Boer's Love Grass - the grass with glaucous blue fine-textured foliage. John’s new book, The American Meadow Garden (Timber Press, Nov. 2009) is illustrated with beautiful photographs by Saxon Holt. After reviewing the book recently, I expect it will become the go-to manual for professionals and keen gardeners.

Greenlee addresses the basics of grass ecology, explaining how grasses grow in different regions, so if you’re thinking about revamping an existing lawn, or creating a new planting with drought-tolerant grasses and companion plants, you'll find the book highly useful.

Monday, July 13, 2009

A Question of Style: Do You Have A Preference?





A Question of Style
Do you have a preference?
Naturalistic
Contemporary
Traditional
or....?

So many gardens.... so little time
A fitting summary of my personal approach, when I plan a garden sojourn. Mapping out a journey generally results in an itinerary that takes in gardens of every persuasion.

Lately I find the modern language of visionary, iconoclastic designers most challenging and engaging. They draw me into their process, one of reinterpreting the elements of a garden. 

Often raising the question: What is a Garden? The designer's reinvention of how such elements come together stirs me to learn this new language.

And so, I enjoy expansive spaces defined by sleek, clean lines. I also revel in an exuberantly planted cottage garden, or a serene Japanese landscape. I soak up the manicured formality of atmospheric historic settings, and seek out over-the-top urban retreats: those densely-planted, art-laden gardens created by zealous collectors.

The English garden tradition knocks my socks off. I've been totally enchanted by the intimate confines of a B&B garden, and the renowned landscapes of National Trust properties.

In all my travels, one garden stands out as having left me fairly cold. I hesitate to name it, because if statistics are correct, it may well be the most visited garden in the world. That says something about my taste in gardens, even as I've been describing my bent as being of a catholic character.

I love the idea of exchanging viewpoints, so I'm dedicating this post to Esther Montgomery. See Esther's comment on the previous post, and visit her on:

Esther, I believe you might well be unimpressed with the modern aspects of the Alchemist's botanical garden. And the black and red gardens you might dislike, too, although they were newly installed when I photographed them.

But I have a hunch!
If you walked through the white garden in the early morning or at dusk, when no one else is around and the roses are blooming (iceberg roses bloom for months on end in Provence), I really think you'd find the unfolding panorama along the winding paths to your liking.

Waddesdon Manor - 2001
Click on the link to see an earlier post: A Garden Without Plants - A Dialogue

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Wondrously Magical - The Alchemist's Garden



The Garden of the Alchemist
and .. Mas de la Brune
Imagine the quietude of early morning, in a place where you're enveloped by the fragrance of Iceberg roses. A gentle breeze causes the tall plumes of miscanthus to brush up against your face and you lose yourself in the sensory delights unfolding along the garden paths.

My all too brief stay at Mas de la Brune enabled me to wander in the Alchemist's Garden whenever I wished. 
It's an experience that remains as potent in my memory as it was in the moment.
 The Alchemist's Garden is nestled in the bewitchingly blue Alpilles mountains of France, in the picturesque village of  Eygalières in Provence.
The garden opened to the public in 1999 on a site adjoining Mas de la Brune, a country hotel housed in a Renaissance manor. The owners worked with designers Arnaud Maurieres and Eric Ossart to create a uniquely conceived, contemporary gardenscape.


Looking through the circular entry to the White Garden, from the 'Garden in Red'

Inspired by the belief that the property's main building had once been the home of an alchemist,  the garden took shape using symbols, colors, shapes and forms, directing visitors along a trail of discovery.
The sensual atmosphere of the garden is experienced after traveling through a narrow labyrinth sculpted into a section of dense hedging. 
Going forward, one enters a garden of magic plants, serving as a prelude to the Alchemist's Garden.
Here, an ample, open layout is intersected by wide aisles, where the plantings celebrate the esoteric repute of local flora; taking in aphrodisiac qualities, divining rods crafted of hazel branches, nettles, and a botanical assembly from olive trees to apothecary's roses. 


Decorative devices employed in the magic plants' garden include a vine-shrouded arch, spanning the garden at midpoint to provide a pleasing balance.
A long rill cut into the ground plane flows silently crosswise, while magic forests - wooded plots with curving paths -bracket the outer boundaries.
A far-reaching row of white curtains stands oppose wreathed fencing of living willow, acting to screen and separate horticultural groupings of magic plants from the mystical garden beyond. Composed in 3 parts, the Alchemist's Garden - Le Jardin de l'Alchimiste, proposes a transformative walk through the stages of life - from the early years to mellow adulthood, and finally, to a spiritual state of being. The alchemist's methods are presented in the enchanting guise of tonal works, i.e. the work in black, in white, and in red.
Each area is imbued with an acute materiality. The black garden features a shaded passageway upholstered in leafy shrubbery, transitioning into a space furnished with black mondo grass aligned in pots perched on metal stands. Around the corner, emerald hedges set the stage for a queue of terra cotta planters showcasing fleshy, claret-hued Aeonium arboreum.


Entering the luxuriant white garden, a gently twisting path paved in glistening gravel guides you on a course through an overabundance of 'Iceberg' roses intermingled with a silvery-striped cultivar of  Miscanthus sinensis.
Delicate flowering wands of gaura nod overhead, effectively, pure magic.

One more experience must unfold before the unusual garden journey culminates - the satisfying architecture of the Red garden. 
A fountainhead rises up at the heart of the space, from a water feature shaped like the Star of David. Hue and texture marry in a level expanse of iron-red stones complemented by sections of green turf, while an ordered structure composed of row upon row of red roses radiates outward from the pool's central star.