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

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.

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.

Leucadendron salignum growing and glowing in the Wave Garden.

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!

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.

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)

Hestercombe - England

An element that can take an intriguing variety of forms...

...while expressing a distinctive style.

Rhododendron Pavilion Stonework - San Francisco Botanical Garden

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.

Cornerstone Sonoma - Wine Country

An element of beauty...
...or a spot to simply take in the surroundings.

Sonoma Horticultural Nursery

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

Historic Ninfa - Italy

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

Clamor .. Murmur .. Plash! Potpourri of Fountains

The Alchemist's Garden 

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.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Benziger Winery - Biodynamic Gardens

Glen Ellen, California

Classical Chinese Garden

Portland, Oregon

Words and photos by Alice Joyce, Bay Area Tendrils Garden Travel

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

Parc André Citröen 

Paris, France

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

Cornerstone Sonoma

Northern California

Alice's Garden

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.

Chateau St Jean Winery

Kenwood, California

Russian River Roses

Healdsburg, California

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

Le Jardin de l'Alchimiste in Provence.

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:

Spain's Alhambra & gardens of El Generalife.

However...

when Bay Area Tendrils Garden Travel

 features a stunning Modernist landscape, 

such as the expansive

 Parc André Citroën

 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 

 The Grow Melt Project 

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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:

http://esthersboringgardenblog.blogspot.com/

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

http://bayareatendrils.blogspot.com/search/label/Islamic%20Gardens