Celebrating Gardens

Aristolochia californica .. a very early blooming native vine in Alice's Garden 
Photo Copyright © Alice Joyce

The image of California pipevine befits the notion of the brilliantly green 2-year Blogiversary, celebrated with the readers of Bay Area Tendrils!

Surely one of the most interesting 'flowers' a gardener could ask for, and a host plant for swallowtail butterflies - the vine's leaves being the only food source the caterpillars consume.

Despite the region's heavy winter rains, it's plants such as this vigorous vining species that enliven my days as a gardener in the Bay Area. It's not unusual to see the plant flowering on and off throughout the seasons. This pipevine has spread widely in the garden, climbing up latticework, and scrambling under an arbor into through a border along a fence on the western boundary of the property.

The postage-stamp size garden I left behind in Chicago may be familiar to those of you who have followed the blog from its early days. A scanned 35mm slide shows a corner of a tiny gem of a space brightened by the hue of Chinese-red enamel on arbors I constructed, the wooden shutters and door to my studio. In Chicago, it always seemed we went directly from winter into summer, when a spell of intensely hot days would descend and roses would open... only to immediately wilt in the heat. But annuals grew lushly, thriving for months on end as the evenings contained the heat of the day.

Photos Copyright © Alice Joyce

The garden I created in my new home is a retreat from the daily grind: Another outdoor room, in fact, to expand the space of a tiny house. With plants that bloom year-round, the garden is filled with buzzing bees (despite the decline in bee populations), hummingbirds, and butterflies that feed on the pipevine; keeping us company while we have lunch under the umbrella.

In this 'before' shot, you'll see the new fence built to protect the space from our small town's over-the-top deer population. I'd been working for a couple months when I took the photograph, spending much of the time down on my knees, digging up broken glass and concrete rubble in order place the pavers that define the shapes of beds and borders. I eventually built up mounds for planting, having implemented the depleted and compacted hardpan with plenty of compost. I layered newspapers over the future pathways, as the El Nino rains of 1998 & '99 poured down over me.

UCSC's incredible FLORA: Banksia ericifolia 

Photo Copyright © Alice Joyce

Moving to the West Coast has been an eye-opening journey for a self-professed fanatical plant lover. It all began with my first 'major' journey about an hour and a half south to the Arboretum at the University of California at Santa Cruz! Here, collections of plants encompass members of the Proteaceae family from South Africa; the stunningly enormous cone-like flowering clusters of Banksia species from Australia; and yes, California native plants in the Elevenia Slosson Research Gardens: All provide an exciting horticultural experience.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Native Plants .. Slipper Orchid 

Photo © Alice Joyce

New York Gardens on Bay Area Tendrils

I want to thank you all for dropping by to share in my adventures.

New York City's Battery Gardens: The Bosque designed by Piet Oudolf (Photos © Alice Joyce)

Chicago's 'Crown Fountain' by Jaume Plensa .. Millennium Park (Photos © Alice Joyce)

Chicago's Green Destinations on Bay Area Tendrils

I remain extremely proud of the city where I was born, raised, and lived for decades. It's the equal culturally and horticulturally of any city I've ever visited! I need to travel to the midwest to experience the vibrant atmosphere of Chicago at least once a year.

Barcelona's Historic Parc de la Ciutadella (Photo © Alice Joyce)

The sophistication and panache of Barcelona is unique.

It's 2011.... amazing how time is flying by. I plan to continue writing about my travels here

and on my web site: Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

...to connect with virtual green thumbs in the year ahead,

and especially those of you I'll have a chance to meet in real time!

Ciao ... à bientôt ... Hasta pronto ... Até breve ... Until next time!

Cultural Landscapes ... Central Park, NYC

Central Park - New York City

Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr.

What are cultural landscapes? 

Stewardship through Education:

Link to The Cultural Landscape Foundation:

www.tclf.org

Hudson River Valley .. Eliasson at Bard College Pt 2

The Parliament of Reality - Part II

Photos:  Deborah Esrick

Environmental artwork created by Olafur Eliasson

at Bard College

Hudson River Valley, NY

Summer  2009

Bluestone island, dolomite boulders, circular pond, trees, & latticework tunnel.

A garden landscape for contemplation and dialogue.

Photos: Deborah Esrick

Link to Part I:

Nature .. Man-Made - Olafur Eliasson at Bard

Nature .. Man-Made - Olafur Eliasson at Bard

photo: Bess Reynolds

Parliament of Reality ... an Installation by Olafur Eliasson

Commissioned for the Bard College campus in upstate New York 

by the Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS Bard)  

Photo: yooperann 

Born in Denmark to Icelandic parents, artist Olafur Eliasson created 

The Parliament of Reality as a setting for reflection and dialogue, 

finding inspiration for the work in the Icelandic Parliament - the Althingi.   

photo: Bess Reynolds

The Parliament of Reality encompasses a circular pond surrounded by a ring of 24 planted trees. In the center of the pond, the shape of a circle is repeated in an island paved with distinctive stones: their twelve-point pattern references the meridian lines of nautical charts and the compass. Access to the island is via a bridgeway covered by a steel latticework passage. 

photo: Bess Reynolds

The Parliament of Reality ... in a field near the Frank Gehry–designed 

Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts.

photo: Bess Reynolds

Eliasson's new work is located on the North end of Bard's campus,

in the Hudson River Valley landscape.

Bard's Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts is my alma mater.

Olafur Eliasson Studio:  http://www.olafureliasson.net/

Bard Center for Curatorial Studies:  http://www.bard.edu/ccs/ccs/

Irish Hunger Memorial, New York City

Not far from Ground Zero, the Battery Park City neighborhood in lower Manhattan has greatly changed in the years since 9/11. 

Irish Hunger Memorial Battery Park City, Lower Manhattan, NYC

During my May trip to New York, I had planned, and looked forward to a long walk through the acres of new parkland, plazas and coves stretching from the North Esplanade of Battery Park City, south to the tip of Manhattan and the Robert Wagner Jr Parks and Pavilions - adjacent to the magnificent Piet Oudolf landscaped gardens at Historic Battery Park, the subject of an upcoming post.

The Alliance for Downtown New York now provides a free shuttle bus, making it incredibly convenient to enjoy the restaurants, endless activities, and green spaces encompassed within the bustling districts of lower Manhattan. 

I stepped off the shuttle at an unexpected stop, when I caught sight of a poignantly composed green sward. The Irish Hunger Memorial, designed by artist Brian Tolle, with landscape architect Gail Wittwer-Laird among the project's team, commemorates the famine of the mid-1880s, while raising awareness for all who face hunger in the world today.

An authentic stone cottage from County Mayo is incorporated into the transformative, cantilevered terrain of the 1/2-acre site, where the pathways wind through a landscape planted with native species from Ireland. 

An architectural expanse of Irish limestone and glass reveals layers of text, bringing to light & involving the visitor in its commentary of historical and contemporary issues. 

At the Memorial's high point, the vista frames the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in the distance. 

The garden's effect is luminous yet subdued. 

A potent reminder.