Queen of the Bog Garden .. Lovely Lobelia

Magnificent dark-leaved Lobelia 'Queen Victoria' ...

photographed at Portland's South Waterfront Park.

Without a doubt, Portland is one of my favorite U.S. destinations for summertime garden splendor!

Lurie Garden Lyrical

Piet Oudolf plantings: September at Chicago's Lurie Garden - Millennium Park

Echinacea seedheads cosseted by grasses.

It's official: I've transitioned to the new Blogger interface and can attest to the enhanced features.

Like any change, it simply takes some getting used to, but I'd say it's definitely a step up from the old.

Art in Nature: Presidio Habitats Extended!

Good news! The Presidio Habitats Exhibition has been extended through summer.

If you're in the Bay Area, or have planned a visit to San Francisco, you'll want to stop by The Presidio to take a self-guided tour or guided walk to explore the diverse approaches of these

temporary, outdoor site-based installations set amidst the Fort Scott area.

The Presidio is a beautiful landscape with a fascinating history. Amazing to think that for more than 200 years the land was a military site, encompassing Spanish, Mexican, and U.S. eras. Architecture buffs will appreciate the significance of the Presidio's buildings, now part of a wide-ranging preservation project.

http://www.presidio.gov/history/history/

And near the Presidio's Arguello Gate, you won't want to miss seeing

Andy Goldworthy's installation: The Spire

Regarding the special PRESIDIO HABITATS exhibition: Each work is about a 'habitat' meant to serve "an animal client," as the brochure explains.

Before walking the grounds to see the 11 installations, you'll want to begin at the Exhibition Pavilion where a larger group of submitted proposals are on view. For more information, visit:

http://www.presidio.gov/experiences/habitats/

The show is organized by the FOR-SITE FOUNDATION - web site:

http://www.for-site.org/

Alliums .. Mosaics and A Park Created by Children

Waterloo Millennium Green - May .. London

We found ourselves on the South Bank with a bit of free time while awaiting an afternoon performance of The Real Thing at The Old Vic.

Waterloo Millennium Green presented an inviting parkland to explore.

A proud resident of the neighborhood took Tom aside to explain that the park had been created

by local school children.

Robert Irwin Design: Getty Center Central Garden

Artist Robert Irwin designed the Getty Center Central Garden in Los Angeles. 

The Azalea Maze is a focal point, while curving swathes of corten steel function as the garden's contoured retaining walls. Seated on a bench nestled in a secluded niche, I could appreciate the rusty patina of the metal, a sharp contrast to the sensory delights of flowers and foliage.

Prominent fossilized remains are a tactile quality of The Getty Center's Roman classic travertine, which covers a staggering 1.2 million square feet of walls and pavement.

Staggered levels of terraced planting create an amphitheater-like setting in the pool area.
Unusual plant combinations reflect Irwin's statement:

"...the garden is like a painting, not so much concerned with species and origin as with color, texture and conditioned relations."

The garden layout echoes a natural ravine in the existing topography.

Photos © Alice Joyce

Zigzag walkways traverse the hillside's gentle descent. Reaching the plaza, water cascades over the stone wall, directing one's focus down toward the Central Garden's reflecting pool.

"Listen to the changing sound of the stream... boulders have been placed...to create a sound sculpture."

Barbara Hepworth sculpture below:

It's easy to spend a good part of a day at The Getty, taking in the exhibitions and outdoor sculpture gardens, enjoying a meal al fresco,  not to mention, adding your own opinion to the ongoing dialogue about Robert Irwin's Central Garden.

Flamboyant Flora at The Getty Center - Part I

A Paris Idyll, Parc André Citröen

Parc André Citröen - Overview courtesy: www.worldarchitecture.org

Cascading plantings of fragrant herbs echo the architectural form of the water element pictured below.

Photos: Alice Joyce except where noted.

Suggesting sanctuary, an array of small-scale buildings line up along a walkway. A bold rectangular opening entices me to enter, where I find an interior that capitalizes on a play of light and shadow created by a slat roof, while the floor wears a carpet of Scotch moss.

Water elements lend particular distinction to a number of compartmentalized environments.

Entering one such space, you see water flowing gently over an inclined wall, while directly across the way, its counterpart achieves drama with a decidedly vigorous deluge over a stepped surface.

photo: it_outsider

On a recent journey, I set off on a pilgrimage to 

Parc André Citröen, an inspiring representation of a

contemporary landscape design by Alain Provost and

Gilles Clement. The park rose up in the southwest corner of Paris in the Javel neighborhood, a site appropriated as part of the city's urban renewal efforts, after the closure of the Citröen car factory.

Away from the well-trod tourist paths, the park has won  praise (and criticism, alike) for the forward-looking aspects of its design: A complex geometric layout full of surprising juxtapositions and horticultural interest.

Elements of cool postmodern style appear as architectural devices, defining the character of discrete spaces. At the same time, sequestered areas are given over to lush planting schemes and shaded allées, fostering a sense of intimacy.

PHOTO © ALICE JOYCE

The parkland extends over 30 acres, and futuristic bent aside, its plan encourages visitors to linger amid open areas of lawn, a bamboo grove, and a rock garden.

Large-scale water features call to mind 

the aesthetic fountains and pools of 

classical landscapes, while inducing 

young and old to relax and refresh.

Arranged on an axis perpendicular to the Seine, the totality of the park is oriented to echo the order of historic Parisian parks farther upriver.

The overall design concept puts into play a sense of contrast, advancing from obviously man-made configurations to areas meant to reveal the spirit of untouched, natural places.

At the heart of the park is a sprawling grassy expanse set off by a wall of clipped hedges and promenade evocative of formal French gardens. Opposite this central greensward, a sloping plaza of gleaming stone looks out onto two vast glasshouses flanking a fountain programmed with leaping water jets.

Moving on, a series of small theme gardens emerges, revealing a richness of shrubs, specimen trees and perennials. Unusual plant material is noteworthy in creating atmospheric garden spaces, such as the Jardin Blanc & Jardin Noir. A tunnel passage signals the transition to another color-themed space, accented with blue salvias, fragrant mints, California lilacs, a wisteria-draped arbor, and a pergola cloaked in my favorite variegated porcelainberry vine melded with clematis.

At another juncture, towering mirrored-glass buildings are partnered with a long reflecting canal. The crisp outlines of the adjacent hedges restate the angular facades.

A sunken outdoor room of ample proportions exhibits careful planning. The five walls reveal a subtle pattern of divided stone segments with scores of diamond-shaped water spouts, arranged at a mid-point as embellishment. On the ground, vegetation takes the place of stone cutouts, and grass creates a zigzag effect where it abuts the hard surface.

Controversy about the park and its design continues, so look for more to follow on BayAreaTendrils.

When in Paris... the park is located in the 15th arrondisement: Metro stop Balard or Javel.

Nitobe Memorial Garden, Vancouver, B.C. Part 2

Nitobe Memorial Garden

Photo: UBC Botanical Garden

The highly regarded landscape architect Professor Kannosuke Mori of Japan designed and supervised the building of Nitobe Memorial Garden.

In the spring the garden is aglow with the blossoms of flowering cherry trees brought from Japan to be installed in this serene Vancouver setting.  A tranquil spell is cast as you walk the garden's impeccably groomed paths, with native trees and shrubs growing among thriving azaleas, Japanese irises, and a gathering of  maples especially imported from Japan.

Oveall, the style of Nitobe Memorial Garden is informal. The Strolling Garden beckons visitors across the portal of its ceremonial gateway. Placed along the walkways are perfectly situated benches, and six distinctive bridges made of wood and stone, aimed at directing wanderers to admire the garden's fertile landscape and aesthetically pleasing views.

The garden's waterfalls, with their pacifying sounds, encourage contemplation. Suggesting nature's perfection is an essential part of the artistry of a Japanese garden; represented here in the elements of an artificial "mountain," an island and  lake.  A subtle beauty, of stone lanterns, ornaments the scenery and accentuates the plantings. Myriad shades of foliage, from deep jade to bright chartreuse, set off the garden's monochromatic plantings, which come alive with infusions of color from cherry blossoms, and azaleas in a pleasing palette of many hues. Blue irises lend cool accents to the garden in summer, and sumptuous scarlets and the tawny color of tangerines appear as the maples turn color in fall.

In Japanese culture, tea ceremony and garden art are closely linked. At Nitobe Memorial Garden, an exquisite Teahouse Rock Garden features paths of crushed rock surrounding a characteristic teahouse fabricated of Hinoki cypress. The tea ceremony still takes place, at times, in this lovely building.

Nitobe Memorial Garden is located 3 kilometers north of the University of British Columbia Botanical Garden on Northwest Marine Drive. You'll find a map of the UBC campus at  www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org 

that can be downloaded from the web site.

Nitobe Memorial Garden, Vancouver, B.C.

Photos: UBC Botanical Garden 

Nitobe Memorial Garden

www.nitobe.org

University of British Columbia Botanical Garden

Vancouver, B.C.

Arboretum, U.C. Santa Cruz in Winter

Tomorrow I'll be tending to business, so we're taking a quick side trip, returning to Spain in a day or so.

These photos of exuberant Banksias resulted from my first journey to Santa Cruz, south of San Francisco, where the University of California Santa Cruz Arboretum is especially spectacular around this time of year.

Banskia baueri
Photos © copyright Alice Joyce

Banksia ericifolia

I was freshly transplanted to the Bay Area, having left behind my tiny town garden in Chicago for the mild, year-round gardening climate of Marin County. In preparation for my inaugural 'Garden Walks' column for the San Francisco Chronicle, I realized I could find a garden with flowers in the middle of winter. I'd already written about the Arboretum for my first book, West Coast Gardenwalks, but had based the entry on lots of research.

Picture a Greyhound bus, my mode of transportation for the return leg of the trip. Unable to drive there, I hopped a ride one night with one of the savvy horticulturists on staff. And was also given a cozy place to sleep!

The next morning, I strolled through acres of flowering, sun-loving Australian plants. Banksia baueri
.... and B. ericifolia are covered in countless miniature blossoms that blanket the huge cone forms of these evergreen species.  Particularly from January through April, the U.C. Santa Cruz Arboretum puts on an incredible exhibition, although you'll find plants in bloom any time you visit.  (The Central Coast section of Gardenwalks in California goes into detail on the Arboretum's collections.)