Scented, Sensuous, Darkly Dramatic! - Chocolate Flower Farm

Whidbey Island, Washington is a gardener's paradise...

And the home base for Chocolate Flower Farm, a unique plant nursery. 

Marie and Bill specialize in dark flowers and foliage,

offering tender specimens & biennials, long-lived perennials & seeds.  

Here's a sampling! Above: 

Nicotiana 'Chocolate Smoke,' this hardy annual is a strain of N. 'Hot Chocolate,' 

developed by Chocolate Flower Farm.

Aquilegia 'Single Black' .. "the little black dress" of Columbines, elegant & simple, yet quite rare.

Photos: Chocolate Flower Farm

Berlandiera lyrata - Chocolate Daisy

Grow in Zones 4 - 10 in full sun: Considered by Marie & Bill to be the best chocolate scent of all. 

A night bloomer, the flowers offer up their cocoa scent in the morning and drop their yellow petals each day.

Dierama 'Cosmos' 

Started last year from seed. It will take 3 years for plants to reach bloom stage. Be patient!

Delphinium 'Kissed By Chocolate'

Elegant white English delphiniums boasting gentle brushes of chocolate over the inky black colorations produced on 

the majority of 'Black Shades' cultivars (now known as 'Chocolate').

Dianthus 'Sooty' -  Chocolate Sweet William

Biennial in Zones 4 - 10: Grow in full sun; an excellent selection for cut flowers.

An all-time fave in my garden!

Click on link below to read one of my San Francisco Chronicle 'Plant Pick' columns, featuring 

Chocolate Cosmos

www.chocolateflowerfarm.com

Immersed in Art & Culture .. Getty Villa - East Garden

The intimate East Garden within the grounds of the Getty Villa ...

a walled santuary space where you'll want to linger.

Delightful feverfew .. among the plantings in the East Garden;

 reflecting an array of species known from the ancient Mediterranean,

with sycamore and laurel trees providing shade.

The wall fountain represents a replica of a mosaic and shell fountain from the House of the Large Fountain in Pompeii. In A.D. 79 Mt. Vesuvius erupted, burying Pompeii and Herculaneum. Embellishments emerge at every turn. Mosaic work, enlivened by images of birds amid colorful patterning, is likened to wall paintings found inside Roman ruins.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION....

The heads of bronze civets, catlike creatures spout splashing streams of water into a marble basin, in the East Garden's central fountain. Adorning the wall fountain are marble theatrical masks, prevalent elements in Roman art of the first century A.D.

It's easy to get lost in the detailing of the intricate mosaic and shell work.

The source of the water flowing from the wall fountain.

Detail:  Bronze Civets & Marble Basin

Fountains act as engaging focal points within the secluded setting.

 Evergreen strawberry trees (Arbutus unedo) line up along one wall of the garden: the ripening spiny fruit appears like dangling ornaments set off by the glossy foliage. Fragrant clusters of  bell-like flowers appear alongside the fruit, which turns from a bright gold to deep red-orange.

Acanthus leaves are depicted again and again in ancient architectural elements, 

emerging in decorations carved in stone and in wood, in columns and friezes

dating back to Greco-Roman times.

Click on link below for more on the Getty Villa Malibu

Part I - Trompe l'Oeil

Trompe l'oeil .. Lyrical Illusion - The Getty Villa Malibu

The Getty Villa - Malibu, California

Part I

The Malibu site opened in 1974 as the original J. Paul Getty Museum;

the architecture, patterned after the Villa dei Papiri,

a Roman country house dating to the first century. 

Restored Trompe l'oeil detail.

The Villa closed for renovation in 1997, just as The Getty Center opened to great fanfare in Los Angeles. By 2006 the cultural cognoscenti were abuzz! The Getty Villa reopened with stunning exhibition spaces, presenting an unparalleled showcase for Greco-Roman & Etruscan antiquities, and an overall stunning redesign by architects, Machado and Silvetti Associates.

The historically accurate Trompe l'oeil paintings of the Outer Peristyle garden are highlighted here. The luminous architecture of the Getty Villa, the landscape design & plantings, sculptural treasures, and classically arcadian gardens to follow in future posts.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION...

 Long view of Outer Peristyle - ceiling adornment & inlaid design of walkway.

Draped garlands, decorated columns, and window cornices are among the peristyle's ornate elements.

The refined color palette of the Trompe l'oeil painting adds grace and beauty to the surroundings.

Click on link below for feature.... The Getty Center

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

Room With A View .. My Window at The Ambrose

Reaching out...

 to frame a memorable Santa Monica sunset from my window at The Ambrose:

Hotel rooms designed with feng shui principles in mind. 
Restful.....

The Ambrose in Santa Monica, California.