Garden Porn

A path of antique millstones leads you into the den of the cube

The chandelier inside the cube

The other entry garden greeting the garden goers is designed by Keeyla Meadows.

It is a chaotic assemblage of cast and colored concrete forms accented with a cacophony of equally loud bustling blossoms.

Calm is restored as you venture into the beautifully presented garden by Luciole.

Finely detailed and crafted polished concrete and wood furniture is placed on a carpet of crushed gravel surround by a tasteful planting of palm trees and Mediterranean plants

The students from Arizona State traveled again to San Francisco and pleased the viewers with another innovative garden, showing us that a desert garden can be fun and functionally lovely to be in.

Mariposa landscaping inspired us with their beautiful hand crafted stone and woodworking work.

Always one to have fun with her garden designs is Mary TeSalle from Quite Contrary Gardens. Here she is dancing amongst her tree house and 100 year old Olive trees

Brian Swope of Tierra Seca continues year after year to wow the crowds with this strong sculptural works and conscientious native plant plantings.

My favorite garden by far was an Artist’s Garden by Dawn Engel

Featuring exquisite details and finely tuned plantings set in a courtyard in the heart of New Orleans.

Huettl Landscape Architects presented us with a beautifully crafted contemporary lounge.

The ceramic clay fish are by Marilyn MacKenzie.

This year there was a sculpture garden set outside on a plot of lawn.

I appreciated the works of art, especially Marcia Donahues ceramic sculpture, but was disappointed in how the space was presented.

A sculpture exhibition should have a space all its own rather than have some of the vendors hawking their wares within the same space. It lessens the intensity of the art and compromises the artistic integrity of the work being shown.

Unfortunately my photos of the grand prize winner, Garden Route, came out terrible.

They created a garden of native grasses , a grass covered core ten pergola and a patio devoid of any signs of life. It was a garden surviving after the apocalypse.

Not very inspiring really. Quite boring. But natives are the trend and I suppose the judges were drawn to it.

The market place was full of wonderful plant nurseries, garden accroutements and the occasionally displaced merchandiser selling bedding sheets and jewellery.

Below is one vendor show casing his grey water system.

In his exhibit he had this great plastic furniture. I thought they were holding tanks for grey water , but they weren’t.

I think this vendor could really be onto something if he were to make these pieces into functional working water holding systems.

Cool.

For more information on this years garden show check their webpage :http://www.sfgardenshow.com/index.php/the-gardens/the-gardens

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

PINK

Pink is a color that I am not terribly fond of.
At all costs I try to avoid this color in my garden, in my house and especially in my clothing
( as a red head pink does nothing but make me look like a ripening tomato)
But when a client loves pink, to the point that she paints her house pink, well then a designer has to do what a designer has to do when asked to design a pink blooming garden.

The front yard

From Loropetalum chinese

The back yard

From Loropetalum chinese

LINK _ http://www.marinwater.org/documents/eco_tour_flyer_2010_FINAL.PDF

Friday, March 19, 2010

Eco Garden Tour in Marin - May 15 2010

Save the Date - May 15 2010 !

Please join us for an enjoyable and inspirational day of garden gazing on May 15, 2010 in Marin County CA from 10 am to 4 pm.

A wide variety of inspirational private gardens will be open to the public .

These gardens where chosen for their awareness and support of ecological gardening practices and are participating with the Marin Municipal Water District and the Bay Friendly Garden Society.

$ 10.00 gets you into 30 gardens.

At 1408 Park Avenue , Novato, garden goers will see a variety of paths made from recycled tile, repurposed cracked concrete and inexpensive permeable local quarried crushed stone.

From Pina Colada

There is also a small front yard potager garden , which if you are not familiar with the terms means a garden planted with vegetables, herbs and edible flowers.

From Pina Colada

The small front yard ‘lawn’ is a mix of drought tolerant fine fescues and clover which requires no fertilization and only bi-monthly mowing in its most active growing season.

From Pina Colada

Sculpture from local artists as well as a recirculating water fountain is placed amongst flowering shrubs that encourage native fauna to feed off of the rich sweet nectar.

Stone head by Marcia Donahue, it is sitting in a Balinese grinding mill.

From Pina Colada

This particular garden is small in scale but big on ideas.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Vegetable and Potager gardens in Marin

This past weekend I was toiling in my potager garden getting it replanted for the upcoming late spring and summer harvests.

I’ve been harvesting lots of red curly and romaine lettuce as well as a hearty staple of cilantro and chives for my favorite Mexican taco recipe.

Yesterday I planted some more cilantro, basil, sweet peas and a tomato.

It’s still a little too early for the tomato seedlings to come out of the greenhouse but I thought I would give it a chance. I’ll surround it with a cloche to try to provide it with some added extra potection.

Photo of the potager at this moment in time.

This next photo shows my small potager several seasons ago when the boxwood hedge was still growing into its planned architectural stature.

During another season several years ago

This photo below shows me in Rosemary Verey’s potager garden in England about 17 years ago.

You’ ll able to tell that I was very impressed by this garden and have thought of it often when I have design other potagers around Northern California

I love it because of its fine softscaping bones.

Yellow boxwood, red curly lettuce, green lettuce and purple cabbage.

Rosemary Verey Design

This next photo is a potager that I designed in the late 90’s.

Note the inspiration from Ms. Verey’s garden that I used when laying this garden out.

Derviss Design

From Raised Garden Beds

The photo below is of the now defunct Copia potager garden.

It too has greatly inspired me and I am very saddened by its demise.

It was designed by Peter Waker.

His influence here for a small potager in Marin.

Derviss Design

and another

Derviss Design

and another

Derviss Design

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Pots Heads, a la Cirque du Soleil

The first pot head in a series that I am calling Cirque du Soleil was air brushed with velvet under glazes today in the studio.

What you are seeing in the photo below is the unfired low temperature glazes BEFORE I over sprayed them with a clear high gloss glaze.

Sometime within the next few weeks the pot head will be fired to vitrify the glaze and it will be ready to be planted with a variety of savory succulents.

Back head view , with a planting pocket

While in the spray booth :

Along with the Cirque du Soleil Pot Head Series that I am crafting I am also making an Alice in Wonderland styled water feature. I sculpted four 30 - 34 inch tall Pitcher plants - sarracenia, and will fashion them into a sculptural fountain.

The colors that I choose to air brush on the pitcher plants are really out of this world,

I hope they make it through the firing OK.