Serenity in the Garden

Garden Gnome, anyone? A few years ago, the Royal Horticultural Society in the UK declared that the banned garden gnome was now allowed to be part of the  Chelsea Flower Show. Tackiness be damned! Garden gnomes for all!   Garden gnomes, those funny little white-bearded  creatures,  are associated in England with the landscapes of the not-so-rich and the unfamous.   According to English gardening maven, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen,  “Gnomes are very symbolic in English gardens as an anti-class statement." Born to be Wild Gnome Anti-class? anti- posh?  These happy little garden sprites (or small and creepy men, depending on your point of view) are reminders that we are all free to fashion our gardens, our little bits of heaven, in our own way.   I remember, growing up in Brooklyn, walking by many a 'bathtub Mary' in the chainlink bordered front yards of those lucky enough to have a front yard.   They would take a cast ...

Artist Norm Magnusson lives near Woodstock, New York.   Yes, that Woodstock... Magnusson (see his website,  Funism ) is an artist that uses all media to get his ideas across. (Zig Zag Leaves - Norm Magnusson) In his  'Decorating Nature'  series of art photos (giclee prints - they're for sale) Magnusson paints on or colors pieces of nature, like adding stripes to a fallen leaf, painting a pine cone blue or drawing concentric rings on a stone. He says, (Blue Cone - Norm Magnusson) "We use nature to how we see fit: we strive to bring order to it,  we seek to explain it in a language that doesn’t belong to it,  we try to make it prettier,  we try to make it better,  we try to make it more profitable.  Some efforts succeed, some do n’t."       (amen to that - Jan) (Tree Rock - Norm Magnusson) But Magnusson also says that his art photos are all about beauty, saying, "Beauty ...

ALERT!   Only 7 more days until the  fabulous Dale Chihuly exhibit at NY Botanical Garden closes : Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.  CHIHULY Nights: Every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday through October 2017, plus Wednesday, October 25,  and  Sunday, October 29; 6:30–10:30 p.m.  RESERVE NOW:   https://www.nybg.org/visit/admission/ in the day, as you walk around, you might find this.... This is your last chance to see the immensely popular show - by day or night. I suggest you start in early evening and watch as the darkness brings out the glass sculptures in a way nothing else can. It features 20 installations! In the spotlights, the plants seem to dance along with the art.... That is what I did with my family visiting from Florida. We entered, visited the phenomenal bookstore ( another must for garden lovers) and then walked  the grounds  in the late afternoon light. The sweeping vistas and art co...

I once had a landscape client named Dr. Maury Leibovitz. He was an older gentleman and asked me to create a perennial garden for him in his large property in Greenwich, Ct.  We had a lot of fun doing it. He enjoyed it greatly. During that time he gave me a tour of his estate's grounds and shared stories of  the magnificent sculptures that dotted the landscape.  I learned that he started out as an accountant for  Occidental Petroleum Corporation and became an associate of the the corporation's late chairman, Dr. Armand Hammer . Leibovitz  and Hammer shared a love of fine art and together purchased Knoedler Galleries and Publishing in 1971. Jo Davidson and Gertrude Stein in Paris - photo by Man Ray  Maury shared stories of how he found certain artists. And one sculpture in particular he loved - Gertrude Stein by Jo Davidson .  He and I stood there  and admired it, set in a pastoral setting, and I listened to ...