Serenity in the Garden

"Many gardeners will agree that hand-weeding is not the terrible drudgery that it is often made out to be. Some people find in it a kind of soothing monotony.  It leaves their minds free to develop the plot for their next novel or to perfect the brilliant repartee with which they should have encountered a relative's latest example of unreasonableness.”  ―  Christopher Lloyd ,  The Well-Tempered Garden

On June 8, 2019 the NY Botanical Garden will open their new exhibit dedicated to Roberto Burle Marx! I visited it this week in a preview and it is spectacular!  You have to see it - #plantlove The centerpiece of Burle Marx show at #NYBG I wrote this a few years ago and feel it is the perfect time to share this post again: Roberto Burle Marx Roberto Burle Marx  (1909-1994) was my idol when I studied landscape architecture at the University of Hawaii in the 1970s: he worked with tropical plants and was trained in painting. I loved that Burle Marx painted every morning before attending to his design practice and that he said he 'painted his gardens'. tablecloth design by Burle Marx  He also asserted that the creation of a garden was 'an attempt to regain a lost paradise'. I could not agree more! Flamengo park Burle Marx's grasp of pattern was one of his signature features.  His bold use of color and shape captured the Br...

Beatrix Farrand, 'Landscape Gardener' and designer, left her mark on many landscapes around the country. Her most celebrated garden is the wonderful Dumbarton Oaks in Georgetown in Washington, DC. She worked with the Bliss Family to create a world class estate garden there - and you can visit it. Split staircase at Dumbarton Oaks Finally a documentary has been made to tell her life story f rom Maine to California.  Karyl Evans, the filmmaker, used  interviews and footage of over 50 remaining gardens that Beatrix Farrand designed. A six-time award-winning documentarian, Karyl tells how Beatrix was  employed by her Aunt Edith Wharton and mentored by Dr. Charles Sprague Sargent. She became one of the Founders of the American Society of Landscape Architects.  Beatrix Farrand is an important part of landscape architecture to this day. All designers should know about her and her work! This film can be purchased by cl...

illustration of Christopher Alexander's 'Positive Outdoor Space' by Matt Noiseux One of the books I used in my Landscape Design Studio class in Columbia University is the classic,  'A Pattern Language ' Towns- Buildings- Construction by Christopher Alexander and others.  It offers 'patterns' as basic design templates for you to follow.  These are principles of  design that are founded on common sense as much as anything else.  Alexander says his design language  is based on human and natural considerations. Adding to the delight it that they are numbered for easy reference in the book:   'Accessible Green' is # 60.    'Quiet Backs' is #59.  One of the more elusive patterns is   #106 Positive Outdoor Space.   It is a favorite of mine.  It talks about manipulating outdoor space and refers to space as being 'negative' and ...

Kim Wilkie - Boughton House Kim Wilkie is one of my favorite landscape artists. Hailing from England,  he studied at Oxford University where he discovered that there was such a thing as ‘landscape architecture’ in his last year of pursuing a history degree . Kim Wilkie Wilkie says discovering this profession “came as a thunderbolt…” and his captivating book, Led by the Land (Frances Lincoln Limited, © 2012) , reminds us that landscape design delves as deeply into our psyche as any other of the arts. Led by the Land   I saw Wilkie speak at New York Botanical Garden a few years ago.   I learned then that he is a man of deep thoughts with a solid terrestrial connection.  From the elliptical pool that he designed for the Victoria & Albert museum to his grass amphitheater divided by a zig zag path at The Holt , Wilkie exhibits a contemporary sensibility using earthwork, shape and line as his palette. His symbolic landsca...

Thomas Church - Donnell Residence, Sonoma, CA 1948 Thomas Church was one of the most influential American landscape architects of the twentieth century. His ideas on the 'modern' landscape revolutionized home landscaping and changed the look of the suburban backyard.  Born in Boston in 1902, he attended college in California and came under the spell of its climate and outdoor lifestyle.  Church received his landscape architecture degree from Berkeley in 1923 and his Masters in Landscape Architecture from Harvard in 1926. Tommy Church - Plan for Donnell Church urged people to see residential property as a single living space with the house and garden directly connected.  This was a dramatic notion for its day.   His greatest influence was through his books and numerous articles. His popular book on home landscapes, 'Gardens are for People ,' was published in 1955.    Church advocated four basic landscape design principles: •...

"Serenity.  Serenity is the great and true antidote against anguish and fear,  and today, more than ever, it is the architect’s duty to make of it a permanent guest in the home, no matter how sumptuous or how humble.  Throughout my work I have always strived to achieve serenity, but one must be on guard not to destroy it by the use of an indiscriminate palette." Luis Barragan, 1980 

On March 25, 1893, a gala dinner was held in honor of Daniel Burnham in Chicago. But when Burnham took the stage, he chose to honor someone else instead:  “Each of you knows the name and genius of him who stands first in the heart and confidence of American artists, the creator of your own parks and many other city parks...  —Frederick Law Olmsted.” Then he added:  “An artist, he paints with lakes and wooded slopes; with lawns and banks and forest-covered hills; with mountain sides and ocean views.  He should stand where I do tonight, not for the deeds of later years alone, but for what his brain has wrought and his pen has taught for half a century.”  A collective roar went up among those assembled. paraphrased from:   “ Genius of Place: The Life Of Frederick Law Olmsted”   by  Justin Martin

"Many gardeners will agree that hand-weeding is not the terrible drudgery that it is often made out to be. Some people find in it a kind of soothing monotony.  It leaves their minds free to develop the plot for their next novel or to perfect the brilliant repartee with which they should have encountered a relative's latest example of unreasonableness.”  ―  Christopher Lloyd ,  The Well-Tempered Garden

  Gardening With Soul    won  Best Documentary Award at the New Zealand Film Festival. It is an inspiring story about an elderly  nun,  Sister Loyola,  who tends her cloister’s gardens with a marked passion for her task.  The opening starts with a storm and shows her inventive protective makeshift “covers” (old milk jugs) that saves the tender plants. Cane in hand, Sister Loyola walks to the church’s on-site shed and surveying the scene says, “I spend a lot of time out here.” Sister Loyola opines, "The garden is saying to me all the time, ‘life is evolving, life is evolving’—So if you’re going to spend the last few years of your life worrying about how to survive, you’re wasting your time”.  Gardening With Soul  is available for  fundraiser screenings for community gardening groups, churches, and other organizations across the United States. More info can be found  here .