Serenity in the Garden

Lawrence Halprin, an American icon of modern landscape architecture, was married to Anna Halprin, a talented choreographer and modern dance advocate. She was his muse.     David Paul Morris/Getty Images   Her effect on Lawrence has not been discussed much. But, like Frank Lloyd Wright's last wife, she influenced him greatly.   Lawrence Halprin, in fact, used the word 'choreography' to describe his melding of modernism, nature and movement in his many landscapes. Planetary Dance on Mt Tamalpais, organized by Anna Halprin   Mr. Halprin (from Brooklyn) gave us the modern style of landscape architecture after World War 2. This style used concrete as much as it did vegetation. But he also gave us space, urban open space. I remember making the pilgrimage to his Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco as young landscape arch. student...the idea of an open urban space that encouraged fun and excitement was imp...

photo - Prairie Nursery White False Indigo (Baptisia alba var. macrophylla ) is a long lived, slow growing prairie plant that is a showpiece in bloom. It likes sun, can thrive in many kinds of soil and is 3' - 5' tall...It blooms from June  through July and has a long taproot which ensures its drought tolerance and longevity. Hardy to Zones 4 - 9. field of baptisia photo by Joyfotos on panoramio Stanton, Wisconsin Another native variety is Baptisia alba var. alba or thick pod wild indigo. It is easily recognizable due to it's large black pendant seed pods. It grows to 3-4' tall.   Best in deep, neutral to acid soils.  'Wayne's World' White Baptisia Recently Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery introduced  Baptisia alba var. alba 'Wayne's World' that he calls 'Wayne's World' Redneck Lupine. It is a more reliable bloomer and forms a full, upright, deer-resistant clump to 4' tall.  In May and June it is topped...

  “My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece”     Claude Monet            photo - IMG_1703 by kpsway on Flickr     The French painter, Claude Monet (1840 – 1926) loved to paint his landscape paintings outside in Nature. His ' plein-air' approach allowed him to connect directly with his subject matter and he reveled in the majesty of the moment. photo - NPR     Monet's love of the green world extended to his expansive garden, Giverny, 45 miles outside of Paris, where many of his paintings were created over the years.  His masterful use of light and color showed itself fully in the masterpieces created here. He spotted the village of Giverny from a train while travelling through Normandy.  NPR writes, "He looked out the window and saw this charming village. So he just got off the train." Monet learned that a lo...

Source - Grofty.com Last summer, CERN was on the verge of announcing a discovery of  'the God particle', one the basic building blocks of the universe. This hunt for the Higgs boson was one of the most expensive particle physics projects ever undertaken and when they finally announced that they'd glimpsed the Higgs, everyone stifled a laugh...Why?  The institution's scientists presented the most important scientific discovery of the decade using a peculiar font face: Comic Sans MS. This information was taken from TheWeek (click here for full article) Why would they do that? Don't they know we associate this font with funny things? from ThisWeek In December, Errol Morris of The New York Times conducted an experiment on the publication's unsuspecting online readers  and found, after getting 40,000 responses for a quiz, that a story presented in Baskerville inspired more confidence in the research over Times New Roman, Helevetica and th...

    The East Conservatory Plaza of Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania is a gem of an outdoor space.    Kim Wilkie designed a landscape, opened on October 9, 2010, that offers a place to relax and houses 'environmentally conscious' restrooms. It also features a sweeping, south-facing arc of a terraced landform that provides a grand view of the East Conservatory. This view was never possible before. Here is an early working sketch by Kim Wilkie The Plaza stresses conservation of natural resources. The underground restrooms take advantage of the heat provided by earth's natural  insulation, an age-old concept that is finally being rediscovered. Our ancestors used this technique for their cold storage of perishables,   root cellars ; for growing on seedlings in late winter, cold frames ; and Victorians used this idea for their 'ferneries' . T his energy efficient approach allows natural...

Monticello, courtesy of Monticello/Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc.   I admit it, I am a Thomas Jefferson fanatic... No well known historical person has combined so many diverse talents as good ole'  T.J.  ( well, maybe his friend, Ben did...) Besides his leadership and writing acumen, Jefferson was a genius when it came to building design and, yes, gardening. 1793 Plan for  Washington, DC Jefferson took immense interest in architecture, city planning and landscape architecture. During his years as president, he assisted in the design of Washington, D.C. and his ideas for the city's layout were combined with those of Pierre L'Enfant who was hired to draw up the plans. Of course, we all know about his home on a hilltop, Monticello, in Virginia. But his finest achievement in design and site planning may be his plantation retreat, Poplar Forest , in Bedford county, Virginia.     In fact, the great historian,  ...