Gossip in the Garden

This weekend I attended The Late Show, held at Sonoma’s Cornerstone Gardens.   The title of the show was very interesting for me, one which could be interpreted many ways.   The brochure’s ‘tagline’ says ‘Where brilliant design meets sustainable practices’.  Apparently the name of the event was thought up as the show would be held in the Fall (late in the year) when it’s actually the best time to plant, taking advantage of the upcoming Winter rains (sustainable, indeed).

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I, on the other hand, looked at the word ‘Late’ as in ‘Better Late than Never’.  Yes – thanks to us, climate change is here to stay.  However it’s not all hopeless, as there are many things each of us can do to help make sure we end up going down a different road than the one we’ve been on.  Sustainable gardening.  Sustainable maintenance. Sustainable plants. Sustainable thinking.  In a nutshell, let’s start to work WITH Mother Nature, not AGAINST her.

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I spent the day photographing some amazing gardens – most planted IN the ground, not just as ‘temporary installations’ like many of the garden shows display.  Many of these gardens are a bit apocalyptic in nature, depicting what gardening will look like once we completely upset the natural balance of things.  Many of the gardens use recycled items – not just ‘here and there’ but as the major element of their design, while other gardens are very interpretive, requiring you to just sit and ponder … something I don’t do nearly often enough.

In addition to these fantastic gardens, this event was a garden groupie’s dream.  I was absolutely HEADY – getting to meet so many Garden Rock Stars in person – Topher Delaney, Glenn Withey and Charles Price, Val Easton, Cevan Forristt, Saxon Holt just to name a few…. But the most amazing thing about this was the feeling of intimacy of this event.  Never was it overwhelming, but rather like being invited to someone’s personal garden to see and talk about what it was that they created.  An absolutely glorious event.

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Here are some of my favorite gardens….

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Renewal

The very first garden you walk through in this event really sets the stage for what’s to come.  It’s called ‘Renewal’ by Gary Ratway and Mike Lucas.  These guys have managed to get ahold of MASSIVE dented, rusted and contorted gasoline tanks (which are normally stored underground), and use them as planters for drought tolerant plants.  Not only are these plants drought tolerant (the buzz words for the day) but the grasses also act as purifiers (or ‘bio-remediaters’) for contaminated soil – something that’s quite often used to soak up the toxic crap left in soil by refineries and gasoline stations.  How cool – I never knew that!

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The Grow Melt Project

This next garden, titled The Grow Melt Project, generated a TON of interest among everyone who saw it.  Huge chunks of ice were installed at the beginning of the show and were allowed to melt on their own time causing the display to change throughout each day.  It was quite effective in drawing attention to the global climate and how the most minute change in the environment can have quite drastic effects.

For me, it was very effective for just staring at these poor cactus half-submerged really made me feel uneasy.  I felt so sorry for them, being placed in a situation that couldn’t be further from their normal environment!

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Over Growth

According to the description in the brochure, Over Growth’s design ‘conceptually juxtaposes the gritty combination of optimism and doom that characterizes the mood of the early 21st century’.  Um…okay…I kinda get it.  But overall, I just really liked the images Beth Mullins created here, using beakers, cannisters, and graphics all in really cool ways with succulents and drought tolerant plants….

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The Hermit’s Garden

This next garden was one of my favorites, as it really appeals to my junk-collecting side.  It’s titled ‘The Hermit’s Garden’ and was created by the husband and wife team of Ben and Kate Frey.  I love how every single element of this project was used from recycled parts (lots of it from a 100-year old barn that Ben had dis-mantled).

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I love the idea of placing a rusty wire fence in front of a wooden one, then ‘sandwich’ dried grasses between the two. A great way to use dried grasses/fronds when you finally have to cut them down in the Winter!

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Black Soul

This garden’s black, soul-less, dreary colors leading to the bright white square is fairly self explanatory…indicating knowledge is an illuminating journey one must take and as Ghandi would say ‘Be the change you want to see”. Sparkly white rocks have never looked so good!

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Future Feast in the Garden of Flow/Accumulation

This garden, created by Suzanne Biaggi and Patrick Picard is really quite amazing. There is TONS of symbolism in this display – from the fossils and black charred sticks off to the sides, to the green and bountiful table-top with an innovative water feature flowing down the center. Can you imagine having a table like this in your own garden?

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Random Snaps…

Sometimes there’s just too many beautiful photographs which don’t quite fit in with the stories above.  Below I’ll show you several of these images that really captured the essence of the show.

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Above, are some examples of Studio Replica‘s work – and some of my personal favorite. He uses a mixture of materials which magically ends up looking like stone – yet at a fraction of the weight. It’s truly beautiful and something you really must see (and lift!) in person.

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These are some amazing succulent pots – in a style that’s one of my favorites:  One plant per pot.  I just love a mass of a single planting – it makes such an impact!

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When driving down the highway, this old dead tree, covered with thousands of plastic Christmas bulbs is one of the first things you see, letting you know you’re about to see some gardens that are just a bit ‘out of the box’….

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What to do when you have too many wine barrels lying around?  They make great containers near your child’s play structure!  Just stack ‘em and fill ‘em!

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This fountain is made with recycled wine bottles.  It really looks great with water bubbling inside the white bottle…

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.Another great way to use empty bottles – I just love this bottle tree, from the Hermit’s Garden.

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What a wonderful use of pavers, aggregate and lawn.  You still get the relaxing, lush feeling of lawn, with much less of it thanks to the pavers.  And what a line of sight! A very graphic path, indeed.

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Below is another creative use of groundcovers as a replacement for lawn. Yes there’s a bit of lawn, but there’s also several other groundcovers as well as green, colored glass.

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What a beautiful way to end this post – a giant feed trough filled with cheery coreopsis.  Recycled and full of hope!

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