An Artist Down the Road

In early March, the day of our “kick-off” meeting of all the crews and staff at Landscape Projects’ Poolesville, MD location, the other designers and I took a small road trip. Two miles away from our company’s physical plant, in Beallsville, sits Alden Farms, a local annuals-and-perennials garden center that happens to be owned by an accomplished sculptor.

David Therriault, the sculptor/gardener/entrepreneur in question, has been working with various kinds of “found” stone and metal for a number of years. What I loved about his work was its variety and how he combines different materials into a beautiful, cohesive work of art. Some of them are stand-alone sculptures of different sizes; some are water features. I saw at least a dozen I could envision incorporating into a garden.

If you’d like to contact David about his work, he can be reached via the Alden Farms website. If you live in the Montgomery County area, it’s worth a trip. But don’t be surprised if some of these works are gone when you visit, because I’m planning to take a client there soon, and she has a very large garden.

One of the water feature sculptures at Alden Farms

This piece, called “Shell,” could be used indoors or outdoors.

The stone used here is sandstone, etched with a beautiful design.

Some of the delightfully whimsical items available for sale at Alden Farms are by other artists.

One of my favorite works, this piece has metal insets and two different kinds of stone.

A detail from another water feature.

Inside David’s studio, this work caught my eye.

Another sandstone piece with a “yin-yang” flavor.

Art in the Garden, Bay Area-Style

One of the most enjoyable stops on the September 2012 “garden tour” APLD conference was a Bay area garden owned by Gail Giffen and Chris Pisarro in Lafayette, CA. Our tour materials gave this garden the title “Playing for Art’s Sake,” and that felt pretty accurate. The sculpture selections are eclectic and whimsical – from tiny metal marching “ants” at the foot of a large tree draped in a Marcia Donahoe “necklace” of carved wooden spheres, to a “motorcycle creature” hiding in the grasses on the outskirts of the back yard. The garden was designed by Michael Thilgen at Four Dimensions Landscape Company. Pisarro and Giffen, who sits on the Board of the Ruth Bancroft Garden, were incredibly gracious hosts – mimosas and snacks were on hand! I’ll let my photos tell the rest of the story.

Water, metal, stone and grasses create a wonderful palette of textures.

A view from the patio next to the rear entrance to the house.

The architectural elements of a motorcycle “creature” contrasts with flowing grasses.

Landscape and sculpture meld together in the outskirts of the garden.

Two reclining stone sculptures seem to rise from a bed or grasses and gaura.

The two figures, with the pool house in the background

A Malliol-like sculpture hugged the diving board but couldn’t block our access to champagne and Mimosa cocktails!

The swimming pool area, complete with sculptures.

Three mysteriously painted, colorful sculptures dominate the view from the rear patio.

Fourth of July Garden Furnishings

Over the Fourth of July weekend, I found myself in the vicinity of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, spending time with a friend exploring little towns in Shenandoah County. We stumbled on a cute little store in Mt. Jackson, Virginia called Wetlands Trading Company. “Ponds, Carpentry, Landscaping,” reads their business card, and “Garden/Gift Shop, stone, Mulch, Pond Supplies.” In other words, something for everyone.

So this week, no in-depth look at plants, just some fun ideas you might like for your own garden. Enjoy!

The sun shines brightly on visitors to Wetlands Trading Company in Mt. Jackson, VA

Half-headed water feature at WTC

A tilted birdhouse and weathered peacock “sculpture” with Miscanthus in the outdoor area.

Indoor mermaids and seahorses add more whimsy to the store.

These eye-catching sun decorations come with blue or gold faces.

Three rabbit figurines greeting visitors – one with crooked sunglasses.

Sunglasses seemed to be a popular accessory for many of the wooden figures.

Garden Benches for All Seasons

Sitting down in your garden is a feat to be worked at with unflagging
determination and single-mindedness –
for what gardener worth his salt sits down. I am deeply committed
 to sitting in the garden.
- Mirabel Osler

I’ve been working on a couple of garden designs recently that seem to call out for a space for a bench. It’s made me think of some of the gardens I have created, or visited, that include a space for sitting.

As Osler’s quotation shows, benches aren’t always for sitting. Sometimes a bench is really just a “focal point,” giving a garden room or area a place to draw the visitor’s eye. Other times, the garden owner, or someone visiting them, will actually use it. Take my own front yard bench, for example. My older son often liked to sit in this this bench under the crabapple tree in our front yard during high school, studying or reading.

A small 4' bench nestles under the crabapple tree in my front yard in summer.

But I really included it in the design as a visual focal point – and I hardly ever use it. It’s most visible – and striking – in the winter, I think.

The bench in winter.

A bench can be painted to provide some zip in a garden”room,” like this small yellow two-seater in Gay Barclay’s garden in Potomac. This bench looks inviting and as though it’s used often.

A small seating area in a private garden welcomes visitors on an Open Days tour in Potomac, MD.

In a more formal garden, a bench against a wall with climbing plants provides structure. But take a look at the bench below, which although lovely, has no path leading to it other than grass in front of it. How often do you think garden visitors sit here? But without it, the effect would be completely different.

A climbing rose above a teak bench adorns the wall of the British Ambassador's residence in Washington DC.

Doesn’t this small seating area with a teak bench look more inviting? It’s in the front yard of a garden in Cleveland Park, designed by Lynne Church. I could definitely cozy up with a book here.

A small seating area with teak bench under an old cherry tree, in a garden designed by Lynne Church.

All these benches are wooden, but you don’t have to limit yourself to that material alone. Here’s a stone bench from the same garden, under a large tree in the back yard. It seems to blend in more naturally with its surroundings than teak, at least to my eye.

A curved stone bench lets the plantings behind it shine through.

Finally, here’s Corinna Posner’s garden, from the Garden Conservancy Open Days tour here last year. Note the stone bench area built into the retaining wall – as well as bistro seating in the foreground.

Two seating areas, separated by a gravel area, in Corinna Posner's garden. The "built" bench is just barely visible across the gravel space, in the retaining wall under the coppiced Catalpa tree.

 

The possibilities are endless, and you don’t need a large space. So if you’re planning changes to your garden, think about the value a bench – or other seating area – can add, for the eye, the visitor, and the gardener.