Whether they are tucked in the foliage or out in the open sculpture is a powerful element of the garden experience.
Thoughts of India and a long time friend greet me at the end of my driveway each day with the placement of this ornate metal turquoise chair filled with exotic plants.
For visitors who have a difficult time seeing 'the forest for the trees' I use a fair amount of non living objects or artistic sculptures throughout my gardens that I think are essential for enriching the garden experience and anchoring each destination.
Some pieces can be so different, seeming out of place in a woodland. What will deem a sculpture's appropriateness is it's shape, color, size, material and most importantly the story behind why it was chosen and where it is positioned. In my gardens every piece reminds me of a another person, place or experience. I strive to enhance the plants and spaces by careful placement along paths, in garden rooms or as focal points and destinations. Above is a living 'Bottle Tree' whose story origins go back to Africa. Placed at the beginning of a garden path it catches 'The Haints' (any bad spirits) that might try to enter.
Some pieces allow the subconscious to 'kick in'
This little 6" jazz band sits at the edge of a mossy memorial space. It reminds us of one of our fathers who has passed on and played in a jazz band during a great part of his adult life.
Whimsical at 6'6" tall, when we come upon this sinuous beauty I am always reminded to tell a story about the geographical history of this property.
The mermaid is not out of place....she is marking the edge of an ancient lake now about 10 miles west my garden. Any ideas for a name?
What of this red gazing ball? Edith Eddelman comes to mind as a friend and fantastic plants woman I met when I first started studying landscape design. Edith designed and put in place one of the first long perennial borders in the Southeastern United States modeled after English Designer Gertrude Jekyll's color principals. The border is 18' deep and over 300' long and is a progressive color study as you walk it's length at the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh NC. Edith in her whimsical way reintroduced victorian gazing balls to Raleigh over 30 years ago and they are still popular all these years later.
Gardens over the centuries have been created to remind their owners of how wonderful they felt in a place and the experience they had when they were away from home. It's like that spoon collection or box of post cards that your mom or grandma had to remind them of their collected memories of travels. I consider this path to be 'sculptural' as the crew that installed it surely were artisans. Using concrete to impart a prehistoric feeling I had in a garden in the Strybing Arboretum in SanFrancisco, CA was a cost effective way to create the effect of very old large stones that draw company to my front door through an experience that I want to share.
Dado (a copy of a Notre Dame Cathedral gargoyle ) guards the entrance... A friend gave him to us.
This laughing Buddha was also a gift and sits beside a meditation bench of stacked stone.
Ceramic sculptures in my garden range from beautiful pots to figurative sculptures. Can you tell that I would love to visit Japan some day? I love the malleable yet durable art of clay and here are a few more pieces created by local artists that I have incorporated in to the gardens.
A grouping of 'Garden Eyes' I call "The Artist and Her Admirers' floating above a watery looking cascade of Hosta.
This guy is listening to the nestlings that have taken up temporary residence in his head!
sculptress Frances Alvarino sits in an oversized birdbath.
Above a metal cutout of a curious boy stands on polka dotted septic tank covers. Below, a twirled copper snail and recycled rooftop pig sign flesh out a portion of the many items to enjoy.
'Miss Bumps' marks a slight berm in the gravel driveway.
Above, to the left, growing through a blanket of Lamium maculatum is Tetrapanax. On the right is an impressive life sized replica of the leaf in cement crafted by Lasting Impressions of Raleigh, NC. If you are able to add a number of meaningful objects along side the connecting paths and garden rooms of your woodlands it can help guests to pause, focus and 'reboot' their brains as they ramble through. Start your own collection of memories soon.
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