NON LIVING FEATURES FOCUS A WOODLAND RAMBLE

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!

'Lady in the Bath' crafted by local
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. 

SIMPLY SERENE SOLUTION

How one tackles a flood plain can be a matter of taste, style and most importantly practicality. 

Eric Eibelheuser's sandy suburban garden falls from the street to a wide wooded flood plain filled with native Tulip Poplar, Sweet gum, Maple, and Carpinus trees. 

Carpinus caroliniana with multiple common names is also known as Muscle wood for strength of it's wood and the smooth sinuous appearance of the trunks.  

Here he has placed cut trunks to heighten the edge of the main trench that carries the water through the garden. 

Under the trees a tangle was cleared and now an elegant planting of low evergreen native and ornamental ground covers flow on either side of purposefully  cut trenches. 

The trenches not only direct the water flow where Eric wants it to go but also help to control the tenacious spread of Liriope spicata. This is truely an artful example of controlling water that would naturally spread out as it courses through the broad expanse during rain events. 

Eric has conducted a fine symphony orchestra of melodic shapes with careful plant choices that can withstand occasional flooding. 

He even diverted water off the main ditch that has been crafted to look like a small pond. 

Twin Adirondack chairs lol at the edge. 

One subconsciously can imagine (without actually having to sit in them) the serenity they would bring to an afternoon cat nap imbedding you in the surrounding Liriope spicata, native ferns, Ivy and Acorus. 

The foot bridge leading into dreamland. 

The mind floats over the flatlands and through the soaring trees. The distances seem endless. 

Pathways of moss, mulch or sandy soil  take you around by foot through the lush evergreen swaying foliage. 

Along the way Eric has planted an iconic Dawn Redwood in a room of it's own and a present of Rice Paper plant (Tetrapanax papyrifera) that reinforces a prehistoric feel. (below) 

Beyond, the vision of masses of roots (above) exposed by water's erosion  pulls you forward to observe and slows you down to examine the unique natural phenomenon of nature's art spread out at your feet. (below) 

 The only man made objects in the whole garden are the twin chairs. Never out of sight, even when you are 100' away exploring along the paths, they thankfully give a comforting sense of a landmark ever-guiding you back to the garden's entrance. 

As you exit, Eric has exposed and enhanced one last parting gift of remembrance......

.........Root steps, a Mossy carpet and Mondo Grass. He left a few colorful Sweet gum stars as well. 

A FEELING OF PRIMEVAL ROOTS

Early September in the Piedmont of NC is not usually the time of of year you experience mists rising off cooling bodies of water. It's still just too hot. Those conditions usually arrive with the beginning of earnest leaf drop.  So, I was pleasantly surprised this week upon waking to find I was in a 'Primeval Garden'. Foggy mists cushioned the verdant summer's growth and created a very theatrical look as I walked through garden spaces and looked down connecting garden paths. 

I thought it would be worth a post to Show why moments like these reinforce my love of the forest and the gardens I have made in it. 

Looking up the driveway you may remember the trimmed mounds of Abelia chinensis flanking the driveway. This morning the crunchy pea gravel leads eerily into the mists of nowhere. 

Turning around where I stood in the driveway,  the house is in deep shadow behind the silhouette of a mature China Fir that could be the back of a sleeping dinosaur. 

Conifers and tall ground cover shrubs point to the distant forest canopy shrouded in mystery. 

Ferns and Fatshedera moistened by the mists of the morning are at my feet.  I wade through to see.....

an inkling of civilization peeking out from behind a Paw Paw Tree sapling and Chinese Spice Bush. 

Looking to the left the 'Fern Walk' is soaked in moisture and the collection is anchored by a 3' wide Holly Fern. 

As I sit and ponder the aged Tulip Poplar rising out of Holly and Broad Beech Ferns,   I imagine early Mammoths wandering the fern covered floor of the woods.  

The naturally mulched path over 'Sometime Creek' leads me on........

to the bluff where a lightly leaf sprinkled moss path points East. 

On the return path to the house I see it is still shrouded in fog and plants are dripping wet. 

Huge native Magnolia tripetala leaves hang over a simple wooden bridge. Magnolia genus fossils have been traced back to 100 million years ago making Magnolias one of the oldest plants in the world. Who or what back then looked upon the great great great.....grandparent of this tree?

The beetles that pollinate Magnolias evolved with this plant. 

And a fairy's old greenhouse remind's me.......

As the sun leaks through the clouds I head back to the present. My imagination is buoyed and  refreshed to start the day.  I love the woodlands and enjoy the gardens in mine all year in all kinds of weather.