Comments on: on the road: cornerstone sonoma (more)

By: DryStoneGarden » Blog Archive » The Late Show Gardens at Cornerstone Sonoma

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:32:01 +0000

[…] leading landscape architects.” LostintheLandscape has photos from a recent visit here and here. The Late Show Gardens, “the latest in design every fall,” is the new fall garden show […]

By: lostlandscape

lostlandscape — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:32:17 +0000

TM, there was an interesting podcast by James Hitchmough as part of the BBC Gardens Illustrated Vista lectures: http://www.gardensillustrated.com/podcast_vista.asp One of his points was that invertebrates don’t care if their plants of choice are in a wild-looking garden or in a mock-Versailles planting. Of course, that’s assuming that the bugs will find plants at all, something a few of these gardens I looked at lacked in significant numbers. There WERE a few gardens at CornerStone that were brimming with greenery.

Susan, there’s definitely interesting garden design that’s being done that might do a better job of pushing the buttons for a gardener. A lot of these spaces seem like they’d feel me deprived of all the cool plants I love. I agree that they’re on the spare side. Although that pushes my buttons that appreciate a certain amount of order, in the I’d like to live with something that is more effusive.

Pomona, I like how you view these as haute couture gardens versus the ready-to-plant ones that most publications seem to present.

James, some of the spaces look quite a bit like their photos, others slide into the totally unphotographable. The Pamela Burton garden in particular. I get a sense that Cornerstone is an ambitious private venture–You have to pass through the multiple shopping opportunities to get to the gardens. I got a sense that it’s been a somewhat hard sell.

Ryan, the one way these spaces differ from a typical garden show is that some have been in place a while so that the plants aren’t just fresh out of a can. “Interesting” is a good word for it, and in the end for me it’s a compliment: Better to fail in a provocative way than succeed at something that’s easy to do. Yah, maybe it’s my own art bias coming through here…

By: ryan

ryan — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:52:23 +0000

I haven’t been there, but it seems like the flower and garden show, a place to see hardscape and design elements rather than plants. It’s a reminder of how many landscape architects are former art students. My parents, non-gardeners, have been to it, and it seemed like they needed to make a big effort to appreciate it. They kept calling it “interesting.” I’ll have to check it out sometime. Thanks for the photos.

By: James Golden

James Golden — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:53:58 +0000

I think you have to be there. My experience looking at the little pictures on my computer screen is more like visiting a gallery of artworks than visiting a garden. I don’t deny these may be meaningful uses of space and materials, but I can’t tell from here. Who or what organization sponsors Cornerstone Sonoma? Does it/do they have an agenda?

By: Pomona Belvedere

Pomona Belvedere — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:15:42 +0000

Very interesting post and discussion. I wonder if designed gardens such as these aren’t like high fashion: very few people actually wear the clothes, but their design influence trickles down to clothes that are actually wearable (and affordable).

I really enjoy the way you look at design elements, and how you think about their effects. You’ve got a MeMe award awaiting you (http://www.tulipsinthewoods.com/cataloguebookwebsite-reviews/beautiful-blogs/), should you decide to accept it. If all the linking and writing doesn’t appeal, know you are appreciated and leave it at that.

By: Alice Joyce

Alice Joyce — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:01:55 +0000

Perhaps Andrea Cochran’s work demonstrates what I refer to above. (once Topher’s partner in Delaney / Cochran ).

A new book out on Andy’s designs & beautiful images is reviewed on L + U
Link to Jason King’s review:

http://landscapeandurbanism.blogspot.com/2009/08/reading-list-andrea-cochran-landscapes.html

By: Alice Joyce

Alice Joyce — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 22:29:31 +0000

James,
Burton created a garden that hearkens to the earthworks/earth art movement: She sculpted the earth. And I believe it must be experienced to get it.
Spare modernist spaces such as Topher’s design at Cornerstone, their ‘je ne sais quoi’ — not for all tastes, but each has its own particular assets.
After years of being immersed in plants, a part of me yearns for the clarity found in a modernism where the elements of plants and hardscape add up to more than the stated design. A design that resonates. Like a work of art.

By: susan morrison (garden-chick)

susan morrison (garden-chick) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:41:36 +0000

Interesting post James and one that obviously gets people thinking. The question “what is a garden?” is one that comes to mind often for me, as I am sure it does for every gardener/designer/blogger eventually.

I had the pleasure of hearing Topher Delaney speak recently and she is a dynamic, engaging and amusing presenter. I’m particularly intrigued by the use of color and space in her garden. As a designer, I enjoy gardens like these, whether visiting them myself or browsing your excellent photos and commentary, because it helps me think outside of the box when employing basic design principles for my own more traditional designs. But I must admit, I can’t imagine choosing a garden like this to live in — as you said, it’s more like visiting a garden museum. Yet based on the photos of private gardens Topher shared at her presentation, people do.

By: Town Mouse

Town Mouse — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:25:34 +0000

Much as I admire the clever design, I do wonder what the wildlife value of these gardens is. But maybe there are a few blooming plants tucked away outside the photo.

It’s interesting how these gardens contrast with the green roof of the Academy of Sciences, also very cutting edge but humming with insects enjoying the flowers.

By: lostlandscape

lostlandscape — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:43:42 +0000

Alice, quite frankly at first sight I wasn’t prepared to love Pamela Burton’s space. But as I’ve had some distance from my visit, it’s the one that resonates with me the most. I think it was the bravest, least garden-like of all the installations, one that is hard to capture in photos and has to be experienced directly.

Benjamin, it sounds like you’re arguing for a garden being as much a door as a destination itself. We’re used to that door opening onto some sort of approximation of nature, and I dearly love gardens of that sort. But it can be so much more memorable when the door leads to something else magical and unexpected, something that as you say knits together so many kinds of thoughts and experiences. Some of my favorite writing I’ve done has been in the driver’s seat of my car, parked in a campsite, after the sun has gone down and the space comes alive again in my memory. Spaces are terribly important.