How to Incorporate Art In the Garden

April 10, 2020April 10, 2020 | minandadesign

About 20 years ago when my husband and I were new to Pasadena we went to see the newly renovated gardens of the Norton Simon Museum. If you haven’t been there, I highly recommend a visit. Nancy Goslee Power designed it to reflect the essence of Monet’s garden in Giverny, and it was spectacular. It still is. Her elegant use of sculptural art throughout the garden is masterful and adds a depth and magnificence to what might otherwise be simply a beautiful garden.

It made me think. While it makes obvious sense to incorporate art in the garden of a museum, would it not be as powerful to do so in the garden at home? It may seem out of reach and something for only the wealthiest clientele. But shouldn’t art be accessible to the average homeowner as well?

I would say yes. But rather than hearing from me, I thought it might be more meaningful to read about art and it’s place in the garden from one of my longest clients, a dear friend and accomplished Ceramic artist based in Pasadena, Joan G. Aebi.

interview with the artist

NCR: Joan, how did it happen that you first began to bring your pottery into the garden?

JGA: The first thing I did was the “chard pile” which, if you make a lot of ceramics, you have a lot of things that don’t turn out very well. You get a nice sense of satisfaction when you have a piece that you thought was going to be great and it turned out Ucky instead—you take it and slam it into the ground and it breaks apart. You get a real charge out of that!

From the beginning, long before we worked together on her design, Joan began throwing her discarded sculptures into a pile in the front yard of her house at the base of a massive and ancient Deodar Cedar. Thousands of broken pieces of pottery stretched out in a 15′ radius beyond the base of the tree making a fascinating understory—a uniquely artful yet accidental interpretation of mulch.

*One of the hands you can find near the chard pile*

JGA: The other thing is that at that time I was doing a lot of people and casting people in clay. So I had chests, backs, and hands and faces, and I would throw them in there. Then the neighborhood kids started going through and and say “Oh my god! There’s a hand!” so they started going through and looking for treasures.

The other thing is that’s amazing about it is the stuff sinks into the ground. With as much stuff as I’ve put in there you’d think that the pile would be really high but it just sinks in.

Deodars can grow in a variety of soils as long as they have good drainage. In this case, with so much clay going into the soil water from the irrigation and rains goes into the pile and becomes absorbed by the clay. Slowly, over time, the moisture is released into the soil below creating an unlikely symbiotic relationship with the tree.

NCR: You also had some totem poles out there before we worked together on your design.

JGA: I had a friend who was making some outdoor sculptures and I got the idea of making totem poles and I really liked the idea of, you know, sort of staking up the different types of pots that you could stack and make these totem poles.

NCR: Did you those pieces start with the intention of being used for the totem poles or did you select ones that you had already made and thought they would work for this application?

JGA: Both. I started by using pieces that I had made and stacking them and then I would say I need a top to this and how am I gonna do it? After a while it really became that I was making a totem pole.

NCR: When I saw your artwork I just knew that it had a place in the garden and as much as we could use we should incorporate it in there. I don’t know if that was your intention for your sculptures.

*One of many “people pots” placed throughout the garden*

JGA: It really wasn’t. But as with some of my ceramics you end up with so many more pieces than you know what to do with so this was a great way of dealing with it. And they work. They belong. I hadn’t really used any of the people pots outside. That was you. That was great. I mean I love it that they’re out there. They’re not real refined so they really work well in the feeling of a garden where things happen in a free flowing sort of way.

NCR: It seems like art in the garden is a really personal choice. What do you think about how others might be able to incorporate art in the garden?

JGA: It depends on the person and what they want to do. I think that the garden is a great place to display art. Especially ceramics because ceramics can stand up to being outside. Particularly things that are high fired will work well. Metal also works. I think it’s wonderful to have these unique pieces in the garden.

Also, if you have something that can take the weather, put treasures in the garden! That can be art for the garden! Whatever! But treasures should go in the garden, just like artwork. It makes it personal. These bits of who you are make a personal statement rather than standard “garden art”. And your garden is so much more special with it.

Check out our post Garden Art: Found Items for more ideas on this!

Finding your own art

One of the main take-aways from our conversation is that art, however you define it, gives you a means of expressing your own true self. And this applies even in the garden.
Joan is an artist, so she has a wealth of opportunity to use her own pieces to enhance her outdoor spaces. But you don’t have to be the artist to bring art into the garden. You only need to know what you love. Here are some suggestions on how to find something magical while incorporating art in the garden.

Resources

. Contact your local Arts Organization. In Pasadena, Armory Center for the Arts is a great resource for you to discover and connect with the local art community.
. Contact your local matal’s guild, or pottery studio where you might also discover an artist you love
. Consider using treasures you have or one’s you’ve found and bring them into the garden in an artful way (Contact us if you need help with that)
. For art in the garden, you will want to stick with durable materials that can withstand the elements: metal, pottery, concrete, and glass are the four best choices.
. Stay away from plastics at all costs!
. Wood can be amazing but it weathers and rots. To keep it looking good it should be sealed and never placed directly in or on soil

*San Francisco episode of HGTV’s The Outdoor Room – with Jamie Durie. Jamie along with the other contractors all added their own custom art pieces to the garden.*

Tillandsia Art

March 31, 2020March 29, 2020 | minandadesign

Can a plant be a piece of art? Some might say no. I say, absolutely, yes! You might think “Of course a plant person would say that!” Perhaps it sounds like I’m elevating plants to an unreasonable status. Let me be clear. I don’t think that all plants are works of art, but Tillandsias, or Air Plants, are not your regular, run of the mill plant. Tillandsia Art, therefore, is something distinct and even extraordinary!

This marvellous, group of ancient plants (estimated at around 30 million years old) are members of the Bromeliad family and come in copious sizes, forms and colors. In fact there are at least 500 known varieties and can be as small as your thumb or as large as your head.

But the thing that I like most about them, what makes them unique, and frankly magnificent, is that they grow without soil!

What?! You are probably exclaiming. That’s right. No soil. No planting. None of it! You can stick it on a shelf or hang it on the wall; you can put it in a glass bowl or string them up on a wire. This is why Tillandsias are without a doubt, Living Art. Without the limiting nature of their soil-bound counterparts, they can go just about anywhere.

How to care for them

It’s tempting for me to dive into the care of these crazy little relics but I’ll resist the urge. My mission with this blog is about creating magnificent gardens through great design, proper tools and dynamic art. Caring for Air Plants properly is absolutely important, because while they are very low maintenance plants, they by no means are not NO maintenance. They need a very special kind of attention and if you don’t give it to them, you will most assuredly kill them. So instead I suggest you check out airplant.com to get the basics.

Now that we’ve got that cleared up! Let’s learn creative techniques on how to use them to create your own one-of-a-kind Tillandsia Art.

How to Create TILLANDSIA ART OF YOUR OWN

Creating your own piece of art with tillandsias is limited only by your imagination. Your piece can be simple, using only a single plant, or large and complex, using multiple varieties. Here are some examples of how I’ve used them in creating works of art for myself and my clients. I also have ideas I’ve been tossing around but haven’t executed yet.

Wall Art #1, GreenWall

Green walls are an amazing answer to small space design. Indoors or out, sometimes the only way to green up the space is by going up. There are a slew of products out there for this: wooly pockets are a favorite, and other cell based planters are common as well. Tillandsias, however, offer a fantastic alternative. But there is a right and wrong way to do it.

Learn from my mistake! I had a client who was looking for an 8’x2’ green wall. Attempt #1 was pretty beautiful. The client loved it. I loved it. Unfortunately the Air Plants did not love it. It was not successful.

I used marine grade plywood as my framing board. This part was successful. Since the plants need to have water sprayed upon them regularly you need a moisture barrier which can hold water that won’t seep through to the wall. Marine grade plywood is great for that.
I used nails as supports for each air plant. Not in and of itself a problem but ultimately was not a good solution for my design.
I used a variety of Tillandsia called Ionantha Guat for the entire board. Turns out, these are very small and not very hardy. They are sensitive and short lived.
I placed the Ionantha Guats too close together on the hard board. They began to die almost immediately. I replaced about 1/4 of the plants but they continued to die until I reworked the design.

Why did they die? Probably a combination of a few factors. Because they were placed so closely together but up against a hard board, the theory is that the 3 main saboteurs were 1. Not enough air flow, 2. They continuously dried out too quickly after being watered, 3. Their delicate nature was sensitive to the above two issues and so they could not get established.

Wall Art #2, GreenWall

I ended up revising the greenwall and started almost completely from scratch. I kept the board, removed the nails, did some research, and found a new technique and some new plants.

Instead of nails, I used peat moss held to the board with 1” chicken wire. I then nested the Tillandsias with their wiry roots (and some fine gauged wire) in to the framing I had created.
Instead of the tiny Ionantha Guat, I used a combination of Bronze Crown, Stricta Hugo, Aeranthos Purple Leather and several others to make a wall that varied in color and texture. It was far more dynamic and contained larger, more sturdy plants to withstand the rigors of the indoor conditions. The peat moss rather than just the board backing allowed the plants to hold moisture better, preventing them from drying out instantly but did not keep them soggy either. A beautiful result.

notes about greenwalls

When building an extensive green wall, the client should be made aware that, 1. Just because they are Air Plants, it does not mean that they require no maintenance and 2. Tillandsias die and need to be replaced just like any other plants. ALL green walls require ongoing maintenance and a replacement program (and budget). Tillandsias are no different.

Wall Art #3, Accent on Art

Some of the larger Air Plants are so primevally dramatic all by themselves. They yearn to shine in the spotlight all alone. I have created a mounting board with long nails to support them but the nails were insufficient—the plant would tip forward and fall off its perch. The solution was to use nylon wire and a hook and eye solution. The eye was screwed into the board and the nylon wire with a hook was wrapped around the base of the plant and affixed to the eye. Voila! The best part is that the nylon is practically invisible.

tillandsia art Curtain

Ok, I’ve never actually done this one but I totally want to give it a try. Air Plants can literally be strung up and survive the process. By that I mean that you can use a needle and nylon thread and basically sew through them to create an effect such as a curtain. Take the needle and nylon and pierce it through the base of the plant, tie knots if you want to prevent them from sliding down. This will not kill the plant (I know! Hard to believe, right?) I’ve seen it done but would love to try making a full doorway curtain with them. If any of you have done this, send pictures!

Tillandsia Art Planters

About a year ago I received one of my favorite requests from a client. Someone had gifted them an old steel wheelbarrow. My instructions were to transform it into a beautiful planter that…wait for it… would not require irrigation. The wheel barrow was alarmingly unstable and could not bear a great deal of weight. But the clients were adventurous and artists so I knew I could have some fun with it.

Using lava rocks (because they are extremely lightweight), some of the artists own pottery and a wide array of Tillandsias, strategically placed, I knew we could make something fantastic.

Conclusion

The moral of this art story is that ANYTHING can be turned into a fabulous piece of botanical art by incorporating Tillandsias into it. Hopefully you’ve gotten a few ideas to get you going and you’re ready to give it a try yourself. I think you’ll fall in love with them as I have. And if you’re not ready to make your own, we at Minanda Landscape Design offer custom, one of a kind garden art and would be happy to work with you to create a spectacular piece of Tillandsia art for your home, office or outdoor room! Just give us a call or send an email: minanda@mac.com

Cheers!

Boundless Landscape Border Ideas

September 14, 2019September 11, 2019 | minandadesign

glass landscape border — Garden in West Seattle with a super-cool idea to separate the front yard from slope out front.

Landscape border ideas? “Boring!” you might be thinking. But wait a sec. Borders are brilliant! Something as simple and straightforward as that border can be the difference between a basic garden and a spectacularly innovative one. Perhaps you think I’m over-selling a bit here, but I assure you, this is exactly the detail that makes a garden stand out.

It’s true, in the most basic terms, borders are just lines in the ground that divide two spaces. But before you draw one of those basic lines in the garden with some bender board you must first ask yourself, What do I want from this design? Do I want a nature-scape where the borders are invisible—grasses, perennials and trailing vines tumbling over one another to make a sea of horticultural communion? Or do I want to separate the garden and the turf to let each region of the garden shine on its own?

Either way, never overlook this oft missed opportunity to insert your own panache into your design.

An aside about Turf

I’m going to break a little blogging rule now and mention turf which is not our main topic of conversation here. It’s related however, and, in my opinion, an important aside. There’s a huge movement for removing lawns, particularly in the hotter, drier regions of the US. The primary goal is to dramatically reduce water usage. There are numerous other angles to explore as well. I have strong opinions about this, and I assure you we will discuss it at length, so I encourage you to stay tuned for our series entitled To Grass or Not to Grass, which will look at these issues and investigate design solutions for turf and turf-free gardens. This post is not that space. Right here, we’re just acknowledging that lawns exist and they often require borders. No judgement! Ok, back to the subject at hand…

FUNCTION: Why Do We Need Borders in the Landscape?

landscape edging with river rock — The edging in front of the stone prevents grass from creeping in.

Separation. A little distance. That’s all we’re trying to do. We want our garden residents—turf, decomposed granite (referred to as dg), shrubs etc.—to stay on their own sides. First let’s look at how things spread.

Grass: By it’s nature, turf grass is a spreader. It either uses underground runners (rhizomes) or above ground runners (stolons) to propagate itself and take over any non paved area within reach. Without a border it’s grass, grass everywhere!

DG: It is strong and inexpensive and if it’s stabilized with a polymer it can be as hard as, well, rock. It’s an excellent choice for walkways and patios. Nonstabilized dg however, has a consistency not much firmer than wet sand. Without a proper border, dg will spill out into the surrounding areas, look messy, alter the soil biology and ultimately cause your space to lose shape.

These are just two factors that make landscape borders so important!

FORM: Why do we need borders in the Landscape?

Because they look great! We now know what can happen if we don’t install physical barriers, but looking beyond that the most important part of garden design is making every item look intentional. The hard objects that help us keep things separate in the garden are just as important and can be just as interesting as the plants they are there to retain.

basic landscape BORDER MATERIALS

Here are the super basic choices for borders. Note I didn’t say bad choices. Every one of them serves a purpose and may be the perfect one for your needs. Here are 7 of the most common ones. I’ll discuss the top three.

Benderboard
Steel edging
River rock
Concrete Band
Brick
Concrete paver
Wood

steel edge landscape border — Clean, invisible line of the steel edge

Benderboard vs. Steel Edging
In a battle between the two, steel edging is the clear winner, hands down. It comes in 20’ powder coated 4” sheets of brown, black and sometimes green. You get steel stakes with your purchase to anchor it into the ground, and it is sturdy stuff! The reason I prefer it is that it makes a very clean line—straight or curvy—and it almost never comes popping out of the ground when it’s installed correctly. The cost is typically around $55 per 20′ panel

Benderboard, on the other hand comes in two varieties: one is brown, about 1/4” thick x 5” high, comes in 40’ rolls and is made of HDPE plastic and also comes with plastic stakes, the other is a black edge with a rounded bubble at the top and made of an unspecified plastic. The black one, I never use, ever. It simply looks unprofessional and will often start inching it’s way out of the ground as soon as you turn your back on it. But at a cost of only around $25 for a 40′ roll plus installation, it is an adequate cost effective substitute.

River Rock
The third basic edging material is river rock. By this, I’m referring to the white-ish speckled stones that are relatively consistent at about 6”-9” in size, although you can certainly find them somewhat, and even much larger. I often see them used as borders in a garden, marched in a single file row around turf areas. While, I myself often use them in my borders, I assure you that this application (the single row of matching rocks) is not an elegant choice. But we’ll get to design in a moment.

River Rock Pro-Tip: The most important thing to know if you are using river rock is that you must ALSO add edging first! Rocks do not a true border make. These rocks, when laid out, leave holes and openings for sneaky creepy grass to find its way in, or dg to find its way out. If you’re going to be there to maintain the garden and keep the grasses at bay then have at it. But it’s a risky move and extremely frustrating and time consuming to keep that mess managed. I know! I’ve made that mistake exactly 3 times before figuring it out.

Beautiful landscape Border Materials

We know that borders are used to divide spaces, and that’s really all there is to it. No one ever said that it had to be rocks or a straight piece of metal or plastic. Somehow, over time however, that’s just what evolved in most typical gardens. But there are so many interesting materials out there that can be repurposed and used to do the same job.

I have a husband and wife client pair, one is an artist who works with pottery. Along the side of their property lived stacks of cast off bricks, multi-celled cement blocks, and pile upon pile of broken and unused pieces of the artist’s pottery. It was an absolute gold mine!

I started out using some randomly sized rocks and boulders and then interspersed small groups of varying patterns of old bricks and blocks. Finally I selected uncommon and exceptional pieces of pottery from what she referred to as the “chard pile” and voila! We had a border, literally unlike any other!

So many different materials to make a whimsical and unusual border.

unconventional border material ideas

I was lucky with that project. It’s not often that you find such a unique assortment materials all in one place and at no charge. You can however keep your eyes open for all kinds of items that would work well in your border. Here are a few examples of borders I’ve designed and others that I’ve seen and either fallen in love with or been intrigued and amused by.

A trench of pea gravel with tumbled glass. Contain it in edging with landscape fabric underneath to prevent weeds from emerging and rocks from sinking.
Spanish roof tiles on their ends to create an “S” curve.
PVC or metal drain pipe cut to varying sizes. Place on ends in the ground, then add plants into the actual pipes. Cascading plants such as Sedum rupestre ‘Angelina’ or a wild strawberry would do the trick.
Gabions. Wire frames filled with rocks or any other chunky type of material. In collaboration with another designer, we once made gabions out of broken tiles and tea sets and won an award for it!
Dried bamboo poles—anything from 2” to 5” in diameter, cut to varying heights and “planted” on their ends. It makes an interesting natural edging with a twist.
Flagstone “planted” vertically to be about 6”-9” high, and irregularly organized: this is a great choice if you’ve had a recent flagstone project because there’s almost always leftover pieces that are too small for paving. Use these smaller pieces to make a low vertical border.
Skateboards. They will degrade but that’s part of the charm. I recommend wood decks not plastic. The plastic turns to powder with over exposure to sun and moisture.
Metal car rims (avoid plastic. See above). You get the best impact with a variety of designs!
Bicycle rims. Unlike with the car rims, bike rims are finer and thiner and look modern and streamlined when you use matching ones. But if you want to avoid the problem of many things marching in a row, it would be interesting to bury them to varying depths to make the border of a varying height.
Glass wine or other beverage bottles turned upside down and “planted”. Caution: don’t use clear. They get dirty and moldy inside and it’s unsightly. Darkly colored bottles mask this problem.

Try mixing materials! Bottles, bamboo and drain pipe—all round objects—can be combined to make a dynamically interesting, colorful and extraordinary border. If you’re adding something like rims or skateboards, it’s likely going to be difficult to find enough of them to make a complete border with only that subject. Consider using boulders and river rock to supplement with these special items.

So, what do you think? I hope now that you’ve poured over some of these unconventional landscape border ideas that you’ve come up with some of your own. I find that once you break away from the home improvement or landscape supply center’s choices for border materials, you begin to look around your world and consider everything a possibility. As long as you continue doing that, you are going to create some killer gardens!

Send me photos of your great borders and I’ll happily post them here!

Good luck! -Natalie

GARDEN ART: Found Items

June 30, 2019July 6, 2019 | minandadesign

Do you find that there are some things in your life that you just can’t let go of? I’m not being esoteric here. I mean “things”. Like “stuff”. Maybe it’s an old chair with busted springs or a jewelry box you’ve had as long as you can remember. Maybe it’s even jewelry. We all have treasures that aren’t so much treasures as much as they are objects that have inspired and created memories for us.

For me it was some of my grandmother’s old teacups. She was a bold, brassy British woman that stood at a towering 4’9”. She was bossy, and silly, and would break out into a song and dance, whenever the mood struck her—an ‘old ditty’ always at the ready. In her twilight years, as she became more subdued, it seemed that the only thing that brought her comfort was a nice, hot cup of tea. I inherited several of her cups and although I never became much of a tea drinker myself, I simply couldn’t let them go.

One day I was trying in earnest to cull our overflowing boxes of “things”. So many tea cups and not a cupboard to put them in. I noticed that I had a few small succulents that hadn’t been planted yet when it dawned on me. They were just the perfect size! I didn’t need to throw out the memories. I simply needed to redefine them to fit into my world. Now they’re not just Nanna’s old things, they’re a wonderful memory of a great lady, brightening my kitchen window.

And we can do so much more!

THE INSPIRATION

We often think of the garden as a serious place. A proper place. It is a place for well curated plants, clipped just so. There is nice furniture, that belongs on a patio. It is to be enjoyed in the proper way (you can add a stuffy British accent there for effect if you like).

As a professional landscape designer, I will say “Yes, but…” This may all true but if you want to really transform a garden, make it into not only a beautiful horticultural experience, but a deeply personal space to be enjoyed, I’d like to give you permission—no, I’d like to strongly encourage you—to color outside of the lines a little.

Years ago when my son was very small, we used to go to the newly opened Kidspace Children’s Museum in Pasadena, a lively and creative space for children to learn and play. I had started my own landscape design business about 3 or 4 years prior, and was still looking for my voice in the field of design.

One day at the museum, my son and I were playing around in the amphitheater—he was working on climbing from one tier to another as I sat on a curved concrete bench watching. Suddenly and simultaneously, both of our attention became hyper-focused on the concrete itself. He began grasping and prying at what turned out to be little Hot Wheels cars embedded in the concrete.

I was intrigued. I had heard of people using different types of rocks and pebbles in concrete but this was entirely different. And what a great idea! Why not add something unique into the concrete to make it personal? Records, Leggos. How about the favorite dish set that was ruined when a couple were broken? Or, throw in some nails and wood screws. Suddenly, what was plain, dull concrete becomes an element of focus and a personal reflection of the owner. So many possibilities.

APPLICATION

Even if you’re not working on a project that includes concrete, you can still insert a little something unique—a little “you”—into the garden. A good friend has bowling balls in his garden! When he and his wife bought their house there were a few in the garden, not so much a design choice. Perhaps an, “I don’t know what to do with these things” situation. Rolling forward a few years, they added one or two more, and soon a friend, children’s singer-songwriter Dave Kinnoin became smitten with the idea of it. Soon he was a bowling ball benefactor, even penning a short poem about his contribution and taping it to the ball. They now have 25 in the garden. How great is that?! Bowling balls can be plain or exotic and beautiful, but the story and the memories attached to them add untold depth and enjoyment to their whole garden.

Bowling balls and teacups are a great start and here are more examples to consider:

Motorcycle helmets (clear out the foam padding first)
An old tube t.v. (convert into a planter by removing the glass screen and innards)
A chair where the seat has been replaced with plants
An old tool box turned planter
A converted vanity
A wheelbarrow
Empty wine bottles, different colors
An old guitar, piano or other hallow musical instrument

Pro-design tips and cautions

Before you start putting stuff out in the garden, willy nilly, let’s go over a few pointers in design and logistics:

DESIGN

Place small items in areas along a walking path with very low growing plants so they will be discovered.
Larger items have a little more flexibility and can be placed in and amid plants that have varying sizes.
If the item is tall or angular it will work nicely with weepy and flowing types of plants.
Be judicious on the quantity of items you use. One, odd item in the garden will seem like an accident. Two items, well, I’m sort of opposed to even numbers (too matchy-matchy). Three or five is great when you triangulate them through the garden.
Don’t add too many pieces (“too many” will depend on the size of your garden, so use your best judgement). The idea is to have a garden which expresses a playfulness and whimsy, not one that looks like an outside junk yard.

LOGISTICS

Plastic will degrade, fade, and turn into powder. Don’t use it!
Wood, if you want the object to stay in it’s present condition, should be treated and protected first. Sometimes, however, the process of decay and weathering over time, is part of it’s unique beauty. Just know that wood directly on soil or directly exposed to water, snow or sun will decay more rapidly. You can place wooden objects on some kind of paver to keep it off the soil, just be sure to level and compact the soil first to avoid uneven and unwanted settling.
Metal is great but know its properties. Copper looks better and better over time as it patinas (green staining). Steel will rust. Stainless steel will remain unchanged.
Ceramic and glass is fine.

Wrapping up

Keep in mind once these found and unique treasures are incorporated into the garden space, they become part of the cacophony of the garden. That is to say they must be cared for, just as you would care for the plants. Make sure to occasionally go out and check in on these items. Look for things like mud splatter, bird droppings or plants that have grown over and obscured them from view. To reiterate, we want them to look intentional, not discarded.

I believe that a garden is an expression of who you are as a person. Whether I’m playing around in my own garden or designing for someone else, part of my “process” is to really get into the head of who’s garden I’m working on and to bring their unique personality and perspective into their outdoor living room. In this way, the garden is a place to feel at home, and a place to share with others a small piece of who you are.