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Friday, January 04, 2013

Snow

The garden seems to be evaporating before my eyes; the very substance of the grasses and herbaceous perennials, most of what's left, seems thinner, more fragile, week by week. As the garden reveals more and more of its underlying structure--largely invisible in the high season of growth--this is a good time to take stock, to look for underlying problems, if "problems" is the right word. Perhaps better to think of opportunities, to evaluate, to fine tune.

So I'll continue to mull over the newest part of the garden--the reflecting pool, which does indeed present a "challenge." It doesn't seem to fit where I put it!


Snow last weekend, four inches of light fluff, just enough to cover the garden in a clean sheet, showed the pool in a new way, laid out in splendid isolation from its previously messy environment. In snow, the pool fits better, but only temporarily.


Judy Mann, a friend, was visiting and took these photos in the morning light while I was away at the gym (one of my few disciplines in life). As I look at them, they confirm, but by contrast, the approach I've decided to take to better integrate the pool into the garden.

Here (above and below) the snow erases the gravel bed, the blue stone coping around the water, other extraneous details. Truth be told I'm tempted to try for a similar effect without the snow, to take a minimal approach, though that would be very difficult since, without great expense, I can't level the surrounding area to make an ample, smooth surface for the pool to rest in luxurious isolation. 

So of the two possible directions I could take in this part of the garden--toward openness, cleanness, simplicity, or toward enclosure, height, romantic fuzziness--I take the latter, which can be implemented incrementally, making it easier to manage cost.


And to be honest, a minimal landscape feature would likely be out of character with the blousy naturalism of the rest of the garden. So perhaps my pocketbook and my aesthetics agree.

Below you can see the snowy outline of concrete pavers I've laid out in a trial pattern. I like this curve and the way it frames one side of the pool. The curve is an encompassing, welcoming gesture ...


... that focuses attention on the pool and on the garden beyond ... and begins a circular pattern that will be completed by the new plantings I plan around the pool area.

The key will be in the planting ... shrub spires, box balls, tall perennials like Joe Pye Weed and Inula, urn-shaped Miscanthus ... all forming diaphanous, three-dimensional screens that make the pool area like a circular room, a room with transparent walls through which you can catch glimpses in and out, as described in the previous post.


The Miscanthus giganteus, standing high and quite distant from the pool, illustrates how the interplay of vertical and horizontal will work. As with the tall, ragged Miscanthus and the flat, clean-edged pool, my plan to juxtapose verticals of Thuja occidentalis and grassy spires with the flat, two-dimensionality of the pool will create a sense of a secret place nestled amid dense plantings. The interplay of circular patterns, square pool, height, depth, sharp edges and soft, round shapes will make a pleasant place for contemplating reflections in the pool and appreciating the forms and colors of the surrounding plants.

The contrast of flatness and height will also emulate, in smaller scale, the contrast between the garden clearing and the tall trees of the bordering forest, more fully integrating the garden with its surrounding landscape.

20 comments:

  1. James, I like your 'sense of a secret place'. The curve of the pavers, you're right, it takes the squareness of the pool out of its isolation. Everything is trial and error, in a garden, which is maybe why we're so attached to it, giving us engagement.

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  2. Faisal, I like that and wish I'd said it. "It takes the squareness of the pool out of its isolation." Yes, yes. And trial and error will continue. This is the plan of the moment, but subject to change, always. Engagement, during the making, and when it's finished, I hope, if anythting in a garden is ever finished (of course not!).

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  3. James,
    I forget if you have plans for seating in this area? That is an element that would be welcome near the pool--especially a secret destination in the garden. It might be nice to have a place that is hidden from the house, where the visitor can be enveloped by your luxuriant plantings. The right choice might make a big difference.

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    1. Michael,
      I do plan to add seating though I'm not sure what yet. It occurs to me that, since the paved area between the pool and the embankment will be in afternoon shade, this might be a pleasant place to sit out and read or talk. It's a more protected area than elsewhere in the garden. In that case, comfortable seating is called for. I probably won't know what to do until I get some of the planting done and can see what it feels like. I'm not very good at projecting a vision and accomplishing it with precision. Things change. I'm an ad libber.

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  4. What a good idea to use the snow as a blank canvas for trying ideas out.

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  5. It's certainly cheaper than any alternatives I can think of. I think of it as interpretation. The snow as a message for me to decipher.

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  6. I saw the pattern made by your snowy pavers and thought of this: http://notordinaryfashion.tumblr.com/post/37828004914/the-palace-of-versailles-gardens-in-the-snow

    Emily

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  7. Interesting comparison. I think that's the best view of the Versailles gardens I've ever seen.

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  8. What a difference between the first two pictures! The feeling of the pool is completely different - a great reminder to always keep our eyes open for unexpected messages.

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  9. Yes. The snow hides the detail and only shows the geometry. I'm always looking for messages even though I don't always know what to do with them. "They also serve who only stand and wait."

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  10. I like the reflecting pool in your setting; I think geometry plays nicely in juxtaposition with naturalistic background. I think what makes it jarring (maybe that isn't the right word) to your eye is not the pool, the gravel, or the background; I think it is the 'sunken bed' that is formed just beyond the swale of pebbles. In the top photo, the ground appears to fall away from the pool and its setting, leaving it exposed, rather than concealed. Could you build a crescent of bermed soil up in that area? To have the curvaceous bed between the path beyond and the gravel rise up and form a semi-circle around the pool setting would enclose the pool, and the only plant in the photo that might be difficult to plant 'higher' would be the peely-barked tree, but I bet it could be done. Man, I love your garden.

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    1. Calvin, I think you have something. The drop off in elevation from the gravel to the soil (mud, actually, now) is visually disturbing. I've been thinking I'd raise the soil level to some extent, but not enough to solve the problem you refer to. After reading all the many comments, I'm partly still convinced that I can solve this problem with planting, dense planting, that will largly obscure the structural elements. But I'm not able to disregard the critical comments, so I'm in a pickle at the moment. I'm going away for this weekend, won't even see this project and the garden for ten or twleve days, and I'm glad of that. Possibly I'll see it afresh when I return. Thanks for saying you love my garden. Come and visit.

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  11. I am reluctant to say this because I know how much work, thought and money goes into creating a feature like this but I think the square want to be a circle. Is there any structure within sight that would reinforce an orthogonal theme. The flat sides seem to read as a stop sign to me while a circular feature might encourage circumambulation. Maybe you could have both by describing a circle around the pool out of cobbles in filled with pea stone, stone dust, moss, mondo grass, miniature equisetum, or place a circle cut out of steel or grass on top of the pool. Maybe a curved bench? I hope I do not offend you with this comment. It was a gutsy move to put the pool there.

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    1. I'm wondering who anonymous is. Hmm? I've been thinking about your question about other orthogonal elements. I've looked at my photos taken over the past month while this new pool area has been under construction (over a month, that surprised me!). I do see other orthogonal structures: the dry laid stone wall around the base of the embankment below the house (two long straight lines interescting at a right angle, and the intersection is near the pool), the house itself, which is visible from further out in the garden and, I think with some visual reinforcement, registers as an orthogonal element, and the chimney rising high above the house. Both the chimney and the embankment wall are made of local argillite. This weekend, I got my garden help to line the new gravel area with large minibolders of argillite. Now it occurs to me that the argillite colors and textures can be used to reinforce the perception of repeated orthogonals. The overall effect is of orthogonals descending from a height (the prominent chimney), to the house, to the wall, to the pool, to the stone surround of the pool, each rectangle or square rotated a few degrees.

      Unfortunately, I had the new stone surrounding the gravel bed laid in curves, but that can be changed, and changed far more easily than almost any other suggestion I've had. I think I'll do a new post on this and try to see how well this new approach works.

      I'm not yet at the point that I'll destroy the pool and make a circular one. But who knows what the future holds. Thanks for all the ideas.

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    2. Sorry about the anonymous. I don't have a blog and could not figure out any other way to post a reply, my first foray. I did try to locate a email address for you. In any case, my name is Jill Nooney, a friend of Michael Gordon's and fellow NH resident. My website is bedrockgardens.org and finegarden.com. Your reply paints a satisfying picture. If argillite is as black as the pictures indicate, it might provide a strong unifying element along with the other orthogonals. Sounds like taking a a break from the conundrum might be welcome. I am familiar with how they can take over. Cheers, Jill

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    3. Thanks, Jill. Actually, I had thought you might be someone I already knew. The argillite isn't black (well some is, some isn't), but I do think it can work as a unifying element, viewed conceptually in tiers. I'm doing a post on it and you can let me know what you think.

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  12. Can you sit on the bluestone wall - Is it close enough and if so perhaps you could pad it out a bit so it's a more comfortable experience? It would be discrete than other forms of seating perhaps.

    Happy New Year James.

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  13. Not really. The wall is argillite (though that's not relevant) and wide enough to sit on. But the plants on the bank above it are large and drape themselves over the wall. It's a look I like, so separate seating is in order. A stone bench would be a simple solution, but I may want more comfortable seating for reading or more likely just sitting and looking around. A happy new year to you, Rob.

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  14. I have never before lingered, as long as I've done now, on a winter garden post. Even though it's about one's personal landscape architecture, it has been, for me, a relaxing, spiritual experience!

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  15. Allan, thank you. I believe we appreciate gardens in similar ways.

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