Clockwise rom upper left: Oakland, CA; Raleigh, NC; Portland, OR; Greenbelt, MD; and Buffalo, NY.
I’m back with another collection of photos I found as I was tagging thousands of garden photos, after learning from Ben that I could do without buying more software. This time it’s art in the garden, starting with small ones for smaller yards. I love them all.
Clockwise from upper left; Buffalo, NY; Scott Arboretum and 2 gardens on Long Island, NY.
This next batch has two easy focal points for small gardens – the mirror and blue spheres. (Love the blue!) About the two large installations, I’m not a fan. The hanging strips remind me of the French artist Christo, and not in a good way.
Turning to art works far too large for our own gardens but very cool to experience, let’s go first to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. (I wrote about its landscape here.) This is my favorite of the many Chihuly works I’ve seen in public gardens.
Next, I love this nest in Winterthur Garden’s “Enchanted Woods,” which really IS enchanting, with fun features for kids to climb on and in, like this one.
Finally, this is my favorite of the many works in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. It’s an untitled mosaic that Marc Chagall made for the back wall of a friend’s garden in Georgetown. The friend died in 2009 and her will stipulated that the mosaic be donated to this museum. (This article tells the story, including what it took to move it.)
MORE Garden Features
These photo collections started when I learned (from GardenRanter Ben) that I could search for tags just using Windows Explorer – no extra software! So began a fun winter project – scrolling through thousands of photos taken over at least 20 years, and tagging the hell out of them. For my enjoyment and yours. The others are:
Cool!
Love that nest!
Great pictures, Susan! The nest is very cute. Imagine having a Chagal mural in your own garden.
Right! And per the article I linked to, the recipient of the mosaic also summered with her husband at the Chagal country estate. Wow.
I immediately wondered if the hanging strips would deter deer? I recently hung a twirling wind sock on a scrub va pine tree at an area where I’d like to deter deer. I think it may be helping. Shrug. Not with rabbits, ground hogs, voles tho. Oh well. I love the look of mirrors in gardens but worry about the bird strikes. Mosaic mirror might help with that. I see another project in my future.
I’ve found over 5 years now that hanging CDs deters deer. I’ve read that the flashiness freaks them out.
I thought someone had hung their laundry out to dry at first look.
Me too!
You always have interesting rants. Educational as well. My favourite Chihuli art installation is an indoor ceiling at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The online pictures are not great, but the glass is open blooms of many colours.
I’m gonna look for photos of that one in Las Vegas. And thanks SO much for the encouraging words about my humble blogging – 20 years worth!
Loved this. That mural and story were fascinating.
Love the gardens that you featured! I also really love the use of mirrors in gardens, but I don’t want to risk killing birds who might just fly into them, especially if it’s reflecting a garden view. I welcome anybody’s ideas for dealing with this problem.
I just looked on the “backyardbirds” Subreddit for anything about mirrors and there was nothing. But I found this:
“Breeding season takes place every spring, so if you hang your mirror before and after spring this will help to make your garden safe for birds. Another thing to consider is that birds are less likely to fly into frosted or antiqued mirrors that have imperfections on the surface of the glass.
“Placing a mirror behind a hanging plant or trellis ideas for gardens will also create a barrier between the birds and the solid glass of the mirror. So if you opt for a Crittall-style mirror with glass that has some kind of patina effect on it, this will reduce the risk of any issues.” Source: https://www.gardeningetc.com/news/dont-hang-garden-mirror-spring-bird-experts
putting a door on a wall to create the impression you can go into another place is one of my favorites, and a tiny door low on a fence for small people (fairies, goblins whatever) to use is also a favorite. dont buy the doors get them out of the trash or used
Love that!
Love your Inspiring posts, Susan. On a winter day like today it helps to let us dream of gardening and Spring!
Many thanks!