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February 23rd, 2009
Stylish Sheds, a featured book at University Bookstore's display
I’ve just returned from spending three days at the fabulous-but-possibly-final Northwest Flower & Garden Show in Seattle where I saw many, many gardening friends, hung out with my Hortus Posse pals and enjoyed a week of Seattle Sunshine (Seriously, folks. It was raining in Burbank when we flew outta here on Feb. 16th and sunny when we landed in Seattle!).
Of course, I was preaching the message of Stylish Sheds, and I’m happy to say, my “Shedar” (that’s like Radar, but it’s my own version of being alert to shed-spotting all around me) zoomed in on several fantastic garden structures, sheds, arbors, pavilions, shelters and enclosures.
It seemed as if every display garden at the show featured a fanciful structure in the garden. That goes to show you how important it is to design with not just plants, but architecture in mind.
Bill Wright, my collaborator on Stylish Sheds, and I kicked off the week with a Tuesday lecture for his peers in the Seattle chapter of American Society of Media Photographers. We participated in “The Odyssey of a Book,” a panel with two other book-savvy photographers, Dick Busher, of Cosgrove Editions, and Rosanne Olson, creator of a beautiful new book called “this is who I am — our beauty in all shapes and sizes”. The audience included fellow photographers, some of whom are also members of Garden Writers Association (David Perry, Mark Turner), friends Marcia Gamble Hadley and writer Robyn Cannon, as well as my former cohort from Seattle Post-Intelligencer days, Steve Shelton (what a treat to see him in the audience!). While we writers were definitely in the minority in the crowded room at Seattle Central Community College’s photography studio, it was a great experience talking books with kindred spirits.
Rosanne Olson, Bill Wright, Debra Prinzing and Dick Busher
On Wednesday, I took a tour through the Flower Show and snapped a bevy of shots to document the veritable bevy of sheds and shed-like structures featured in the show (see below). I was particularly gratified to see two Modern Shed structures by the talented Ryan Grey Smith and his team. Ryan adapted his awesome prefabricated shed architecture for two display gardens, including Michael Hancock’s “Serene Scapes” garden and Tony Fajarillo’s “Collaborating with Nature” garden.
Bill and Debra at their book signing
On Thursday, I was back on my soapbox, speaking about backyard architecture in “Your Personal Escape,” my lecture illustrated by many of Bill’s awesome photos from our book. Bill joined me for a booksigning afterwards and we’re pleased to say that University Bookstore sold out of copies of Stylish Sheds. Hopefully, they’ll order MORE books next time!
The week went by way too quickly, but upon reflection, it was a perfect moment in time; a perfect experience to savor for months to come. I’ll close by sharing some of my favorite structures: A Gallery of Garden Architecture from the 2009 Northwest Flower & Garden Show’s designers.
Posted in Architecture, General, Shed Glossary, Sheds & Havens, Writing | 5 Comments »
February 14th, 2009
The gate leads to a Shed Surprise
If you’ve been following Shed Style for any period of time, by now, you know that I use the term “SHED” quite broadly to describe “a shelter in the garden.”
And so, here are two very different, but equally enticing, glimpses of garden shed architecture that I had the good fortune to tour earlier this week. The occasion: a preview of the Feb. 28th study tour that Betsy Flack of Garden Conservancy has designed to accompany the Feb. 27th seminar: Gardens that Re-Make Themselves.
The seminar will examine the restoration of historic gardens to reflect the original architecture and period, as well as sustainable design practices that today’s garden makers can use to ensure their landscapes endure for future generations. Several really incredible established gardens, mostly in Pasadena, will be open to seminar participants who take the study tour.
The garden structures I visited are relatively new, but they were designed – in the spirit and character of the property’s origins – to fit into older landscapes .
M's Garden House
“M’s” Garden House stands at the back of a long, narrow garden in an historic Pasadena neighborhood.
The 1926 residence, a one-story Mediterranean-style bungalow, is situated near the front of the 50-by-195 foot lot. Because her house is closer to the sidewalk, the parcel behind the house is very park-like. She has preserved and enhanced the original hard-scape and bones of this Italian-inspired garden. It is truly amazing to see the setting and realize it is 83 years old.
At the far end of the garden path stands a scallop-topped swinging gate. According to the owner, the gate originally led to an old tool shed for garden storage.
But she had other plans for this underutilized space and asked her architect to design a garden structure in keeping with the garden’s vintage.
Hugh Maguire, an architect who does work in Pasadena and Palm Springs, designed the 11-by-13 foot structure in1995. “I had seen an old English train station ‘storefront’ at a salvage place in Pasadena,” Maguire told me when I contacted him by phone. “It had the words ‘Waiting Room’ on it”
An urn, in the garden court
He thinks the fanciful storefront dates to the 19th century.
Maguire discovered it years ago at Across the Street from Alice, a Mission Street salvage dealer and has had his eye on it ever since.
M’s request for a garden structure presented the perfect opportunity to use the beautiful architectural element with mullioned windows, an arched transom and detailed mill-work panels. Maguire spent around $1,200 for the salvaged facade. “Can you image what it would cost to have something like this custom made?” he asked me. No, I can’t. And that’s why I love it when designers and builders utilize materials from the past. Salvaged architectural fragments are a high art form when it comes to shed-making.
In order to build this pleasing space, a “collapsed shed” was removed. However, architect and client salvaged doors from the old structure and recycled them as cupboard doors on interior bookcases. In between the bookcases is a perfect-circle porthole window. It echoes the perfect-circle recycled brick “carpet” that now serves as the garden foyer to the little house.
a cut-away in the roof to wrap around the tree trunk
On top of the new stucco building, Maguire added a standing seam metal roof. In one corner of the four-sided roof that caps the garden house, they had to make a cut-out – to accommodate a stately eucalyptus tree that M did not want disturbed by the construction. That’s showing serious concern for her garden and the plants she inherited!
Redwood and river rock form a rustic gazebo
The second shelter-shed I visited is from a different architectural era altogether. It was designed by architects Conrad Buff and Donald Hensman in 1993. Carol Soucek King, its intuitive and creative owner, calls the structure a “gazebo.” It is far from a wimpy, ultra-feminine Victorian gazebo. This is a rustic, natural edifice that is situated at the upper edge of a creek.
Using local Arroyo Seco river rock for the foundation and side wall (notice the wonderful niches that allow for pedestal candles – imagine how meditative this space will feel at twilight!) and leaving the structure covered, but open-sided, the design is a study in native, organic architecture.
According to Carol, when the gazebo’s construction was completed, the builder, stone mason and architect gathered with the Kings for a Bento box lunch “to bless it.”
“We all sat here and were very conscious that this would be a sacred place,” she told me.
In a magnificent book about Buff and Hensman’s architectural careers, the structure is described as a “lineal redwood gazebo” . . . “conceived as a refuge.”
A refuge indeed. No one could wish for a better way to experience sanctuary, solace, spiritual respite and beauty.
Here are a few more images:
Posted in Architecture, Creativity, Landscape Design, Sheds & Havens | 3 Comments »
February 11th, 2009
Ideas that grow in the garden of my mind.
Thoughts that furnish the rooms of my spirit.
My Blog posts are essentially a concoction of a few ingredients: The news or feature article with a little bit of opinion writing thrown in.
But every now and then, I step out of the journalist’s role and dabble in essay-writing.
I just added a “Musings” tab at the top of this page to gather my occasional essays. Read on to see what I’m thinking . . .
Debra’s writing workshop for Northwest Horticultural Society – in her Seattle dining room. From left: Debra, Stacie Crooks, George Lasch, Cindy and David Fairbrook (2005)
Posted in Writing | 3 Comments »
February 9th, 2009
“Pacific Heights,” my story about a stunning garden in Malibu, California, owned by Oscar-winning director and screenwriter Frank Pierson and his wife Helene, appears in the March issue of Metropolitan Home magazine.
You can find the issue on the newsstands now, even though it’s still early February. I posted the full story on my website.
Designed by landscape architect Pamela Palmer of Venice-based ARTECHO, the garden employs curves, spirals and arcs, rendered in an ocean-blue palette. It is dreamy and contemplative and makes the most of the garden’s very best feature: its Endless Horizon.
Frank Pierson is a consummate storyteller. His writing credits include “Cat Ballou” with Jane Fonda and “Dog Day Afternoon” with Al Pacino (which earned him an Oscar). He directed Barbra Streisand in “A Star is Born” and is the former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
He may have an office indoors, but some of Frank’s most inspiring narratives are conceived while sitting at the edge of his curved infinity lawn and gazing at the Pacific Ocean.
Frank and Helene’s modest, triangular slice of paradise is perched on a Malibu hillside. The couple purchased the Mid-Century modern house in 2004. Although the one-story residence measures 1,600-square-feet, floor-to-ceiling windows and glass doors make it feel larger. So does the uninterrupted, 150-degree view of the sea.
Yet the property had been neglected and the Piersons wanted to enhance their enjoyment of the vast expanse of ocean and sky.
They commissioned Pamela to design a bold, contemporary garden with spaces for both solitary and social pursuits. “The design was inspired by the site, especially the horizon, and the light,” she says. “Frank and Helene live in a world of stories. Their minds are very flexible and they visualized this garden very clearly.”
I arrived at the Piersons’ home and garden on a late afternoon in November. With designer Pamela Palmer, we toured the exquisite property and noticed all the special details and materials of the renovation. Frank and Helene showed me some of their favorite places and plants. (Above, Pamela and Frank in conversation – at the gas fire bowl).
I was so impressed to meet them and enjoy a momentary glimpse into their magical environment. To share a glass of wine with Frank, a legendary American screenwriter, and ask him about his career was a real privilege. The garden is pretty killer, too!
Here are some of my photographs from my November tour of the garden. Thanks to the Piersons and to Pamela Palmer for the time they devoted to telling the story of this garden. (And thanks to Lisa Higgins at MetHome for the assignment!)
Posted in Creativity, Landscape Design, Plants, Writing | 3 Comments »
February 6th, 2009
If you’re lucky enough to travel anywhere in the world, there’s no excuse not to try and visit the local botanical garden or arboretum. My family has become used to this mission of mine and they often accommodate me.
Last weekend, though, I was with my fellow hort geeks, and no one tried to stop me from a garden side trip! I traveled to Phoenix for the Garden Writers Association winter board meeting. After sitting indoors in a board room all day, we rewarded ourselves by racing over to the Desert Botanical Garden, a magnificent place in the heart of Phoenix.
I first visited DBG about five years ago while staying with my parents (they have spent their winters in Mesa, AZ, a suburb of Phoenix for the past five or six years). At the time, I was a Seattle gardener. I was not interested in cactuses or other thorny desert plants. But the visit changed my mindset. The garden dates back to the late 1930s and it is designed beautifully. Who knew then that I would eventually live in Southern California where all these alien plants thrive with little or no water, heat, sun and (practically) neglect!?
Here are a few shots I took on that first visit:
The January 31, 2009 visit had an agenda.
Number one: Tour “Chihuly: The Nature of Glass” show, the Seattle artist’s first installation entirely within a desert garden environment. Number two: Meet Ken Schutz, the garden’s executive director, who led the GWA board on guided tour of the show (plus, he graciously joined us for dinner following our hour-long walk through the plants-and-glass extravaganza).
We gathered at the DBG entrance and were welcomed with a refreshing drink, straight from the desert: Prickly Pear Margaritas topped with a wedge of lime! You can purchase the Prickly Pear syrup in the garden’s wonderful gift shop.
Enjoy my narrated introduction, followed by my favorite images:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_F6-J8AOwo
A virtual tour of the gorgeous glass sculpture display:
“Sun,” the opening sculpture
Agaves in glass: the new entry piece
READ MORE…
Posted in Creativity, Landscape Design, Plants, Playfulness, Shed Glossary | 9 Comments »
February 4th, 2009
“A Retro Future,” my feature article in Saturday’s Los Angeles Times HOME section features a breathtakingly perfect re-do of a one-story California ranch house in La Canada-Flintridge.
It is owned by Oscar-nominated Disney producer Don Hahn, an infectiously-friendly Renaissance man, and his equally talented wife Denise Hahn.
That the two are artists explains in large part why their renovation was so successful (Don and Denise are plein air Western landscape painters and collectors).
To transform the vintage ranch house, they collaborated with architect Georgie Kajer and interior designer Jamie Bush, creating a dream-team of like-minded talents.
The secret to this project’s success is the clever editing of the original spaces. There was no reason to tear this house down and erect a McMansion; no reason to add a second story. The Hahns wanted to honor the architecture, as Denise explains: “I guess we’re on track with baby boomers who want to live in the houses they grew up in.”
The re-design removed some interior walls to create an open floor plan. As a result, the central space feels open, welcoming and loft-like. Look up and the once scary “cottage cheese” dropped ceiling has been reincarnated with awesome vaulted lines, clad in Douglas fir. Look down and the new amber-toned terrazzo floor unifies the entire house (Don loves that its composition includes broken beer glass and bits of mother-of-pearl). The palette of golds, greens and reds further unifies the spaces; the colors are enhanced or subdued depending on the room, but each room speaks to the adjacent one – creating an overall mellowness that I found appealing.
I learned so much reporting and writing this piece, thanks to the generosity of the homeowners and the designers. The home’s architecture has its roots in classic California ranch house design (no surprise to learn that Don, Denise, Jamie and Georgie all mentioned Cliff May’s iconic modern ranch houses of the 1950s). It is a truly modern residence that functions as a perfect environment for the Hahn family, including a teenage daughter and two active dogs.
A final note: Of course, I was drawn to the outdoor spaces, including the vintage cabana, pool-side (seen above). It is a stylish shelter in the garden. Rather than demo it and start over, Jamie recommended updating it with persimmon accents, wide-striped draperies that enclose the space as an outdoor dressing room, and sculptural, modern furniture. It’s hip, and it’s inviting.
And thanks, of course, goes to my editor Craig Nakano, for the assignment. The final product was a joy to see in print (and online).
Posted in Architecture, Creativity, Writing | 2 Comments »
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