Imaginary Gardens

My last trip home for my step-father's funeral found us driving to West Texas. My favorite drive is from Dallas to Abilene and beyond. Weatherford, Mineral Wells and all the other small, quiet stops. The familiarity of it all, the smells, the towns, the signs, the highways and so many memories from a lifetime of making that trip.

Back to my story. On the drive back to Dallas, nearing Mineral Wells, I spied a grapevine bed on the side of the road. Slammed on the brakes, pulled in a junk store driveway, leaving a cloud of dust on Highway 20. We stayed there for a good hour talking to the old guy who was telling me he could not help himself from making stuff. He had lots of old-growth grapevine in the back of his property and he just wanted to make furniture with it. He was fascinating and it was an good hour spent with him. I wanted that bed, thought of renting a truck and driving it back to Seattle. The bed was $400, a steal and I saw this vision, my sketch, the minute I saw the bed.



I quickly made a illustrator rough to see it in color. Here is the description of my vision. The grapevine bed with a moss mattress, flower pillow, and a patchwork quilt made of different moss and small flowers. A water pitcher and glass hold dirt and fragrant shrubs instead of water. And a book has grass growing from the cover. Fireflies are circling the bed (this is achieved with light wire and flashing leds). Stepping stones and more moss on the ground. Maybe come slippers. {later} I forgot the most important element ... the patchwork quilt starts on the ground with moss and flowers and becomes the quilt working it's way to the bed.

I don't know what else would be going on, but this is the kind of magic I want to see at the Garden Show!



I had this little vision while I was walking around the garden show this year. An Upside-Down garden. Sorry these are so rough, but you get the idea. The flowers and grass would be above, hanging upside down, held together with chicken wire. Below would be a water feature, with water shooting straight lines of water up, like rain. Something round and white to sit on and take all of this in. I was thinking of white bean bags (would they get wet?) or maybe better, white, round, smooth carved rocks. To sit and watch it all.





Please do yourself a favor and click through some real gardens beautifully photographed by Hannu Sarenström found this link via Camilla.