Within the Japanese garden in the middles of Showa Kinen Park, there is a separate bonsai tree exhibit. Here many of the trees are 100 years old, and even one that is 300 years old! I didn’t know that there are so many different kinds of seasonal bonsai trees; Japanese maple bonsai with the read leaves, or trees with fruits and berries. If you ever come to visit Showa Kinen Park, please be sure to stop by to see these old souls.
Tag Archives: Gardens
Architecture Books: ‘The Conservatory – Gardens Under Glass’ (Princeton)
Through evocative archival and contemporary photographs, drawings of landmark structures, and graceful, accessible text, The Conservatory celebrates the patrons and designers who advanced the technology and architectural majesty of these light-filled structures. The importance of conservatories continues to grow with efforts to conserve phenomenal plants and their environments.
Elegant and magnificent, conservatories reveal fascinating social, cultural, botanical, and engineering advances as they have evolved across history. First appearing in the eighteenth century as simple structures designed to protect fruit trees and other delicate plants from harsh European winters, conservatories became grand glass houses that spread across the European continent, to the Americas, and ultimately around the world.
Italian Gardens: ‘Giardino Giusti in Verona’ and ‘Villa Fracanzan Piovene’ near Vicenza – “Shakespearean”
Giardino Giusti in Verona and Villa Fracanzan Piovene: The centuries-old Italian gardens that evoke the romance of Romeo and Juliet.
The name Giusti has been synonymous with one of Italy’s most celebrated Renaissance gardens since the late 16th century. Originally wool-dyers from Prato in Tuscany, the Giusti family had moved its business north in the previous century, settling in an unglamorous industrial suburb of Verona. Within a few generations, its members were rich and had also acquired the requisite antiquarian and artistic tastes of true Renaissance gentlefolk.
The garden created by Agostino Giusti between 1565 and 1580 was intended to fulfil various functions. It had to showcase his collection of Roman inscriptions and to serve as a setting for the lavish theatrical and musical productions—the predecessors of opera—then in vogue. To this day, the garden retains the surprise element of a stage set, presenting a magnificent and entertaining spectacle that totally confounds one’s expectations of a city garden.
Travel Tours: ‘Bodnant Garden, England’ (Video)
Bodnant Garden’s secluded corners, leafy glades and famous Laburnum Arch made it a magical setting for the new movie adaptation of The Secret Garden, a Sky Original, in cinemas and on Sky Cinema 23 October. While the site in Conwy, Wales, is currently only open to local residents because of lockdown restrictions, you can join us on a video tour to visit the filming locations, an arboretum bursting with autumn colour, unmissable views, and much more.
Home Tours: ‘The Garden House’ In Southwell, Nottinghamshire, UK
Set within the grounds of a Georgian walled-garden, this superb seven-bedroom house has been joyfully designed around the exceptional architectural landscaping. The internal living space spans over 4,580 sq ft across multiple levels, arranged in a playful layout of floating mezzanines, balconies, and a double-height winter garden.
Designed with high energy efficiency in mind The Garden House has outstanding solar collection, heat recovery and rainwater harvesting and is partially earth-sheltered to conserve its heat and energy.
The Garden House is approached via a quiet country lane, leading to a secluded entrance, revealing little of the house from the walled courtyard. A private driveway leads to a sheltered car port available for several vehicles to park adjacently to the house. There is also a log store, outside store room and a smaller front courtyard garden.
New Books: ‘Reflections of Paradise: The Gardens of Fernando Caruncho’
The much-anticipated comprehensive survey of one of the world’s most acclaimed landscape garden designers, famous for his extraordinarily sophisticated use of light and geometry in nature.
Spanish landscape designer Fernando Caruncho has spent over four decades impressing the world with his breathtaking garden designs, which create a perfect union of architectural design within nature. His sources of inspiration are as diverse as Islamic design, Zen Buddhism, and European Classicism, and the control of light, geometrical scale, and use of local materials are key principles of his design approach.
In this book, Caruncho personally curates a selection of twenty-six of his international garden projects ranging from private residences to large agricultural estates and public spaces, including a vineyard in Italy, a private garden in Biarritz, France, and an expansive estate in New Jersey. Caruncho gives readers a glimpse at his creative thought process through inspirational images, ephemera, and selections from his sketches.
About The Author
Fernando Caruncho has been designing gardens for over four decades, but his background is in philosophy. His fascination with pre-Socratic Greek philosophy awakened a deep curiosity about the relationship between man and the natural world, which translated itself into a preoccupation with garden design. In 1979 Caruncho established his own landscape design studio. His first work, accomplished at the age of 21, was a house in Madrid featured in Vogue Decoration. Since then, Caruncho Studio has designed countless high-profile gardens across the globe, ranging from private homes and expansive agricultural estates to public spaces. His work is frequently featured in high-profile publications such as Architectural Digest, Vogue, the New York Times, Elle Decor, and W magazine. Gordon Taylor is a renowned landscape architect and writer. He has written numerous articles and books on herbs, gardens, and garden history.
Health & Nature Books: “The Well-Gardened Mind” By Sue Stuart-Smith (2020)
‘The Well-Gardened Mind’ provides a new perspective on the power of gardening to change people’s lives. Here, Sue Stuart-Smith investigates the many ways in which mind and garden can interact and explores how the process of tending a plot can be a way of sustaining an innermost self.
A distinguished psychiatrist and avid gardener offers an inspiring and consoling work about the healing effects of gardening and its ability to decrease stress and foster mental well-being in our everyday lives.
The garden is often seen as a refuge, a place to forget worldly cares, removed from the “real” life that lies outside. But when we get our hands in the earth we connect with the cycle of life in nature through which destruction and decay are followed by regrowth and renewal. Gardening is one of the quintessential nurturing activities and yet we understand so little about it.
Stuart-Smith’s own love of gardening developed as she studied to become a psychoanalytic psychotherapist. From her grandfather’s return from World War I to Freud’s obsession with flowers to case histories with her own patients to progressive gardening programs in such places as Rikers Island prison in New York City, Stuart-Smith weaves thoughtful yet powerful examples to argue that gardening is much more important to our cognition than we think. Recent research is showing how green nature has direct antidepressant effects on humans. Essential and pragmatic, The Well-Gardened Mind is a book for gardeners and the perfect read for people seeking healthier mental lives.
Top New Books: “The Language Of Butterflies” By Wendy Williams (2020)
Butterflies are one of the world’s most beloved insects. From butterfly gardens to zoo exhibitions, they are one of the few insects we’ve encouraged to infiltrate our lives. Yet, what has drawn us to these creatures in the first place? And what are their lives really like? In this groundbreaking book, New York Times bestselling author and science journalist Wendy Williams reveals the inner lives of these “flying flowers”—creatures far more intelligent and tougher than we give them credit for.
In this fascinating book from the New York Times bestselling author of The Horse, Wendy Williams explores the lives of one of the world’s most resilient creatures—the butterfly—shedding light on the role that they play in our ecosystem and in our human lives.
Monarch butterflies migrate thousands of miles each year from Canada to Mexico. Other species have learned how to fool ants into taking care of them. Butterflies’ scales are inspiring researchers to create new life-saving medical technology. Williams takes readers to butterfly habitats across the globe and introduces us to not only various species, but to the scientists who have dedicated their lives to studying them.
Coupled with years of research and knowledge gained from experts in the field, this accessible “butterfly biography” explores the ancient partnership between these special creatures and humans, and why they continue to fascinate us today. Touching, eye-opening, and incredibly profound, The Language of Butterflies reveals the critical role they play in our world.
New Landscape Videos: “Eight Great Gardens Of The World” (Nowness)
Do you love plants and all things to do with gardens? In our #GreatGardens series, we revisit our top eight episodes which feature the planet’s wildest sub-tropical landscapes and quintessential rural retreats.
World’s Best Gardens: “Bowood House – Private Walled Garden”, England
From The Tatler (June 10, 2020):
The Marquess and Marchioness of Lansdowne’s private walled garden is the jewel in this botanical crown. Attached to the back of the main house, the garden is surrounded by a 16-foot-high wall and is made up of four distinct one-acre squares. It includes a 250-metre formal border, a picking garden, working greenhouses, chickens and a kitchen garden full of fruits and vegetables.
There is a feeling of mounting enchantment as you wind along the drive to Bowood House, the Wiltshire home of the Marquess and Marchioness of Lansdowne. It could be meandering through the dense pine forest, thick with wild garlic underfoot, that begins to stir the senses; or the sight of the sculptural tulip trees; and the heady scent of the roses is certainly tantalising.
Boomers Daily 