I’m a collector of details. Often when visiting gardens, as I did in Northern California last week, it’s the details that stick in my mind’s eye. I muse on how I’d use them in a garden design.
Attention to the details in a design is what makes it sing. When you add the details up and they are layered and nuanced, they make a beautiful whole. Generally, I find places for details as well their ability to unify a design idea and to make visual relationships work are overlooked. Either there are too few details or they haven’t been edited well enough. Or, maybe I’m just cynical and jaded from visiting too many gardens (can one do that?), but in most of them the details are -in my opinion- more interesting than the whole.
Jaunty black shade sail at the Bardessono in Yountville
So, here, in no particular order (mostly because I’m jet-lagged and swamped with work) are some lovely details from the last part of my trip. I haven’t been able to completely digest all that I saw, so enjoy my un-edited brain dump and use them for your own inspiration!
-
- Roof tiles, brick and wood in a courtyard wall
-
- Handmade table from a tree felled on the property, iron strapping
-
- Architectural trellis over a window (yes it is pink!)
-
- Soft nautilus detail in a Julia Morgan designed home from the 20s
-
- Beach glass mixed with gravel on a patio
-
- Simple iron garden gate
-
- Streetside entrance to a home in Mill Valley
-
- Boston ivy far from home…coloring up for fall
-
- Jaunty black shade sail at the Bardessono in Yountville
If you’d like to read my previous post on the courtyards at the Bardessono Hotel OR if you’d like to read what other designers think about the details, try these:
Lesley Hegarty & Robert Webber : Hegarty Webber Partnership : Bristol, UK
Deborah Silver : Dirt Simple : Detroit, MI
Debbie Roberts : A Garden of Possibilities : Stamford, CT
Christina Salwitz : Personal Garden Coach : Renton, WA
Scott Hokunson : Blue Heron Landscapes : Granby, CT
Rebecca Sweet : Gossip In The Garden : Los Altos, CA
Related posts:
Hi Susan,
Cheers!
LOVE those details shots. I just posted a link to this on my facebook TPGC page.
Thanks Christina!
Susan,
In the photograph “Jaunty black shade sail at the Bardessono in Yountville” the black shade is definitely the first thing that captured my eye – because of it’s tilt and shape, the shade sail appears as if it is on a separate geometric plane of view. What I really love about this photograph though is that the curvy wooden/wicker furniture adds a softness to the exterior space (much like the smooth black boulders), though it’s still geometric as well. Those are the kind of details that I love seeing in an outdoor design.
Pingback: Garden Designers Roundtable: Focus on the Details — Gossip in the Garden