Pothole Gardens

Photos by Pete Gunney

Cyclist Pete Gunny has been filling up potholes around Oxford with tiny primrose gardens. "It began as part of a project called 'subvert the familiar'. I wanted to do something that would grab attention but also raise awareness of an issue, and so the project was born," says the graphic design student. Beautiful idea.

A wet garden

It rained all evening last night, and this morning I stepped outside to find a very wet garden. The maple and dogwood trees were drooping under the weight of water. The damp earth yielded quietly under my feet. Everything felt softened, even the bittersweet feeling that had filled me on this morning of my birthday. I recalled a song I used to know as a child. The lyrics went something like this: "Rain and tears are the same, when you cry in the winter time, you can pretend it's nothing but the rain."

A Blind Man in his Garden in Alaska, July 1984

Photograph by Joel Sternfeld, from the American Prospects Series

I saw this photograph at MoMA a couple of weeks ago and have not been able to get it out of my head. I try to imagine what this man must have thought about his garden. Being  unable to visualize it, how did he approach the design of it? Or the blend of colors? all the things that I take for granted.

Dries van Noten's garden

Dries van Noten has a magnificent 60-acre garden in an estate outside the Belgian town of Lier. He has never allowed it to be photographed for any publication, but here's Cathy Horyn's description of it:

"Van Noten's house lies 30 minutes outside Antwerp... When he and Vangheluwe, who oversees production for the company, bought the place, in 1996, it was in a neglected state, with several wooden follies in near crumble and the colossal banks of wild rhododendon -- which are like land art in Belgium -- significantly blunted. Formerly the summer residence of an Antwerp family, the colonnaded stone house, now restored, sits in the middle of unbroken lawn, emphasizing its classical lines and otherworldly height. The interiors are all dark and cool and twilit, and Van Noten has brought something of his love of England to the decoration. He and Vangheluwe greet me on the front steps, where delphiniums are growing willy-nilly in the crevices.

We head into the garden, going along a woodland path until we arrive at a series of pernnial gardens hedged in by tall yews. The house is no longer in sight. In summer, Van Noten and Vangheluwe are in the garden before and after work, planting or plotting something. We go deeper, passing through a rose garden. Bees swoon above our heads in the branches of a wisteria tree. We cross a meadow, the air heavy with insect sounds and heat."

Sounds intriguing. 

Vegetable Garden at the White House

Michelle Obama is adding a vegetable garden at the White House. They will grow 55 varieties of vegetables. A carpenter will tend 2 beehives for honey. The beds will be fertilized with White House compost, crab meal from Chesapeake Bay, lime and green sand, and lady bugs and praying mantises will help control pests.

Garden People

Lady Birley at Charleston Manor, photographed by Valerie Finnis

I absolutely love this portrait.

Maira Kalman did a painted version.

Valerie Finnis & Garden People

Valerie Finnis, photographed by Howard Sooley in 2006

I woke up to find snowflakes dancing unexpectedly outside my windows so instead of heading off to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, I delved into the wonderful book Garden People that Melissa had lent me. Valerie Finnis was a plantswoman and photographer who documented the garden world of England with her colorful portraits of plants and gardeners, including Vita Sackville-West, Lady Birley, and David Shackleton. She used the same Rolleiflex camera, a gift from the curator of Munich's botanic garden Willhelm Schacht, for 40 years.