Go Now! Sunday is last day to see Brooklyn Botanic Garden photography exhibit: "Then and Now"

This Sunday, January 31, is the last day to catch the exhibit of “now” images by Antonio Rosario of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden inspired by “then” images, taken by the garden's official photographer Louis Buhle during the early years of the garden, celebrating its hundredth anniversary. So who is photographer Antonio Rosario and why is his work being exhibited at the BBG? Rosario explains:

The short story is that some time in late 2007, early 2008, BBG found a picture of mine on Flickr which they wanted to use for their annual report. A little later in 2008, I got a call from the BBG saying they were looking for a new photographer to shoot their calendar for 2010, the BBG's centennial year. The theme was a "Then & Now" where I'd try to get some of the same images that had been shot long ago in the BBG's history. I shot over the course of a year and they published the twelve shots for their 2010 calendar. Since I shot so many images during the year, the BBG thought it would be a great idea to put the rest of the images into a show in their gallery space. I printed my 22 images and I also printed the 22 historical images which helped inspire me.

Japanese gardens in South Florida / Seagate Hotel and Spa

I’m just back from a quick trip to South Florida where I had the pleasure of visiting the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach while staying a few nights at the luxurious new Seagate Hotel and Spa on Delray’s revitalized Atlantic Avenue. While the gardens spread over 16 acres were the major draw for me, the cultural immersion of the Morikami as a whole — including an art museum, cultural library, café, exquisite gift shop and even an authentic teahouse — is incredibly satisfying. Especially in the context of being in South Florida where, let’s face it, one doesn’t automatically think “Japanese.” In fact, I believe that the regional Japanese population is less than one percent.

But that wasn’t always so. The thirty-some year-old park is named for George Morikami who donated the land to Palm Beach County in the 1970s and honors the Yamato Colony, a Japanese farming settlement of the early 1900s, of which Morikami had been a member. Interestingly, I had just learned of the Colony’s place in local history and connection to Henry Flagler the night before while on a narrated yacht cruise aboard the Lady Atlantic on the Intracoastal Waterway.

The Morikami itself is spread over 200 acres, but without question, the 16-acre “Roji-en: Gardens of the Drops of Dew,” designed by Hoichi Kurisu, are the focal point. A one-mile path around Morikami Pond meanders through six different gardens inspired by different historical periods and styles of Japanese gardening. The Journal of Japanese Gardening recognizes Roji-en as one of the top 10 Japanese gardens in Europe, North America and Australia.

A blogger in Seville

(Contributed by guest blogger Cara Greenberg who is reporting from Spain.)

Ahhhh, Seville…city of Roman arches and Moorish tiles, churches and towers and labyrinthine streets. I’m in love with everything about colorful, civilized Seville, especially the street trees laden with oranges. It’s harvest time now; the city will ship them off to Britain, where they’ll be made into marmalade.

No matter that it’s mid-winter and 40 degrees, The cheerful orange trees are everywhere: in courtyard gardens glimpsed through iron gates as you thread your way through impossibly narrow streets, and in the exquisite, elaborate walled gardens that spread out behind the Real Alcazar, onetime palace of Muslim kings, which I visited yesterday.

In its 14^th century heyday, the Real Alcazar’s gardens were sunken, according to our guide, so the royals could pick fruit without having to stretch. Centuries later, under Christian rulers, the gardens were re-done in formal Renaissance style, and so they mostly remain, divided into myrtle-edged beds filled with acanthus, agapanthus, jacaranda, elephant ear, magnolia, philadelphus, pittosporum and more, punctuated here and there by soaring date palms and columnar cypresses. But there are also strong elements of characteristic Iberian garden design: patios, terraces, and arcades edged with brilliantly colored tiles, with archways and iron grilles in the walls between each section offering glimpses of what’s to come, and drawing you in and on…

To read more about Seville’s gardens and see more pictures, go to casacara.wordpress.com.

Join us at Inner Gardens' opening party, Jan 21

(post by Sarah Kinbar)

Longtime Garden Design readers know I've been following Stephen Block of Inner Gardens in Los Angeles since 2001. First he introduced me—and our readers—to vintage American terra cotta, then French roadside pottery and his original Multiples collection. Inner Gardens was a top pick for our "favorite garden shops" feature in 2003. We've entertained readers, designers and friends at his original showroom on Jefferson, and his newer showroom on Melrose. And last year, I drove around Los Angeles with Stephen and his two staff landscape architects as they showed me the work that represents the latest phase of their evolution: design services.

Tomorrow night is the opening party for Stephen's new location in Santa Monica. Garden Design is sponsoring the event, and I hope you'll be there, too. The showroom will stock everything from chic Nala Beads to Peace Signs to Statuesque Poodles, cowhide chairs plus a vast array of chic mid-century modern garden furniture, antiques and stylish faux bois planters. Inner Gardens will bring Westsiders an array of well-styled decorative items for indoor and outdoor living.

You are invited:
OPENING NIGHT PARTY WITH GARDEN DESIGN
THURSDAY EVENING, January 21, 2010; 6-8 p.m.
R.S.V.P. by calling 310-838-8378

Inner Gardens
1324 Montana Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90404

Call for Entries: 2010 Green Awards

CALL FOR ENTRIES

Garden Design's second annual awards program reveals the exciting moment when great design meets ecological responsibility. Smart water and energy use, repurposing, recyclables, natives and organics, and other earth-friendly innovations will be recognized.

categories:
∅Residential Gardens
∅Public Spaces
∅Corporate Landscapes
∅Edible Gardens
∅Outdoor Products: Furniture, Décor and Lighting

To Enter: Your online entry should include the following: a completed entry form, 10 uploaded images with captions showing all parts of the completed project (professional images are preferred) and a single-paragraph summary of the project to be uploaded with the first image of the project.
Fee of $50 per entry.

Eligibility: Only designers and companies owning designs are eligible to enter this awards program. Entries must highlight key “green” components and should not have previously appeared in a national publication. See online Rules for complete details.

Deadline for Entries: May 1, 2010 / Winners will be published in Garden Design, January/February 2011

Enter online only: gdgreenawards.com

Photo: Margarido House, 2009 Green Award Winner. Photography by Mariko Reed.