Villa d'Este (Photo: Alice Joyce)

Commissioned by Cardinal Ippolito d’Este, Villa d’Este is generally proclaimed to be the ultimate Renaissance garden. Sited near Hadrian’s Villa, with a design by Pirro Ligorio, the vast gardens spread across a steep landscape, taking in an enchanting vista of the town of Tivoli.

Ligorio employed terraces to work with the difficult yet dramatic terrain, creating a complex symmetry to delineate, and to draw one into the layout of the garden scheme. Although many original sculptures no longer exist to enliven the setting, the flamboyant water elements, for which the garden is known, still effectively startle and delight.

To walk the Villa’s pathways is to be immersed in the art and history of gardening, aware that this exalted achievement demonstrates the Cardinal’s unqualified egocentric vision. It’s believed to have taken a half-century to complete these gardens. By blocking out the sounds of other visitors, you’ll imagine the experience of these magnificent surroundings in the late-16th century.

Villa d’Este

Prey yourself away from the Villa’s overlook, gazing upon the glistening organ fountain – the Fountain of Nature, and you’ll lose touch with modern-day Italy.

Italian Gardens … Amazon.com

Villa d'Este Grotto (Alice Joyce photo)

In moving through the garden’s compelling structure, you’ll revel in the exuberant display of the Hundred Fountains, with its echoing play of water…

…and stand mesmerized before the nymphaeum, and fabled cascades of the Oval Fountain.

Italian Gardens … Books on Amazon.com

Brighton, England

Brighton Pavilion – Perennial Beds in Spring (Alice Joyce photo)

Much to do in Brighton- a place of brilliant counterpoints.

Constructed at the turn of the 19th century, the ornate presence of the Royal Pavilion stands at the very center of the city. Foodie havens, great shopping, and inviting hotels await your visit.

Best of all for the garden traveler, the South Downs is a year-round destination, drawing you to the iconic settings of Virginia Woolf’s Monk’s house & Garden & the Bloomsbury Group’s ’salon’ … Charleston House.

Lewes – a bustling yet charming town in East Sussex merits exploring.

I, for one, can’t get enough of the characters associated with the Bloomsbury saga, from the exploits of Vita Sackville-West to Vanessa, Clive, Duncan, and their offspring:  Here’s a lovely book by Bloomsbury descendant, Quentin Bell:

CHARLESTON house & garden … on Amazon.com

And furthermore…

barely an hour’s ride by train,

London’s Chelsea Physic Garden

…click to visit: Bay Area Tendrils

Traveling in the Pacific Northwest, in the Seattle area? I recommend an enjoyable, short ferry ride to Bainbridge Island, where you’ll find the enchanting gardenscape created by Little and Lewis: Open by appointment

Since my last visit, David and George have sold their original garden. It’s now been two years since they relocated from the exceptional garden created over an eighteen-year span, to begin agnew on the property next door. The new garden – pictured – sits on about a third of an acre in a residential neighborhood on Bainbridge Island, some 30 minutes from the dock in Seattle.

Akin to the former setting, a lush exoticism characterizes the new garden. Dappled light plays over the garden’s tropical specimens, and strongly architectural plants adorning containers, grouped around a stone-paved courtyard. An 8 and 1/2 foot moss-covered rain tree creates a lyrical plashing of water, while a courtly old Japanese maple presides over the garden’s abundant sculptures placed throughout.

The entire garden exudes the atmosphere of the ancient sites that George and David are drawn to, yet except for the established trees, the garden is a mere 10 months old at this time.

George and David, partners in Little and Lewis, have collaborated on their unique, color-washed concrete sculptures and installations since 1992. They travel frequently to Mexico, absorbing the light, color and architecture that influences their work.

Their stunningly photogenic works of garden art and horticultural expertise has featured widely in books (you’ll find an entry in my guidebook:  Gardenwalks in the Pacific Northwest – Globe Pequot Press INSIDERS’ Guide) …and has been celebrated in magazines, as well as on television, including Martha Stewart Living and The Victory Garden.

You’ll find in-depth look at the art of Little and Lewis in their best selling, award-winning book: A Garden Gallery: The Plants and Hardscape of Little and Lewis (Timber Press Publisher):  A Garden Gallery available on Amazon.com.

Veddw Blooms - Doorway through Hedge (Alice Joyce photo)

Definition: Visionary – A person with unusual powers of foresight; utopian, chimeric, dreamer, enthusiast, escapist, exalted, idealistic, illusory, zealot.

Veddw House Garden has been written about and praised by such luminaries as Germaine Greer.

Veddw - Hedges Reflected - Pool Garden (Alice Joyce photo)

Created by Anne Wareham and Charles Hawes, the contemporary setting at Veddw is compelling in ways that only the rare gardenscape can reach deep inside and grab at one’s soul, even as the mind is busily engaged in noting the garden’s bones, appreciating the artful plantings, and bold forms.

Veddw grows up in the arcadian landscape of Monmouthshire in south east Wales, where my meeting with Anne and Charles was all too brief.

A sad fact of traveling: timing does not always play out as hoped for. And with too little time to wander about the garden – a place that deserves two or three lengthy visits to take in all the elements / the overall effect – I’ve struggled to write cogently about the experience of this rare contemporary garden. Moreover, an innovative work of art.

Having decided to wait no longer, I offer a photographic diary of my perambulations through the Gardens at Veddw House.

Do visit the web site: Veddw

to find stimulating essays describing the garden, and view photographs by Charles Hawes.

Stephen Anderton and Charles Hawes have written a wonderful book that I highly recommend, a lushly photographed, provocatively written effort providing insight and guidance for an au courant journey through the gardening scene in Wales, be it from your armchair or in real time!

Discovering Welsh Gardens – Available on Amazon.com

Veddw (Alice Joyce photos)

I once ventured to a charming country hotel housed in a Renaissance manor, Mas de la Brune, to experience the quietude of early morning, in a place where one is enveloped by the fragrance of Iceberg roses. A gentle breeze causes the tall plumes of miscanthus to brush up against your face as you lose yourself in the sensory delights unfolding along the path of the White Garden, a magically lush oasis in Le Jardin de l’Alchimiste – The Garden of the Alchemist!

My all too brief stay at Mas de la Brune enabled me to wander in the Alchemist’s Garden whenever I wished, as the gardens are adjacent to the Bed & Breakfast lodgings. Nestled in the bewitchingly blue Alpilles mountains of France, the garden opened to the public in 1999, on a site adjoining Mas de la Brune.  The owners worked with renowned designers Arnaud Maurieres and Eric Ossart to create a uniquely conceived, contemporary gardenscape.

Above: Looking through the circular entry to the White Garden from the Garden in Red.

Inspired by the belief that the property’s main building had once been the home of an alchemist,  the garden took shape using symbols, colors, shapes and forms, directing visitors along a trail of discovery. The sensual atmosphere of the garden is experienced after traveling through a narrow labyrinth sculpted into a section of dense hedging. Going forward, one enters a botanical garden of magic plants, serving as a prelude to the Alchemist’s Garden.

The ample, open layout of the botanical plantings is intersected by wide aisles, where the species celebrate the esoteric repute of local flora; taking in aphrodisiac qualities, divining rods crafted of hazel branches, nettles, and a botanical assembly from olive trees to apothecary’s roses.

Decorative devices employed in the magic plants’ garden include a vine-shrouded arch, spanning the garden at midpoint to provide a pleasing balance. A long rill cut into the ground plane flows silently crosswise, while magic forests – wooded plots with curving paths – bracket the outer boundaries.

A far-reaching row of white curtains stands opposite wreathed fencing of living willow, acting to screen and separate horticultural groupings of magic plants from the mystical garden beyond.

Composed in 3 parts, the Alchemist’s Garden – Le Jardin de l’Alchimiste, proposes a transformative walk through the stages of life – from the early years to mellow adulthood, and finally, to a spiritual state of being. The alchemist’s methods are presented in the enchanting guise of tonal works, i.e. the work in black, in white, and in red. Each area is imbued with an acute materiality. The black garden features a shaded passageway upholstered in leafy shrubbery, transitioning into a space furnished with black mondo grass aligned in pots perched on metal stands. Around the corner, emerald hedges set the stage for a queue of terra cotta planters showcasing fleshy, claret-hued Aeonium arboreum. Entering the luxuriant white garden, a gently twisting path paved in glistening gravel guides you on a course through an overabundance of ‘Iceberg’ roses intermingled with a silvery-striped cultivar of  Miscanthus sinensis.

One more experience must unfold before the unusual garden journey culminates – the satisfying architecture of the Red garden. A fountainhead rises up at the heart of the space, from a water feature shaped like the Star of David. Hue and texture marry in a level expanse of iron-red stones complemented by sections of green turf, while an ordered structure composed of row upon row of red roses radiates outward from the pool’s central star.

GARDENS IN FRANCE .. Books on Amazon.com

Japanese Garden – Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle

Azaleas Blooming by the Pond – photo courtesy Arboretum Foundation

Attention to detail is characteristic of the authentic style you’ll experience when touring Seattle’s Japanese Garden. When Juki Iida, the garden’s primary designer, arrived in the United States from Japan, he proceeded to choose 500 massive boulders from their natural mountainous environment, and then personally supervised the placing of the formidable architectural forms that were so essential to the philosophical and artistic underpinnings of the landscaping.

Every month of the year, the Japanese Garden and the Washington Park Arboretum offer unique displays to engage the interest of garden lovers.

The Arboretum’s new Pacific Connections Garden is located at the south end of the Arboretum.

Glorious magnolias and lush conifers harbor large-leaved  rhododendrons in an area known as Loderi Valley. The collection of ‘rhodies’ blooms from February into June, while the peak exhibition of magnolias spans March through May.

A witch-hazel blooming in the Witt Winter Garden at the Washington Park Arboretum in January. The Witt garden is especially splendid from November through March. Be sure to tour the Waterfront Trail for up-close views of Marsh Island and Foster Island, with all the flora and fauna that coexist in a marshland habitat.

Designed by the renowned Olmsted Brothers, scions of Frederick Law Olmsted, the city of Seattle’s fine boulevard plan and park system suggest plenty of reasons to explore neighborhoods throughout town. The tranquil landscape of the Arboretum and Japanese Garden play a prominent role among Seattle’s treasure trove of parkland settings.

When planning a visit to Seattle, be sure to visit the Washington Park Arboretum Foundation web site for news and announcements about special events.

Near the Graham Visitors Center at the Arboretum, the crabapple, Malus ‘Adirondack’ flowers.

Books on Woodland Gardens … Amazon.com

Summer … Sonoma Wine Country

Vintners Inn – Summer Scene (Alice Joyce photo)

In the mood for a much-needed getaway?

Lodgings at the Vintners Inn offer a luxurious retreat set within a 92-acre vineyard landscape.

The Inn’s 3 separate buildings comprise 44 rooms and suites featuring French country decor, each with a private patio, or a balcony with lovely views. Book a room with a fireplace and Jacuzzi for a particularly heavenly respite from the workaday world.

We enjoyed drinks and a light meal in the Front Room Bar & Lounge adjacent to the famed John Ash & Co. restaurant. John Ash is known for having introduced the ‘locavore‘ approach to Sonoma County, with the creation of seasonal cuisine sourcing local ingredients.

Vintners Inn

John Ash & Co.

We strolled around the new jogging path through the vineyards, with T. doing a bit of bird-watching while I enjoyed the scenery. And when morning dawned, we traveled no further than the Inn’s breakfast room, where the complimentary buffet allowed for a perfect start to another day of wine tasting amid Northern California’s myriad wineries.

Gardens of the World .. Amazon.com

The owners of Vintners Inn, Don and Rhonda Carano created a Sonoma destination garden in Healdsburg that I’ve written about many times, at  Ferrari-Carano Vineyards & Winery … included in my book, Gardenwalks in California.  Stay tuned for an update on the Ferrari-Carano gardens!

in the Hudson River Valley. In this environmental artwork – completed between 2006-2009 – Eliasson achieves a clarity of design with elements focusing upon an island of bluestone encircled by a pond. Commissioned for the Bard College campus in upstate New York by the Center for Curatorial Studies, the setting is embraced by a ring of 24 trees.

Access to the island is via a bridgeway covered by a steel latticework passage.

In the center of the pond, the island’s circular form resonates with distinctive stone paving, forming a 12-point pattern that references the meridian lines of nautical charts and the compass.

Eliasson Installation: Deborah Esrick Photo

The Parliament of Reality is located on the north end of Bard’s campus, in a field near the Frank Gehry-designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts building.

Land Art & Environmental Art  -  Books on Amazon.com

Iford Manor – Peto Garden Stairway (Alice Joyce photo)

An influential figure of the Arts and Crafts movement in Britain, architect Harold Peto lent his name and remarkable artistry to the garden at Iford Manor, near the city of Bath in Bradford on Avon, England.

Iford Manor .. Peto Garden (Alice Joyce photo)

In Iford Manor’s idealized setting, Peto created a captivating landscape, now restored and open to the public. The potency of the Peto Garden is enticing, a place to wander delightedly amid terraces reminiscent of an Italian villa.

Vista Over Wall (Alice Joyce photo)

Working during the Edwardian period, Peto designed a garden steeped in a lush romanticism: a style that rings true despite nostalgic references. In leaving his mark upon the Wiltshire landscape, Peto forged a gateway to another  era, an oasis of great beauty.

Topiary and Fountain (Alice Joyce photo)

Magnificent hardscape elements harmonize with emerald green topiary; the garden’s terraces and buildings clothed in exuberant Spring-blooming Wisteria, Ceanothus and Choisya.

Peto Garden Great Terrace (Alice Joyce photo)

Peto furnished the landscape with arrays of stone statuary and bronze sculptures: The eye-catching ornamentation provides compelling counterpoints throughout the layout, from the arcadian Loggia to the Blue Pool, Casita to the Cloisters and Japanese Garden.

Iford Manor - Peto Garden River God (Alice Joyce photo)

Iford Manor – Peto Garden

Books on Gardens Worldwide