I suppose the most interesting garden this year was John Greenlee's crazy grass jungle. It certainly was the most fun to walk through. And it certainly wasn't sticking to a "safe" and expected planting palette.
The garden had some neat details like the stone lighting, as well as Marcia Donahue's fantastic ceramics.
Now, I just hate to say this, but if this was my garden, I'd be afraid my neighbors would show up with lawn mowers in the middle of the night. With the complete dominance of fine-textured grasses it just felt a bit weedy. There I said it. I don't think most home owners are ready for this look. I'm not. I still need a bit more woody plants and bold textures to be comfortable. But if one of my neighbors wants to have a garden like this, I promise not to bring the lawn mower by.
I'm not quite sure what to make of this garden. The central structure reminds me of an art nouveau time transporter that's spent too much time at the craft store. But they did have a giant gold dragon! And lord knows, I can't pass by a giant gold dragon without getting my picture taken with it.
This garden was quite nice. It had interesting plants combos - I liked the silver/black and bronzy/gold palettes and the use of those housing studs (I think that is what they were?) as fencing was very nice. And the columns of vertical plants was a nice twist on the typical one-dimensional features.
A garden for those with a Cinderella complex:
I did find the colors in this garden interesting. The sherbet pink and dreamsicle orange would be great in fun girly, girl garden. Just would have to find some plants in those colors that could actually survive outside.
This is a great wall, but wasn't it there last year?
So that's what I noticed at the show. I guess there were a few things to poke fun at. All I can say is, even if some are a bit silly and over-the-top, at least they are better than a boring bed of azaleas, no?
