Register for Atlanta and Los Angeles Garden Dialogues, May 30-31
Register today for special Garden Dialogues in Atlanta and Los Angeles the weekend of May 30-31. Garden Dialogues bring together patrons and designers to reveal the creative process and collaboration that yields a great garden.
Restoration of the Goodrum House & Garden, photo courtesy Tunnell + Tunnell Landscape Architecture
The settings are intimate—generally no more than 24-30 people; relaxed—most run 90 minutes, providing ample opportunity to explore the garden and hear a lively, informative Dialogue; and exclusive—nearly every Dialogue destination is a private, residential garden. Each is approved for 1.5 PDH by LA CES.
Three opportunities are offered in Atlanta on Saturday, May 30. Tickets are $45 each or $125 for all three:
9:30-11:00 am, Restoration of the Goodrum House & Garden led by Spencer Tunnell II and Matt Sussman of Tunnell + Tunnell Landscape Architecture
Completed in 1932 and recently restored to its original period design, this English Regency-style home was designed by renowned architect Philip Trammell Shutze for May Patterson Goodrum, the widow of a wealthy Atlanta businessman. Enjoy stunning allées and large boxwood and perennial gardens framed by restored garden walls. The expansive lawns, mixed hedges, and dense oak tree canopy were brought back, returning this distinguished home to its former glory.
11:30 am-1:00 pm, Alexander-Pound House led by Will McDonald of Tunnell + Tunnell Landscape Architecture, with Theodore Pound
Completed in 1957, the Alexander-Pound House was designed and occupied by revered Atlanta architect Cecil Alexander. One of Atlanta’s first modern homes, the house was featured in Life Magazine and Progressive Architecture. The original site and planting plans were designed by award-winning landscape architect Edward Daugherty. Theodore and Susan Pound purchased the and hired Tunnell & Tunnell Landscape Architecture in 2010 to rehabilitate the landscape. Delight in diverse plantings in striking combinations, including grasses, perennials, mature woodland, and flowering shrubs.
Rivermeade Residence, photo courtesy Harrison Design
2:30-4:00 pm, Rivermeade Residence led by Bill Caldwell of Harrison Design
This 2.5 acre site lies in the shadow of historic Standing Peachtree Fort at the Chattahoochee River, providing delightful views to a natural meadow and wildlife. The owner’s decree was to view a garden from every window in the house, so the landscape was designed as seven garden rooms. Each garden space accents the home’s design through the use of complementary building materials and features garden pieces collected by the owner over the years. Since its construction, Rivermeade has been featured on the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s Connoisseur’s Tour and provided a backdrop for Tyler Perry’s For Better or Worse television sitcom.
Mission Hill Family Chapel, photo copyright Marion Brenner
Seven Dialogues are offered in Los Angeles on Saturday and Sunday, May 30-31. Tickets to the Special Event in the Malibu Hills are $150 each; tickets to the other Dialogues are $45 each or $125 per day for all three Dialogues:
Saturday, May 30, 10:00am-1:30pm, Special Event in the Malibu Hills: Mission Hill Family Chapel led by Pamela Burton of Pamela Burton & Company Landscape Architecture and Butterfly House led by a renowned authority on landscape design.
This Garden Dialogue special event takes attendees to two exceptional private landscapes in the Malibu Hills that are never open to the public. At the first destination, a 20-acre landscape in the chaparral of the Santa Monica Mountains, six fountains are complemented by the recurring motifs of Mexican ceramic tiles, Italian cypress trees, native California oak trees, and extensive stone walls that distinguish the different areas of the complex. Walk through lushly planted, intimate enclosures and areas with broad, dramatic vistas. At noon, attendees will convene at Butterfly House where light refreshments will be served. The gardens are seamlessly integrated with the cascading California Mediterranean style villa, with views of the Pacific Ocean to the south and the Santa Monica Mountains to the north. Enter through a mature olive grove, embraced by towering eucalyptus and a California bay laurel hedge. Step down to entertaining terraces, vest pocket lawns, and rose covered pergolas, ending at a walled pool garden.
Pacific Palisades Residence, photo copyright Matt Dayka
Saturday, May 30, 10:30 am-12 Noon, Pacific Palisades Residence led by Isabelle C. Greene of Isabelle Greene and Associates, Inc.
A paradisiacal cornucopia of fruit trees - apples, apricots, almonds, pears, and plums – is the first inkling this is a special place. There are also pomegranates, limes, oranges, tangerines, lemons, persimmons, and berries; and the brilliant trunk of a specimen Mexican Fig Tree guides the color scheme for the entire project. The driveway, lined with carefully sculpted boxwood hedges, leads to a gravel path that wends through woodland ferns, flowering Magnolias and an allée of Crape Myrtles. Formality meets rusticity with a raised bed kitchen garden, a glass-tiled sandstone fountain, broken concrete terracing, an outdoor fireplace and a pool/spa.
Saturday, May 30, 1:30-3:00 pm, Hightree led by Jay Griffith
This half-acre site is set on the canyon floor amidst native California sycamores. A dramatic rectilinear elevated pool, based on the house’s strong geometry, offsets the sycamore’s angularity and curvilinear nature. The pool design is practical, with five-foot tall walls to address safety concerns associated with having small children, yet also sculptural, a seamless, buff-colored plaster-coated concrete monolith. The watery surface suggests one of the house’s giant windows. Vast sweeps of understory plantings offer subtle contrasts both textural and though tonal variations of green.
Saturday, May 30, 3:30-5:00 pm, Amalfi led by Jay Griffith
This one-acre site at a 120-foot elevation overlooking Rustic Canyon has breathtaking, panoramic views. A long, interwoven hedge acts as a green plinth transforming the 150-wide house into a giant sculptural element. Giant, raw steel planters created in homage to sculptor Richard Serra repeat this theme. The front garden is patterned after the Court of the Myrtles at the Alhambra in Seville, Spain, while the rear garden embraces the expansive view and is toned in aqueous colored succulent plantings that tie into the rectangular swimming pool. The muted color palette includes arcing white Agaves, giant blue Fan Palms, and sinuous eucalyptus.
Coldwater Canyon Residence, photo by David Laurdison
Sunday, May 31, 10:00-11:30 am, Coldwater Canyon Residence led by Mark Tessier of Mark Tessier Landscape Architecture
To highlight the architecture, concrete provides a unifying thread to join spaces together and define structure—sometimes solid, in other places becoming eroded walls and gravel walkways. At the entry to this serene garden, a sculptural concrete bridge arches over a Koi pond and water feature. Quiet, meditative pathways lead to willow trees and the pool, to floating wood platforms with lounge seating. On a carpet of Ipe wood, open-air dining and entertaining at a custom designed laser-cut tile table is enjoyed under retractable steel shade structures. Native plants are interspersed with the client’s favored planting palette, a diverse selection of succulents and exotic species.
Sunday, May 31, 1:00-2:30 pm, Saint Cloud Residence led by John Wong, FASLA, FAAR, of SWA
Extending 1.5 acres, the garden accentuates the property’s main house, constructed of French limestone with traditional, classic-period architectural details. The building materials include limestone, bronze, and wood lattice, linking the outdoor space, gardens, and pool house with the villa. Enter the property through a formal entry court lined with an array of trees and shrubbery, including groomed topiary. A simple Mediterranean plant palette featuring sculpted hedges, myrtles and coast live oaks provide the garden rooms with an elegant, outdoor museum quality which the firm intended to showcase the former owner’s collection of bronze sculptures.
Sunday, May 31, 3:30-5:00 pm, Hollywood Hillside Residence led by Judy Kameon of Elysian Landscapes
One of the many challenges at the site was integrating two structurally required retaining walls into the design to accommodate the 30-foot elevation change on the steep hillside. An intimate nook with cascading vines creatively masks one wall, while the other area was transformed into an elegant outdoor dining patio that includes a new spa, an L-shaped pool, and a variety of intimate spaces to lounge in and relax. The dramatic palette of silver, burgundy, blue and green subtropical succulents and Mediterranean perennials, along with the enticing scent of lavender, thyme, and rosemary, are layered throughout the property to create a private urban oasis.
Launched to critical acclaim in 2012, the program has become one of the most popular programs in TCLF's history, with most Dialogues sold out weeks in advance. In 2015, Dialogues will be held coast-to-coast, from March through October, at exceptional gardens designed by leading practitioners. Register now for Dialogues in your area.