Garden Dialogues Continues as one of TCLF's Most Successful Programs

Architect's Garden, Bel Air, CA, Lisa Gimmy

“It was such a rare experience, and everyone knew it.”

“So much more interesting than a walk around some flowers, with not much context.”

“Everyone was wowed.”

Casa de Miel, Palm Beach, FL, Nievera WilliamsThose are just a few of the many positive comments we’ve gotten about the 2013 Season of Garden Dialogues, a program started last year that provides a limited number of participants exclusive access to private gardens where they hear from the owner and landscape architect (and sometimes the architect, too) about the creative/collaborative process.

The program was so successful in its inaugural year that the number of sites was increased 50% for 2013. This year the season kicked off in Florida, with exquisite gardens in Coral Gables, Miami and Palm Beach; three dynamic locations in Houston, and an exceptional site in New Orleans. Dialogues destinations included the Bacardi Estate, with work by Jorge Sanchez of Sanchez and Maddux, and the magical creation of Mario Nievera of Nievera-Williams for a 1928 Mediterranean-style home in Palm Beach.

(upper) The Bacardi Estate, Coral Gables, FL, Sanchez and Maddux, Inc
with Portuondo-Perotti Architects; (lower) The Weber Estate, Magnolia,
TX, Asakura Robinson CompanyNext, Garden Dialogues ventured to Phoenix and then on to Southern California. In Los Angeles, landscape architect Lisa Gimmy and Doug Moreland, owner of a mid-century house with panoramic views of the Santa Monica Mountains, had a wide ranging discussion which touched on Moreland's vision of his garden as a work of art, the use of plants as sculpture, the garden as inspiration for Moreland's growing art collection, and even the proper maintenance of his bush germander hedge.

In LA’s exclusive Brentwood section, Pamela Palmer used vivid visuals to give a strong sense of her project’s overall plan including landscape drawings, a 3D mock-up of the plan and a full plant list people could take with them.

In Connecticut, at the restored 1951 New Canaan home of Marcel Breuer (with a Toshiko Mori addition), Andrew Moore of Quennell Rothschild Landscape Architects and the home’s owner led participants (including a Dwell magazine reporter who is writing an article about the event) through the exquisite landscape – and then to everyone’s surprise, through the house, too.

In Dallas, the landscape architecture by Gary Hilderbrand of Reed Hilderbrand for the monumental 1964 Philip Johnson-designed Beck House, the subject of lavish coverage by the New York Times Magazine, was so popular there was an extensive waiting list, the longest yet for the program.

(upper) New Canaan home of Marcel Breuer, Quennell Rothschild &
Partners; (lower) Oak Court Residence, Dallas, TX, MESAThe other Garden Dialogues destinations to date: Phillip Hulitar Sculpture & Display Garden, Palm Beach (FL), Adam Mills of Morgan Wheelock Incorporated, Landscape Architects; Historical Gem, Miami Beach (FL), Lewis Aqüi Landscape + Architectural Design, LLC; Casa de Miel, Palm Beach (FL), Mario Nievera, Nievera Williams; Gulfside Garden, Casey Key (FL), Michael A. Gilkey, Inc., with Clifford M. Scholz, CMSA Architects; The Weber Estate, Houston (TX), Asakura Robinson Company; Meredith Long & Company, Houston (TX), Baldridge Landscape; Stephen Fox, Architectural Historian; Dillon Kyle AIA; Kelly Residence, Houston (TX), Sarah Westkaemper Lake; Lemann Residence, New Orleans (LA), Royston, Hanamoto, Alley and Abey, Garden Dialogue conversation led by Lake Douglas PhD, ASLA
, Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture, LSU; The Blacker House, Pasadena (CA), Isabelle Greene & Associates, Inc. with Jim Ipekjian, Ipekjian Custom Wood Works; The Gilbert Residence, Brentwood (CA), Pamela Burton, Pamela Burton & Co. Landscape Architecture and Mario Violich, Moore Ruble Yudell; Firefly, Montecito (CA), Van Atta Associates, Inc.; PowerStation, Dallas (TX), David L. Hocker, Hocker Design Group; Oak Court Residence, Dallas (TX), Mary Ellen Cowan, MESA; Indian Creek Residence, Fort Worth (TX), William Bibb, Archiverde with Weldon Turner, Turner Boaz Architects; The Pond House, Cave Creek (AZ), Coffman Studio Landscape Architecture + Planning, with Will Bruder + Partners; Longview Farm, Bethesda (MD), Clinton & Associates, PC Landscape Architects; Four Pavilions, Washington, DC, Gregg Bleam, Gregg Bleam Landscape Architect and Richard Williams, Richard Williams Architects, pllc.

Firefly, Montecito, CA, Van Atta Associates, Inc Garden Dialogues are currently scheduled through August in Connecticut, Kentucky, Portland (OR), New York and the Hamptons, with more coming soon in Aspen, Minneapolis, Massachusetts, Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area. Register now because attendance is limited and these Dialogues fill up fast.

As one participant noted: “I find this format so much more satisfying than the typical garden tour. It is a treat to find out who is there and what their interests are so it is much more like a garden party than a tour. There is a nice exchange, not just a look and see and leave.”

We are very grateful to the landscape architects, garden designers and architects who share their insights, knowledge and plant lists along with the very gracious and welcoming homeowners who have opened their doors and shared their secrets.