RE: Myrtus Alternatives(Out with the roses!)

Hi David,

It is indeed that bed's time. I actually decided it needed to go last year
but I
didn't have the staff to do the job and maintain the rest of the garden too.
At
the moment I do, so off we go... Deciding on 
what the front edge will look like is only a piece of the design of course.
I
actually like some roses a great deal but not in that sort of bed. I prefer
them
used in mixed borders rather than as a collection, although I like visiting
rose
gardens occasionally too. 

R. Burle Marx certainly greatly influenced the original design of this
garden
albeit indirectly. If you look down at the garden from the 28th floor of the
Kaiser building it becomes really clear. Come over sometime and I'll take
you up
there. 

I have to say thank you to Sean O'Hara for first introducing me to Burle
Marx's
work. I designed and installed an interior garden in a large planter (which
no
longer exists)in the Kaiser Building lobby many years ago and Sean came by
and
mentioned to me that he thought the design looked very "Burle Marxian". I
asked
him who that was and he loaned me Sima Eliovson's book on his gardens. What
a
revelation!

I'm working on a plan now that hopefully will pick up the white bark of the
Birch and emphasize it. Just at the moment in my head it is silver, white,
purple, dark green, the colors being mainly in the foliage but with flowers
too.
But that may change :). What "reads" from the buildings above are white,
grays
and silvers, dark green, red, orange, and yellow. Blues, purples, and
anything
pastel
tend to wash out. But of course the garden also is seen close up and I care
a
great deal about that experience. People who walk in the garden are the ones
I
communicate with directly, and in many ways are the ones who really love it.
Those who look down on it but never  take the elevator down to explore miss
all
the details.

Some of the plantings are indeed very tired. I've been slowly changing them
while, as you point out, keeping the lines and shapes of beds the same. I
spoke
on a panel at U.C. Berkeley not too long ago and was asked about some of the
changes I've made to the plant material. The question was about my use of
"modern" plants, i.e. those not commercially available in the mid-20th
century.
I pointed out that I have maintained carefully the very good "bones" of this
garden while at the same time enriching (or confusing-depending on one's
point
of view)the plant pallette. The question was in the context of a comparison
of
my approach to that of the (also mid-century) Donnell Garden in Sonoma
County
which follows a strict preservasionist plan. I pointed out some of the
differences: e.g. that the Donnell Garden has always been a very private
home
garden, in the same family, and isolated on their hill in a rural area,
whereas
this is a commercial, urban site which has seen the city literally grow up
around it changing sun, shade, and wind patterns, and with a very diverse
visitor population. The site has had sometimes good, and sometimes
indifferent,
maintenance over its 43 years depending on who has actually owned the
property.
It is about to be sold again so who knows what's next? Maybe the new owners
will
want a much more standardized pallette and we'll be back to endless beds of
mass
plantings of annuals as was done here from 1960-1990...yawn. 

Deborah

____________________Reply Separator____________________
Subject:    Re: Myrtus Alternatives(Out with the roses!)
Author: "david feix" <SMTP:davidfeix@yahoo.com>
Date:       1/19/03 12:35 PM

Hi Deborah,

I am not a big fan of roses either,(especially a whole
bed of them!) and it sounds as if you are wanting to
base a new sunny bed around the existing birch and
background shrubs,  none of which are really drought
resistant in a roof top garden situation.  How about
being bold and just getting rid of the roses and
replacing the whole bed with something that would be
more interesting year round?  All gardens change over
time, and this may be this bed's time?

I could see a mass planting of Astelia chathamica
'Silver Spear'(or the similar dwarfer Astelia nervosa)
in lieu of the roses, interplanted with Sollya
heterophylla and/or Lantana montevidensis with some
smatterings of Limonium perezii and perhaps a
foreground edging of Erigeron karvinskianus
'Moorheimerii'.  Lots of purple and silver, and you
could also throw in some Aeonium 'Mint Saucer'(from
San Marcos Growers) for a succulent green accent
perhaps with Hebe buxifolia below the Birch.  I would
envision this as massed groupings in swirls, ala Burle
Marx of Brazil.  As roof top gardens also play to
surrounding taller highrise buildings, patterns which
are bold as viewed from above can be an important part
of the garden's year round appeal.

You could also consider another color scheme
altogether such as Phormium 'Yellow Wave' mass planted
in lieu of the roses, with a blue groundcover of
Senecio mandraliscae.  You could add some year round
flowering Plectranthus as sinuous lines within this
field with the lavender Plectranthus zuluensis(blooms
year round on herbaceous shrubs to 3') and a dwarfer
low growing Plectranthus neochilus(12 to 18" tall with
year round deep purple flowers).  Some Lavandula
'Goodwin Creek Gray' or L. multifida could also add
some great color accent.

Another scheme might get more adventurous, and throw
in some things like Aloe saponaria 'yellow form' and
Bulbine frutescens, with Isopogon formosus, Adenanthos
drummondiii for shrubs, and Crotalaria agatiflora and
Cussonia paniculata var sinuata for accents, and
groundcovers of Convolvulus mauritanicus.

I think the Kaiser roof top gardens would actually
benefit from some larger scale changes to some of the
boring/tired older plantings that haven't necessarily
worked well over the decades.  (And you can always say
that you are retaining the overall scheme by retaining
trees and hedges, and heights/massing of plantings...)

Regards,
David



--- "Lindsay, Deborah" <Deborah.Lindsay@kaiseral.com>
wrote:
> I want to say a big thank you to all who responded
> to my Myrtle and other
> queries. You all are the most generous folks with
> sharing information. I
> really
> appreciate it! I'll send an update on my project as
> it progresses.
>
> best regards,
>
> Deborah
>


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