Thank you .. ‘Dirt du Jour’

for the glowing review! "Go ask Alice ... where all the best vineyard gardens are. She's an erudite charmer; you'll have fun!"

Garden Travel

Worth Garden: A Paradise in Mill Valley

Worth Garden /Silver leaves and Steps Photo © Alice Joyce

Artist/Photographer Don Worth created a paradise garden in Mill Valley, California. Soon you’ll have a rare opportunity to experience the garden’s tropical splendor on Saturday, June 16th, 2012 when The Garden Conservancy Open Days Program allows visitors access to this beguiling landscape. In 1964 Worth bought the property in Mill Valley and began to work on a garden. When I walked through the landscape with Don in 2004, he remembered thinking of all the photographs he would take. “It became a laboratory for me,” he said, “… a never-ending source of subject matter.” Don passed away recently, but his garden remains a testament to a stunning artistic vision. You’d never know this setting had been overgrown with poison oak, French broom, wild blackberries and as Don told me, “more different kinds of weeds than one can imagine.”

Continue reading Worth Garden: Paradise in Mill Valley

Historic Gardens

Irish Hunger Memorial

Irish Hunger Memorial wall brickwork Photo © Alice Joyce

Not far from Ground Zero, the Battery Park City neighborhood in lower Manhattan has greatly changed in the years since 9/11. I stepped off a shuttle bus at an unexpected stop, catching sight of a poignantly composed green sward. The Irish Hunger Memorial, designed by artist Brian Tolle, with landscape architect Gail Wittwer-Laird among the project’s team, commemorates the famine of the mid-1880s, at the same time, raising awareness for all who face hunger in the world today.

Continue reading Irish Hunger Memorial: New York City

England

English Gardens: Mapperton Beckons

Mapperton Fountain Court Tiered Topiary Photo © Alice Joyce

The historic landscaped gardens of …

Mapperton Fountain Court Tiered Topiary Photo © Alice Joyce

Click to visit: Mapperton .. a reprise.