Design by OVSLA Photo © Alice Joyce
The creators of the gallery-style gardens at Cornerstone Sonoma comprise an international roster of eminent landscape architects and designers, while the installations express ideas from whimsical to lyrical to more weighty concerns. A few years ago, Cornerstone joined with the Garden Conservancy to host a series of design talks, resulting in a lively discourse on the art of the garden.
OVSLA Garden Contrasts Overview Photo © Alice Joyce
In conjunction with the seminar, a new garden designed by the firm of Oehme, van Sweden & Associates premiered. James van Sweden, an influential figure associated with the New American Garden style, and partner Sheila Brady follow a philosophy that references natural meadows; an ecologically minded, low- maintenance approach, and the skillful uniting of informal plantings within a refined hardscape.
The OVSLA design for Cornerstone achieves a lovely clarity in its division of space. Abetted by a diagonal arrangement of ‘Tuscan Blue’ rosemary forming a long hedge, the fragrant shrubbery effectively bisects the garden’s rectangular layout. Along the boundary to the rear of the hedge, the garden yields to a gathering of olive trees, and plantings of herbaceous perennials that pay homage to the shifting seasons.
In describing the concept, Brady pointed out the design’s interplay with geometries: The rectangle… strongly contrasted with the diagonal… and a circular overlay, resulting in a play of light and shade. Meander along the pathway and your focus turns from the sculpted multi-stems of the olives, to a vibrant juxtaposition: Within a monolithic field of grasses – punctuated by California poppies – a massing of winter-flowering Agave attenuata emerges in a wedge-shaped, sunny corner. The demonstrative succulent rosettes of the agaves offset the lacy leaves of perennials such as ferns and columbines, growing along the sheltered area behind the trees.
Seeing these pictures makes me want to dive in and experience the garden. My guess is that these are expansive spaces, and the constraints of any image forces it to be like peeping through a keyhole. I want more, more, more! Thanks for the tantalizing teaser, Alice. I learned of (and became a fan of) OFSLA in the planting design course I took this spring.
Of course, I don’t mean “OFSLA” but “OVSLA” — a slip of the index finger (vinger?)
Looks great BUT…………….. it would be pretty high maintenance when the grasses dry and need trimming OUCH. Using a strimmer/ whipper snipper would damage the pristine agave leaves too, and the numerous agave proliferations would be prickly to remove.
I love the Agave in the meadow. I’ve never seen it used that way before.