North Carolina to New York and Back

Chihuly, New York Botanical Garden

This has been a summer of coming and going … visitors coming to our garden, Acorn Hill, and us visiting gardens both public and private.  (Click on any of the photos for a closer look.)

The Bullington Gardens tour of six private Asheville gardens, including ours, was a big success.  The tour was full, the weather cooperative, the box lunch delicious, and of course the gardens were wonderful.

Lots of friends have come through the garden this summer which I have encouraged as it is in tip-top shape for the tour.  I actually coasted on my gardening for about a month after the tour before I had to start picking weeds again!

We’ve just returned from a wonderful trip to the Hudson River Valley and New York City.  One day we toured Kykuit, the Rockefeller Estate, and followed this the next day with a visit to Innisfree Garden in Millbrook, NY.  The Kykuit garden is classically designed with wonderful geometry and perfect axial views.  By comparison, Innisfree is completely organic in design.  A wonderful juxtaposition!

In NYC we walked the High Line.  It was so interesting to finally be there after reading so much about this park.  My overall impression is that it is wildly popular … it was packed with walkers.  Had I stopped to look around too much, I might have been swept along in the tide of people.  What a treat for New Yorkers to have this park slicing through Manhattan.

We finished our visit to New York with a stroll through the New York Botanical Garden.  The garden was a treat in itself, but we were fortunate to visit during the Chihuly Exhibit.  I’ve seen these works in photographs, but to encounter them in the garden is stunning.  Their beauty is obvious, but upon close inspection I was amazed at the complexity of the structures and wondered at how the pieces were installed perfectly each time.

In each of these gardens I found the thread of art mixing with gardens.  Kykuit is full of both classical sculpture and modern art.  At Innisfree, water and stone become art.  The High Line is peppered with an array of commissioned sculpture and painting.  And of course, NYBG’s display of Chihuly glass made that visit so special.

Modern Art at Kykuit set against the Hudson River

Water Spray & Standing Stones, Innisfree

After this wonderful trip, I feel refreshed and inspired.  I am thinking of introducing art into my garden, and although I’m unsure of where to begin, I will look to the many wonderful local artists in our North Carolina mountains.

And in all of my garden visiting, what did I overhear so many times … “What is that plant?”  If only they had Muddy Boots Plant Tags!