Garden Diary: Borrowing Saint-Gaudens' Solution

Saint-Gaudens is certainly among America's greatest sculptors. His house and studio, called Aspet, in Cornish, New Hampshire, is a National Historic Site now operated by the National Park Service. The formal garden he created on the private side of his house, though not well maintained, as one would expect at a historic site operated by the NPS, is a rather famous example of a unique solution to the problem of creating perspective where no vanishing point exists.

Two sets of stairs create a central axis in this simple garden, directing the eye to what was then the blank side of the house. Saint-Gaudens' solution was to create a pergola feature that imitates a door into the house, at least from a distance. Up close it's a simple arch with lattice behind and a sculpture of Dionysus.

I think I'll use the same concept, but instead of the small pergola, I'd construct a shallow shadow box affair, probably painted the same slate color as the garden wall behind, about five or six feet high, and fronted by trellis mounted several inches out from the box, to create a sense of depth, and painted a dark green. It would be positioned approximately where I'm standing in the photo below.

Vines will grow on the trellis (not sure what yet) and  some central feature will attract the eye to a single focal point. I have an old ceramic mask of Bacchus glazed in white, bought on our first visit to Florence over 25 years ago. I might use that, though it may be overly "mannered" for my garden.

I'll have to wait and see how it all comes together. A stone architectural artifact may work better.

Though I don't have Saint-Gaudens' embankments to give a sense of rising height, I may also add landscape timbers to create a terraced effect, as shown in this sketch Peter Holt was kind enough to send me.

Below it all will be the leaky "lotus" pool (perhaps) used as a planter, at ground level.

If I could draw, I'd put a drawing here.

Garden Diary: Slate

Today was another sunny, extraordinarily warm day in this month we expect to bring us nothing but dreary skies, ice and snow. I spent some time in the plantless, exposed garden site looking at colors. What I've realized after trying eight colors is that one dark color--called "Slate" by Behr--is fairly ubiquitous in the surrounding environment. It's almost the same color as the expanse of windows and doors opening onto the garden, and it's present all around, in the iron work on numerous houses, railings, window frames, telephone and cable lines, telephone poles, and most prominently, in the dark shadows cast by the bright overhead sun.

I've found my color.

You can see it in the dark windows against the white wall below, in the wires and cables stretching to the backs of the houses, in the shadows and the ironwork balcony on the right. "Slate" is no. 376, second from the right on the wall.

I had a strong preference for the gray (518) earlier in this process. That color is much less blue than it appears in the photo, tending toward taupe. But I think the Slate resonates with the environment, and I do think it will work well with the plants, especially after some green vines attach themselves to the wall.

Below you can also see how the darker color takes on a grayness when sunlight strikes it at a certain angle. That grayish reflective surface, changing with the light, will make for a satisfying background to the plants, and add richness and depth.

I bought the Slate stain this afternoon and expect the contractor to have the walls painted soon, though the forecast for rain tomorrow may delay that. I'm hoping the warm weather continues for a while so this can be finished.

For what it's worth, below are the three new colors I tried earlier this week:  Forest from Behr, Jasper and Charleston Green from Sherwin Williams. Forest looks very olive, much more so than you can see in the photo. Both Jasper and Charleston Green appear to have a lot of blue in the photo, but they don't.

Without first trying these colors, I don't think I'd have been ready to choose Slate. But when I looked at the array of colors this morning, and at the surroundings (not lovely but with their own color palette), the decision was immediate.

On another subject, but related because it does illustrate how important shadow will be in this little garden, I'm thinking of using this old, cracked, round fountain as a planter. I originally thought it would be inappropriate, but it may work if planted with mosses, small ferns, and other things. Most of it will disappear. I may need to pump a trickle of water to keep it moist. Just an idea. We'll see ...

By the way, that motion-activated security light over the center of the doorway is coming down. It's supposed to be off to the side, as invisible as possible.

And looking away from the house, the back of the garden badly needs a point of focus, a feature to draw the eye. Something on axis and with height. I have an idea I'm working on. Saint-Gaudens used a similar concept for a focal point in his garden in Cornish, New Hampshire (not that I'm claiming his robe, but one can imitate a good idea when it comes freely, no?).

Below, where I'm standing, not a doorway, but a portal of sorts.