Taking Design Cues From Nature

Our friend, Scott Calhoun of Zona Gardens, gave a wonderful talk at a recent Chicago Botanic Garden Symposium entitled: "Earning a Sense of Place, Garden Design Approaches Inspired by Nature." A few days before when we were hiking in Ironwood National Monument (we avoided the hazards of poisonous snakes and africanized bees, but unfortunately got to witness our few remaining tax-dollars at work in the form of a noisy & intrusive helicopter patrolling for "illegal aliens"), we saw some instructive design examples. Above catch Scott photographing lupine amidst grasses. The purple pops so much more given the grasses' textural contrast.



Here you can see how different the Mexican Poppy looks against gravel and the darker volcanic rock. The combo of the hot color and the cool foliage rocks!



Finally, one of Scott's pet peeves: a fine example in nature of what he believes most landscapers do poorly in clients' yards. Notice how artistically the rocks have arranged themselves via the forces of nature & time.

I agree. Wish more of us working outside could let ourselves be better schooled by observing what isn't man-made. Mostly, I believe it is this predominant American aesthetic of neatness and symmetry that doesn't work. And I haven't even begun to rant & rave about sustainability, or a lack thereof. The positive news is that some people in Tucson are practicing really progressive moves regarding water use & native plants. More about that and what we Midwesterners by the big lake can learn from our desert friends later...