Philip’s Garden Blog

Movement, change, light growth and decay are the lifeblood of nature, the energies that I try to tap through my work. I need the shock of touch, the resistance of place, materials and weather, the earth as my source. I want to get under the surface. When I work with a leaf, rock, stick, it is not just that material itself, it is an opening into the processes of life within and around it. When I leave it, these processes continue.
      -Andy Goldsworthy, Sculptor, “The Spire”

 The forests of the Presidio are all planted by man and as such they are a cultural landscape: an artifact, naturalistic more than natural; the forest and The Spire re-iterate similar themes and re-enforce the other.
      -Peter Erlich, Forestry Manager, The Presidio Trust

 A towering new sculpture has been completed in San Francisco and is soon to be open to the public. Located on the highest ridge of the Presidio National Park and surrrounded by century old and recently planted Monterey cypress trees, “The Spire” is the most recent work by the British artist, Andy Goldsworthy. Known for his site specific works using natural, found materials such as rock, branches and snow, Goldsworthy created the 100 foot tall structure from the mature cypress trees on the site, felled at the end of their life span.

Last weekend  I enjoyed a tour of the site and forest from Peter Erlich, forestry manager for The Presidio Trust. I came initially to see the work by Goldsworthy, but in the end I became facinated by the history of the Presidio forest, its geology and challenges so enthusiastically shared by Erlich. Growing up near Manhattan, Erlich felt more at home along the Hudson River than he did among the skyscapers of that city. In 1968, like so many others of that generation who heard the clarion call, he came to San Francisco. It was here in Northern California, with its mountains and forests that Erlich, an English major, found poetry in the landscape. Graduating from the University of California at Berkeley in their Foresty program, Erlich eventually began to work in urban Forestry. As Forestry manager at the Presidio he oversees the re-forestation program there. Erlich is a man who loves trees and what he does, all the while quoting his favorite poet Yeats and the story of the remarkable urban forest that is the Presidio.

From 1776 to 1994 The northwest tip of the San Francisco peninsula was a strategic military base which guarded the Golden Gate, the natural portal to one of the world’s great natural harbors. Despite the spectacular views, a posting at the Presidio was considered a great hardship. Combined with damp fog, the winds of the Pacific sent sand from the dunes in a relentless drive to the base. Soldiers stationed at the Presidio complained of endlessly digging sand away from buildings, from the sand in their bunks and the sand in their food.

 

From 1886 to 1900, in a remarkable feat of horticultural endeavor, the army planted over a hundred thousand Monterey Cypress, Blue gum Eucalyptus and Monterey pines in the sterile sand of the Presidio. Plantings were placed on the high ridge to accentuate the topography as in the 19th century landscape manner. The establishment of these man made forests on these once barren dunes rapidly changed the climate of not only the Presidio, but of the growing city of San Francisco. With the wind and sand blocked from these new natural windbreaks, the Presidio  became the verdant landscape we see today.

The Forests of the Presidio are now coming to the end of their natural life span. Planted in a short 14 year period of the late 19th century, the forest does not have the mix of young and old trees which characterize a natural forest. While Eucalyptus continue to thrive, the Monterey cypress and Monterey pine are declining. Each year the trust replants two or three acres, staggering their efforts to create a healthy forest that can be sustained. Although these forests are not native, they have become an integral element of the park’s ecosystem, providing an important wildlife habitat. The trust has removed 150 of the dying cypress trees at the grove along the Bay Area Ridge Trail. These are the materials for Goldsworthy’s Spire. The trust will replant 1200 trees in this area in the next 10 years.

The Presidio plant nursery has taken on the task of propagating the tree seedlings. The process begins with germination in seed flats.The shoots are then placed in 5″ long tubes until they are ready for Stewey tree pots. This brand of pot is very tall. The typical one gallon pot creates circular roots, while the extended Stewey pots encourage long roots. These roots are just what the seedlings need to become established in the poor soils of the Presidio.

An collection of impromtu sculptures by anonymous artists, assembled from the scraps of lumber from the creation of The Spire, is located opposite the site on the Bay Ridge Trail.

The crew that  constructed The Spire, with Goldsworthy directing from below, is the same crew that is engaged in the forestry program at the Presidio. I think of this as the perfect metaphor for this art installation and shows the blending between the management of the forest and the creation of art.

The Spire by Goldsworthy is a kind of poem to the forest which surrounds it. Growth, decay and renewal are all suggested here. As the young plantings of cypress grow, the sculpture will become part of the larger forest setting.

 Eventually, The Spire will disappear into the forest.

 

 

Oh, heck! I thought we would have this beach to ourselves”

 

This has become a favorite family expression since my aunt Joan first said this on Ten Mile Beach many years ago. We were dragging long canvas sacks, formally U.S. postal bags, now filled with the driftwood we had collected. Far down the coast, obscured by spray from the long rollers off the Pacific,a solitary figure could be seen at the water’s edge. We laughed till our sides hurt at the absurdity of the situation. Even today all one of us has to say is” Oh, heck” to produce a smile. It was not that we were unfriendly, but we had come to love this long stretch of sand and grassy dune for its splendid isolation.

 

It was here that nature seemed at its most elemental. Rocky coves where pines met the sea gave way to the grand gesture: the expanse of water and sky in the brilliant light, rolling hillocks of sand, their southeasterly progression slowed by beach grass shimmering in the wind.

 

Not for me are the crowds of a summer’s beach. When November arrives the lonely, windswept coast north and south of San Francisco calls to me. There is a place between twin lighthouses where the shoals part to reveal a curve of sand and grassy dune not unlike the ten mile beach we had enjoyed all those years ago. Elephant seals congregate in the reserve adjacent to this spot. Once when we were hiking this stretch of coast I spied a long tree trunk on its side, probably washed ashore in the last storm. Ah ha! the perfect place to sit with one’s back to the dunes facing the sea. As I approached, one end of the” tree trunk” moved! It was a male elephant seal, a rogue, banished from the nearby colony. We quickly left him to his place in the dunes.

In the lee of the fore-dunes, lagoons fringed with green and gold rushes pool without access to the sea.  Driftwood and the occasional saltwater deluge adds a brackish tang. Some winters, a storm coincides with an extreme tide sending waves through the hollows of the dunes to the lagoons resting beyond.

The hollows of the dunes are irresistible for me to lie down in.  Sheltered and warm, the rythmic sound of the surf is hypnotic and somnolent. If one lies still long enough, birds and other wildlife will come quite close. I have opened my eyes to see a towhee regarding me next to my face as it scratched about the grass. Here my mind wanders to thoughts of life and of nature; thoughts about grasses surrounding me in the dune hollow and then to grasses in gardens.

In a corner of  the Barbro Osher sculpture garden at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, landscape designer and University of California professor Walter Hood evokes the topography of grassy sand dunes which once covered this site.

Designed by the Swiss architects Herzog & d’ Mueron, the de Young museum incorporates a cantilevered canopy over the terrace of the sculpture garden. Clad in perforated and embossed copper panels, the monumentality of the structure required a landscape that speaks to primative essentials. Hood’s grassy dune alludes not only to the original landscape of the park, but to the reductive qualities of the dune landscape itself.

As night falls over the grassy dunes the soothing sound of the surf become a roar. What is seen and unseen in this landscape is like the lighthouse on the near point sending a whiplash of light over the waves and dunes. Without the companionable focus of a driftwood bonfire surrounded by friends, the dune landscape at night is grand and terrible in its immensity.

                moonlight -

                                    a sand dune

                                    shifts
                                          
                                                              Virginia Brady Young, 2002      

               

 

 

 

 

I have been a new garden blogger on Blotanical twice!

 

A few months ago I had some problems with the feed on my blog and I was no longer showing on Blotanical. A directory of garden blogs from all over the world, Blotanical  was created by Stuart Robinson. Indeed, Stuart’s own blog, Gardening Tips “N” Ideas, originates from Western Australia. It was Stuart who corrected the problem of my blog’s feed and to my great happiness I was back amongst my fellow garden bloggers, or “Blotanists”, on Blotanical.

 

During the time I was “in the wilderness”  It was the people I had come to know on Blotanical that I missed the most.

 

To all of the Blotanists I treasure your joy in the natural world, your expertise and your enthusiasm. I have also been honored when you have shared your challenges as friends will do. Your posts have informed, inspired and delighted me.

 

Even though we are many miles away, you are like a friend with a green thumb passing on cuttings and seeds of plants you have grown to share.

 

Thank you Blotanical

Warm regards to all of you.

 

Philip

 

 

Eleven years ago the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao opened its doors to visitors from all over the world, and thus ushered in “The Bilbao Effect”. Cities wishing to be considered “world class” and attract those tourist dollars have since constructed remarkable structures to house cultural institutions, from the Getty Center in Los Angeles to the new museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar. These museums put the capital “A” in architecture and I think of them as the cathedrals of our time. The impulse which built the Canterbury cathedral and sent thousands on the Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela was of course by nature, spiritual. Within that paradigm, however, was also the desire to get out into the world and see something new, to gather together with others and to be inspired.

The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco recently opened its doors to a wildly enthusiastic public. Located on the site of the previous academy which had been damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the new academy designed by Renzo Piano not only houses a stunning collection of exhibits celebrating the natural world, but, in the tradition begun at Bilbao, the building is itself a star attraction. This building, however, takes the next leap by going beyond architectural theatrics. Receiving platinum certification under the LEED program (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) the academy boasts an impressive list of recycled materials and energy savings. Rather than merely discussing environmental concerns such as climate change and alternative energy, the new academy is an environmental philosophy made real in three dimensions.

One of the things that I particularly wanted to see during my visit to the academy was “The Living Roof”. Green roofs in other applications have shown to reduce the “heat island effect” of higher urban temperatures due to large expanses of black tar roofs and pavement. Green roofs reduce the interior temperatures of buildings reducing energy costs for cooling. The living roof incorporates these qualities with an original and artistic arrangement of undulating hillocks which lies over the domes of the interior rainforest and planetarium. To keep the soil and plants secured on the slopes, an ingenious solution was developed by the firm, Rana Creek. Biodegradable trays with planting mix were placed like tiles over the structure. A collection of native plants knit the whole together.

California native plants thrive in this environment despite months of drought. Floral displays of California aster Aster chilensis delight as well as provide an important nectar source for butterflies and bees.

Upright stands of purple flowering Prunella vulgaris emerge from wild strawberry Fragaria chiloensis.

Numerous plants are yet to emerge. Look for glorious displays this spring of pink flowering Sea Thrift Armeria maritima, yellow and white Tidy Tips Layia platyglossa, and orange california poppies Eschscholzia californica.

The glass roof of the central piazza can be glimpsed from above

The academy’s central piazza is a place for people to relax in an atmosphere of structual lightness and transparancy.

Views of the surrounding park are invited into the museum. The twisting copper tower of the neighboring De Young musuem is enjoyed from the piazza as a kind of monumental sculpture.

I spoke with Larry Reed and John Loomis, landscape architects with the firm SWA Group who designed and implemented the construction of the academy gardens. They described that when the living roof was first installed and before the planting trays had time to set, they came to the central piazza each morning grateful that the plantings had not collapsed into the piazza below! The Living Roof, seen from below, has proven to be a technological success as well as an artistic one.

The living roof is enjoyed by visitors from a viewing platform. This arrangement brings to mind the Karesansui, Japanese viewing gardens. The roof terrain is an abstraction of the hills of San Francisco, contemplated from a set location.

From the viewing platform one can see the band of photovoltaic cells which contributes to the energy needs of the academy.

The living roof affords new vistas into the park. Beyond the concourse is the Japanese Tea garden and the De Young Museum sculpture garden.

Flanking the academy are the east and west gardens. At first glance, I thought these gardens were lacking in much to interest the plantsperson. After being in them for a bit I found that their direct approach with rectangles of expansive grass was the perfect counterpoint to the busy interior. After visiting the busy academy’s exhibits, the gardens are a respite where childeren can run around and people relax.

A hanging sculpture by Maya Lin and carved sculptures of animals by Benny Bufano grace the grounds.

Landscape architects Larry Reed and John Loomis describe the former site of the east garden as a “cesspool of trash cans and concrete. The former academy was a collection of mis-matched buildings. The new academy has a smaller footprint, allowing the creation of the gardens. The new design is also pulled back from the site of the Shakespeare Garden.”

 

“The forests of Golden Gate Park were in decline” according to Reed and Loomis.
“Pine trees were dying, and rather than try to recreate a formal 19th century style garden, SWA group focused on de-selecting pine trees and planting redwoods. Understory plantings of oak and bay laurel were established to impove the park’s forest in a wholistic way”

If you plan to visit the academy, I would recommend becoming a member. It would be less expensive in the long run if you plan to visit more than once and there are times set aside for admittance to members only . The academy is worthy of support not only for the museum itself, but for the important contributions it makes to the field of science.

From the Academy’s website:

The California Academy of Sciences is a multifaceted scientific institution committed to leading-edge research, to educational outreach, and to finding new and innovative ways to engage and inspire the public.

The Academy’s mission - to explore, explain and protect the natural world - extends to all corners of the institution; from a research expedition in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, to a teacher training program in a California classroom, to an interactive game on the museum exhibit floor.

My personal thanks to landscape architects Larry Reed and John Loomis for discussing with me their work on the academy.
http://www.swagroup.com/

For more information of the California Academy of Sciences
http://www.calacademy.org/

Academy Sustainability Statement:

Sustainability is often defined as meeting current human needs without endangering our descendants. There is a broad, scientific consensus that our current environmental demands are unsustainable, causing climate change, degradation of natural habitats, loss of species, and shortages of essential resources.

The California Academy of Sciences’ mission to explore, explain and protect the natural world compels the Academy to engage in scientific research relevant to sustainability, to raise public awareness about these urgent problems, and to minimize its own environmental impact.

The Academy’s green building signifies its commitment to sustainability. The culture and internal practices mirror that commitment in the areas of energy, water, waste management, transportation, purchasing and food. Academy programs highlight the living world and its connection to the changing global environment. Academy research focuses on the origins and maintenance of life’s diversity, and its expeditions roam the world, gathering scientific data to answer the questions, “How has life evolved, and how can it be sustained?”