GARDENERS NOTEBOOK
Collaboration and Participation
An Artist, and Gardener create a Perennial Masterpiece
By Jani Gardner
Bold, vivacious, almost dizzying color, in a tucked away Vineyard Haven secret garden, grabs your attention, like a child at a first County Fair. What to explore first! How did this get here, who had this phenomenal dream? Yet this apparition soothes and relaxes the delighted viewer, with many thousands of carefully orchestrated plants, flowers, shrubs and new ideas. An unexpected towering, carved, three level flowing concrete fountain provides a tropical focal point with larger than life plants.
The magic of all this splendour belongs to the undaunted dream and collaboration of artist/ designer/owner, Margo Ouellette, and extraordinarly talented landscaper, Avi Lev. “By collaboration/participation in the creative process, and having a theme of scale, color and textural contrast, we were able to weave plants with each other. Never just flowers, we need depth, as in any design. Constantly various plants come into flower, always something new and delightful, renewing the garden.”
An artist living in her own world of explosive, bright, splashy color, Margo wanted that same explosive color, throughout the garden seasons. She knew what she wanted, and how to do it: Colors complimenting each other, plus various textures, foliage and leaves populating her multi-dimensional garden, year round, never a ho-hum second in her Shangri-La.
“Texture is vital,” tells Avi. “The most needed element...never just a flower, you need depth, as in a painting, see the entire creation. Garden design is like dress design; every part of the property has to relate. Color is only one element. Add scale, size, texture, form. Even when there are dips in color, there is still some color, flowers or no flowers.”
“Every part of the property has to relate,” so we put our vision on paper, hoping it would bear fruit, (which is not always the case...) We wanted a lot of color, constantly changing, in order to create an exciting perennial garden, interesting, intriguing throughout the season, so we combined exotic plants and favorite standbys, constant change, always tweaking, rearranging.
The total collaboration and participation of these two artist/gardeners gives brilliant, even longer legs, to the adage ‘no dream Too Big!” Adds Avi: “If you are into the creative process, try new possibilities. Your awaiting vision should be uniquely different from your last!”
The magic of all this splendour belongs to the undaunted dream and collaboration of artist/ designer/owner, Margo Ouellette, and extraordinarly talented landscaper, Avi Lev. “By collaboration/participation in the creative process, and having a theme of scale, color and textural contrast, we were able to weave plants with each other. Never just flowers, we need depth, as in any design. Constantly various plants come into flower, always something new and delightful, renewing the garden.”
An artist living in her own world of explosive, bright, splashy color, Margo wanted that same explosive color, throughout the garden seasons. She knew what she wanted, and how to do it: Colors complimenting each other, plus various textures, foliage and leaves populating her multi-dimensional garden, year round, never a ho-hum second in her Shangri-La.
“Texture is vital,” tells Avi. “The most needed element...never just a flower, you need depth, as in a painting, see the entire creation. Garden design is like dress design; every part of the property has to relate. Color is only one element. Add scale, size, texture, form. Even when there are dips in color, there is still some color, flowers or no flowers.”
“Every part of the property has to relate,” so we put our vision on paper, hoping it would bear fruit, (which is not always the case...) We wanted a lot of color, constantly changing, in order to create an exciting perennial garden, interesting, intriguing throughout the season, so we combined exotic plants and favorite standbys, constant change, always tweaking, rearranging.
The total collaboration and participation of these two artist/gardeners gives brilliant, even longer legs, to the adage ‘no dream Too Big!” Adds Avi: “If you are into the creative process, try new possibilities. Your awaiting vision should be uniquely different from your last!”