The Dry Garden, Too

As a professional garden designer for 20 years, I used to visit and shop The Dry Garden Nursery with some serious plant lust.

Today, an urban sketcher and retired garden designer, I admire these horticultural delights -- but I'd rather paint them than plant them.

More about Richard Ward and his Dry Garden Nursery:

https://oaklandnorth.net/2015/12/11/buddhas-and-bowling-balls-the-dry-garden-nursery/

Wonderful Garden in Berkeley

Marcia Donohue invited us to sketch her garden one afternoon last week (see other sketches in posts below). We shared the space with great sculptures, plantings and 15 chickens. Great time!

More from the Garden

Wonderful afternoon in Marcia Donohue's garden, clearly a labor of love for over 35 years.  It's open to the public every Sunday from 1-5 p.m.  Thanks, Marcia!

In Marcia's garden

ceramic foot, ceramic totems & bowling balls

Marcia Donahue is a self-described sculptor and devotee of the Roman goddess Flora. Her iconic garden is a riotous celebration of color and form. The gurgle of the monumental water feature draws you down narrow paths. Chickens run about in this jungle of lush aromatic plantings. Ceramic surprises -- oversize, overhead, everywhere -- demand attention and contemplation. A collection of bowling balls. A big pot filled with spoons, all turned inward like the petals of a silvery succulent. I could have drawn here all day.