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David Slawson's passion is to create
landscape gardens that evoke the beauty of the natural world, inspired by the
character of the site and surrounding regional landscape, the client's wishes
for the garden, and locally available materials. Whether the space is small or
large, the garden is crafted to resonate with our human nature so we feel at one
with the landscape just as we do when experiencing a national park or a well
composed landscape painting. This sense of intimacy is created through a variety
of dovetailing aesthetic techniques, including asymmetrical balance,
dynamic form-space interplay,
and composing every detail as if it grew out of natural forces.
Some of the following gardens are public and some are
residential. While public gardens tend to be larger, when working with such
spaces, the landscape artist must be as attentive to detail and creating a sense
of intimacy as in a small residential garden viewed from a living room. In the
following photographs of my work, I have mixed public and residential projects.
Try imagining which public garden designs might be used as well in a residential
garden space.
Garden of the Pine Wind, Garvan
Woodland Gardens
Upper falls, Garden of the Pine Wind, Garvan Woodland Gardens, Hot Springs, Arkansas
Upper Falls
Photo by Sylvia M. Banks Middle Falls, right cascade Full Moon Bridge
Photo by Sylvia M. Banks Lower Falls from overlook
Photo by Sylvia M. Banks Lower Falls from right
Photo by Sylvia M. Banks
Upper Falls is composed of successive falls with a pool between. I remembered a precedent for this pattern in nature, Spruce Flats Cascade in Smoky Mountain National Park, which also has a narrow upper falls and a wide lower falls. Middle Falls has three cascades that break over the 40-foot-wide weir. These rivulets join below a large boulder in the middle of the stream just below the falls. When I was asked to design a bridge crossing this ravine, the simplicity of a circular opening suggested the Full Moon motif. I was asked to create one waterfall that visitors could walk behind. The lower weir was 11 feet high (the others were just 4 feet high) and so it was the obvious choice. To create a cantilevered falls overflow, I selected rocks that were wider on top than bottom, as would be seen in an undercut cliff, and stacked them so they fit closely and looked natural.
Upper falls, Garden of the Pine Wind, Garvan Woodland Gardens, Hot Springs, Arkansas
For other gardens by David Slawson at Garvan Woodland Gardens, follow these
links:
Dierks Promenade:
http://www.garvangardens.org/the_gardens/dierks_promenade/default.aspx
Evans Children’s Adventure Garden:
http://www.garvangardens.org/the_gardens/evans_adventure_garden/default.aspx
Garden of Quiet Listening, Carleton
College
The Garden of Quiet Listening, Carleton College Oblique view of dry landscape
Visitors can enjoy the serenity of the scene from the simple comfort of a rustic viewing shelter. The undulating shoreline forms peninsulas and coves suggesting a small lake fed by a mountain stream. A paved field stone walk (nobedan) doubles as the bottom picture frame for the garden scene viewed from the shelter and benches. At the viewer's right a split granite bridge connects the near shore to the island with a Scots pine pruned to accentuate its character. The water basin was made by pouring concrete into a specially constructed wooden form and brushing to expose the aggregate after the concrete set up. Water trickles into the basin through a copper pipe, adding its soothing sound.
The Garden of Quiet Listening, Carleton College
Visitors can enjoy the serenity of the scene from the simple comfort of a rustic viewing shelter. The undulating shoreline forms peninsulas and coves suggesting a small lake fed by a mountain stream.
Sage Mountain Sky, Aspen Institute
Garden site with Boettcher Building in the background Red sandstone in potentilla meadow
The main entry is on the east just before the Music Tent. The clipped shrubs are potentilla, natives which can be seen in the scree area along the trail from Maroon Lake to Crater Lake. The aspen trees are thinned to reveal the sky from the stone benches in the viewing area. The garden is named for three assets of the site, the sky, mountains, and sage. Spruce were planted in a zigzag line to screen out Boettcher Building. Pruned to evoke a mountain ridge, they also link the garden scene to Aspen Mountain on the left.
Garden site with Boettcher Building in the background
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Residential Garden
Woodland stream from above
Brick steps hidden behind a retaining wall along the house were removed and replaced by natural stone slab steps in a diagonal axis to create an inviting walk to the front door. As soon as guests enter the front door, this view of the garden displayed like a painting on the rear wall exerts a powerful attraction. Water pumped from the final pool at the far end of the stream cascades down through boulders on the hillside to the left to flow through several small pools in the stream. A crescent shaped basin resembling an oxbow lake was carved into this large stone slab. Ripples in the stone suggested the shape.
Brick steps hidden behind a retaining wall along the house were removed and replaced by natural stone slab steps in a diagonal axis to create an inviting walk to the front door.
St. Paul, Minnesota
Residential Garden
View of cobble stream and buffalo grass sea
The exposed aggregate sidewalk slabs have a stepped edge to create movement. Black pebbles are set randomly into the concrete in 2's and 3's in the "cat's paw" pattern. A naturally scooped out basalt rock creates a perfect water basin. Water is recirculated through a copper spout from an underground reservoir for its soothing sound and sight. The cobble stream meanders from its source in a North Shore fir grove, making a turn in front of the viewing shelter and another before it spills out into the buffalo grass sea. Large boulders mimic a coast washed by waves from the buffalo grass sea. The stream meanders between fir trees on the left and occasional water worn stones.
The exposed aggregate sidewalk slabs have a stepped edge to create movement. Black pebbles are set randomly into the concrete in 2's and 3's in the "cat's paw" pattern.
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Slawson Creations
