Sunday, April 13, 2014

Surf & Turf Spring Garden Tour: Out of Asia

Last Saturday my husband and I went to the annual spring garden tour of the San Diego Horticultural Society, titled Surf & Turf Spring Garden Tour 2014. Featured were twelve gardens of very different styles. We only made it to five and after that we were so full of impressions, we couldn't take in any more. Altogether it was a very enjoyable day!

The only thing that I found a little bit off-putting was the price tag for the tour: Twenty five dollar/person for non-members of the San Diego Horticultural Society. Even though it was for charity, I think that is a little bit high. I wonder how a low income family should afford it.

Anyway, lets start with the tour. The first garden that we saw was the Asian style garden of Barbara Jenkins-Lee. I believe, that this is the first private garden of that type that I have ever visited and was most impressed by all the statuary, lanterns, temples, benches, that were artfully placed in the garden. I spoke briefly to the owner and she told me, that she is a travel agent and had bought all these outstanding pieces on her travels throughout Asia and had them shipped home. Now that is cool, isn't it?



I just loved this stone bench. The design is so special.



This dragon also certainly didn't get overlooked...



...and, of course, the classical head statue of the Buddha was there to find as well.



Tea house or garden shed or something totally different altogether? What ever its use is, this small outbuilding was done very tastefully and fit right in with the style of the garden. 



It is a little hard to see in this photo, but this part of the garden features a large Koi pond. All the evergreen plants are so soothing to the soul. At least I feel this way. 



This was my favorite piece in the whole garden. Barbara, the owner, told me that it is a temple from Thailand in which traditionally flowers are placed as offering to the spirits.



The garden was very well visited and had a nice big patio with a comfortable sitting area of which you can only see a very small part in this shot.



Neat idea to cut a barrel vertical in two halves and use them as planters.



Another beautiful Buddha statue.



One last look at my favorite temple...



...and we excited the garden through this curved pathway with a lovely lantern in the middle as a focal point. 

Please be aware that my photos don't do this garden justice. It was hard to get an image without having at least one person in it, so I didn't take many shots that show whole scenes from the garden. I would love to come back and see this garden just by myself and take it all in, especially pay more attention to individual plants and group plantings and take all the photos that I wanted. Of course, most likely this is not going to happen. But still, I hope I could give you a delightful little peek into this serene and beautiful garden, even though it is a superficial one.

I plan to feature more of the gardens of the Surf & Turf Garden Tour that we saw that day in future posts. They were all very unique and interesting. Hope you come back another time to continue the tour with me!

See you in the garden!

Christina



34 comments:

  1. The first garden of your tour looks lovely Christina. My husband is just back from a businesstour in Thailand and Dubai. I loved the temples on his photo's at Bangkok. For him a great experience but I am happy he is back. In my 32 years of marriage we have never been seperated for one day.
    Have a wonderful day Christina and I am looking forward to see the the other gardens of your tour.

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    1. Marijke, thanks, wow, not being separated for one day in 32 years of marriage, now that is impressive! You must have missed your husband terribly, when he was on his business trip. I always wanted to travel to Thailand, but it didn't happen so far. Hope it is in my future.

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  2. Had those ornaments shipped over, cool! Lovely looking garden and LOVE that pathway with the circular stepping stones!

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    1. Mark and Gaz, yeah, I still can't get over it that she bought all the garden statuary etc. in the original countries where they were produced. It is really wonderful if someone can do that and I feel her garden benefited so much from it. But besides all the great garden accessories the garden itself was also well done.

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  3. Seems it was a wonderful day. The price for the entry is too much, realy.
    We where on a plant market yesterday.

    Sigrun

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    1. Sigrun, yes, my husband and I had a lot of fun together on the garden tour day. I don't know why but garden tours in America, at least where I live, tend to be quite pricey. I am sure you came home with something from the plant market. Hope you blog about it!

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  4. That bench is great and the little temple so intricate. The whole garden is very peaceful.

    Have a lovely Easter week ~ FlowerLady

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    1. Lorraine, to me the craftsmanship that went into building the small wooden temple is extraordinary. I agree with you, the garden had a very peaceful feeling to it!

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  5. Tes photos sont parfaites, Christina, j'imagine bien l'esprit de ce jardin. Il est reposant, les statues sont judicieusement choisies. je suis admirative du style du banc sur la première photo, je le trouve insolite mais il s'accorde bien avec le style des lieux. Bien les barils coupés en deux, un support pour plantes original.
    belle visite, j'attends la suite. Jocelyne

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    1. Jocelyne, thanks, I am glad that you appreciate my photos! The stone garden bench from the first and fifth photo has a very unique style that one would think is very difficult to incorporate into the garden, but somehow the owner made it work. I really admire her for her keen eye to place all the garden objects exactly into the right spots! I think, that is an art by itself!

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  6. Hallo liebe Christina,
    das kann ich mir gut vorstellen, dass es bei so einem Garten nicht einfach ist Bilder ohne Personen zu machen. Aber sie sind Dir gut gelungen und Du hast das Ambiente des Asia Gartens schön gezeigt. Bezüglich des hohen Eintrittsgeldes gebe ich Dir völlig recht, das ist wirklich ein stolzer Preis und sicher nicht für alle erschwinglich.
    Ich freue mich, wenn es noch eine Fortsetzung Deiner Surf & Turf Garden Tour gibt!
    Ich wünsche Dir eine schöne Woche und sende Dir liebe Grüße,
    Ingrid

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    1. Ingrid, thanks for your compliment about my photos. Even though I couldn't take lots of the shots that I wanted, because of the many visitors being in "picture", the garden is so beautiful, that it still comes across lovely on the images. Since I have seen the garden in person, I just know how much more beautiful and fascinating it is than my photos can convey. I only would wish my readers could see it in reality as well!

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  7. This garden tour sounded awesome!!! Love this garden indeed! Her collection of garden sculptures are out of this world....I wonder how much they cost to ship!?! Ha! But that garden....just breath taking in every way! LOVE the barrels!! I can not wait to see more from your day! Happy gardening friend!!! Nicole xoxo

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    1. Nicole, for us the garden tour was well worth to attend. We had so much fun that day! How much it had cost to buy and ship all her amazing garden statuary from Asia to America? I guess that is a question better not to ask ;-)!

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  8. When you first mentioned all the statuary, benches, temples, etc I thought it may be too much; but after seeing the nice long view in the fifth shot, I agree that it is all artfully done. I would love to see more!

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    1. Debbie, there were quite an amount of statuary placed in this garden, but somehow the garden could absorb them, so that it was just the right amount to enhance it rather than make it feel like a museum. I think the owner just did a wonderful job!

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  9. Asian style gardens are so relaxing to me. I can imagine being there and forgetting the time completely. The garden is gorgeous, and I especially love the temple. It's also nice that they have some great mementos from their travels.

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    1. Holley, I also feel that Asian style gardens are the most calming and relaxing ones, even though I think they are really high maintenance and maybe it is not so relaxing to keep them looking that good ;-).
      Bringing something home for the garden from a country that you have traveled is just wonderful. We have a few small items in our garden from our travels to England and Kauai and I totally love them for that reason alone :-)!

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  10. Beautiful, peaceful, full of memories ...

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  11. That is one special garden Christina! It would be so nice to sit there and watch the world go by. The path in the last picture would be, I think, so easy to replicate. A big thank you for taking the time to share your day out with us :)

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    1. Angie, there was definitively something special about this garden! I felt it truly invited you to sit down, slow down and just enjoy all the different shades of green. Asian style gardens are really fascinating to me, even though I can't imagine to ever even attempt to garden in this style. I think, it is very difficult to create something like this!

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  12. A great garden, I like the stone bench too. I always find I am too busy taking shots to really enjoy where I am at the time, so I tend to take less shots now and spend more time looking and enjoying myself. Thanks for the tour and Happy Easter.

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    1. Karen, I agree with you that trying to get good shots is distracting from just taking a garden in and enjoying it, especially when I go with the intention to publish the photos on my blog. I am always torn between, if I should take photos on a garden tour or not. Most of the times photographing wins. It is just too tempting for me at this point ;-)!

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  13. Thank you, Christina, for sharing the pictures of that lovely garden. I think it is very well designed. Some good ideas, too. I would never have thought of using a barrell vertically as a planter! I will be looking forward to more garden tour pictures!

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    1. Dorothy, I also think that the design is working in this garden. I wonder if the owner did it by herself or if she hired a professional designer. Too bad, that I didn't ask her that question, when I had the chance.
      Using a barrel vertically as a planter is cool, isn't it? Some people are just able to think out of the box!
      I just wish I would have more time to blog. It will probably take a while until the next garden tour post will be up :-(! Hope you bear with me...

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  14. This garden is lovely but I agree with the tour price tag. It feels a bit steep to me, too. I really like the shed by the pond. It has a soothing look to it. Have a great week!

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  15. This is a lovely garden and I could easily have adopted several of these features :-) Loved the stone bench and the stone path. Thanks for the tour Christina!

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  16. A beautiful garden, with so many nice details. Thank you for the tour! I love the bench. It's unique.

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  17. Lucky you, Christina, to be able to see these lovely gardens. I think your pictures are very good, I enjoyed the tour with you. As for the cost, did you see the price tag for Filoli :0 ?

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  18. Christina, so glad you made it to the tour! I am missing several of the garden tours this year, but for good reasons. There were several beautiful gardens on this one; looking forward to seeing which ones you saw.

    Jeannine

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  19. Some great ideas there I especially like the shed with the bamboo door and windows - think I might borrow that idea.

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  20. Liebe Christina,
    da bin ich auch endlich wieder :-)
    Wir haben unsere Lungenentzündung alle endlich überstanden.
    Es hatte uns ganz schön erwischt.
    Der Garten den du zeigst ist einfach ein Traum und deine
    Fotos fangen ihn sehr gut ein :-)
    Ganz vielen Dank für deine lieben Wünsche
    und viele liebe sonnige Grüße
    sendet dir Urte :-)

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  21. Wow Christina, that's an awesome garden. Thanks for showing it. How big was it? Must be at least an acre or so. Ah! I would love all of those in my garden.

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