Monday, June 11, 2012

Chris Rosmini speaking on Great Garden Design

Southern California Horticulture Society's next meeting features Guest Presenter Chris Rosmini speaking about Great Garden Design.

Join them Thursday Night, June 14th, at 7:30pm at the Witherbee Auditorium at the Los Angeles Zoo.

This event is free to SCHS members and $5 for non-members. Children under 18 are free. Ample onsite free parking is available.

From SCHS Website: Chris Rosmini, 1992 SCHS Horticulturist of the Year, is one of the top garden designers practicing in Los Angeles today. Her skilled work harmoniously combining climate appropriate plants with hardscape elements (paved surfaces, containers, water features, etc.) is renowned.

Chris studied the classics at UCLA in the 1960s, but found her passion for plants and honed her skill as a designer in the 1970s. Chris is a collector of fine plants and of many objects that interest her. She’s been gardening her home ground since 1971.

For those of you who keep back issues of journals (or have access to them at a library or friend’s home), you can get a preview of some of Chris’ work at her own garden in Garden Design 17 (1): 6, 76-83, 94. February-March 1998. The article, titled “Inside Out,” was written by Susan Heeger and the photographs are by Susan Seubert. Unfortunately, this piece does not seem to be on the web. One of my favorite quotes from that article is, “My approach is similar indoors and out. I like to collage related things with small gradations of disparity. Same forms, slightly varied colors; or the same colors, but different shapes. The closer you get, the more you see, until you’re lost in the experience.”

In March of this year, Chris and John C. MacGregor IV led a SCHS field trip to Judge Cynthia Hall’s garden in Pasadena. Chris wrote an article that told the story of the development of that beautiful garden in Pacific Horticulture 61 (1): 30-36. January-February 2000. She wrote, “ One of the particularly satisfying things about designing gardens for other people is that, in most instances, I get to consider the project as a whole, from the beginning. I can plan the overall structure, the hardscape and the planting as a more or less coherent design; manage the construction; and plant it as a continuous, if sometimes rather drawn-out process.” However, this project was different, in that it evolved in stages, like most gardeners’ gardens.

Chris will be taking us on an adventure through a selection of her garden design work, both past and present. As such, her presentation will be slides (not computer images!) as these best capture the breadth of her work.

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