Another Definition of Vertical Gardening – Marcia Donahue

I took so many fun pics of Berkeley sculpturer and ceramacist Marcia Donahue ’s garden when I was in the Bay Area recently , I was perplexed about how to sour them into an clause for this web log . I ’m done pondering . Here sound …

Unless you ’re Rip Van Winkle , or you ’ve been pelunking the Vrtoglavica Caves of Slovenia for the preceding few years , you could n’t lack the garden world ’s clamor about vertical gardening : succulent packed into honeycombs mounted on walls , Patrick Blanc ’s Chia - Pet - on - steroid flights of fantasy , and at a slightly less grand but far more practical scale , Susan Morrison ’s and Rebecca Sweet ’s novel record book , Garden Up!But it was Marcia Donahue ’s garden that made my eyes and imagination get hold of skyward . It seemed that everywhere I looked around her garden something was level up : the gable end of her two - level Victorian , bamboo and vines slathered on fence , and a serial of cylindric and round “ beads ” threaded over poles and slinking into trees . Marcia has managed to wad a sheaf of magical spell , whimsy , and wonder into her garden , while also cultivating an profusely generative urban farm . Amid the art and horticultural thrills , chickens roam , vegetable overflow planters , and hives buzz with honeybees .

Marcia ’s common sense of merriment populates every nook and cranny of her garden . Everything she touches turn into artistry . Photo / Illustration : Billy Goodnick

That ’s Marcia ! Big , beautiful , beaming grinning , sly sense of humor , and a work of fine art in her own right . She ’s also astonishingly generous with her garden , which is heart-to-heart to the public every Sunday good afternoon ( 3017 Wheeler St. Berkeley CA – Google Maps ) , although she reserve the right to take the casual day off .

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pool

Maybe I’m still under the spell of this little wonderland, but even this oddly assembled collection of pots, urns, tables and bricks has a fun-filled touch to it.

Around the bend, a pathway through the back yard is surfaced with the bright colors of tumbled glass and shards of pottery, like a scene from a beachcomber’s wildest fantasy.

For years, friends have been “gifting” Marcia with bowling balls of all colors. Here, stabilized by pots and saucers, they decorate the stairway…

…while in another part of the garden they leave the impression that a large, strange bird is starting a family.

I love when someone with an artist’s eye sees the potential to make art from everyday objects, like these light globes stacked like Nepalese stupas. This collection adorns the roof of Marcia’s chicken coop, aptly named the Poultry Pagoda.

I will now admit to some sloppy journalism, but I have a great excuse: I was having so much fun walking around with my mouth gaping open and snapping pictures, that I said, “The hell with taking notes!” and just meandered about, hoping I’d remember Marcia’s words. My now-untrustworthy recollection is that the legendary Mississippi garden celebrity, Felder Rushing visited Marcia and taught her how to make a planter out of an old car tire. (Or perhaps it was the Michelin man – I’m not swearing to anything.) Be that as it may or may not be, instead of loading another planter with dirt and roots, this one has become the repository of “found object” art, using old cutlery to add a little bit of shiny to the garden.

I half expected these pitcher plant-inspired guys to start tooting like a pipe organ. The “mouths” have a very human quality to them, all caught mid-sentence.

Here, a coolly glazed bamboo shoot mixes it up with Himalayan blue bamboo (Himalaycalamus hookerianus), a new favorite I’ve used recently in my own designs.

It’s not ALL about the vertical. Marcia uses the same ceramic techniques to create graceful interpretations of botanical forms. This elegant, black calla lily shows the artist’s keen observation of natural structures, translated into striking, evocative works of art.

Like I said: Marcia has fun, as you can see from these somewhat drunken columns topped with a cross between an Ionic capitol and a rolled-back sardine can. There’s a cartoon-like quality about them, and the femininely statuesque finial brings a bit more quirkiness to the mix. These variations on a theme occur throughout the garden, often tucked between trees, shrubs and vines, leading to “Ah ha!” moments of discovery.

You might think this is a form of bamboo, but nuh-uh, ‘fraid not. This plant totally knocked me out the first time I saw it in an East Bay garden a few years ago. It’s Cannomois grandis, a member of the Restionaceae family from South Africa, and a relative of Chondropetalum tectorum, a wildly popular, reed-like plant popular in SoCal. Cannomois doesn’t seem to like growing where I live, but I was happy to see it at Marcia’s. It goes by many common names (‘Bell Reed,’ ‘Rekoala,’ ‘Bergbamboes,’ ‘Besemriet,’ ‘Assegaa’) and can form clumps of rainbow-colored stems to twelve feet high, with tufted tops reminiscent of asparagus fern.

It seems like such a simple concept: orbs and pipes threaded over rebar, with the occasional set of horns, leaves, and flairs punctuating the soaring structures. But in the hands of an artist, they create a feeling of movement and force and line that animates the garden and compliments the architectural detailing of the house. :: :: :: :: :: ::

Standing tall just beyond the public sidewalk, this lanky sentry is just a teaser for the creations revealed and hiding around the property. Notice the fluted tubes that make up the legs and their subtle striations? Marcia creates her own blends of clay to bring nuance to her materials. I’m particularly fond of the jacket, but it looks a size or two too snug for this garden writer. I especially like the way the angel wing begonia emphasizes the vertical effect – plenty more where that came from.

Even more fun and fanciful, these mottle bulbs, with their perpetual salute to spring, are bedded down in a rusted pot tucked among the foliage of a lush, tropical palm tree.

At first glance, I thought I was looking at a rare form of bamboo, and I guess I was: Call it Bambusa clayii. What we’re really seeing rising from the porchside pot is a simple form of Marcia’s exploration of tubes and baubles from fired clay. Notice the string of beads wrapped around the lower culms. And beyond, up the side path, real bamboo adds a leafy screen along the neighbor’s wall. :: :: :: :: :: :: Photo/Illustration: Billy Goodnick

Marcia’s sense of fun populates every nook and cranny of her garden. Everything she touches turns into art. Photo/Illustration: Billy Goodnick

The high point of the garden sits near the back of the site: a raised pool enveloped in every shade of green and surrounded by forms born in Marcia’s imagination, all animated by an impressive collection of living kinetic sculptures commonly known as kio carp.