Wednesday, May 30, 2012

More Views From the Dallas Arboretum

While visiting the Dallas Arboretum for the Chihuly Nights glass sculpture exhibit, I took a little time to look around the gardens before the sun set.  The main goal was to see the glass art sculptures at night, but I had never visited the gardens before so the lingering daylight was a bonus.  I found the gardens more formal than we typically see here in San Antonio but there are certainly things to take away from the professionally designed plantings that can translate to the average garden.

This row of Atlas Cedars and Italian Cypress makes a striking sculptural statement along a limestone wall.  Aztec grass planted in the bed below highlights the effect.


There's a long stone wall near my front door and a similar treatment could be a much more dramatic welcome than the random collection of plants there now.


These woody vines look good as a backdrop for the matching container plantings along this wall.  Green liriope is used here instead of variegated as a groundcover.


I'm always impressed by the discipline of the designs at public gardens with their repetition and mass plantings.

A lovely walkway lined with daylilies



Beautiful colors of Cleome massed in beds


Here Cleome is mixed with Dusty Miller and white Angelonia.  The gardens are quite popular during the special night show so the white and silver mixed in throughout the gardens adds highlights.


Sculptures and pieces in the permanent collection were also lit for the evening.

This highlighted urn is at the end of a beautiful formal courtyard


And a beautiful lighted sculpture in a stone fountain with more silvery plantings



This trip convinced me I should try to return and see more of the gardens in the daytime and during other seasons.

11 comments:

  1. The Arboretum has a great spring display (Dallas Blooms) and does a wonderful fall pumpkin/gourd display in the fall (complete with pumpkin houses). Both are great times to visit!

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    1. I've seen the stunningly beautiful photos of both the spring and fall displays and might just make it to one of those shows in the future.

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  2. I'm pretty impressed with the night views, especially the lighting...done well there. Great focal points!

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    1. The lighting throughout was as beautifully done as everything else in the gardens.

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  3. To be honest, I am shocked at how gorgeous that garden is. Now I've never been to Dallas so don't shoot me, BuuuuuuuT:) I've heard it's kinda not pretty. This garden demonstrates otherwise. I've been to Houston, Austin, and San Antonio....paradises. Amarillo not so much:) But this Dallas you show in your pics is a nice surprise. Wonderful vegetation around the garden! Is it true that JR Ewing still lives there?:) True story....I had his granddaughter in my Spanish class last year. What a small world we live in!

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    1. For the most part Dallas has always been more of a shopping and visiting trip for me. I would not say it is ugly though, but most of the beauty is in the built environment and not natural as in some other cities.

      That's interesting about the granddaughter. Larry Hagman hasn't lived in Texas for quite a while and only lived in Dallas for a short time after high school.

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  4. Beautiful walkway borders. There seems to be a lot to be inspired by.

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    1. It's the most fun to look for inspiration even when it seems so completely different from my own.

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  5. Very nice gardens, and I like those lighting effects.

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    1. They were beautiful and I'd like to visit again for some of their other events.

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  6. What a beautiful place. Those massed Cleomes are just spectacular. How I wish I had the room to do something like that.

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