The design by Shirley Watts is bee inspired, the papers arcs overhead mimic the the flight patterns of bees, the planting is bee-friendly, the concrete hexagon tables are honeycomb shaped and the candles behind amber glass are a beautiful honey color when lit in the evening. It is so elegant and livable and I love seeing how Shirley translated her bee inspiration.
You know what else is interesting to me…the dirt. Is that really the color of the dirt in sonoma? I saw some other pictures of Late Show Gardens and a few of them had the same. Wow! that is beautiful…some one ought to bottle that up and sell it don’t you think?
All Images by Mitchell Maher
No, ( as she chuckles to herself ) that is not the natural color of the dirt in Sonoma.
It was a soil based organic mulch that was trucked in for the event and it was a mess, just ask Shirley who had a pair of beautiful open toe sandals on during the opening day. After standing just an hour or two on this soily mulch her toes were black and so were everybody else’s toes who wore open toe sandals on that 100 + degree day.
It was so hot on opening day that I though Ms. Watt’s honey combs were going to melt !
A beautiful exhibit though.
Well now I have a little less dirt lust. Bummer that it was such a mess…it looks nice in pics though.
The “dirt” was not dirt but pomace, the composted stems, pulp, skins and seeds left over from wine making. We thought that it was an appropriate use of a local material. I’ve seen it in other gardens in the Sonoma and Napa Valleys and admired its use in unifying different areas. Yes, you do need to wear shoes not sandals if you are standing on it for long periods.