Growing up on the East Coast, nothing quite compares to the vibrant flush of fall color in a deciduous forest. The crunch of leaves beneath your feet, the brisk air, and the clear blue sky all herald the coming winter, and ultimately, the constantly changing landscape which cycles through dormancy and rebirth.
We'd like to highlight two gardens. The "Wheat Parterre," designed by the Spanish landscape designer, Fernando Caruncho, is an agrarian garden in Catalonia which celebrates the changing of seasons. Large fields of wheat are divided into neat parterres by a grid of lawn pathways lined with olive and cypress trees. As the seasons change, the wheat transitions from fields of green to fields of golden brown. When the wheat is harvested in the fall, bales of hay are placed sparingly in the empty parterres as sculptural elements.
The second garden known as the "Feather Garden," was created by Sylvie and Patrick Quibel. Located in Normandy, this garden was also laid out using a grid, with large swathes of wild, native vegetation divided by lawn pathways. This garden overlays the formality of a traditional French garden on a natural landscape, and constantly changes with the seasons.
As landscape architects, one of the most fascinating things about our profession is the transitory and dynamic nature of the plants we work with, and the way in which the elements impact, age and transform materials.