At a visit yesterday to the Tucson Botanical Garden I found three of my passions combined: gardening in hot dry climates, art in gardens, and picking up trash from public areas.
I’m going to start with the picking up trash part in this post. [Full disclosure: I am a member of a Tucson environmental group called Trashy Divas and twice a month we pick up trash in public parks and along side streets.] Now, back to the ocean debris art.
Ocean debris turned to sculpture
The TBG always has interesting sculpture on exhibit in and around its many, small demonstration sites for drought-tolerant plants. Sometimes the sculpture is small and suitable for a residential garden. Other times the art is large — the ideal size for a public garden.
The fish at the top of this page, Priscilla the Parrotfish, is one of several sculptures now on display at TBG and it is large. The large Jellyfish, which hangs near the entrance, is unnamed for now. TBG is running a campaign to name it. I voted for the name Bubbles.
Both these sculptures were created by an environmental group called Washed Ashore based in Bandon, Oregon. All the materials have literally been picked up off Oregon beaches, then cleaned and refashioned by artists.
A few steps away from Priscilla the Parrotfish at TBG is another figure, a Rockhopper penguin, a native of islands around Australia and New Zealand. Nearby in the trees are a group of smaller jellyfish in sizes suitable for backyard gardens. One wonders if any of the materials in this penguin crossed the ocean from Australia to Oregon.
Another bird sculpture in black and white is Sebastian the Puffin. As a work of art it must be close to 10 feet tall; in real life puffins are only 2 to 3 feet tall.
Here are close-ups of elements that have gone into these creations. The image on the left is some of the plastic trash that makes up Priscilla the Parrotfish. On the right is the foot of Sebastian the Puffin with California poppies blooming behind. Every bit of this debris was at one time bought by someone in a store for some purpose, used and then discarded–perhaps in the ocean or perhaps nearby in a waterway leading to the ocean.
The lesson here: dispose of your plastic trash properly in a garbage can or recycling bin. As charming as these art works are, we do not need any more of them made from plastic debris.
On to the lonely cactus
From the 1950s through the end of the 20th Century, lawn was the landscape solution for builders of large developments in the Midwest and East Coast. Sow grass seed to cover the lot with lawn, then plant a very small tree or a couple of small shrubs and call that landscaping. Cheap and fast.
Here in the desert, developers have continued this “fast-and-simple” approach to landscaping around new homes, but with one big change: instead of lawn they dump a truckload of rock mulch and spread it all over the lot. Then plant a small cactus and very small tree and call that landscape.
So now there are solo cactus in front of homes all over the Southwest. In reality cacti look better when planted in groups and give a home a more established, upscale appearance. Adding a mix of larger rocks adds to the sense of a natural environment.The image below shows denser plantings of a mix of cacti on a berm–an artificial hillock. You can see another example of planting on a berm here.
But this is not to say that an all rock mulch garden can’t be beautiful as this newish Japanese-style garden at TBG demonstrates. But you will have to rake it every day to keep it looking good.
And finally, back by the butterfly house, there is a new addition to Tucson Botanical Garden: a garden flowers kaleidoscope. The tube the girl is looking through has been created with a kaleidoscope refractive lens. It was fun to look through as the bowl of flowers spun slowly around.
A final note: The Washed Ashore sculpture will be on display through May 18.
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