Tuesday August 28, 2012

The Berkshire Botanical Garden and Berkshire Community College are offering a certificate program designed for the serious home gardener and the horticultural professional, starting in September.

Classes are held at the Berkshire Botanical Garden, located at the intersection of Routes 102 and 183.

Students can either enroll in a single course of interest or work toward a Certificate in Horticulture (Level I), a Certificate in Garden Design (Level II) or Advanced Certificates with a Concentration in Horticulture, Design or Sustainable Horticulture and Native Plant Garden Design (Level III).

Examples of classes offered this fall are Herbaceous Plants (Level I), Drafting for Garden Design (Level II), and Native Plant Selection and Identification (Level III).

To register for classes, call the registrar’s office at BCC, (413) 236-2127. For more information about the program, call BBG at (413) 298-3926, or visit www.berkshirebotanical.org.

Business: Fortini

What they said then: In August 2011, The Tribune reported that Fortini Home Garden Design in San Luis Obispo was revamping its showroom, offices and identity.

Opened in 2003, the family-owned business had become known for furniture and home décor. But those sales were declining, while demand grew for its interior and landscape design.

“So much that we do is behind the scenes,” said Marisa Fortini. “We wanted to bring it all out onto the showroom floor and really highlight it.”

She oversees retail sales, while husband Ryan Fortini heads landscape design and mother-in-law Anne Fortini handles interior design. Jan Kepler oversees custom cabinetry.

The showroom on South Higuera Street was reduced to just 1,500 square feet. The designers, who’d previously been tucked away in private offices, moved into workspaces that were part of the main showroom.

“We want people to travel through the store, make their way back and be able to talk to all of us,” Marisa Fortini said.

What she says now: As the San Luis Obispo company continues to hone its focus on design services, it has also simplified its name to just Fortini.

Recently, it also cut back its operating hours. Now closed Saturdays, the showroom is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.

“We began to shift into the design center mentality in January,” said Anne Fortini. “Our business shifted to become more project oriented. The retail traffic just wasn’t there.”

Today, close to 90 percent of its sales come from design services, Anne Fortini said. Four years ago, by comparison, design provided about 60 percent of sales.

“We’ve always had an emphasis on interior design,” she added, “but we were selling a lot more product in the retail sales.”

The eclectic mix in the showroom now includes furniture and décor inspired by Fortini’s current design projects, or styles that might appeal to those clients.

And while bringing the designers’ desks out into the open has definitely made them more accessible to the public, Anne Fortini has also discovered some downsides.

“It’s also disruptive in a lot of ways,” she admitted. “You may be working with a client and somebody comes up and needs an an- swer right away.” As a creative person, she tends to spread fabrics, paint samples and other inspirational items around her work space. “I tend to get messy. I have to clean it up every day,” she said. “When I need to concentrate, I find I go back in the old space.”

Have an idea for a follow-up? Each week, The Tribune checks in with a business it has reported on before. Send suggestions to followupfile@thetribunenews.com.

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Written by Doug Oster

Tall grasses sway in the soft breeze, moving back and forth in unison, serving as a soothing backdrop to the white Our Lady of Victory statue at Mount St. Macrina Byzantine Catholic Monastery in Uniontown.

But until recently it didn’t look this way.

For nearly 80 years, thousands of Byzantine Catholics have traveled across the country to worship here during an annual Labor Day weekend pilgrimage; it’s the oldest and largest such pilgrimage in the United States.

In 2008, landscape architect Laura Patterson-Santore was one of those attending an outdoor liturgy during the pilgrimage. Even though the devout Catholic was supposed to be absorbed in the service, she was transfixed by the Our Lady of Victory Prayer Garden. She had an epiphany thinking of what it could be.

“It was surrounded with a chain-link fence with yellow corrugated plastic,” Mrs. Patterson-Santore said recently with a smile. For decades children enjoyed the goldfish in the pond, and the fence kept them at a safe distance.

She was determined to renovate the garden. The first step was getting permission. So she sent a message to monastery leaders through her mother, who is a Basilian associate, a lay person who engages in the mission of the order.

It didn’t take much convincing. Sister Barbara Jean Mihalchick, OSBM, was overjoyed to move forward.

Ms. Patterson-Santore, 31, began to look for funding when her great-uncle George Kushner fell ill. He was looking for a project to fund in remembrance of his family so a new garden was born.

She roughed out drawings of how to best use the space, bringing the statue out of the center of the pond and placing it next to a path. Work began in 2009, and she has put the finishing touches on her project.

Tall grasses frame the white figure, and smaller varieties are skillfully tucked into the garden. “The grasses that surround Mary right now had a very nice halo effect, very soft, very reverent,” she said. There’s a constant, steady breeze that keeps all of the grasses moving.

Other design details throughout the garden echo the history of the area. Beautiful pieces of turquoise bottle glass surround a fountain that occupies the center of the pond. The glass was donated decades ago from a nearby factory that had closed. Glass, along with coal, was a rich industrial tradition in the Laurel Highlands.

Mrs. Patterson-Santore was able to re-purpose hand-cut native stone that originally made up a wall surrounding the property. The large rocks are now strategically placed around the garden, providing form and texture.

A redbud tree and crape myrtle serve as the garden’s cornerstones. The native redbud has biblical significance. According to legend, Judas hanged himself from the tree after betraying Jesus.

“The crape myrtle was very important to me as well,” she says, “It blooms in late August, early September, which was around the pilgrimage time.”

The color palette is subdued; shades of pinks and lavenders were chosen as they are all “reminiscent of the colors of Mary, mother of God,” says Mrs. Patterson-Santore. She also used lamb’s ears, plants known for their soft texture, because of their botanical name, Stachys byzantina, a play on Byzantine.

Mount St. Macrina is in the former home of Josiah Van Kirk Thompson, a coal baron and banker who built the estate in 1903. He lost his fortune before 1920, and it was put up for sale in 1933 as his health was failing. With the help of the bishop and others, the Sisters of St. Basil the Great raised $10,000 for the down payment and bought the mansion and other buildings on 200 acres for $50,000.

It was converted into a convent and shrine and now the property includes a motherhouse, religious gift shop, cemetery, senior living center and more.

In 1999 the U.S. Department of Interior named Mount St. Macrina to the National Registry of Historic Places under its former name, Oak Hill Estate. It is open to the public.

Bonnie Balas, a volunteer at Mount St. Macrina, has been coming here her whole life. She watched as the garden was transformed over the past few years. “This garden is the climax of what these immigrant ancestors would have liked to have seen,” she said.

Standing in front of the huge columns of the Mount St. Macrina House of Prayer, Sister Mihalchick discusses the change in the garden. “Laura discovered it in it’s un-enhanced state, shall I say, and rescued it as a place of beauty again.”

For Mrs. Patterson-Santore, her reward comes from garden visitors.

“I finally feel at peace. One of the greatest joys I have is watching people interact with it. Now I have what I was after in seeing people sit during the liturgies. They are just enjoying it. That’s the best thing a garden designer can have.”

 

 

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There is hope for urban gardeners everywhere. Paris-based designers Nicolas Barreau and Jules Charbonnet (BarreauCharbonnet) were recently selected as finalists at the Jardins Jardin competition at Paris’ Tuileries Gardens.

Their winning design allows you to hang window boxes outside your window. They call it the Volet Végétal — the Organic Shutters.

In its upright position, the V.V. functions as a living venetian blind, filtering light through your zinnia flowers and basil leaves. When lowered like a drawbridge, it extends three window boxes into the air beyond, bringing your garden to the sunlight and leaving your window open to the breeze. Behold the V.V. in action:

According to the BarreauCharbonnet website, we can look forward to commercial production soon.

All images courtesy of BarreauChabonnet.

H/T Core77.

Supplied

Corradi Foglia blue and white chair with cutting-edge colour and interesting detail.

Related Stories

• Home is where the art is

Johannesburg – Time was when a steel-frame garden swing was a must-have for your outdoor pleasure. Then there was the ubiquitous green plastic table and chair set, or the wrought-iron chairs imbued with Provençal charm, but which were cold and uncomfortable to sit on.

We’ve travelled light years since then in the realm of garden furniture design and manufacture, which is ever more inspired.

A Nordic-feel, minimalist-design ethos has been trending for a while, but the materials used are softer and more luxurious, yet extremely durable. A good example is the Italian De Padova range, available from the Generation store in Joburg’s Hyde Park shopping centre. Clean classic lines aside, the furniture is made of powder-coated aluminium alloy that resists rust and corrosion even at the coast.

You have weatherproof sofas, ottomans, pouffes and cushions that you simply “dress” with bright fabric coverings.

A piece that caught my eye was a circular lounger for two or more, woven with colourful polyester belting and dressed with cushions. Completing the De Padova range are railway outdoor tables that premiered at the Milan Furniture Fair in April and timeless Vico Magistretti-designed silver chairs.

In Generation, you also see seats with a difference, like the white “wave chair” made with synthetic fibre, as well as new twists to accessories, such as citronella mosquito-repelling spirals that double as ornamental hangings, or an outdoor bird-cage lamp that you charge, then hang from a hook or branch, and outdoor rugs that you can just hose down.

Circular DePadova lounger for two or more people

.

Essentially, outdoor furniture designers are seeking to eliminate the disconnect between indoor and outdoor furniture with softer textures, cutting-edge colour and interesting detail befitting an indoor space.

Embracing this idea is Corradi’s superlative 2012 Vinca furniture range, featuring cushions upholstered in durable Cordura fabric – in apple green, petrol blues and lilac that you can mix and match – paired with honeycomb-textured aluminium frame seating.

Its Foglia range features colourful metallic chair backs that emulate branches filtering through the light, while, for smaller areas, it offers the Too Slim collection, minimalist yet striking seating, again in on-trend colours.

“Black, white and grey are fading, as is the glitzy, shiny stuff,” says Gianluca Rossi, artistic director for the Corradi group.

“Natural light brown is more acceptable, especially when contrasted with brighter colours in the fabrics. The new direction is for slim, minimalistic designs with clean lines.

“Fabrics and manufacturing materials have to be able to stand up against the elements without losing their appeal or functionality. You do not want to rush outside to cover the patio set every time bad weather threatens.

“Products should be easy to maintain and require the minimum effort to clean. Modular designs are making more of an appearance, allowing more flexibility and versatility in the layout of your patio.

“Overdesigned pieces are also now being replaced by more subtle designs, but the boldness and flamboyance are retained by using bright colours in high-quality, colour-fast fabrics.”

The most cutting-edge designs in outdoor furniture are chiefly from Europe, and targeted at the most discerning consumers.

But SA designers are getting in on the act.

One of the hottest young outdoor design teams is Jamie D Design, which offers a thoughtful range of garden furniture and accessories as well as environmentally sustainable products for everyday use.

A favourite is their range of custom-designed chairs, a colourful collection aimed at creating a playful atmosphere in any area – whether in a tea garden, on the patio, in an entrance hall or in a boutique. The chairs’ bold designs and colours have a hint of attitude without diminishing style.

Specialists in landscaping, Jamie D Design also launched a set of clever green products recently. “Garden in a Tube” contains all the necessary items, including seeds, a design plan, fertiliser and step-by-step instructions to plant and maintain a small designer garden. It was designed to ease the process of installing a garden, and equips anyone with the tools and know-how to landscape their small patch.

“Post a Plant” is a clever way to send someone a plant without the risk of its being damaged on the way. The plant fits inside a recycled and reusable carton cylinder, entirely shielded until it reaches its destination.

Even if you don’t post it, it makes for a nifty, easily transportable gift.

With the trend to reuse, reduce and recycle, consumers are looking for eco-friendly products, so local furniture makers such as Green Projects Furniture – which sells maintenance-free, weatherproof garden benches and picnic tables made of recycled plastic that looks like wood and in any colour – are doing well, too.

We’ve come a long way in making our famous outdoors more comfortable to enjoy. – The Star

* Corradi is available through ORA Outdoor in Kramerville, Joburg. Call 011 023 8098.

* Jamie D: www.jamieddesign.co.za

*l Generation: Call 011 325 5963

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We have been talking to Ken, our gardening expert and looked at the benefits of a dry garden. Although Ken is a real fundi on the dry garden and indigenous plants, his expertise goes beyond the dry garden. As a designer, he is pretty much able to follow your dream and design the garden you have always yearned for.

 

Report by Helen Devemac
A garden in which your children will play and grow, invite their friends over for parties. Perhaps a garden in which your daughter will get married, a garden in which old couples sit and hold hands while watching beautiful sun sets.

 
A garden in which to celebrate life! So let your imagination run wild and consider getting some expert advice.
A garden is an extension of your home and should reflect your personality. Every garden is different because it’s all about you. A lot of thought and effort must go into the design and creation of a garden.

 
A consultation with design experts would be very much worth your while, should you be thinking about adding value to your property. This is where Ken and the guys at Tribal Landscapes come in.

 
They will help you create a garden for all seasons, taking into account the lay of your land, the type and pH of the soil in your garden, particularly its capacity to retain water, how much of your garden is in shade and in full sun.

 
All these are important factors which will be used to determine just what to plant and where, giving your garden that added advantage.
Having an expert opinion in the design of your garden will be a little more costly, but remember, you do not design a garden every season or every year.

 
A job well done will save you time and money. This is the beginning of a beautiful future for you and your garden. Once well-designed, your garden should continue to give you pleasure and joy at every turn of the season.

 
For those gardening enthusiasts with more than a passing knowledge of gardening, getting expert opinion pays.
It is an opportunity to hone your skills and plant know how, that is which plants to put in at the end of winter and what would give you mileage perhaps up to Christmas and what to look for when you next visit your local nursery.

 
When the guys at Tribal Landscape design your garden, they do make use of plants which they have in their own nursery, but they are also able to source plants from anywhere in Zimbabwe, and I believe as part of the design contract, they replace any plants which do not thrive during the first three weeks of planting.
And the story does not end there. Tribal Landscapes offer garden maintenance contracts to households and corporate organisations and offer the following:
Regular maintenance contracts for your garden and this can be weekly or fortnightly and includes the following services:

 

 

• Weeding and turning of flower beds.
• Lawn mowing and trimming of edges
• Trimming and cutting of bushes and shrubs.
• Dead heading flowers and removing dead leaves from your flowering plants.
• Removing refuse related to this work.
• Supervising your gardener and generally showing him the ropes.

Seasonal contracts are important, even more important than the weekly or fortnightly contracts as this generally covers the jobs that make the difference between any garden and that wow factor. Knowing when and how to do the following tasks is absolutely critical:

 

• Rose pruning.
• Fertilising lawns and applying top soil.
• Weed control.
• Applying plant fertiliser.
• Pest control.
• Rotation of plants and planting of winter and summer plants.

 

Beautiful garden … As a designer, Ken is capable of following your dream, designing the garden you have always yearned for.

An unfortunate reality in gardening

Unfortunately for many of us, creating a garden means a visit to a local nursery and choosing the most beautiful and healthy blooms available, without much thought as to where we will be planting these purchases. Doing it this way often results in great disappointment for the gardener and plants alike.

 

Gardening requires expert advice

 

Gardening is a pleasant occupation and very relaxing, but for most of us, having a healthy beautiful garden remains a mystery.

 
I for one tend to rely on my gardener who is as ill-informed as I am, about what has to be done in the garden and when. A gardening maintenance contract makes more than good sense.
For those with pools, the garden maintenance contract may upon negotiation, be extended to include standard pool care, but this is an add on and not inclusive of a garden maintenance contract. It covers teaching your gardener the following skills;

 

 

• Testing the pH
• Brushing walls
• Application of chemicals
• Backwashing and rinsing of filters
• Cleaning the leaf basket.

Looks like we are well set for the summer, sparkling pools, weed and pest free gardens — what absolute bliss.

Click photo to enlarge

Marin

• The Marin Open Garden Project encourages residents to bring their excess backyard-grown fruit and vegetables to the following locations for exchange with other gardeners on Saturdays: Mill Valley from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. near the East Street parking area in Boyle Park and 10 to 11 a.m. in Volunteer Park at Melrose and Evergreen; Novato from 9 to 10 a.m. at the corner of Ferris Drive and Nova Lane San Anselmo from 9 to 10 a.m. on the lawn at Town Hall at 525 San Anselmo Ave.; San Rafael from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. in Sun Valley Park at K and Solano streets. Go to www.open gardenproject.org or email contact@opengardenproject.org.

• West Marin Commons offers a weekly harvest exchange at 1:30 p.m. Saturdays at the Livery Stable gardens on the commons in Point Reyes Station. Go to www.west marincommons.org.

• The Regenerative Design Institute offers a tour of Commonweal Garden at 451 Mesa Road in Bolinas from 1 to 4 p.m. Aug. 26. $10. Call 868-9681 or go to www.regenerativedesign.org.

• A free “Gardening with California Native Plants” class is offered at 1 p.m. Aug. 26 at O’Donnell’s Fairfax Nursery at 1700 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. in Fairfax. Call 453-0372.

•

Volunteers are sought to help in Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy nurseries from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays at Tennessee Valley, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays at Muir Woods or 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays or 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays in the Marin Headlands. Call 561-3077 or go to www.parksconservancy.org/volunteer. $5. Call 457-6045.

• Volunteer hours are 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesdays and from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Fridays at the Indian Valley Organic Farm at 1800 Ignacio Blvd. in Novato. Call 454-4554 or go to www. conservationcorpsnorthbay.org.

• Growing Excellence in Marin (GEM), a program providing horticultural vocational training for Marin residents with disabilities, has a weekly plant sale from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays at 2500 Fifth Ave. in San Rafael. Items offered include garden plants, potted plants, cut flowers and microgreens. Call 226-8693 or email michael@connectics.org.

• The SPAWN (Salmon Protection and Watershed Network) native plant nursery days are from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays and weekends. Call 663-8590, ext. 114, or email jonathan@tirn.net to register and for directions.

• Marin Open Garden Project (MOGP) volunteers are available to help Marin residents glean excess fruit from their trees for donations to local organizations serving people in need and to build raised beds to start vegetable gardens through the Micro-Gardens program. MGOP also offers a garden tool lending library. Go to www.opengarden project.org or email contact@opengardenproject.org.

• Marin Master Gardeners and the Marin Municipal Water District offer free residential bay-friendly garden water walks and health consultations through November to help homeowners identify water-saving opportunities and soil conservation techniques for their landscaping. Call 499-4202 to request a visit to your property.

San Francisco

• The Conservatory of Flowers, at 100 John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park, displays permanent galleries of tropical plant species as well as changing special exhibits from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. $2 to $7; free on first Tuesdays. Call 831-2090 or go to www.conservatoryofflowers.org.

• The San Francisco Botanical Garden Society, at Ninth Avenue and Lincoln Way in Golden Gate Park, offers several ongoing events. $7; free to San Francisco residents, members and school groups. Call 661-1316 or go to www.sfbotanicalgarden.org. Free docent tours leave from the Strybing Bookstore near the main gate at 1:30 p.m. weekdays, 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. weekends; and from the north entrance at 2 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Groups of 10 or more can call ahead for special-focus tours.

Around the Bay

• Cornerstone Gardens is a permanent, gallery-style garden featuring walk-through installations by international landscape designers on nine acres at 23570 Highway 121 in Sonoma. Free. Call 707-933-3010 or go to www.corner stonegardens.com.

• Garden Valley Ranch rose garden is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays at 498 Pepper Road in Petaluma. Self-guided and group tours are available. $2 to $10. Call 707-795-0919 or go to www.gardenvalley.com.

• McEvoy Ranch at 5935 Red Hill Road in Petaluma offers tips on planting olive trees and has olive trees for sale by appointment. Call 707-769-4123, go to www.mcevoyranch.com or email samantha@ mcevoyranch.com.

The Trowel Glove Calendar appears Saturdays. Send high-resolution jpg photo attachments and details about your event to calendar@marinij.com or mail to Home and Garden Calendar/Lifestyles, Marin Independent Journal, 4000 Civic Center Drive, Suite 301, San Rafael, CA 94903. Items should be sent two weeks in advance. Photos should be a minimum of 1 megabyte and include caption information.

Include a daytime phone number on your release.

• A second chance plant sale is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 25 and 26 at Occidental Arts and Ecology Center at 15290 Coleman Valley Road in Occidental. Wednesdays are volunteer days from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 707-874-1557 or go to www.oaec.org.

• Quarryhill Botanical Garden at 12841 Sonoma Highway in Glen Ellen covers 61 acres and showcases a large selection of scientifically documented wild source temperate Asian plants. The garden is open for self-guided tours from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. $5 to $10. Call 707-996-3166 or go to www.quarryhillbg.org.

The Trowel Glove Calendar appears Saturdays. Send high-resolution jpg photo attachments and details about your event to calendar@marinij.com or mail to Home and Garden Calendar/Lifestyles, Marin Independent Journal, 4000 Civic Center Drive, Suite 301, San Rafael, CA 94903. Items should be sent two weeks in advance. Photos should be a minimum of 1 megabyte and include caption information. Include a daytime phone number on your release.

Facebook has hired renowned architect Frank Gehry to design the company’s campus expansion, which includes a new building with a rooftop garden.

“When it’s completed, we hope it will provide a paradise workspace for the 3400 engineers who will one day fill it,” a company statement said.

The expansion to the campus in Menlo Park, California, will be designed by the Canadian-born Gehry, known for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, among others.

Gehry, known for his deconstructive style and buildings that sometimes appear unfinished, also designed the Stata Centre at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris.

“At every step of planning the new building, Frank has taken into account our engineering culture,” Facebook said.

“It will be a large, one-room building that somewhat resembles a warehouse.

“Just like we do now, everyone will sit out in the open with desks that can be quickly shuffled around as teams form and break apart around projects.”

The new building will include “cafes and lots of micro-kitchens with snacks so that you never have to go hungry,” the statement said.

“And we’ll fill the building with break-away spaces with couches and whiteboards to make getting away from your desk easy.”

Facebook last year took over the headquarters of Sun Microsystems in Menlo Park, moving from cramped headquarters in nearby Palo Alto.

The company wants construction of the new building to start early next year, with hopes for “a quick construction.”

It said the exterior also “takes into account the local architecture” and that many trees will be planted on the grounds and on the rooftop garden.

“The raw, unfinished look of our buildings means we can construct them quickly and with a big emphasis on being eco-friendly,” Facebook added.

Facebook will maintain its current campus and use an underground tunnel to connect the two areas.

The former Sun campus in the city of Menlo Park, which borders Palo Alto, has nine buildings with a total of almost 93,000 square metres of office space set on 23 hectares of land.

Apple

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“Palace of the Nine Perfections,” fourth panel, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Every culture fetishizes a different garden. Islam likes them aural, full of the sound of running water and birdsong; Italians like their topiaries, French their geometries, and the English naturalness. Contemporary taste runs toward the secret.

But no culture telescopes from the imaginatively massive to the miniature like the Chinese. The Metropolitan Museum in New York has installed “Chinese Gardens: Palace Pavilions, Scholar’s Studios, Rustic Retreats,” a show about the influence of painting on garden design, around its stage-set 17th-century scholar’s courtyard in the Astor Court. In the middle of a busy day in New York City, it’s a little like playing with toy trains under a night sky Milky Way.

More than 70 pieces from the collection wrap around the courtyard — which is modeled on the “Garden of the Master of the Fishing Nets in Suzhou,” a fairy tale name if there ever was one — detailing over a thousand years of obsessive garden imagining. The art is spread through eight galleries, each with its own theme, like “Palaces” or “Pavilions and Paradises” or “Literary Gardens and the Scholar’s Studio.”

The Chinese approach to gardens, really to nature itself, is intensely literary, just like Chinese painting. Most small urban gardens, like the Met’s little Garden of the Master of the Fishing Nets, were meant to frame an ideal view of the natural landscape. They were designed to be living paintings, and to permit the luxury of contemplating nature’s force in the security of your own home. They underline the Chinese sense that withdrawal into a sacrosanct private realm is the profoundest of riches.

The exhibit opens with an 18-foot-wide series of hanging scrolls, “The Palace of the Nine Perfections” (1691) by Yuan Jiang, a re-creation of a fabled seventh-century palace so huge the emperor saddled up to move from pavilion to pavilion. It shows a series of narrow roofed arcades floating in mountain mists between huge mineral-blue roofs held up by spindly columns (Chinese pavilions are the origins of Western gazebos). Built high above the crowded valleys, the painting imagines the awesome wealth of someone who can contemplate the Earth through endless vistas, as if holding up a frame to life.

Yuan Jiang probably worked for a wealthy merchant in Yangzhou, for whom such power could only be imaginary. But that was the purpose of painting, and gardens by extension — to create in you the feeling of contemplative remove, and thereby ease the cares of experience. “Chinese Gardens” emphasizes the fairy tale tingle you’re supposed to feel in these settings, the way entering a garden can flip you into another dimension. “Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao Entering the Tiantai Mountains” shows two men who inadvertently get lost among Daoist immortals in a kind of 18th-century Shangri-la. When they finally work up the gumption to leave and come home, they find, Rip Van Winkle-like, that the people living in their houses are now their descendants, seven generations removed.

The Met’s collection is a remarkable thing, and these works, all drawn from the permanent collection, certainly cast a spell. But you get more out of it the more you know. The Met now has a handy dialable audio tour guide ($7) that can set the story frame for each piece with anecdotal references. Who’d know that a delicately rendered peacock prancing in a garden courtyard was a reference to an emperor who criticized painters who did not know which leg a peacock raised when climbing? The unfolding of layered meanings here is a kind of poetry, and it helps to peel away every damp leaf.

There are accessories to the scholar’s garden here too, delicately carved bamboo brush holders (and a solid silver one, depicting a sculpted garden on a cylinder big as a family-sized can of Dinty Moore stew) and more than a score of pressed ink slabs covered with flowers and dragons in relief, as well as lacquerware and limestone philosopher stones and so on. But nothing plays trombone with your mind like the paintings do.

That this is all illusion, a kind of spiritual head-fake, is underlined by the Met with an actual fake: a painting by Liu Songnian, who was active after 1175. It’s a lovely, darkly intricate ink painting done in an archaicizing style, and for good reason — it’s inscribed and dated as if done by another, more revered, master in 1033.

Only literary values can be counterfeited.

Chinese Gardens: Palace Pavilions, Scholar’s Studios, Rustic Retreats

Where: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd Street, New York

When: Through Jan. 6. Open 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday; 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday.

How much: Suggested admission for adults is $20; $15 for seniors; $10 for students; children younger than 12 admitted free. For more information, call (212) 535-7710 or visit metmuseum.org.

Dan Bischoff: dbischoff@starledger.com

“When it’s completed, we hope it will provide a paradise workspace for the 3,400 engineers who will one day fill it,” a company statement said.

The expansion to the campus in Menlo Park, California, will be designed by the Canadian-born Gehry, known for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, among others.

Gehry, known for his deconstructive style and buildings that sometimes appear unfinished, also designed the Stata Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris.

“At every step of planning the new building, Frank has taken into account our engineering culture,” Facebook said.

“It will be a large, one-room building that somewhat resembles a warehouse. Just like we do now, everyone will sit out in the open with desks that can be quickly shuffled around as teams form and break apart around projects.”

The new building will include “cafes and lots of micro-kitchens with snacks so that you never have to go hungry,” the statement said.

“And we’ll fill the building with break-away spaces with couches and whiteboards to make getting away from your desk easy.”

Facebook last year took over the headquarters of Sun Microsystems in Menlo Park, moving from cramped headquarters in nearby Palo Alto.

The company seeks to break ground on the new building in early 2013, with hopes for “a quick construction.”

It said the exterior also “takes into account the local architecture” and that “a ton” of trees would be planted on the grounds and on the rooftop garden.

“The raw, unfinished look of our buildings means we can construct them quickly and with a big emphasis on being eco-friendly,” Facebook added.

Facebook will maintain its current campus and use an underground tunnel to connect the two areas.

The former Sun campus in the city of Menlo Park, which borders Palo Alto, has nine buildings with a total of a million square feet (92,900 square meters) of office space set on 57 acres (23 hectares) of land.

(c) 2012 AFP

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