7 apples: New garden art by Durand Van Doren

Last May, I posted about a fabulous floral gate installed by blacksmith/metal artist Durand Van Doren in Minns Garden outside my office. Today, he finished up the job installing two more gates, one with an apple theme.

The arch echoes the living apple arches in the garden …

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Close observers will notice seven famous apples among the branches. The first needs no introduction. Maybe you can guess the others?
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There’s the apple for the teacher, complete with bookworm.
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William Tell’s apple …
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Sleeping Beauty’s poison apple …
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Newton’s apple (which I wish Durand had suspended halfway to the ground) …
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Johnny Appleseed’s apple with seeds exposed …
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And for our downstate friends, The Big Apple.
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Durand also worked in anatomically correct details of different life stages including flowers …
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And immature fruit …
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Watching Durand and his competent crew at work was a lot of fun. Durand cut away the transport frame …
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The crew manuvered the arch into place …
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And added finishing touches.
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Even the ground plate has artsy details.
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There’s lots of bench space at Minns Garden. Stop by and enjoy the flowers, the trees and Durand’s gates.
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Flower bulb labyrinth at Cornell

The flower bulb labyrinth created by Dr. Bill Miller’s herbaceous perennial course students last fall is looking good this spring.

flower bulb labyrinth

The labyrinth is planted with a mix of daffodils, tulips and grape hyacinth to provide a relatively long bloom season for the spring-flowering bulbs.

flower bulb labyrinth

Of course, the whole idea is to follow the winding path through the flowers to the center, then back out again. This high angle image (used with permission) was shot by Bob Chiang, Landmark Images, using a camera he mounts on a 30-foot pole. Here are more images Bob shot of the construction last fall and the flowering labyrinth this spring.

flower bulb labyrinth

And here’s a youngster skipping her way to the center.

flower bulb labyrinth

‘First-person’ video to the center.

More details, images and video at the Cornell flower bulb labyrinth webpage.

How to build a labyrinth at The Bulb Project website.

Living sculpture conference, botanical illustration course

philodendron flower

A couple of shameless plugs. (Full disclosure: I work in the Department of Horticulture at Cornell University, sponsor of these programs.)

Botanical illustration online course. – A great way to learn how to enjoy your plants even more by rendering them in pen and ink. Starts May 26. Enrollment limited to 20 people.

Living sculpture conference. Ithaca, N.Y. July 22. Hands on opportunity to learn how to create art from plants, including sod sculpture, woven branch, tabletop herbal topiary, tree sculpture, ephemeral earth art, mowing patterns, veggie art and more.