Of Gardens, Sculpture and Museums - Part 2

So, you might ask, after reading the previous entry (Of Gardens, Sculpture and Museums - Part 1), where are the gardens and sculpture? 

The weather was magnificent--warm, but not hot, sunny and with low humidity.  After suffering through heat and humidity since early May, it was a real relief to have 5 days of glorious weather.  Many people don't know this, but there are a number of gardens on The National Mall.  There are two sculpture gardens attached to the National Gallery of Art and the Hirshhorn Museum that combine a formal garden setting with numerous works of modern sculpture.  There are also small container and raised bed gardens that fill spaces between museums around the Smithsonian Castle.  Without further ado, then, here are some of the glorious gardens of The National Mall in Washington, DC.

The National Gallery of Art has a magnificent sculpture garden adjacent to the West Building.  Organized around a large central tank that is also a fountain, paths wind through the grounds and around every turn, mixed in with trees, shrubs and flowers are marvelous works of art.

Here are three shots of the fountain.  The jets of water grow larger and larger, until they merge in the center of the pool as a roiling mass of spray.  Depending on which way the wind is blowing, you might get doused by the spray.

Here the jets are distinct.

I think you can see where this is going.

Here the are merging in the center.  After just a few minutes, then the jets begin to retreat, until, eventually, they disappear all together, before beginning their slow build to another crescendo.  Watching this fountain is mesmerizing and, on a hot summer day, it is highly recommended to sit downwind so you can get the cooling spray.  In the winter, they put boards over the tank, flood it and turn it into a skating rink, it is that large.

Here is an example of one of the paths, with strategically placed benches for art and nature lovers and one of the sculptures.  The crepe myrtles were especially beautiful this visit (the white flowering bush on the left side of the picture).

Coming around a corner, you never know what you're likely to find, like this giant eraser.  This sculpture is over 20 feet in height.  All of the sculptures in the garden are monumental in scale, and the landscaping is used to enhance the viewer's experience.

Here we go, in time for Halloween, an enormous spider!  I love this spider.  No wonder Miss Muffitt was scared off her tuffett if she met a customer like this one!

Here is a view of the cafe that serves sandwiches, drinks and light snacks.  The twisting ironwork on the front of the facade recalls the Art Nouveau Metro station entrances in Paris (I forgot to take a picture of the one they have next to the building to make the inspiration crystal clear, so I pulled a picture off the web). 

The Smithsonian Institution has a number of beautiful, small gardens in and around The Castle.  This is the Chinese garden between the Sackler Museum of Asian Art and the Freer Gallery (also Asian art).

Here is what the Smithsonian says about this Moongate Garden:

The Moongate Garden, designed by architect Jean Paul Carlhian, was inspired by the gardens and architecture of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China. The Temple of Heaven was designed using a geometrical, axial layout, centered around the cardinal points of the compass. The garden is meant to take its visitors to a relaxing place usually surrounded by water where they may absorb the cool air emanating from the water.

Granite and water are used abundantly in the Moongate Garden; water in fact is the dominant feature. Rocks and water in Chinese culture symbolize the basic constituents of nature. Rock is thought to symbolize the body of the earth while water symbolizes the spirit thereof. The water's reflection gives the garden the appearance of being larger than it actually is. It gives off shimmering light effects in the sunlight and reflects the glow of the moon at night.Not being familiar with the Temple of Heaven, I can still say this is a very peaceful garden that is characterized by a sense of balance, purity and order.  Architectural features, not plants, are the focus of this man-made space.  It is the perfect preparation for the Asian collections inside these museums.  I have to say that the interior architecture of the Sackler Museum of Asian Art evokes a greater sense of peace and serenity than any space I think I have ever been in.  Even though all but the entrance level are below ground, the use of natural and artificial light, the arrangement of spaces and the balance of all architectural elements has created the most inviting gallery space I have ever been in (and I have been in many).  The architecture is a perfect setting for the art, visualizing many of the same principles that make Asian art so attractive.Opposite the Moongate Garden is a garden characterized by fountains and running water inspired by the courtyard gardens of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain.Between the various museum buildings surrounding the Castle are winding garden paths with raised bed and planters with various flowering plants.This magnificent flowering shrub is called, at least around here, an Angel's Trumpet.As you can see, there are many tropical plants growing in planters that can be moved inside a greenhouse in the winter.Most of the gardens have at least one fountain or water feature.  This fountain is a favorite of the starlings.Even the lamp posts carry massive hanging planters filled with beautiful flowering plants.Benches are scattered throughout the gardens, inviting the visitor to sit for a while and be refreshed by the beauty of nature.The yellow coreopsis (sp.) was in full bloom.Here is a Monarch butterfly resting for a moment and feeding on a flower.  We saw many Monarch butterflies that weekend in Washington.  All of the Monarch in North America travel down to a few mountain tops in central Mexico, where they congregate in a few trees and spend the winter.  The eggs that they laid just before leaving North America will winter over and, next spring, will hatch out and provide the next crop of these beautiful butterflies.In addition to familiar plants, there were plants like this one.  It has spines on both sides of the leaves and these white flowers below the leaves, somewhat akin to the familiar spring flower the Mayapple.This is a Moravian star made out of wood and suspended from this tree.  They are a common Christmas decoration in parts of North Carolina where the Moravians settled.  I'm not sure what this one is doing in Washington, DC, though.Look carefully and you will see 2 folded-wing skippers.  They are rather small and nondescrīpt butterflies, but I don't hold that against them, though, asI love all butterflies.This large steel sculpture is by Calder and marks the entrance to the Hirschhorn outdoor sculpture garden on The Mall opposite the Hirschhorn Museum of Contemporary Art.Most of the sculpture garden is sunk below street level, which creates a calm space in which you do not hear the sound of traffic.This sculpture is 3-dimensional, a small transparent room that the viewer can enter.  One of the walls curves and you can see there is an interesting play of various reflections and views of what is on the opposite side of the structure.  Sometimes it is hard to tell what is the reflection and what you are looking at directly.  Walking around the sculpture, the overlay of images keeps changing.