Announcer: This is a Getty podcast.
[Theme music begins]
Lilit Sadoyan: Hi, I’m Lilit Sadoyan, the host of
OMMM: Our Museum Mindfulness
Meditation podcast, Getty’s first video podcast.
Welcome to this deeper dive, where we
explore the themes of our weekly episodes with experts
in everything from paintings
conservation to mountain climbing.
Brian Houck: The planning, the technical aspects are
ego-filled, um, exercises, and
then yet, gardeners tend to approach this
as a soulful activity.
Sadoyan: This week, we did a flowing water meditation
inspired by Robert Irwin’s
Central Garden at the Getty Center.
I spoke with Brian Houck, Getty’s Director of
Grounds and Gardens, to get his unique perspectives on
the Central Garden and his
philosophies on gardening.
Now let’s dive in.
Hi, Brian.
Thank you so much for joining us today.
Houck: Hi, Lilit.
It’s good to be here.
Thanks for talking to me.
Sadoyan: Brian, in the flowing water meditation episode of
this podcast, we focused on
Robert Irwin’s Central Garden here at the Getty Center.
I know that Robert Irwin was
very intentional about the flow of water in the garden.
So could you please tell us a little
bit more about that?
Houck: The water is a principal feature.
So as you walk down through the stream, you
cross the water in four locations.
There are four bridges.
He arranged these very large
boulders very specifically.
Um, he had great fun placing them.
So the sound of the water
cascading over the rocks would be different in each location.
And as you move through the stream, and then you sort of
approach the bowl section,
there’s a waterfall, and then that opens up into a very sort
of tranquil pond at the azalea
maze.
So the water carries you through the entire experience
and changes if you’re
looking for that kind of feature.
Sadoyan: So you mentioned flowers, and I know that the
Central Garden is a living
work of art.
Not only does it have that sort of stream that runs
through it, but its natural
elements are also constantly changing.
Could you please speak about the work that
goes into maintaining a garden of this scale and of this scope?
Houck: This garden is completely unique.
Uh, I’ve not seen any other garden designed
like it.
The perennial beds are very deep.
There are two of them that flank either side of the
stream.
You not only see them from the front, you see them
from the back, you see
them from the side.
And so managing the blooming and the care of all of these
perennials according to their season throughout the entire
length of this garden is really
quite a trick for the crew to do.
Sadoyan: And how do you all keep it so visually
appealing all the time?
Houck: Thank you for saying that.
[laughs] That is—the difficult thing that we do.
It’s a lot of documentation, it’s a lot of scheduling, it’s
a lot of adjusting to whatever
climate is happening at that time.
Gardeners live, you know, six, 12 months in advance,
and so we’re always working to plan, plant at the right
time, and it–it requires us
gathering the right materials, knowing exactly when to
put them in the ground, and
coordinating when they might bloom.
So I’m glad, very glad to hear that you think
we’re achieving our goals.
Sadoyan: Definitely.
Um, and what about the flexibility and the
adaptability that goes
into being responsive to the changing seasons and adapting
to different types of plants
that have various requirements, keeping them
all alive and thriving?
Houck: Well, if you’ve ever been around a group of gardeners,
all they do is talk about
the weather.
So, “Oh, it’s a warm winter. Oh, it’s a cool winter.
Oh, we have a lot of rain.
We don’t have a little rain.” So we’re all focused on what
is exactly changing for what we
believe to be a normal cycle.
Um, and of course, plants don’t read the books.They don’t
know what they’re supposed to do.
So we’re always observing, taking that in, and trying
to adjust.
We have some tricks that we can do, a little water—little
more water, a little
less water, a little more fertilizer, a
little less fertilizer.
It’s a challenge.
Sadoyan: Definitely.
Um, remaining adaptable and flexible, um,
it seems to me would
be the–the beauty of the practice of, um, gardening.
And so on a more philosophical level, how do you as a
gardener and plant expert approach impermanence in nature?
Houck: Yeah.
Well, it is something that we grapple with
in an existential way.
The—you know,
the planning, the technical aspects
are ego-filled, um, exercises, and then yet
gardeners tend to approach this as a soulful activity.
So if you stay, pardon the pun,
rooted in that mindset, it helps you get through those
moments when something didn’t occur as you expected it to.
For example, we have ranunculus bulbs, and they have roots
that we call fingers that
point down, and if the fingers don’t get planted down or
get up or sideways, the
ranunculus is not gonna grow.
Sadoyan: Mm.
Houck: So part of our challenge is to work with all of the
crew to have the diligence in
every moment of care, so when you’re planting 3–400
ranunculus bulbs, each one of
them is set correctly.
And the depth is important, because if soil gets
on top of that bulb, then it’s likely to rot
out.
There’s a lot of care.
Sadoyan: Fascinating.
And I can tell you really care for the garden.
Do you have a favorite
flower or plant or feature of the Central Garden?
Houck: It’s very difficult for me to say I have
a favorite flower.
Typically, I have a favorite flower of the week.
[laughs] Um, they change quite a bit.
But
one of my favorites down there is the Brugmansia.
It’s sometimes called the Angel’s Trumpet.
It is a poisonous plant, so when you hear the angel’s
trumpet, that’s not a
good thing.
Um, but it also is a highly fragrant bell-shaped
flower, and the smell only
comes out at night because it’s bat pollinated.
So it’s attracting its friend, you know, for pollination.
Sadoyan: Well, that’s fascinating, and I hope that our
listeners and viewers can come
and enjoy the beauty and the intimacy of the
Central Garden in person.
Thank you so much, Brian,
for joining us today.
Houck: Thank you.
It’s been my pleasure.
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Sadoyan: To find the related meditation and see images,
transcripts, and additional
resources, visit our website at getty dot edu slash ommm.
That’s O-M-M-M.
This episode was produced by Zoe Goldman and Gideon Brower.
Mixing and sound
design by Jaime Roque.
Christopher Sprinkle is executive producer.
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