Sculpture in The Garden

This week I went on a garden tour hosted by the Santa Fe Garden Club. It was well organized, and the day was beautiful. But I was sorely disappointed. 

There were no gardens. None.

We visited four homes -- two private art galleries, a former governor's museum-preserved residence, and a sculptor's studio. The first two had some plants near a patio or wall, including a blooming century plant that stood against the incredible view of the mountains beyond. But the tour was of the eclectic artwork inside.

The preserved governor's residence had some flowers around the pool and some aspen trees set in groundcovers at the entrance, but the renovated interiors were the highlight to be seen. 

The sculptor's workshop had no plants at all, we toured a dusty rock-strewn workshop of big stones in stages of being cut, with a display gallery of finished obelisks inside. 

No gardens to be seen in any of the four sites unless you came to see mountain views, aspens and some agaves. Santa Fe has some beautiful examples of gardens in a high desert setting, and these were not it.

I should have paid attention to the fact that the tour was advertised as a "Home and Garden" tour. It wasn't a garden tour as such.

We had a nice enough outing for the day touring upscale moneyed places, but the sight of the century plant at one of the art gallery homes summed up what made me so dissatisfied: there, plopped next to the  actual plant was a glass sculpture of an agave plant. 

I don't get sculpture in the garden. Why put something artificial in a natural setting? Why obscure the gorgeous mountain view? Why put something glassy and gaudy next to the real thing? It's a beautiful piece of work and it would catch your interest in a gallery, but outdoors? Competing with plants and sky and weather and views?

Even classical marble statues in Renaissance gardens do nothing for me. And contemporary installations in a beautiful outdoor setting leave me unimpressed. It's just me, but I don't care for sculpture in a garden. 

If you could even call the spaces we saw "gardens".