If the Chihuly Fits

by Mary Jasch

One might easily imagine a feverish arteest with screaming hair rushing hither to stealthily tiptoe through flowerbeds, searching for just the right spot to show off a hot-off-the-blowpipe glassy green calla with glowing red tip.

That's close, but not the real story...

The excitement of a major exhibition, Chihuly at The New York Botanical Garden, occurred on both coasts of the country: in the Seattle studio of Dale Chihuly, glass artist, and at The New York Botanical Garden, the 250-acre home of The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory and one of the world's greatest collections of plants.

The exhibit sparkles up this dynamic horticultural landscape through October 29.

It all began at NYBG where Dale Chihuly met with Francisca Coelho, director of glasshouses, and outdoors horticultural designers to study the gardens. He looked with an eye for space and feel, which resulted in large sculptures placed in the outdoor gardens but the majority of pieces in the Conservatory.

“Dale Chihuly was here a lot and looked at the space,"ť Coelho says. “He had the plans of the houses so he had a good idea about where the sculptures would go." He worked with Coelho to locate the best spots, many of which depended on the care of surrounding plants. For instance, sculptures in drier beds experienced less water damage. Care was taken to keep them out from under dropping leaves or falling fronds.

“In selecting a Chihuly piece for any spot, we considered how each piece would fit in with the galleries' permanent plantings, allocated space, and foliage shapes," Coelho says. In just 13 days, Chihuly staff, Botanical Garden teams, contractors, and engineers figured out how to make the sculptures weather-proof, designed the lighting, and put over 46 tons of pieces together.

Chihuly is spread all over the Garden landscape. Visitors might start at the burning Sun, turn left and head to the Conservatory where glass art accessorizes the glass galleries and their World of Plants. A 20-foot high Rose Tower of die-cast polyvitro glistens in the veranda sun. Its icy-looking chunks and steel armature were shipped in crates and assembled on site by Chihuly's assistants to spec, like everything else was.

Some quick Chihuly fun facts:
- eight 48-foot trucks hauled the art
- packed in 1,863 boxes, tubes, crates, and pallets
- thousands of pieces (92,371 pounds of glass, steel, and packing material)
- all summarized in a 96-page packing list
Glass in this exhibition was blown in Finland, Germany, Czech Republic, and the U.S.

Back at the Conservatory... In the central Palm House, Chihuly staff blackened the pool with ink to reflect the 30-foot Palm Tower of blue and yellow squiggles. The artist's free-flowing shapes meld with the plantings, yet contrast with the angularity of the glasshouse. In the Rainforest, cacao trees blossom on their trunks and a bundle of sunny bubbles dangles from the roof of the research hut.

In the central bed of the Exhibition Gallery, Coelho designed circles of coleus even before the Christmasy polyvitro chandelier was hung. She chose particular cultivars for nearby beds as she watched the Chihuliagns work. “I tried to copy some of his colors. I stood and looked as they were doing it. I saw yellow and chose that for a bed nearby. The colors of the coleus in the beds are as close to the Christmas in July ornament as I could get them. The purple of the cultivar, 'Christmas Cheer,'ť carries over from Chihuly's purplish stripes."

Coelho always uses Victorian ornamental plants: coleus, canna, and caladium in the Gallery's summer exhibits. "I always plan the exhibits using up to 90 different cultivars. It's all in my head. I play with height, shape of leaf, colors, the placement of cultivars."

“Color depends on whether the cultivar likes sun or shade, and what the weather is like. If it's rainy during one week of the show, they can be dull. When the sun comes back out they can be bright.

“In the greenhouses in summer, it gets so warm that the plants have to be tropical to take the high temperatures and humidity. Coleus does best. Cannas do well and do better outside because of the sun. They sort of compete with each other. You never know how a plant will do. We'll plant canna a foot apart. Some will be fine and by the end of October the little 8-inch pots we put out in June will be tremendous. It is a very full show."

Gardeners start summer's coleus from cuttings in April. In two months they are planted out and two weeks later, pinching begins. “We keep the flowers off. It's all about the foliage."

NYBG buys caladium corms and starts them in early March. It takes three months to get to the size to put out for display.

Coleus, caladium, and canna are planted directly into the ground. The trick with growing them together and successfully is regulating watering. There is a schedule, but each plant, even within a species, doesn't require the same watering.

“As I do the design, if I have a dwarf coleus in front of tall, vigorously growing plants, the dwarf, using less water than the tall one, requires less water," explains Coelho. "It's hard to apply and keep water within a certain spot of soil. The plants' survival and success depends on the experience of any given gardener who waters."ť

Coelho uses some vigorous old cultivars and also modern varieties with smaller foliage. Every year she searches the web and adds new cultivars to her list. “I make sure we have enough diversity to attract interest."

Coelho always finds new ways to use the same plants. Perhaps it's new cultivars with different heights or colors, or different amounts of each. She groups them en masse in the ground, or shows them off in pots. “The more cultivars there are it means the design will change. So if you are a repeat visitor you won't see the same thing," she says. This year's design is quite formal. She used more cannas. In one gallery, tall Chihuly pieces have taken the place of cannas that were used in past exhibits.

“I was trained as a horticulturist," remarks Coelho. "It just turns out I have a knack for design. I visualize it and that's how I do my design. It's great for doing shows like this. I play a lot with the plants in the house. I play with curves and angles. As you go on you never know what you'll end up with."

Advance ticket sales only: www.nybg.org
Dale Chihuly: www.chihuly.com

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