THE DYE GARDEN

Artwork Referenced

Resources Used

The Dye Garden is the second iteration of the “Makers’”  themed garden, our installation from last year’s show.  This year, we draw upon inspiration from the multi-disciplinary methods of makers, artists, healers, naturalists and gardeners used to rewild our urban spaces.  These methods are steeped in the ancient traditions of transforming nature’s gifts into artistic works fashioned entirely from natural materials. 


THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

Our Inspiration

Our garden has been particularly inspired by the recent publication Shrouded in Light: Naturalistic Plantings Inspired by Wild Shrublands by Kevin Phillips Williams and Michael Guidi of the Denver Botanical Gardens.  The authors challenge our industry to embrace the lessons gleaned from wild spaces in terms of resilience and adaptation that honor the cyclical rhythms and relationships of the natural world.  

The Mountain West settings displayed in  Shrouded in Light relate to another inspirational text; Harvesting Color: How to Find Plants and Make Natural Dyes by Rebecca Burgess.  The author explores the wild spaces of the Mountain West, Southwest and California using mostly native plants to wildcraft natural dyes that create beautiful textile displays and cozy knit apparel. 

Through this research, we became further emboldened to highlight the ways in which natural spaces inspire artistic endeavors and the infinite opportunities for creativity offered through the natural world, lest we be open to exploring through a more thoughtful, restorative and ecologically beneficial lens.  Mix this enlivened attempt with a dash of alchemy, and we hope to create a space that is steeped in ancient practices that honor the abundance of spring and the seasonal, life-giving cycles of the natural world. 

The Intention 

Our work is dedicated to the idea of rewilding the urban garden by prioritizing natural materials for creative and artistic endeavors, a practice built upon centuries of wild-crafting now actively being reclaimed by modern ecological landscape designers and those designers like us that like to explore what is just slightly off the beaten path.


We have chosen the scrub/shrublands and woodlands mountain west as the setting for our garden. This location has provoked multiple layers of intention:

  • Create lush and unique climate adapted planting combinations inspired by the alpine-style scrub/shrublands and woodlands of the Mountain West.

  • Exhibit a range of dye plants that can be added to the PNW garden that are both ecologically beneficial and offer opportunities for artistic endeavor.

  • Accentuate the reciprocal relationship between ecological gardens and our chosen forms of botanical artistry: naturally dyed textile weavings, natural structures and floral design.

  • Showcase the power of prioritizing natural materials in landscape design/construction to create landscapes that are bursting with life and creative musings that also thrive in a changing climate.

  • Embrace the concept of rewilding as a grounding principle in ecological home garden creation.  



OUR DESIGN

Illustrations and Designs by Liz Forelle

The Features and Trends

Naturally Dyed, Woven Silk Panels from Artist Rachel Grunig

The Dye Garden will commission work from artist Rachel Grunig, whose ethereal works are created from foraged and cultivated plants rendered into natural dyes.  Rachel uses naturally dyed silk to create unique textile weavings and installations that emulate natural forms.  We will highlight Rachel’s work in two ways:

  • Dyed silk woven panels will be installed at a unique focal point amongst the wild dye plantings. 

  • Dyed silk strands will be woven into the natural arbor structures.

    • Both weavings offer a symbolic connection between the ecological web that binds us all to the natural life cycles honored in nature.

Natural Arbors Festooned with Dye Florals and Weavings

Our favorite feature of the garden are the whimsical natural arbors created by woven branches- inspired by the work of artist: Andy Goldworthy.  These natural arbors will frame the entryways to the central path through the Dye garden.  This will be a dramatic celebration of spring blooming branches, fresh florals and silk weavings installed by Artist Rachel Gruning.  Many of the most colorful dye plants are summer annuals/perennials which won’t be available at the time of the installation so we are hoping to work the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market to obtain a smattering of annual dye flowers which will decorate the arbor. 

Naturally dyed silk strands will be available to the public so they may have hands-on experience with the dyed silk material, which will also be used to encourage the public to participate in the communal act of weaving into the arbor.  The communal act of weaving is a practice that has joined people together for centuries.  

The natural arbors demonstrate a creative reuse and regenerative design opportunity that aligns with the overall trend of REWILDING in the garden

The central pathway (2x2 flamed bluestone pavers) of the garden will allow observers to view the range of dye plantings and natural stone work up close.  There is a central gathering space where the public can rest on a sitting boulder or sit in quiet reflections around the corten water bowl.  This still water feature is symbolic of the dye bath used to create the natural dye process.  We hope to have colorful glass spheres in the water to create the illusion of colors similar to the dyes used in the garden.  Colorful plantings will be growing around the water bowl to provide a more natural expression. 

Rock Mountain will sponsor the water feature and much of our stone work.  We hope to work with Marenakos and Mutual Materials as well.

Crevice Garden, Alpine Style Boulder Arrangements and Seating Boulders

Our garden will feature the natural stone work of internationally recognized Master Craftsman, Nick Aitken.  Our alpine style crevice garden offers a distinctive form of stone retention that emulates the stone arrangements found in wild spaces while also offering homeowners a unique, drought tolerant planting inspiration.  The vertical arrangement of the stone is a site to behold.  

Alpine- style boulder arrangements will be used to create featured outcroppings and retention around the perimeter.  Alpine confiners, grasses and groundcovers will be nestled in and around the stone for a very naturalistic look.

Sitting boulders will be used in the central gathering space so the public can further engage with our space.

We also hope to nestle a few handmade stone carvings from Lacewing stone carver, Ben Schultz, into the garden as easter eggs for the public to discover.

THE PROCESS

The Plantings

The plantings of the Dye Garden offer multi-faceted intentions for planning a naturally designed garden that emulates the power of natural spaces while also offering opportunity for further artistic endeavor with natural dyes.  Our research on this topic has been further heartened by the fact that so many of the plants we already love are valued for their dye qualities.  The Mountain West alpine and woodland settings that have inspired this garden have a long and storied path with indigenous dye practices.  Our website will feature a list of plants and their dyes potential along with links to Rachel’s work and further reading for interested parties.

To create this space, the plantings will feature summer dry plantings for sun and shade gardens in the PNW that are inspired by wild spaces of the Mountain West, many of which are also dye plants.

A grove of Quaking Aspen will be used as a dramatic backdrop to our space, offering many resources to our setting:

  • Usefulness in wild-crafting natural structures (similar to the featured arbors)

  • Possesses natural dye qualities

  • Emblematic of the Mountain West

  • Demonstrated resilience and adaptation in shifting climates and wildfire

  • The Aspen will be under planted with golden bracken fern foliage and lichen - offering more unique dye plants to introduce to the public.

A grove of Lodgepole Pine Chief Joe, offering similar purpose:

  • Possesses natural dye qualities

  • A stunning specimen in the landscape

  • Native cultivar

 

A sunny shrubland of native and summer dry plants offering texture and evergreen coverage throughout the year-  most of which are dye plants:

  • Manzanita ‘Louis Edmonds’ and ‘Panchito’

  • Ceanothus ‘Point Reyes’

  • Cistus ‘Sunset’

  • Microbiota ‘Celtic Pride’

  • Juniper ‘Berkshire’

  • Pinus mugo ‘Wintersonne’

  • Rosemary

The sunny shrubland will be interplanted with colorful carex, bouteloua, spring bulbs and drought tolerant ground covers like Lewisia and Aubrieta mixed into the cracks and crevices of the alpine garden.  

The dry shade shrubland will feature: native mahonia repens, ribes, helleborus, heuchera, douglas iris, spring bulbs and sagina mixed into the cracks and crevices of the stone work.

A more traditional Dye Garden arrangement will flank the central pathway.  Classic garden favorites like lungwort, spring bulbs, pansies and hyacinth now offer a range of creative opportunities for natural dye projects for the public to ponder.

Take Aways

It is our hope that the public embrace the intentions of The Dye Garden as whimsical inspiration for home garden design.  Prioritizing natural materials, building with ancient techniques and committing to climate-adapted design principles offer powerful principles for the future of our industry.

The plantings of The Dye Garden offer multi-faceted intentions for planning a naturally designed garden that emulates the power of natural spaces while also offering opportunity for further creativity with natural dyes.  The power of plants and building with natural materials continue to astound us and we feel that this knowledge is a gift to share with the world.  We are thrilled to be able to do so for a second year at the NWFGS.

Grow with us.

Lacewing Fine Gardening and Botanical Design is an ecological landscape design/build company that creates naturalistic outdoor spaces.  Our landscape designs celebrate four season interest with a focus on beautiful and beneficial plant choices that support pollinators and create magic in a vase arrangement. Our landscape construction projects prioritize natural materials and building techniques. We are a passionate group of designers, builders, plant nerds, natural stone enthusiasts, dry stack wall builders, and wild floral designers with a deep love and respect for nature.  While this is our first year participating in the show, we are looking forward to celebrating 10 years of building gardens in November 2025.