Garden art that rocks
If you think Cevan Forristt has an altered take on gardening, consider his horticultural beginnings:
鈥淲hen did I start gardening?鈥� he says. 鈥淲hen I was 3 years old. I had a fascination with sprinklers. I went out in my diapers and stole a neighbor鈥檚 sprinklers. There鈥檚 a picture of me in my diapers with my sprinkler collection. I had a vegetable garden by the time I was 4 or 5 鈥� me eating everything before it was ripe.鈥�
Those in the know may think of Cevan Forristt (pronounce it 鈥�Kevin Forest鈥�) as an extremely talented professional landscape designer. But he doesn鈥檛 think of himself that way.
鈥淚 am an ambiential engineer,鈥� he says. 鈥淎 spatial dramatist. Or I can be an ambiential facilitator.鈥�
What he also is is a guy madly in love with rocks. Big ones. And lots of them.
The garden that surrounds his 1870 house in downtown San Jose, Calif., is peopled by maybe the greatest collection of architectural and ethnological stone this side of, oh, Easter Island.
鈥淚 got some [pre-1906]-earthquake stone 鈥� some Italian people in San Francisco five generations ago had piles of this stone. I got 800 tons from the old Grace Cathedral rectory. I brought back 100 tons from China. Some stuff I buy is ethnically anonymous: You wouldn鈥檛 know where it came from,鈥� he says.
鈥淚 build walls and stack 鈥檈m up. And clients can鈥檛 come into my garden and say, 鈥業 want that and that and that.鈥� Most of it I hoard myself. I collect it because before long it鈥檚 going to be gone. It won鈥檛 be there anymore.鈥�
Historical salvation aside, there鈥檚 this: 鈥淚t鈥檚 so permanent. If my garden died, there鈥檇 still be a 鈥榯here鈥� there.鈥�
So, yes, there is a sense of drama at work in Mr. Forristt鈥檚 garden, also by way of his skewed background.
鈥淚 took stage-set design when I was working on my degree because landscapers are all so boring,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 had to do something crazy before going back to my taxonomy classes. I took ceramics. It had to be kooky.鈥�
So when Forristt takes on a commission, he doesn鈥檛 just design a garden. 鈥淚 make a country,鈥� he says. 鈥淢y house is more of an archaeological site. The garden is kind of an Indiana Jones film set without the big ball rolling at you.鈥�
Growing up in nearby Menlo Park also opened young Forristt鈥檚 eyes.
鈥淚 had a Japanese neighbor and a Chinese neighbor, and going into their houses intrigued the heck out of me.鈥�
So today you will see a bust of Buddha inset into a stone wall, a 13-foot-long horse trough from China, and gates and urns and statuary from his travels in Thailand and the rest of southeast Asia.
鈥淵ou want to place statuary so it isn鈥檛 in the middle of the gardens like the Europeans do 鈥� like, 鈥榯a-da!鈥� I do it so it looks unearthed, so it鈥檚 more of a surprise.鈥�
His garden, too, is a living portfolio, something to show prospective clients.
鈥淚 use the garden as a kind of test pad. It will either scare them off or they say, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e the guy.鈥�
鈥淚 like working vicariously through other people, to do things I鈥檇 never do for myself. Most designers will put in a bench and a table and an umbrella. So what? You need a reason to linger.鈥�
His favorite project involved the creation of 鈥渁quaports.鈥�
鈥淲e had this big keyhole doorway with water going across the top 鈥� an aqueduct 鈥� and the water dropped into a pond. The eagles and hawks would come down and scope out the client鈥檚 koi.鈥�
His favorite part of his own garden also is a water feature.
鈥淚t鈥檚 my lotus pond 鈥� the seating under an old persimmon tree.鈥�
He pauses.
鈥淪omeone said my gardens are very dense 鈥� a lot of layers. It鈥檚 about being creative, my own trip. But my yard鈥檚 for me,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檝e got to have fun.鈥�
