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Dig This
Friday, January 19, 2001
Gay Estes
This Moorish garden at Alhambra dates from 800 to 1490 A.D.
The grass always looks greener on the other side of an ocean. Actually, Gay Estes has a soft spot for gardens on the other side of two oceans. Tour Europe’s grand gardens
The Houston native has travelled the world for 30 years photographing gardens.
She'll be sharing some of her European slides Thursday at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.
Estes' main preoccupation is floral arranging, she's an accredited judge with the Garden Club of America. She has visited Hawaii before and is a big fan of tropical flowers as well as local gardens and topography.
"You all have the Pali, I have the baseball diamond," said Estes.
Kauai's Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden is a particular favorite.
Despite her enthusiasm for local growing conditions, however, the thing she finds most frustrating in Texas is the lack of true seasons. The heat there kills more plants than the cold, she said, commonly reaching summer temperatures of 100-plus degrees.
Her travels allow her to see all the beauty different climates have to offer, she said. And she constantly brings back acquisitions for her garden, though many of her finds perish in the Houston heat.
Estes was loath to pick favorites, but she admitted to a strong preference for Italy, with its dramatic topography, and Italian gardens. "The Italian gardens, that's just my passion," she said. Many will be shown in her "Grand Gardens of Europe" slide presentation.
"I am going to trace the roots of gardens from the Moorish influence, through the Classic revivals of the Renaissance on to the Baroque grand gardens and finally the English style of romantic garden," said Estes.
"We will visit many of the usual and some hard-to-get-to, unusual gardens from Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, the low countries, Germany and Scandinavia.
"I like the interesting facts about the people who gave life to the gardens and the times that produced them," she said.
History has always fascinated Estes, who graduated with the bachelor's degree in the subject from the University of Texas at Austin in 1959.
"I like to sort of gossip about the people" who built the gardens, she said.
Grand Gardens of Europe
What: Slide lecture with Gay Estes
"Some of these cardinals had the most licentious gardens in the world," said Estes, complete with grottos for elicit meetings and statues of Venus.
"They certainly weren't Christian statuary," said Estes. "And they're lavish. There's certainly nothing about any vow of poverty going on."
The romantic gardens of France and Italy also were crafted by some interesting characters, she said.
"What's so fun about the romantic gardens is the English all came down and retired and created these weird and wonderful gardens," said Estes. "They just collected everything they ever liked that was romantic."
Some even built temples to love.
"I hope for visual appeal and an underlying historical thread to put the gardens into context," said Estes.
She recommends "The Oxford Companion to Gardens" by Geoffrey and Susan Jellicoe as a historical gardening reference.
Estes and her husband Carl, an international tax attorney, share a passion for gardens and photography. Their explorations are typically tacked on to his business trips.
They've been to Honolulu three times as the Bar Association meets here every seven years.
"I started going with him as soon as the children were old enough," said Estes. "I started with collecting fountains. I was fascinated with water gardens."
They once staked out Versailles for a weekend to make sure they saw it with the water turned on.
Carl does most of the preliminary research for their trips, and he's a better photographer, said Estes. They sort their pictures together after each tour.
Estes has been enamored of plants since she got her own garden.
"I got fascinated with the horticulture and with trying to grow everything," she said.
She got most of her horticultural training through the garden club and its judging programs. She took a certified nurseryman's course when she started her own landscaping company.
"It kept me in really great shape. I was out there digging ditches," said Estes.
After seven years in business, she gave up over billing headaches. She also was tired of missing trips with Carl.
And her most clients just weren't adventurous enough, she said.
Estes describes her own garden as organic in structure and over-crowded. But she also appreciates highly manipulated landscapes.
"They all have a personality," she said. "How clipped are your boxwoods? It sort of tells you about you."
Even after 30 years of hunting down gardens around the world, there are places Estes still wants to photograph. Gardens in India, Istanbul and Africa top the list.
Estes' lecture is being presented by the Hawaii chapter of the Twenty First Century Club. The event honors founding members Gertrude "Twinks" Hornung and Juanita Kenda, who both died last year. Gay Glaser, club president, said the group wanted to remember the women with an event they would have enjoyed.
Gardening Calendar in Do It Electric!
Stephanie Kendrick's gardening column runs Fridays in Today.
You can write her at the Star-Bulletin, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802
or email skendrick@starbulletin.com
