Tn'A: Almost Madison, WIsconsin

(picture captions coming soon!)

We arrived in Madison and, just as Ed described, we couldn’t miss his house because of the front yard garden! Although Ed only bought the house maybe 18 months or so ago, he’s really gone a long way in the gardens, adding a huge diversity of plants from conifers to hostas, Clematis to Passiflora. IT already has “great bones” and neighbors stopped and gawked at it every day. We immediately conscripted him for a garden tour, it being a lovely warmish evening. Even after a hard frost there was lots to see. We also got to meet Ed’s boxer doggies, Barron, who was just under a year, and his mother Blue (or was is Blu?). Very energetic, and very adorable, Barron was a little rambunctions, but intelligent and caught on quickly that he needed to sit and calm down to get attention.

Ed’s boyfriend Paul unfortunately (and fortunately) had jobs lined up during much of the time we we were in town. Unfortunate because we would have LOVED to spent more time with him, but fortunate that he had the business (as a self-employed man) to keep him busy! But he was able to join us for dinners. He has a great sense of humor, an infectious laugh and has an amazing background in historical restoration and preservation of structures. Watching Paul and Ed together was too cute, they are adorable together, and make a very sexy couple!

Paul’s cats are also at the house, and Emma is cute as a button! The other kitty (darn, forgot the name by the time I wrote this) took a little while to warm up to us, but

Ed had prepared a great meal for us for dinner, and wines and dined us. His house is a beautiful Victorian dating from around 1900, carefully restored and beautifully furnished. The cats have the upstairs, and the dogs rule the downstairs.

10/30 Thursday

After a late breakfast, we went for a tour of Madison. Ed took us to a rooftop deck of a convention center that is right on one of the four lakes that surround Madison. The convention center was a Frank Loyd Wright design, situated on axis with the state capitol building. The view was great, but if you go inside and see the carpets- they are a hideous pattern right out of a cheap motel. Scary!

We walked up to the capitol building itself, and toured around inside. The ornate architecture was embellished beyond belief. It is nearly impossible for such structures to be built today. But it is great that the state is completing a restoration effort of the building. It must be quite expensive, but is so very worth the preservation of such a beautiful space.

We then walked down State Street towards the UW campus. It is very much like Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, with all manner of shopping and restaurants geared towards the adventurous college student and young person. We stopped in long enough to grab a book for Paul, and a quick bite to eat (Philly cheese steak sandwiches, only adequate). We walked around campus for a bit, then went to Ed’s work.

Ed is director at the Allen centennial Garden on the University of Madison campus. Ed is responsible for all aspects of the garden, being the only full time staff member. In his year and a half there, he has really been bringing the garden up in quality, financial stability, quality interns, and educational purpose. I’d love to come back in another year and compare- it already looks great and should be spectacular!

The rock garden is great, as well as the more formal areas. They amount of work they have to do, just moving the massive terra cotta display pots indoors. I just can’t wrap my puny California brain around what it takes!

After our tour, we went over to Olbrich botanical gardens in east Madison for a quick tour. Ed used to be the Educational Director here, and was able to give us a great tour and background information on the collections. Even though they had already drained the water from the fountains for the season, the gardens were still enchanting.

The relatively new Rose garden is quite stunning, and based on what I saw it is amazing that they built it for only 1 million (plus one million to endow it). Apparently they had to scramble for plant material, but that is hardly unique to any botanical garden renovation/installation. The limestone walls, water fountains, and well planned observation deck really give great “bones” to organize the beds and plantings around. We’ll have to think about how we can afford to incorporate some of the elements into our own place down the line.

The Thai pavilion garden is quite unique. The structure itself is phenomenally intricate and detailed. I could just stare at it for hours and still find new things. As an unplanned gift from the Thai Agricultural Minister (a UW alumni) it was a bit forced into the Olbrich collections, but they brilliantly separated it from the rest of the collections, by placing it across a slough, connecting it by a footbridge, in previously vacant land. So it does not impinge on other collections, so much as an added bonus extension of the gardens. They also wisely stipulated that the gift (which came by way of the city of Madison) had to come with endowment for maintenance, so they should be able to keep it looking good.