Five very different articles in this post. Starting with a global competition for all things sketchy, a big renovation for the Eastcote House Gardens in England due to a big money influx and great news for vegetable gardeners in Los Angeles. But there’s more.
A proposal for a 27 acre botanical garden in Delaware, I’ve included the plan view of the proposed garden, and finally a few words from the artist Andy Goldsworthy on a installation he is doing for the Presidio in San Francisco, CA.
Let’s get started.
Sketchy Saturday Top 10 – No. 004
Sketch maniacs, masters, fans and admirers here is our fourth edition of Sketchy Saturday Top 10! Watch out because it’s becoming popular and the competition is global. We are looking for diverse techniques, well structured, executed emotion, particular beauty and sketches with a personal touch when ranking. Take a look at the competition and don’t miss out on sending in yours!
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Heritage Lottery grant of £1.28m for Eastcote House Gardens
RESIDENTS and voluntary groups in Eastcote are celebrating following news that Eastcote House Gardens has been awarded £1.28m by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
An application was made by Hillingdon Council, in partnership with the Friends of Eastcote House Gardens, to enhance the buildings and grounds. The application was one of just 11 in the UK to succeed under the charitable ‘Parks for People’ scheme.
Funding will be used to significantly restore and improve the historic gardens, known for the timber-framed 16th Century stables and mature parkland that were once part of the grounds of Eastcote House.
The grant will also enable the repair and upgrading of the listed stables, 18th Century dovecote and walled garden for educational and recreational use, while a new building will house a new café.
The volunteer group, Friends of Eastcote House Gardens, who have won many awards for their beautiful floral displays, will get a gardeners’ compound for training new volunteers.
Younger residents will be able to explore the stunning gardens, enjoying pond dipping, a new ecology walk and natural playground, while schools will benefit from the outdoor classroom.
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Los Angeles City Council suspends fines for public veggie gardens
The Los Angeles City Council gave its blessing Tuesday to neighborhood gardeners who want to plant vegetables on public parkways, voting to waive enforcement of a city law that makes the activity illegal.
City law requires parkways — the area between a sidewalk and curb — to be “free of obstruction,” including vegetable gardens.
The council, on a 15-0 vote, approved a motion to suspend the law in the case of vegetable gardens. The practice of planting gardens on public space, often called urban gardening, has been taken up in recent years in communities with limited access to fresh produce, as well as by avid community gardeners.
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GEORGETOWN — A group of botanically minded Delawareans is planning to open a 37-acre public garden near Dagsboro three years from now, and has approached Sussex County for permission to make it happen.
“We founded this with the mission of creating a world-class botanic garden,” said Michael Zajic, president of the new nonprofit pushing the Delaware Botanic Gardens. “There is none like it on the peninsula.”
Zajic and his colleagues say they aspire to build a garden open to the public about the size of the main garden of Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa. .. .. .. continue reading
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An Andy Goldsworthy tidbit from Archinect
“What I find so fascinating about the Presidio is that, in the heart of this military machine, there was a huge planting programme,” Goldsworthy says, referring to the fact that the park’s 300-acre forest was planted by the US military between 1886 and 1900. “They had quite a sophisticated sense of landscape,” he says. “They read the landscape in the way that sculptors do—or at least the way I do.” —theartnewspaper.com
That Art newspaper link leads to this small story about an installation work Andy Goldsworthy is installing at the Presidio in San Francisco. I have went to the “trouble” of C&P’ing the story.
Andy Goldsworthy to make third work for San Francisco Presidio
British artist is fascinated by US army’s long history of tree planting
By Pac Pobric. Web only
Published online: 25 July 2013
The artist Andy Goldsworthy is creating a new work for the Presidio of San Francisco, the national park that was formerly a military base. The artist will hang a felled tree covered in cracked clay from the ceiling of a building within the park that was once used by the Army to store explosives.
According to the Presidio Trust’s website, Tree Fall will be “a fully reversible” work installed in the Powder Magazine building, “a small (25 feet by 30 feet) and currently inaccessible masonry structure”. “The gunpowder room would’ve been a fairly dangerous place to be, so [the work] will have that sense of caution to it,” Goldsworthy says. Due to be completed by the end of August, Tree Fall will be the artist’s third project in the park, following Spire, 2008, and Wood Line, 2011.
“What I find so fascinating about the Presidio is that, in the heart of this military machine, there was a huge planting programme,” Goldsworthy says, referring to the fact that the park’s 300-acre forest was planted by the US military between 1886 and 1900. “They had quite a sophisticated sense of landscape,” he says. “They read the landscape in the way that sculptors do—or at least the way I do.”
Great care is being taken to preserve the historic structure. “The new ceiling and structural frame will be anchored to an existing non-historic concrete slab and have no attachment points to the historic masonry portions of the structure,” the Presidio Trust’s website says. “The remainder of the building will be untouched except for the removal and safe storage of the interior door, which will be replaced upon removal of the artwork. The installation has been designed by a structural engineer in order to avoid harm to the existing structure, and includes no artificial lighting.”
*** You can learn more about the Presidio and Goldsworthy at the Presidio(dot)gov site.
The Whispering Crane Institute 
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