Demo Garden

For the past several years, the gardens downtown that are part of Better Homes and Gardens magazine have been an occasional sketching subject. The gardens are beautiful in concept and execution, and represent outstanding examples of garden design and maintenance. Because the gardens are used for various publications and purposes, they are only open to the public Fridays, noon to 2pm, May through September. 

"Better Homes Test Garden," wc/ink

Last Friday was my first visit to the gardens this year, on a beautiful late spring day. The sun was out and a light breeze played through the branches above. I sat in the central paved area--patio?--at one of several wrought iron tables, next to its central, multi-tier fountain. Others were sitting here and there while more toured the pathways among glowing flower beds. My view was to the north, toward downtown Des Moines but screened by large evergreens and deciduous trees. In front of those were bright red Japanese maples, stuck by mid-day sun and footed by a small green meadow. In front of the green, spiral-trunked crabapples stood like sentinels. The fountain bubbled and frothed just to my left as I tried to capture the multiple layers, colors and textures. This sketch began as a graphite sketch to which watercolor and ink were added.