Wandering Wednesday: Getty Center Museum Gardens

 

On our way back from the LA Convention center area, we finally arranged our timing so we could stop off and see the Getty Center Museum. It was a gorgeous day, as you can see from the blue sky in this picture. The rough cut Travertine exterior of the museum was so fascinating, it has fossilized plants and animals randomly appearing.

I will be honest, the main reason I wanted to go see this place was this particular roof garden planted with cactus. I remember it 1was in Sunset Magazine back when it was established in 1997.

It's really something! I liked that we were up above the smog/haze layer in Los Angeles so that we could see the horizon.

It was quite hot so we did our outdoor exploring first. The central garden was truly a work of art, or as the garden's designer, Robert Irwin said: "is a sculpture in the form of a garden, which aims to be art." I saw the central knot formation on the map, and was looking forward to walking through the maze, but it was all water.

The pathways zig-zagged around the garden beds that surrounded the central water knot planting. 

Gorgeous flowers were bursting out of all the well designed garden beds.

This shows how far down you go to the bottom of the garden compared to the museum plaza level. 

This was one of our favorite things in the whole museum. Those "trees" are actually bougainvillea vines that are captured in welded rebar "trunk-ish" cages with a spreading grid at the top. 

Fascinating!

We sat underneath and admired the ingenuity (and the shade).

After our rest under the bougainvillea "trees", it was time to walk back up and go see some art.

Walking back up from the central garden you follow the flow of water along gentle zig-zagging pathways all planted with succulents and cactus.

It was so varied and beautiful, and very happy in that hot sun.

The movement of water and the beautiful plantings made it a very easy walk back up the hill.

Up at the very top the source of the water is this fascinating concave vessel fountain. A wonderful optical illusion.

The x marks the spot is the shadow of the grating where the water comes pouring down.

And this was all before we went inside and saw any inside art!