86. A BURLE MARX–INSPIRED MODERN FLOWER GARDEN

“Do not the prolific blossoms on a plant manifest happiness? Sometimes I would like to think so.”

—ROBERTO BURLE MARX

One of the foremost landscape architects of the 20th century was a Brazilian artist, Roberto Burle Marx, who loved plants and flowers. His colorful, exuberant landscapes were like modernist paintings transferred to the garden, and they were revolutionary for his time. His tremendous influence on landscape design continues today. These designs are known for free-form masses of color and the bold use of tender bedding plants to create painterly effects in the landscape. He was ahead of his time in that he advocated the preservation and use of native flora. However, he used common adaptable plants from all over the world as well as some that were rare.

Burle Marx treated landscape design as a living art, and he was passionate about the wonders of Nature. He once asked, “Why does nature, with the one hand, create a leaf so broad and tough that a child can float on, and with the other, fashion a flower as tiny as a pinhead containing all the organs for its reproduction?” His curiosity knew no bounds. He was a plant explorer as well as a horticulturist and designer. His gardens, mostly tropical, were a celebration of all plants.

You can incorporate the artful planting ideas of Burle Marx to create a bold and striking garden of your own. Follow his use of curvilinear shapes for flower beds. Plant a large rounded, free-form mass of flowers within an existing bed or in a bed all its own in an open lawn. Use a plant palette bursting with high-contrast colors. Try colorful red coleus and yellow marigolds or, in partial shade, plant large-leafed caladiums amidst a large grouping of New Guinea impatiens.

Burle Marx adapted his love of color and form to the garden in artful ways. We can follow his lead and make prolific flower gardens that are both playful and pollinator friendly. In so doing, we may, to use his wise words, “manifest happiness.”

The bold duo of vibrant orange bromeliads (Aechmea blanchetiana) set in a sea of bright pink summer snapdragons (Angelonia angustifolia ‘Angelface Pink’) was part the memorable 2019 exhibit dedicated to Roberto Burle Marx at the New York Botanical Garden. It reflects his love of high-contrast color and flowers.

An expansive tropical garden was the highlight of the New York Botanical Garden exhibit, Brazilian Modern: The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx in 2019. Raymond Jungles, his student and well-known landscape architect, designed this landscape using the plant palette and design ideas of his mentor.