Fernando Caruncho Minimalist Gardens

Reflecting pools, clipped hedges, olive trees and cypress are typical of the Fernando Caruncho style.

About five years ago I clipped a garden with exquisite fall color from a magazine and scanned the pages for reference. The only notes I made was the name of the landscape architect: Fernando Caruncho. Spain’s premier “gardener,” as Caruncho has referred to himself, is a “minimalist” whose landscapes are rooted in geometry. Reflecting pools, clipped hedges, olive trees and cypress are typical of the Fernando Caruncho style. Caruncho’s gardens are serene and ordered. Even when they are flamboyant maples blazing with color [top] behind a stepped, squared off hedge, the color is balanced by water and space.  The close juxtaposition of the water feature andthe  lawn fascinate me. It’s as if the grass is growing on top of the water and is cut out so that the water shows.

Seen from another angle, the brilliant color of maple leaves is even more intense as green gives way to vermillion and gold.

As a lover of All Green Gardens, I am no less mesmerized by the shapes and textures Caruncho devises in a monochromatic garden.  That’s when the light comes into play, making certain elements darken while others are lighter. At the same time the abstract shapes of the tree which stands alone in the square of grass are both reflected in the water and outlined against the sky.

In his own garden, Caruncho placed an out building he calls a “kiosk” in the back behind his pool. The pool house has bamboo shades that can be rolled down to provide respite from the heat. The pavilion provides a focal point across the pool and it’s interesting to note the red orange color is a natural partner for green and a hue similar to maple leaves. In front is another Caruncho trademark — meandering “cushion” hedges fashioned from escallonia, an evergreen native to South America.

Another swath of escallonia shows the simple geomeric volumes of hedges clipped into sculptural shapes. “Understanding a garden or a landscape is like getting to know a person. It is slow, you need time to draw out the personality,” Caruncho has said of gardens which often take as long as five years to create. As an admirer of his work I consider that an understatement.

(Source: House & Garden, Vancouver Sun/MarkVan Manen, landscapefocused.tumblr.com/Bruno Suet, telegraph.co.uk, fernandocaruncho.com)

For more landscape gardens see Scampston Hall Walled Garden, Gardens Most Amazing, Outdoor Living Walls

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