Garden Photo of the Day

GPOD on the Road: Tofino Float’em Garden

An unusual sculpture garden

frog sculpture in the garden

Today’s GPOD comes from frequent contributor Cherry Ong and features a very cool public garden that she stumbled upon on a very rainy day in Tofino, British Columbia.

This garden display was created by artist Pete Clarkson, who makes all of the sculptures from recycled marine debris he and shoreline cleanup volunteers collect. The installations reflect the unexpected beauty of what may seem like trash, and offer a reminder that the things we throw away end up somewhere, often floating to clutter the ocean and beaches. There is more information about Pete and his art on his website: peteclarkson.com

garden sculpture amongst ornamental grassA simple sculpture sits amid the grasses and Yucca.

colorful garden sculpture amongst grassesA tall tower rises up out of the garden grasses. The plantings in the garden are simple and beautiful, the better to highlight the sculptures.

gold variegated YuccaA beautiful specimen of Yucca ‘Color Guard’ (Zones 4–10) with gold variegation complements the brown and green tones of the garden.

abstract garden sculpture meant to look like a personA little person in the garden is nestled down amid the grasses.

frog sculpture in the gardenThis one is just cute. All the sculptures have names, and this one is called “The Frog Formerly Known as Prince,” which is a pretty great name. I love how the grasses wrap around it, fully including it in the garden.

grasses with evergreen shrubsThis isn’t a flowery display, but it includes lots of ornamental grasses and some mugo pines (Pinus mugo, Zones 2–8) that create a beautiful, understated scene.

garden sculpture made of ocean buoysThis sculpture is called “Sea Chimes” and is Cherry’s favorite sculpture in the garden.

another view of the garden sculpture made of ocean buoysAnother view of “Sea Chimes”

garden sculpture made out of plastic bottlesThis sculpture, “Plastic Water,” looks at plastic water bottles, one of the most common pieces of trash found in the oceans.

garden sculpture made of nettingFishnets and various other pieces of marine trash were used to make this piece, “From Sea to Tree.”

 

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Comments

  1. User avater
    treasuresmom 04/15/2022

    Cherry, thanks for sharing. Love the frog!

    1. perenniallycrazy 05/13/2022

      You’re welcome. Me too!

  2. User avater
    simplesue 04/15/2022

    Amazing how it all washed in with the tide as trash and now it's art- very creative way of recycling it into art-used in the place it was found- along the shore!
    I really liked his "tall tower" sculpture.
    As always Cherry has shared another enjoyable tour!

  3. wittyone 04/15/2022

    Oh, so clever! How satisfying it must be to be able to see the possibilities in what would otherwise just be trash.

  4. sheila_schultz 04/15/2022

    What a fun find! I bet you had a smile on your face, Cherry, while touring these lovely natural gardens.

    1. perenniallycrazy 05/13/2022

      It sure did.

  5. btucker9675 04/15/2022

    When will people stop sucking water out of disposable plastic bottles??? I pick them and other bottles up on my walks in my very nice neighborhood and wonder what the heck people are thinking! This garden is just lovely and the creative use of things fished from the ocean is wonderful.

  6. [email protected] 04/15/2022

    I'm always so excited to see a posting from Cherry! I hope to visit some of her places now that travels to and from Canada are possible again! I'm not sure how you find time to garden, but am so happy you share your travel photos!

    1. perenniallycrazy 05/13/2022

      Thank you. Honoured to have it featured by GPOD.

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