Deeper Dive: Mindful Gardening with Getty’s Head of Grounds and Gardens Brian Houck

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Announcer: This is a Getty podcast.

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Lilit Sadoyan: Hi, I’m Lilit Sadoyan, the host of OMMM: Our Museum Mindfulness Meditation podcast, Getty’s first video podcast. Welcome to this deeper dive, where we explore the themes of our weekly episodes with experts in everything from paintings conservation to mountain climbing.

Brian Houck: The planning, the technical aspects are ego-filled, um, exercises, and then yet, gardeners tend to approach this as a soulful activity.

Sadoyan: This week, we did a flowing water meditation inspired by Robert Irwin’s Central Garden at the Getty Center. I spoke with Brian Houck, Getty’s Director of Grounds and Gardens, to get his unique perspectives on the Central Garden and his philosophies on gardening. Now let’s dive in.

Hi, Brian. Thank you so much for joining us today.

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Houck: Hi, Lilit. It’s good to be here. Thanks for talking to me.

Sadoyan: Brian, in the flowing water meditation episode of this podcast, we focused on Robert Irwin’s Central Garden here at the Getty Center. I know that Robert Irwin was very intentional about the flow of water in the garden. So could you please tell us a little bit more about that?

Houck: The water is a principal feature. So as you walk down through the stream, you cross the water in four locations. There are four bridges. He arranged these very large boulders very specifically. Um, he had great fun placing them. So the sound of the water cascading over the rocks would be different in each location.

And as you move through the stream, and then you sort of approach the bowl section, there’s a waterfall, and then that opens up into a very sort of tranquil pond at the azalea maze. So the water carries you through the entire experience and changes if you’re looking for that kind of feature.

Sadoyan: So you mentioned flowers, and I know that the Central Garden is a living work of art. Not only does it have that sort of stream that runs through it, but its natural elements are also constantly changing. Could you please speak about the work that goes into maintaining a garden of this scale and of this scope?

Houck: This garden is completely unique. Uh, I’ve not seen any other garden designed like it.

The perennial beds are very deep. There are two of them that flank either side of the stream. You not only see them from the front, you see them from the back, you see them from the side. And so managing the blooming and the care of all of these perennials according to their season throughout the entire length of this garden is really quite a trick for the crew to do.

Sadoyan: And how do you all keep it so visually appealing all the time?

Houck: Thank you for saying that. [laughs] That is—the difficult thing that we do. Um, it’s a lot of documentation, it’s a lot of scheduling, it’s a lot of adjusting to whatever climate is happening at that time. Gardeners live, you know, six, 12 months in advance, and so we’re always working to plan, plant at the right time, and it, it requires us gathering the right materials, knowing exactly when to put them in the ground, and coordinating when they might bloom.

So I’m glad, very glad to hear that you think we’re achieving our goals.

Sadoyan: Definitely. Um, and what about the flexibility and the adaptability that goes into being responsive to the changing seasons and adapting to different types of plants that have various requirements, keeping them all alive and thriving?

Houck: Well, if you’ve ever been around a group of gardeners, all they do is talk about the weather. So, “Oh, it’s a warm winter. Oh, it’s a cool winter. Oh, we have a lot of rain. We don’t have a little rain.” So we’re all focused on what is exactly changing for what we believe to be a normal cycle. Um, and of course, plants don’t read the books.They don’t know what they’re supposed to do. So we’re always observing, taking that in, and trying to adjust. We have some tricks that we can do, a little water—little more water, a little less water, a little more fertilizer, a little less fertilizer. It’s a challenge.

Sadoyan: Definitely. Um, remaining adaptable and flexible, um, it seems to me would be the–the beauty of the practice of, um, gardening.

And so on a more philosophical level, how do you as a gardener and plant expert approach impermanence in nature?

Houck: Yeah. Well, it is something that we grapple with in an existential way. The—you know, the planning, the technical aspects are ego-filled, um, exercises, and then yet gardeners tend to approach this as a soulful activity. So if you stay, pardon the pun, rooted in that mindset, it helps you get through those moments when something didn’t occur as you expected it to.

For example, we have ranunculus bulbs, and they have roots that we call fingers that point down, and if the fingers don’t get planted down or get up or sideways, the ranunculus is not gonna grow.

Sadoyan: Mm.

Houck: So part of our challenge is to work with all of the crew to have the diligence in every moment of care, so when you’re planting 3–400 ranunculus bulbs, each one of them is set correctly.

And the depth is important, because if soil gets on top of that bulb, then it’s likely to rot out. There’s a lot of care.

Sadoyan: Fascinating. And I can tell you really care for the garden. Do you have a favorite flower or plant or feature of the Central Garden?

Houck: It’s very difficult for me to say I have a favorite flower.

Typically, I have a favorite flower of the week. [laughs] Um, they change quite a bit. But one of my favorites down there is the Brugmansia. It’s sometimes called the Angel’s Trumpet. It is a poisonous plant, so when you hear the angel’s trumpet, that’s not a good thing. Um, but it also is a highly fragrant bell-shaped flower, and the smell only comes out at night because it’s bat pollinated.

So it’s attracting its friend, you know, for pollination.

Sadoyan: Well, that’s fascinating, and I hope that our listeners and viewers can come and enjoy the beauty and the intimacy of the Central Garden in person. Thank you so much, Brian, for joining us today.

Houck: Thank you. It’s been my pleasure.

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Sadoyan: To find the related meditation and see images, transcripts, and additional resources, visit our website at getty dot edu slash ommm. That’s O-M-M-M.

This episode was produced by Zoe Goldman and Gideon Brower. Mixing and sound design by Jaime Roque. Christopher Sprinkle is executive producer.

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