Garden design genius Roberto Burle Marx

I employed a photographer to take photographs for my website. Julia's Brazilian and when we first spoke I asked her about my favorite garden designer, Roberto Burle Marx. She responded “oh all Brazilians know him. He’s famous in Brazil. He dssigned the promenade at Copacabana.” Well he’s famous in my house in Lower Hutt too.

He was an artist, ecologist, naturalist. An advocate for the conservation of the Amazon. What inspires me is his use of colour, form and Brazilian native species (50 of which are named after him).

A.famous garden of his is at the Cavella residence. A bold brushstroke of red Bloodleaf plant and a splash of colour in the jungle bounding the garden. In New Zealand we may not have the colour but we have form to model some of Burle Marx's work. As a garden designer, I love the combination of rengarenga, tree ferns, and Cordyline “Broadsword” in a lush residential garden. I lived in Japan for a few years and sometimes can't resist adding that Burle Marx splash of colour with an Acer. This post is a hat-tip to his inspiration.

By the way, turns out Julia's great-grandmother was friends with Burle Marx and he designed her “garden”. I’ve put garden in inverted commas because it’s massive and includes a small mountain and a lake! What are the chances.