2011 CH+D Award for Landscape Design

Suzanne Biaggi
S. Biaggi/Sculptural Lanscapes, Petaluma
Future Feast in the Garden of Flow/Accumulation

The scene looked like something out of a Greek bacchanalia—empty wine bottles scattered about, people dancing atop a 26-foot-long table sprouting with colorful lettuces and herbs, which were watered by a cool stream running down the center. For three days prior, the table had been set to seat 16, but as the sun went down at CornerStone in Sonoma on September 21, 2009, the last day of the annual Late Show Gardens, the plates were moved aside to make room for a celebration.

Landscape designer Suzanne Biaggi created Future Feast in the Garden of Flow/Accumulation for the Late Show Gardens. A meditation on sustainability and global warming, it featured edibles to be harvested by diners and its own irrigation system.

Landscape designer Suzanne Biaggi worked for six months to create her installation garden for the festival. And despite its impermanence, Biaggi’s project was all about long-term solutions. Titled Future Feast in the Garden of Flow/Accumulation, the table and its surrounds addressed issues of global warming and sustainability, and were inspired by Biaggi’s study of green roof technology. “I used to be pretty pessimistic about the future of the planet,” says Biaggi, who collaborated with permaculture expert Patrick Picard from Petaluma’s Equinox Landscape on the project. But since becoming more versed in sustainable practices—she is a regular attendee at the Bioneers Conference—she has a brighter outlook. “While it’s admittedly a time of great turmoil for our planet, it’s also a time of even greater hope.”