Golden Fields
Landscape Installation at Medini Mall
“Nature's first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold”
In 2016 I did a landscape installation in the Mall of Medini called “Golden Fields”. It was intended as a temporary installation primarily to spruce up the existing landscape that was looking a bit tired and provide some visual interest for an upcoming festival.
I suggested we retain the existing Bucida trees, trimming the lower branches a little but the large leaf Cocoloba trees were to be removed as many were in bad shape. Where they were doing ok, they were blocking views across the space- so they were to be moved into planters and sited in more strategic areas.
This would then allow for the viewer’s eye to be drawn downwards to the lower mixed height underplanting with different foliage textures, some with yellow tones and an assortment of flowering plants all with yellow flowers. Effect would be of a soft ‘golden’ woodland under trees and a bit meadow like in more open areas. Below is an illustration of the original concept:
These were the suggested plants to be used:
The installation was to be temporary (approx 4 months) to conform to the festival’s budget and to leave more permanent and costly improvements for a later date. To facilitate this, all new plants were to be retained in polythene bags, packed densely then Coconut coir and wood chips were to be used to mulch visible gaps. It was a quick turnaround that did not require extensive earthwork and planting that would have been expensive and laborious.
When the design was approved we began the search for the plants suggested. The Galphimia gracis wasn’t available but we found a stunning alternative - Euodia Ridlyei. In fact when I saw it at the nursery looking like a giant lime yellow cloud I used quite a lot of it as it created a wonderful dreamlike effect.
The end result was fantastic, even in the evenings the landscape had a golden glow lit by strings of lanterns and was a striking visual complement for the festival.
“Nothing gold can stay.”
I knew when I installed it that it wouldn't stay gold - and made my client aware of it too. There's not enough sunlight under that glass atrium for those plants to keep flowering and that foliage colour for needs bright sunshine. That very issue came up during installation when I had to reject a delivery of the Euodia because they had delivered some from a shady part of their nursery - not golden yellow but green. Although it would not sustain that look indefinitely, that in itself is not unusual in nature - a brief glorious blast of colour like spring flowers or a field of ripened grain in late summer.
The temporary installation was in fact left for much longer. Five months later I happened to visit and took an 'after' photo. Everything had turned green, hardly any flowers and the Euodia had no trace of its old flamboyant yellow self. Although it had changed colour it was quite green and lush and the Bucida trees that were already there loved the extra attention and got bushier. Different but still nice to look at.
Besides ideas about impermanence this did trigger some thoughts about identity and destiny. What if you were meant to be bright golden yellow foliage or to flower profusely but you were born under a glass roof without enough sun? Would it be ok that you never knew? Are you fine being lush and green because everyone else is?
All those yellow flowers were generally not native. What was native: the Euodia, Osmoxylon and Pandanus reveals a botanical truth about the identity of our local Malaysian flora - we aren't really about flowers, we are more about foliage - spectacular foliage, in an extraordinary range of shapes and colours.
The Robert Frost poem that I had in mind when I first conceived the idea turned out to be a prophetic narrative for this landscape installation.
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.