Garden festivals first captured my attention 10 years ago with their intense, poetic images and previously unseen garden forms-sprouting woven willow fences; beach chairs and sun collectors strewn about a sunflower field; floating islands of exotic plants surrounded by glass bottles; a caged frozen bird hanging on a dead white tree; blue glass gravel beads. Like poetry, these temporary garden creations are succinct and intense, distilling an idea into a calculated, original, formal composition. Instead of words, they comprise selective plants, materials, and patterns.