Typography in the garden

I want this fountain. Or something similar. If I can ever have the chance to design my own water fountain, I think I'll find the perfect quote, and have one made from a typeface of my choosing. I'm an art director and these things are important to me. I don't have enough (or any) typography in my garden. I'm going to have to remedy that.


This "Artisan Garden" was an outdoor small-scale garden tucked away in a hilly part of the display area of Chelsea. I was taken with this waterfall/fountain. It reads "We never know the worth of water till the well is dry," a 1732 quote by Thomas Fuller.

Maybe for me, something more like Mitch Hedberg's, "My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them." Or, W.C. Fields' "I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it." Or Steven Wright's "I got this powdered water - now I don't know what to add."

Though the dark gray post that served as the fountain's "upright" element helped define the reflective silver letters of the words from one angle, the letterforms were just difficult enough to read against the garden's busyness that you had to pay attention to, and savor, every word slowly.

I really wish I'd taken better photos of it. It was exquisite in its plantings and exactness of placement of everything from typography to plantings.