GardenDesignOnline

Happenings Nov 2005

Nov 19-Jan 8, 2006. Garden of Lights, Wheaton, MD

Over 600,000 twinkling lights illuminate the garden in a magical visual experience. Daily 5:30-9PM.  (301) 962-1453  www.brooksidegardens.org

Nov 25-Jan 1, 2006 Garden Lights Celebration, Oklahoma City. OK
Annual OG&E Garden Lights celebration. Myriad Botanical Gardens. The 17-acre outdoor area and the indoor conservatory will be turned into a glittering Eden. Crystal Bridge open free 6-9PM every Sunday in December. www.myriadgardens.com

What a Designer Can Do for You and Nancy Drew's Ghost

An old farm in New Jersey with deep forests and rolling fields has been transformed into a magical medieval village connected by circles and ellipses.  Anne Raver of the New York Times explains how Spanish landscape architect Fernando Caruncho linked "a mishmash of buildngs," open fields, old gardens and orchards into one coherent landscape. The 100 acre property was once owned by the syndicate that wrote the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series.  It's an inspiring story of the discipline and vision a landscape architect can bring to an ambitious project.

Get This Book

If you missed it the first time around, you certainly won't want to miss the paperback publication of Pamela Harper's latest book (Timber Press). British-born Harper is one of the country's  leading experts on perennials; she's been growing, testing, and evaluating them on her them on her two-acre Virginia property off the Chesapeake Bay for more than 30 years.

Harper's ruthless gardening philosophy gives everyone courage to pull out plants that simply don't work: "Thumbs down for purple-leaf plums," she declares.  The book offers practical advice, stunning photographs, and instructions for culture and care.  Even if you have some of her previous books, this one is simply invaluable.

(click on image to purchase)

Green Roof Events

Green roof technology is gaining in popularity around the country because of its environmental benefits.  Planted roofs reduce air pollution, save energy, and even provide habitat for migratory birds. Learn from local and national experts about general design and implementation of green roofs in three  one-day seminars sponsored by Toronto-based Green Roofs for Healthy Cities.
Pictured is the award-winning Millenium Park in Chicago, a 24-acre green roof incorporating (among other things) a botanical garden, full-size trees and a skating rink and which covers two parking garages, a transit center and an indoor theater. 
Seminar dates: 
Boston,MA October 20th
Cincinnati,OH November 15th
Knoxville, TN February 2, 2006.
For more information, contact www.greenroofs.org

Garden Antiques Midwest Showroom

Olde Good Things, a supplier of fine architectural antiques, is a favorite of many garden designers because of its wide inventory of antique garden urns, fountains, benches, fences, and you name it.

With a huge warehouse in Scranton, PA, and showrooms in New York City and Los Angeles, Olde Good is about to open another showroom in downtown Chicago on W. Grand Avenue.
The estimated opening date is October 20th.

Small Garden Gems

Eastern Performance Trials Part 2


Exciting new offerings are in the pipeline to garden centers for spring.  We fell in love with Hydrangea paniculata 'Little Lamb,' pictured left, which gets only 4-6 feet high, instead of 8-10 or so.  With its long-lasting late summer blooms, it's always a winner, and finally there's a dwarf version perfect for small urban gardens.

This shrub was among the many new plants on display recently at the Eastern Performance Trials, held at six locations in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.  We attended the show at the American Horticultural Society in Alexandria, VA, and were particularly taken with many of the shrubs on display from Spring Meadow Nursery in Grand Haven, MI.

We liked the 3'x3' Abelia 'Golden Anniversary' with bright gold variegated leaves and abundant pink flowers (pictured right).  It's the cousin of Abelia 'Silver Anniversary,' with white variegated leaves, which has already been released.

(click on images for larger view)

 

LA Chosen for New Miami Beachfront Museum

The board of trustees of the Virginia Key Beach Park Trust in Miami, Florida, has chosen BEA International Inc. of Coral Gables, Fla. and Huff & Gooden Architects LLC of Charleston, SC to design and build the country's first beachfront museum.  Renowned landscape architect Walter Hood, of Hood Design in Oakland, CA, will design the museum's gardens and grounds.  Hood, an African-American, is a professor and former chair of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at the University of California at Berkeley.

The museum will honor Miami's once-segregated "colored-only beach" and preserve the beach's natural habitat and its many native species.  Virginia Key is part of a chain of barrier islands that stretch from Miami south to Key West.  Virginia Key, Key Biscayne and Miami Beach are part of the natural island chain that forms the northeastern boundary of Biscayne Bay.

            

ScottsMiracle-Gro Grows

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has completed its acquisition of the Rod McLellan Company, which sells soil and landscape products in the western part of the United States.  Scott's chairman and CEO Jim Hagedorn said the addition of McLellan's Supersoil(R), Whitney Farms(TM) and Black Magic(R) brands will help the company improve its supply chain "to better serve our retail customers."

Scott's Miracle-Gro is the world's leading supplier of branded products for consumer lawn and garden care.  In the U.S., its best known brands are Miracle-Gro(R), Scotts(R), Ortho(R) and Roundup(R).

Pushing the Crape Myrtle Envelope

Take heart, those of you who are sick to death of pink and lavender crape myrtles.  This coming spring, two new crape myrtles will be on the market, both with red blooms.  Dr. Margaret Pooler, a research geneticist at the US National Arboretum in Washington D.C.,where the plants were developed, says "I would not call this a true red, as much as we'd like to...but this is pretty close." 

The picture at left is Lagerstroemia 'Cheyenne,' which has a shrubby habit, glossy, dark green leaves tinged with maroon, and a light reddish tan exfoliating bark.  It'll reach about 8' tall and wide in 12 years, grows well in hot, difficult sites, and flowers best in a heavy loam to clay soil in full sun.
(Click on images for larger view)

Avant Gardening in the Pacific Northwest

Exotic rare specimens from around the world can be found in a number of unusually creative gardens on the Kitsap peninsula near Seattle, Washington. New York Times garden writer  Anne Raver describes the atmosphere in an island community on Puget Sound  where the founders of the world-renowned Heronswood Nursery and other inspired gardeners reside and garden and discover the traits of plants collected on worldwide travels.