GardenDesignOnline

So Who needs plants in a garden?

The first words many landscape designers hear from clients is that oh so delightful phrase " low maintenance."  These clients, obviously, are non-plant people, and in some parts of  New York City, they really mean what they say, according to a recent article in The New York Times.  Lawns and gardens are giving way to  "pave-overs" in order to make more room for cars.  But there's nothing wrong with creative paving design -- so why not a new class of "courtyard" gardens with some attractive containers (or not) to carry people through the seasons?

New Garden Conservancy Project

The  Garden Conservancy has announced plans to preserve the garden at Hollister House, a 25-acre site in Washington, Connecticut. (Litchfield County) The property, owned by George Schoellkopf, has been on the organization's annual Open Days program, which began in 1995, every year except one.  Hollister House is only the second Open Days private garden that has been designated for preservation in perpetuity.

Bill Noble, GC's director of preservation projects, described the Schoellkopf garden as seductive and said it's also a true American garden:  "There is a real sense of place and history, even though the inspiration is English," he said.  "It's New England in materials, architecture, scale, and views to fields and hillsides...The inspiration may have come from Sissinghurst, but George understands how Sackville-West's principles apply to Connecticut."

The two-acre formal garden is divided into separate garden rooms that are formed by yew hedges, brick walls, and fieldstone.  Plantings are informal, spilling over the edges of paving materials, over the walls and down inclines. Bold colors predominate, along with many unusual plants.

(photo: Garden Conservancy)

 

Happenings Dec 1-15 2005

Dec 12 Sasanquas & Early Blooming Camellias, Del Mar, CA.

6PM-9PM, Surfside Race Place, Del Mar Fairgrounds.  Lecture by camellia specialist Tom Nuccio of Nuccio's Nurseries. And he'll bring live plants to donate for the San Diego Horticultural Society's plant raffle.

Dec 15 L'Enfant Lecture on City Planning & Design, Washington DC
7PM-8:30PM The inaugural lecture  in this new annual series at the National Building Museum features Sir Peter Hall, Director of the Institute of Community Studies at University College in London.

Bend Your Mind Around THIS Groundcover...

And ... Move Back Over, Poinsettias

Those wild and crazy guys out at the USDA's Agricultural Research  Research Center in Beltsville, MD, are developing a lot of hot new peppers for unconventional uses.  Most designers, surely, never imagined an edible, hot pepper plant with shiny black leaves and small, black pearl-like peppers that turn cherry red when ripe, a pepper the scientists recommend as a groundcover.

But, well, why not?  Capsicum annuum 'Black Pearl' gets about 18" tall, with a spread of 12 to 16 inches.  It would make a great border around an herb garden, or a terrific annual to fill in those blank spaces, particularly when paired with maybe a chartreuse green hosta or next to almost anything with bluish-green leaves or needles.

(photo above ARS, USDA)

Ongoing Christmas Displays

Through:
Dec 18th
12 Days of Ginger.  Boerner Botanical Gardens, Hales Corners, WI

Dec 31st
Fantasy in Lights, Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain, GA

Jan 1st
Garden Lights Celebration, Myriad Botanical Gardens, Oklahoma City, OK

Jan 8th
Garden of Lights, Brookside Gardens, Wheaton, MD

Jan 8th
A Longwood Gardens Christmas, Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA

Jan 8th
Seasons Greetings from the National Mall, US Botanic Garden, Washington DC

Jan 8th
Holiday Train Show, NY Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY

Rockefeller Environmental Award

As part of its 100th anniversary, The National Audubon Society is honoring the Rockefeller   family for its work over the last century to create national parks and preserve the natural beauty of the Ameircan landscape.  In a New York Times article, Audubon president John Flicker said that no other family in the country has made such a large contribution to conservation.  The Rockefellers are responsible not only for Rockefeller Center in mid-town Manhattan, but also for Acadia National Park in Maine, the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, but much, much more.   

PHS 2006 Gold Medal Awards

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has issued its Gold Medal Awards for next year -- recognizing plants that do particularly well in the mid-Atlantic region, but would surely thrive in other parts of the country as well.  Not all of these plants are brand new cultivars, but all do well in difficult conditions & look great as well.
Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight' (at left) is a prolific bloomer, flowering steadily from mid-summer through fall. The name 'Limelight' comes from the initial flower color, a pale lime green, which intensifies to a white, and then on to pink and burgundy.  By fall, all of the bloom colors are on display at the same time.  Plant size is approximately 8' tall by 6' wide, and it grows best in full to part sun, zones 3-8.
(click on image for larger view)

Gardens for the Spirits

From a cool, green retreat on Mount Desert Island, Maine, to an enclosed Mediterranean-style courtyard in Santa Monica, California, this new book takes readers on a national tour of exquisite gardens that are in perfect harmony with the natural landscape.

In her latest book, Gardens in the Spirit of Place (Stewart, Tabori  & Chang) author Page Dickey profiles 14 gardens inspired not only by regional climate and native vegetation, but also by the area's  history and culture.

Dickey explains that California garden designers Bernard Trainor and Nancy Goslee Power  have been heavily influenced by the Mediterranean climate and by the walled patios and courtyards first introduced by Spanish missionaries in the late 18th century.

Dickey lecture Nov 30, 2005, 6PM, NY School of Interior Design, 170 E. 70th ST. NYC info: 845-265-2029 or contact The Garden Conservancy

(click on image to purchase book)

Last Shaker Village to be Preserved

An agreement has been reached between the state of Maine, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and several non-profit preservation groups to preserve the last working Shaker village in the United States, the Sabbathday Lake Shaker village in Gloucester, Maine, founded in 1783. The Shaker village has 1700 acres and 19 historic structures, and it's the last place where Shakers work, farm, and worship.  The groups have joined forces to ensure that the Shaker landscape will be preserved in perpetuity and never be developed.  Other sponsors include The Trust for Public Land, Maine Preservation, the Friends of the Royal River, and the New England Forestry Foundation.

(Photo: Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village)

National Design Awards

The Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum has announced the winners of its Sixth Annual National Design Awards. The program honors individual and companies for their contributions to the design world.  This year, honorees include Hungarian-born ceramicist Eva Zeisel, who was given a Lifetime Achievment Award. A retrospective of her work is currently on display through December 4th at Hillwood  Museum & Gardens in Washington DC. Zeisel, now 98 years old, still designs for, among others, The Imperial Porcelain Factory in St. Petersburg, Russia; Royal Stafford for Crate & Barrel, Nambe, KleinReid; and Acme.

Ned Kahn, an environmental designer with a background in environmental science, received the award in Landscape Design. Kahn was cited for his works that "remind the viewer of nature's capacity to inspire apprehension, serenity, wonder and awe." His recent "Wind Portal," 2003, is an installation of 200,000 mirrored disks that move as air currents are generated by trains and wind in the BART station at the San Francisco International Airport.