GardenDesignOnline

Philadelphia Gardens III

Extending the House into the Garden

Sitting in this space in Philadelphia's Society Hill section, you're far away from the bustle outside, and the comfortable outdoor sofa almost gives it the feel of a family room rather than a garden.  The garden extends out from the stainless steel and granite kitchen at the rear of the townhouse, and into the garage beyond it. 

Architect David Amburn used lots of bamboo to give the garden room an Asian feeling, as the owners requested, and a low water feature completes the experience with a rustling sound to complement the wind in the bamboo.  This space is very tiny, but the "floating" hardwood deck made of African Nasaran Duba wood (a new one for me) makes it feel much larger.

Finally, Amburn transformed a small, narrow side yard at the center of the house -- just before you reach the kitchen -- into a courtyard garden that gives a view into the main garden in the back of the house.  Stainless steel planters filled with bamboo screen the courtyard, while giving everyone a preview of what's ahead in the kitchen and the garden room beyond. It's an ingenious use of those difficult narrow side yards that in most houses are simply filled with weeds.

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Philadelphia Gardens II

When There's No Garden, Go Up

This is the upper deck on the roof of Landscape Architect Dennis McGlade's place in central Philadelphia. There's no garden at street level, so McGlade created a lovely oasis on the roof of his multi-level townhouse.  It's crammed with plants, but the two-level design, using trellis work and vertical plantings, gives the illusion of much more space.

  There's room for a dining table that seats (I believe) at least four people, if not six, on the lower level of the deck, with a wide umbrella over it that provides shade from the summer sun.  There's even room for a small side table (with classical bust atop it) that could serve as a sideboard. 

While the roof deck is prettiest in spring & summer, with blooms seemingly everywhere, a careful selection of broad leaf evergreens and conifers provides year-round interest, making the roof usable and delightful in any season.

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Philadelphia Gardens I

This charming English-style garden is located in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, and was once part of the renowned 47-acre Wharton-Sinkler estate built in the 1920s in the style of a grand English manor house.  Donated to the University of Pennsylvania in 1971, the property was subdivided and sold several years ago.  This house once comprised the farm buildings of the estate, and the current owners are developing the gardens in true English style. 

This garden was on one of the tours at the annual conference in July of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD). The sunken courtyard has crushed granite walkways edged in brick; clipped germander (Teucrium chamaedrys), Beauty Briar (Eleutherococcus sieboldianus) under-planted with lavender, boxwood, and many colorful perennials. 

The 16th century limestone roof tiles, covered with moss, were brought over from England, and the house, in the English cottage style, was renovated and then "connected" to form a unique residence.  These particular farm buildings of the Wharton Sinkler estate were designed by Philadelphia architect Robert McGoodwin.

The current owners are planning to add a vegetable and fruit garden, perennial beds, and also a croquet lawn.

Much more to come in the future on the gardens of Philadelphia.

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Garden Data's Instant Horticulture Info

A new, interactive gardening site will answer all of your gardening questions.  You can search the site for information, or post a new query to be answered by experts.  The site is sponsored by the University of Kentucky's Cooperative Extension Service, and although it's geared toward Kentucky gardeners, most of the info will be perfectly adaptable to many other states around the country!  A great site, and lots and lots of useful tips on cultivation, pruning, site and soil conditions, and much more. Check it out at http://gardendata.org

The Biggest Garden Tour Ever

Calling all garden enthusiasts! ... a weekend of more than 250 gardens to visit from formal to informal, planned and unplanned. You'll see multi-level decks, fountains, wall murals, sculpture, koi ponds, a putting green, and carriage houses, tree houses, play houses.  On the garden style side, you can choose from English, Japanese, cottage, rose, vegetable, herb, organic, butterfly, container, community, rock and experimental gardens.

So where is this garden extravaganza?  It takes place on July 29-30 in Buffalo, NY, all within a three-mile radius. GardenWalk Buffalo is a free-self guided garden tour, and it draws thousands of visitors every year from all over the country. 

As well as the gardens, there are homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and McKim, Mead & White, buildings by Eero Saarinen, parkways laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted.  And in addition to getting tons of garden ideas, you'll visit Elmwood Village, with restored Victorians, cottages, landmark churches; Symphony Circle (a restored Olmsted landmark); The Cottage District, with quaint brick cottages and Victorians dating from the 1850s to 1900s; Historic West Village, a great place to see innovative small gardens; and Allentown, the city's oldest historic preservation district.

(photos: (c) D.Zinteck, Photographics 2)

My Favorite Urban Park -Plus One

I hate to admit it, but I've been frequenting this park for decades.  Eons ago, working in NYC not long after graduating from college, during many lunch hours, I retreated to the peace and solitude of Paley Park on East 53rd St. between 5th & Madison Avenues.  The  20-foot waterfall on the back wall of park obliterates the sounds of the city; the walls of ivy and the lacy canopy of the honey locust trees turn it into a warm and inviting dining space; and the moveable chairs and tables accommodate groups of almost any size.  I was there again last weekend, taking a lunch break again after a morning visit to MOMA (just a block down the street on the other side of 5th), and it's just as inviting as ever.  It's stood up perfectly over the long test of time, as it will celebrate its 40th birthday next year in 2007.

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A Must-Have Reference

David MacKenzie's top notch expertise on groundcovers is now readily available to everyone in this handy, pocket-sized book from Timber Press.  MacKenzie is the owner of Hortech, a wholesale nursery in Spring Lake, Michigan, that well... specializes in groundcovers.  This pocket version is derived from MacKenzie's magnificent 1997 encyclopedia (also from Timber), "Perennial Ground Covers."  I've used a lot of Waldsteinia ternata (Barren Strawberry) to great effect in clients' gardens after an interview several years ago with MacKenzie.  If you're tired of plain old Pachysandra, try P. "Green Sheen," with leaves so lustrous they almost look shellacked.  He takes you through all the sedums and geraniums, the euonymus and epimediums, then introduces you to a ton of plants you've probably never heard of.  There are also tips on how to design with groundcovers -- and lists with colors, soil, water, and light conditions, and just about everything else you'd ever want to know.

(click on image to purchase)

The Rambler Birthplace

Unless you're really into roses, you've probably never heard of Michael Walsh.  But he's very well-known in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where a small and charming memorial notes his valuable contributions to the rose trade.
He's credited with development of the rambling rose, but he also won many awards for his hybrid teas and others.

Born in Wales in 1848, Walsh moved to Woods Hole at age 27 to work for the Fay family.  Joseph Story Fay was a wealthy cotton broker, but he also had a great interest in horticulture.  Walsh tended the Fay's several acres of gardens, and began developing and testing new roses.  In his heyday, Walsh put out a catalogue, "Walsh's Handbook of Roses," and shipped thousands of rose plants every year from Woods Hole.  His ramblers came from crossing old garden roses with Rosa multiflora and Rosa wichuraiana, and the result was profusely-flowering long-caned shrubs. In 1907, the Boston Evening Transcript wrote that the famous Fay gardens at Woods Hole were visited by flower lovers from all over the country, who came to see the "fifty-five thousand rose plants in bloom."

New Design School

The American Academy of Landscape Design, (AALD) a new school for professional designers, will open its doors this coming November for business.

President Tim Thoelecke is a past president & certified member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD), and a full member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and the Landscape Design Association, based in Chicago.

The courses are named after important gardens, and the goal is to make each designer who attends better at his or her work through intensive studio work, personal tutoring, and problem-solving projects.

"Sissinghurst," offered November 6-10, in Wheeling, IL, near Chicago, is a five-day course that includes morning lectures on landscape and planting design and other subjects that relate to the design profession.  Afternoons will be spent in the studio, and the week ends with presentations & critiques.

"Barnsley House," November 13-17, is a real design project, that includes lighting basics, working with contractors, site layout strategies, and more.

For more information, see the group's web site, www.aaldweb.com

Garden Conservancy New Gardens

A number of new gardens will be showcased for the first time on The Garden Conservancy's Open Days tours in Oregon and Illinois, July 8th, 9th, and 23rd.  The garden at left, in Eugene, Oregon, was crafted by the owners of a garden design and construction firm, and it's been featured in several magazines, including Garden Design and Sunset.  It is an eclectic design, with fastigiate and dwarf conifers, a corrugated metal fence, stone borders and retaining walls, and much more.  Other Eugene gardens include a tiny cottage garden that complements an ivy-covered brick house; a farm house surrounded by many garden "rooms," complete with a hidden reflecting pool, gazebo, trellises and arbors covered with roses and clematis.  Two other new gardens are on display the same weekend in Washington County.

(photo: Garden Conservancy)