GardenDesignOnline

Happy Holidays 2006

Wishing everyone...

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, and all the best for the NEW YEAR.

Garden Design Online will return the first week of January.  In the meantime, please enjoy the holiday season and take your time to enjoy the archives & anything you may have missed during the year.

Happenings Jan 2007

Jan 6-7 Peninsula Orchid Society, Show & Sale, Redwood City, CA
10AM-5PM Community Activities Bldg 650-361-8658
Jan 8 Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve, New Hope PA
2PM Lecture & Book Signing,  "Seeing the Forest  & the Trees" by Ann Rhoades, Sr. Botanist at the Morris Arboretum (215) 862-2924
Jan 8 Lecture Charleston Horticultural Society, Charleston SC
6:30 PM, Dr. Richard Lighty, Charleston Museum Auditorium 843-579-9922
Jan 9 "L'Enfant's Legacy: Public Spaces in DC," Washington DC
6:30PM National Building Museum, Lecture by Michael Bednar 202-272-2448
Jan 9 "A Gardener's Conversation with the Woods," Bronx, NY
6:30 PM, NY Historical Society, Lecture by Author Rick Darke sponsor: NY Botanical Garden, (718) 817-8747
Jan 10, "Splendor of California Wildflowers," Los Altos, CA
7PM Lecture by Author Ron Parsons, Covington School sponsor Western Horticultural Society (408) 867-9428
Jan 11-12, New Directions in the American Landscape, New London, CT
Two-day Symposium, Connecticut College Arboretum, "Nature's Unseen Influences in the Art of Garden Design" (860) 439-5020  (Program repeated Feb 6-7, Arboretum Villanova, PA: (215) 247-5777
Jan 15-19 Design Studio, Wheeling, IL
Am. Academy of Landscape Design (847) 657-7900
Jan 17 "Indoor Gardens," Hort Society of NY, NYC
11:30AM, Lecture, Author Tovah Martin 212-757-0915
Jan 17-23 N. American Gladiolus Council, St. Petersburg Beach, FL
Annual Convention, Dolphin Beach Resort 269-731-4259
Jan 18, Landscape Design for Homeowners, Washington DC
6:30-9PM, Workshop, US Botanic Garden, 6 Thursdays beginning 1-18 with Landscape Architect Cheryl Corson (202) 226-4082
Jan 18, "Design for Outdoor Living," Wellesley, MA
7PM, MassBay Community College Auditorium, Lecture by garden designer & plantsman Sean Conway, New England Wildflower Society Winter Horticulture Lecture Series.
Jan 18, "Love Me Tender," Bronx NY
10AM NY Botanical Garden, Lecture by Landscape Architect & Author Wayne Winterrowd, (718) 817-8747
Jan 18-20 Tropical Plant Industry Expo, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Broward County Convention Center (407) 295-7994
Jan 19-21 Southern Gardening Symposium, Pine Mountain, GA
Callaway Gardens (800) 225-5292
Jan 20-21 Camellia  Show,  Orlando, FL
Harry P. Leu Gardens (407) 246-2620
Jan 23-25 "Developing Your Design Philosophy," Wayne PA
APLD PA-DE Chapter, Winter Workshop with English garden designer Duncan Heather, Chanticleer Garden (610) 563-3801
Jan 24 Invasive Plants Workshop, Washington DC
9AM-4:30 PM, Admin Bldg, US National Arboretum
Jan 27 Design Symposium: "When Collector Meets Designer," San Francisco, CA
SF Botanical Garden, Day-long Symposium sponsored by Horticulture Magazine
Program repeats Jan 28 Portland State University; Jan 30 Denver Botanic Gardens; Feb 1 Chicago Botanic Garden; Feb 3 Lewis Ginter Botanic Garden in Richmond, VA.
Jan 31 "Shakespeare in the Garden," Hort Societyof NY, NYC
6 PM, Lecture Lecture, Photographer Mick Hales 212-757-0915

LOOKAHEAD
Feb 3-11 Colorado Home & Garden Show, Denver CO.
Feb 23, Green Matters: Trees-- Urban Re-Leaf, Wheaton MD
Day-long Symposium, Brookside Gardens
March 5-17, APLD Annual Conference, Pasadena, CA
March 4-11, Philadelphia Flower Show, Philadelphia PA
Convention Center
May 22-26 Chelsea Flower Show, London, UK
May 24-28 Cleveland Botanical Garden Flower Show, Cleveland, OH
"Rhythm & Hues" (216) 721-1600

Christmas Books (Last) 2006

Everyone's heard of Louis XIV and his fabulous palace at Versailles, outside of Paris.  But Versailles would not be what is was and still is without the great talent of Andre Le Notre, the Sun King's principle garden designer. In "The Sun King's Garden," (Bloomsbury USA 2006), British author Ian Thompson tells the amazing story of the gardens' creation. Over a period of more than 30 years, Le Notre gained the trust and respect of Louis XIV, and their collaboration produced the most extensive gardens in Europe.  Le Notre inspired generations of gardening engineers and architects, and his Grand Style -- with formal parterres, optical illusions, massive waterworks and clipped trees and shrubs -- is studied and copied by designers even today.  Thompson leaves out nothing as he reveals the incredible details that went into the gardens at Versailles: politics, intrigue, envy, power, intellect, culture -- you name it.  This is a joyful and absolutely fascinating book for any gardener, designer, architect, historian or Francophile you know -- or just about anyone else.
(click on image above to order book)

And, there must a garden somewhere in Buffalo that draws upon at least a couple of Le Notre's design principles. Find out with "Garden Walk Buffalo: A Celebration of Urban Gardens" (Buffalo Heritage Unlimited, Inc, 2006).  This book contains stories and beautiful photos -- as well as a CD --  of some of the now 250 or so gardens on display one weekend every summer in Buffalo, New York.

The book includes gardens of all types -- quiet backyard oases; explosions of front-yard color and texture; formal espaliers; perennial madness and Asian simplicity.  It's all here, plus an explanation of how to organize a gardenwalk in your own community.  And royalities on the book go to community gardens in the Buffalo area -- and what could be better than that.
(click on either link above to purchase book)

Martha's Take on Things

Check out the November interview with Martha Schwartz in Metropolis Magazine. Schwartz, one of the country's top  landscape architects & known for her hip, contemporary designs, reveals that creative block can be cured by looking at art; that a lot of architects are control freaks, selecting second-rate designers so they can remain in charge; and that the whole notion of green roofs is over-rated.

Schwartz won this year's National Design Award in Landscape Architecture from the Cooper-Hewitt Museum.

Xmas 2006 Gifts III

For the outdoor lounge-about:

Frontgate has lush chair cushions -- made of sunbrella fabric -- in many patterns, colors, and sizes.  They won't fade in the sun, they're water repellent, and they're said to resist chlorine, soil, and stains.  And they wipe clean with a sponge.  Pillows and more on the website.

 

Also from Frontgate, this elegant Oak Park Residence cast stone planter -- a reproduction of a Frank Lloyd Wright design.  A little different from most planters you see in garden centers -- but it would actually work in a traditional or a modern garden.  It comes in cream or limestone and has a 10 year warranty against freeze-thaw damage.  There are also three other Wright designs in the series.

Christmas Books III 2006

Most of us in the landscape design business have way too many books on good design.  But "Outside the Not So Big House" (Taunton Press, 2006) is proof you can never have too many books, especially when they are this good and this useful. In fact, I'd all but sworn off new books until I heard Julie Moir Messervy speak last summer at our APLD national conference in Philadelphia. Written with Sarah Susanka, author of the best-selling "The Not So Big House," this book explains how to achieve the perfect integration of house and garden.  As Susanka puts it, "It's about the transitions and connections between the inside of a house and the outside, and about the journeys and the places that can be made to extend the experience of home to the outside."

This book is not about mega-mansions or estates. It concentrates on the kinds of houses that the vast majority of Americans call "home." In lovely photographs and landscape plans encompassing 20 not-so-large home sites across the United States, Messervy and Susanka demonstrate their practical concepts and ideas.  They easily illustrate how anyone can "borrow" the landscape from surrounding properties; enlarge windows and doors to frame views and bring the garden into the house.  They unify landscapes with stone, wood, water, paths, and plants, creating "journeys" through the property along the way. Whether the houses are located in the midst of a big city or out in the country, the authors reveal the secrets necessary to successfully harmonize house and garden. This book would make a great gift for any practicing or would-be architect, landscape designer, or gardener you know.  It's a volume that'll remain on anyone's bookshelf for years and never, really, go out of date or out of style.

(click on image to purchase book)

Xmas 2006 Gifts II

Solar-powered Garden Gifts

Somebody buy these and let me know how they work:

Is this not cool? A solar-powered planter from the Herrington Catalog. And they come in a whole rainbow of colors:  lemon, green, blue, white, and (natch) terracotta.  At 20" high and a 21" diameter, they'd hold a good-sized plant.  There's a separate solar panel mounted on a ground stake, with a re-chargeable battery pack.  It stores power during the day, then comes on automatically at night.  The planters themselves are made of resin, and Herrington suggests they can also be used as coolers during patio & pool parties: No more trouble figuring out where the drinks are located. $169.95 each.

And if people have trouble finding your front door, well, just remove a couple of those  pavers and install a solar-powered brick or two.  These sun bricks, also from Herrington, are completely self-contained and come on by themselves when the sun goes down. Installed flush to the ground, they provide up to eight hours of light each night.  Hard to say from the picture exactly how much light they generate, but it seems that a few strategically placed here and there would easily guide any visitor up the front walk to the entry.

(images: Herrington Catalog)

Items PPA Award, Garden Trips

Perennial Plant Assn Award
Finally ... it shouldn't be any surprise that this catmint has made it into the PPA hall of fame.  Nepeta "Walker's Low" is the energizer bunny of plants .. it keeps going and going and going. And now its' the PPA's 2007 plant of the year.  Greyish-green foliage, deep blue flowers, no pests or diseases, zones 3-8, 36" inches high with an equal spread, and even tolerates shade in hot climates.  Prune it back by two-thirds after the first flowers fade, and it will re-bloom for the rest of the summer. It looks great under roses, and we use all the time in place of lavender ... it's less fussy and far more tolerant of various soil conditions.

Garden Trips - California & Italy

Two more trips are in the planning guided by Landscape Architect & Prof Robert McDuffie of Virginia Tech.  The first to southern California March 4-10, 2007, includes stops in San Diego, LA, the Huntington, Descanso Gardens, the Quail Botanical Garden, the LA Arboretum & the Getty Museums.

McDuffie flies out again in May (May 15-29) for a grand tour of Italy: Rome, Capri, Venice, Verona, Padua, Florence, Siena, and the Lake Como area.  Some of Italy's greatest gardens are on this tour: Villa d'Este, Villa Lante, Villa Gamberaia, Isola Bella and Isola Madre.  And think of the food!