GardenDesignOnline

The Basics in Books

As all of you know, I'm not usually given to gardening basics on this site, but even I have to admit that if you're in the outdoors, not everything is design-related.  Sometimes you need to know how to do basic gardening things, and without getting too involved in that entire subject, if you'd like everything you need to know all in one place, there's nothing better than the completely revised The Garden Primer: Second Edition (Workman Publishing, 2008) by Barbara Damrosch.

From shrubs and trees to lawns, bulbs, fruits,vegetables, herbs, vines, perennials, and annuals, it's all here:  how to plant them, how to prune them, how to take care of them. There are also introductory sections on basic plant requirements, gear you'll need, landscape design, and how to select plants.

Damrosch writes in a breezy, easily-understandable style, and she explains everything clearly without getting caught up in the intricacies of do's and don'ts that make gardening a mystery for many people.  If you're really into the subject, you may have to do some further research on specific cultivars, but Damrosch gives you a great start on everything. She's also an organic gardener and tells you how to deal with pests and diseases without using harmful pesticides.

This is one book you certainly want on your shelf for a quick reference to garden-everything.

Some Cool Furniture

I get a lot of catalogs in the mail, but there's some very nice new outdoor furniture in the latest one from Gloster Furniture, Inc.

The collection pictured at left is Sushi, by California designer John Caldwell. There are also dining chairs and tables in this collection, which is made of man-made, weather-resistant wicker.  This furniture won the 'best of show' in the occasional category at the Chicago Casual Furniture Show a few years back.  This wouldn't fit every garden, but I could certainly see it on many a rooftop or in a garden with clean and simple lines.

The Horizon collection is also by John Caldwell, and is also made of Gloster's wicker. Aside from the armchair shown here, there are modular units that clip together so that you can form a sofa of almost any length and configuration to fit your particular outdoor space.  Not something you often see offered in outdoor furniture collections. Horizon also has ottoman for seating (or feet) -- and side tables with floating glass tabletops.  The "float" allows you to store mags and such under the glass to protect them from rain & wind.

Happenings May 08

Through June 15, Darwin's Garden, Bronx NY
Special exhibit, lectures, symposia on the legacy of Charles Darwin, NY Botanical Garden (718) 817-8700
May 3 Garden Tour, Venice, CA
15th annual tour featuring 25+ homes & gardens by Jay Griffith, Marmol Radziner, Tom Carson & others. (310) 821-1857
May 3-4 Garden Conservancy Tours, NY
Amagansett, Cutchogue, E.Hampton, Montauk, Wainscott, Chappaqua, Mt. Kisco
May 4  Garden Tour "Bringing Back the Natives," Contra Costa & Alameda, CA
10AM-5PM, Self guided tour of 60 native plant gardens (510) 236-9558  Preview the gardens & download plant lists on their website
May 4 Gardens of Ellen Shipman, Far Hills, NJ
2PM, Lecture by author Judith Tankard, Froh Heim Mansion (973) 971-8400
May 7 "Climate Chaos: Emerging Consequences of Climate Change, Glencoe, IL
8:45AM-4PM, Symposium, Chicago Botanic Garden (847) 835-8261
May 8-9 Magic of Landscapes, Orlando, FL
Garden Tour, All-day Symposium (800) 375-3642
May 9 Modernist Parks & Gardens of Robert Royston, Northern CA
Two-day guided tour of Royston landscapes sponsored by The Cultural Landscape Foundation (202) 483-0553
May 10, American Landscape Gardener Beatrix Jones Farrand, Boylston, MA
3:30-5PM, Lecture, Tower Hill Botanic Garden (508) 869-6111
May 10 Georgetown Garden Tour , Washington DC
10AM-5PM, 8 gardens, (202) 965-1950
May 10-11 Garden Tour, Washington DC
51st  Annual Capitol Hill House & Garden Tour (202) 543-0425
May 10-11 Garden Conservancy Tours, CA, NJ, NY, TX, TN
CA: Beverly Hills, Lincoln, Los Angeles, Newcastle; NJ: Ridgewood, Woodcliff Lake, Wyckoff; NY:Bedford, Bedford Hills, Cold Spring; TX: El Paso; TN: Knoxville
May 10, Edible Estates reading, Brooklyn, NY
noon, architect Fritz Haeg reads from his new book Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn, St. Ann's Warehouse, 38 Water Street
May 12, Making More Plants, San Diego, CA
7PM, Lecture by author & plantsman Ken Druse, Scottish Rite Event Center (760) 295-7089
May 14 Urban Gardening, Brooklyn, NY
10:30-noon Workshop, author Linda Yang, Brooklyn Botanic Garden (718) 623-7200
May 14-18 Florida Native Plant Conference , Palmetto, FL
28th Annual Conference, Manatee Convention Center, workshops, lectures, field trips & more (727) 525-6609
May 15 Garden Tour , Boston, MA
9AM-5PM, 79th Annual "Hidden Gardens of Beacon Hill," 12 private gardens (617) 227-4392
May 17-18 Garden Conservancy Tours, CA, CT, NJ, NY,PA
CA: Palo Alto; CT: Salisbury, Weston, Washington; NJ: Short Hills; NY: Austerlitz, Hillsdale, Hudson, Amenia, Armonk, Wappingers Falls; PA: Broomall, Gladwyne, Narberth, Penn Valley
May 18, Garden Tour, Washington DC
4th Annual Shepherd Park tour, self-guided tour of 6-8 gardens
May 20-22 Designing Parks, Charlottesville, VAThree-day symposium on the history of park planning & design sponsored by The Cultural Landscape Foundation (202) 483-0553
May 24 Garden Conservancy Tours, NY
Locust Valley, Mill Neck, Old Westbury, Mt. Kisco
May 24-Oct 13 "One Planet - Ours!," Washington DC
Exhibit on Sustainability, US Botanic Garden, with participation by the American Horticultural Society, UN Environment Program, Longwood Gardens, National Wildlife Federation & more.
May 24-Nov 2 Moore in America, Bronx, NY
Exhibit of Monumental Sculptures by Henry Moore, NY Botanical Garden (718) 817-8700
May 28-30 Nat'l Conference on Urban Ecosystems, Orlando, FL
"Nature & the Network," Caribe Royale Hotel, sponsored by American Forests (202) 737-1944
May 30-June1 Garden Tour, Santa Barbara, CA
Guided by Landscape architects Chip Sullivan & Leslie Dean (650) 967-5408
May 31 Japanese Pruning Techniques, Brooklyn, NY
10AM-2PM, Workshop, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, (718) 623-7200
May 31 Garden Conservancy Tours, NJ
Glen Gardner, Bedminster

ASLA Awards 08

What to say about the winners of this year's ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architects) design awards? Well, we might start with edgy, eclectic, and very original.

Pictured here is The Lurie Garden in Chicago's Millennium Park Park, designed by Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Ltd of Seattle, winner of the top award in the general design category.  It's a three-acre rooftop public botanical garden, which, according to Guthrie, "celebrates the built-up, engineered landscape of the Garden site and the City of Chicago."  And they're not kidding.  It's composed of giant "plates" that reflect the city's mysterious and marshy past and its exuberant modern architecture as well. There's also a water feature, a long "boardwalk" that criss-crosses the site, and a monumental "living hedge" that provides shelter for birds and other wildlife.

Many of the perennial  plantings were designed by the reknowed Dutch plantsman Piet Oudolf, using locally grown natives like prairie grasses that are a constant reminder of the Midwestern landscape.  As the awards jury put it, the garden "works on so many different levels, no wonder people love it."

(click to enlarge images by (left) Piet Oudolf; plan: Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Ltd)

New Horizons for Northern Plants

Some years back, I got a chance to visit the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix.  It was a completely shocking experience:  shocking to me, that is, because I had never seen such a vast array of absolutely stunning and gorgeous plants that I couldn't grow back in Washington DC or Massachusetts.  The only solution, I thought, would be a move to Arizona, but how could I ever live in a place with summers hotter than DC?

But now there is a solution, sans Phoenix, and all the answers can be found in Hardy Succulents: Tough Plants for Every Climate (Storey Publishing, 2008) by author Gwen Moore Kelaidis and photographer Saxon Holt. And those of us who live in northern areas are not just stuck with hens & chicks.  We can, in fact, grow majestic agaves, devote a corner to lovely flowering cacti, and perhaps even plant the beaked yucca (Yucca rostrata) as a very funky focal point. Some of the tree yuccas will reach 20 feet in height, and some are hardy as far north as Denver, New York City, and even southern New England.
Not to mention the vast variety of sedums; plus ice plants, the tiny Aloinopsis, Dudleya cymosa, and the midget-sized Yucca harrimaniae, some as small as just 6 inches wide. ANd yes, there are new hens & chicks on the market, too, of many colors: burgundy, pale rose, greens, golds, whites and other shades of red.

Stunning photographs throughout the book illustrate the vast possibilities for new planting designs that include some space for succulents.

This book makes a great accompaniment to last year's Designing with Succulents (Timber Press) by Deborah Lee Baldwin, which focused on plants hardy in zone 8 and above, which tend to be larger and splashier. 

Both belong on the designer's book shelf.

(click on image or text link to purchase book)

Air Pollution Impedes Pollination

Researchers at the University of Virginia have found that air pollution from power plants and vehicles destroys the scent of flowers, making it difficult for pollinating insects to follow fragrant aromas to their source.

The study indicates that diminishing scent trails could be a reason for declining populations of pollinators, particularly bees.   Jose Fuentes  (center in photo) professor of environmental sciences at the University of VA and co-author of the study, said that "scent molecules produced by flowers in a less polluted environment, such as in the 1800's, could travel for roughly 1000 to 1200 meters; but in today's polluted environment, downwind of major cities, they may travel only 200 to 300 meters."  Fuentes noted that this makes it very difficult for pollinators to locate flowers and the nectar they need for food.

Fuentes and his research team found that scent molecules produced by flowers are very volatile and bond with pollutants such as ozone that destroy their odors.  Therefore, the scents are chemically altered and destroyed, and when they travel on the wind, they no longer have the aroma of flowers.  The scientists believe that the pollinators are having to search longer distances to find sources of food, and perhaps are relying on sight instead of smell.

"It quickly became apparent that air pollution destroys the aroma of flowers by as much as 90 percent from periods before automobiles and heavy industry," said Fuentes.  "And the more air pollution there is in a region, the greater the destruction of flower scents."

The entire study appears online in the journal  Atmospheric Environment.

All the more reason, readers, to get on the "green" bandwagon.

Redwoods vs. Sunpower

I first heard about the redwood controversy at a lecture earlier this year by Conard Pyle president Steve Hutton.  It's hard to believe that neighbors in California are fighting over solar panels and large trees that block the sunlight, but a state law has actually been enacted to protect environmentally minded homeowners who don't want their neighbors to plant tall trees that block their sunlight.  Read all about it in this article from the New York Times.

Desert Botanical Garden Facelift

New Cactus & Succulent Galleries

The Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix has opened two stunning, modern galleries to house its spectacular collections of three thousand cacti and two thousand succulents.  Award-winning landscape architect Steve Martino designed the 28-feet tall, arching structures that sit atop bold red concrete piers, with steel mesh ceilings to protect the tenderest plants.

Martino, known for his modern southwestern landscapes that complement the desert topography, told the Arizona Republic newspaper that the new galleries are akin to a "Tinkertoy set." As the tallest structures in the garden, "they're going to be a landmark," he said.

The new Sybil B. Harrington galleries replace the garden's aging aluminum lath structures that housed the two collections.  Some of the cacti, including the 22 foot tall Stenocereus montanus, had outgrown their old home, but they fit perfectly under their new steel canopies.   Most of the existing plants were moved to greenhouses during construction, but a few that were too large to move were left in place while the new structures were built around them.

Plantings were designed by Baltimore-based landscape architect and horticulturist Scott Scarfone, who grouped plants according to color and texture to dramatize their sculptural qualities.

The new galleries are part of a campaign launched in 2006 to expand the garden's educational goals and research initiatives.  The garden's overall plan is for a series of museum quality outdoor exhibits to showcase the garden's unsurpassed collection of desert plants from all over the world.

(images: Adam Rodriguez, Desert Botanical Garden)

New 08 Plants (V)

Could there actually be a new and improved Japanese tree lilac?  This new one from Bailey Nurseries is called First Editions™ Snow Dance™ (Syringa reticulata 'Bailnce') because of its very heavy blooms. From the picture, it's definitely more floriferous than most others I've seen in the past.  According to Bailey, it rarely produces seeds, reaches a size of 18' x 20' and has dark green foliage with leaves slightly larger than the species.  Zone 3-7.  It's smaller size would make it a good candidate for suburban or urban yards, and this tree is always a winner because of its fragrant June blooms and tolerance of urban pollution.  In my Washington DC neighborhood, the regular species is doing well as a street tree.

For anyone who can't get enough of the ever-blooming blue Endless Summer® hydrangea, there's now a white one to go along with it:  Hydrangea macrophylla 'Blushing Bride.' The blooms start out white and then fade to a soft pink. This bigleaf hydrangea was bred by legendary plantsman Michael Dirr.  Bailey quotes him as saying it has "the same reblooming qualities as its parent .. only faster." But to encourage re-bloom, you should remove spent flowers.  Blushing Bride is also said to have strong stems that keep the plant upright. (Unlike my Nikko Blue hydrangea, which always flops a bit). Hardy to zone 5.

And yes, we designers love it when there's a new evergreen solution for small gardens or front beds. This new arborvitae  (Thuja occidentalis First Editions™ Technito®) tops out at just 6-8 feet high with a width of 2-3 feet. With a pyramidal shape and dark green foliage, it's a compact version of its parent, Techny.  Zones 3-7, and it will take full sun or part shade.  This could be a real winner for those narrow places where you really want an evergreen, but just can't ever find one the right size.

(images: Bailey Nurseries -- click on images to enlarge)

75th Virginia Garden Week

Historic Garden Week April 19-27

The idea was born at Monticello back in 1927, during a flower show that raised a whopping $7000 to save Thomas Jefferson's surviving old trees.  Two years later, the Garden Club of Virginia invited friends to visit some of the state's historic houses and gardens over 11 days. A guidebook with maps described the history of each property, and the event was a huge success, raising 14 thousand dollars for the club's restoration projects.

Garden Week has been produced every year since, with only one interruption, during World War II. According to Garden Week's Executive Director, Suzanne Munson, tours in the event's first years focused on manor houses and gardens dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries. "Today," she said, "we have a wonderful mixture of old and new on tours across the state ... the April 25th event on the Middle Peninsula presents an architectural time line of homes in Middlesex County dating from the 17th to the early 21st century."

Munson added that this year's tour in Hampton features houses that have never been on public tour, and events in Richmond "showcase properties that have undergone significant transformations since their last appearance on Garden Week."