GardenDesignOnline

Classic Garden Antiques for Less

Barbara Israel has had a lifelong love affair with garden antiques, and it's no wonder.  As a child growing up in Far Hills, New Jersey, she and her sister found an old zen garden in the woods, with stone lanterns and lions and other objects lying about on the ground. The sisters also sneaked onto the grounds of nearby Blairsden -- an 1890's Louis XIII mansion -- where there were lots of statues and other garden accessories.

Many years later, working at an auction gallery, Israel bought an entire lot of garden antiques from an estate in Locust Valley, Long Island, and she was soon in business for herself.  "They were beautifully aged," she said, "four dwarf Chinese musicians, elephants with obelisks on their backs... I suddenly owned 40 statues, I had a sale at my house and broke even, and I thought I had died and gone to heaven." 

Israel formally went into business in 1985, and she is now considered one of the country's foremost authorities on garden antiques. In recent years, garden antiques have zoomed in price, and that persuaded her to start a new business -- Garden Traditions  -- reproducing classic garden antiques.

Happenings Oct 08

Through Oct 26 New Horizons in Landscape, North Adams, MA
Exhibition on the contemporary landscape, Mass MoCA, 413-MoCA111
Oct 1, Invasive Plants Symposium, Storrs, CT
8AM-4PM, University of CT, 860-486-6448
Oct 2 Landscape Design in a Changing Environment," Philadelphia, PA
6PM, Lecture by Landscape Architect Kathryn Gustafson, Penn Design, Meyerson Hall 215-573-3770
Oct 2-4 America in Bloom Symposium, Columbus, OH
Hyatt on Capital Square.Awards, tours, lectures.  614-487-1117
Oct 3-4 Conference on the Built Environment, San Marino, CA
8:30AM-5PM, The Huntington. Scholars explore the issue of why some cityscapes, landscapes & buildings survive & others disappear. 626-405-3432
Oct 3-7, Annual Conference, Am. Socy of Landscape Architects, Philadelphia, PA
Oct 4-Jan 5 Darwin's Garden, San Marino, CA
Exhibition marking the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth. The Huntington 626-405-2100

Oct 5, Garden Tour, Charleston, SC
12 noon-4PM, 8th Annual Gardens for Gardeners Tour, Charleston Hort Socy 843-579-9922
Oct 7 The Emperor Views his Garden, San Marino, CA
7:30PM, The Huntington, Lecture by UCLA professor Richard Strassberg on the summer residence of 18th c. Qing dynasty emperor Kangxi. 626-405-2100
Oct 7 Art & Business of Garden Design, Glencoe, IL
1PM-4PM Symposium with Jon Carloftis, Chicago Botanic Garden. 847-835-5440
Oct 7-10, 6th Eastern Native Grass Symposium, Columbia, SC
Radisson Hotel & Conference Center. 864-656-3527
Oct 8, Introduction to Sustainability, Washington DC
9:30AM-2:30 PM, Workshop, US Botanic Garden, Conservatory Classroom 202 225-1116
Oct 8, Big Ideas for Small Gardens, Los Altos, CA
7PM, Lecture by TV Host & author Dave Egbert, Christ Episcopal Church, Los Altos. Sponsor: Western Hort Socy, 650-948-4614
Oct 8, The Synergy of Great Gardens, Seattle, WA
6:45PM, Lecture by landscape architect Richard Hartlage, Center for Urban Horticulture. Sponsor: NW Hort Socy, 206-780-8172
Oct 11, Green Roof Tour, Swarthmore, PA
11AM-12:30PM, Scott Arboretum 610-328-8025
Oct 11, Cutting Edge Trees, Shrubs & Vines, Swarthmore, PA
9:30AM-2PM, Workshop, Scott Arboretum, Blum classroom & gardens 610-328-8025

Oct 12, The Life & Art of a Garden Designer, Boylston, MA
1PM, Lecture on designer Norah Bourke Lindsay, Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 508-869-6111
Oct 15, Medicinal Plant Symposium, Athens, GA
8:45AM-3PM, Callaway Bldg Auditorium, State Botanical Garden of GA 706-542-6156
Oct 16 "Placemaking: Conversation with Laurie Olin," New York, NY
6:30-8PM, Museum of Arts & Design 212-956-3535
Oct 16, New Landscapes, Philadelphia, PA
7PM, Lecture by Portuguese Landscape architect Joao Nunes, Penn Design, Meyerson Hall, 215-573-3770
Oct 17, Perennial Plant Conference, Swarthmore, PA
7:30AM-5:30PM, Symposium, Scott Arboretum, 610-388-1000 ext 507
Oct 17-18 Central South Native Plant Conference, Birmingham, AL
Birmingham Botanical Gardens.  Lectures, Field Trips & More. 205-414-3900
Oct 17-19 Charleston Garden Festival, Charleston, SC
Middleton Place. Garden demos, lectures, tours and more. 843-556-6020.
Oct 18-Nov16 Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum, Bronx, NY
NY Botanical Garden, 2nd Annual Exhibition. Classes, Tours, Demos & More. 718-817-8700

Oct 19, Shade Gardening, Swarthmore, PA
2PM, Lecture Keith Wiley, Head Gardener at The Garden House in Devon, England. Lang Music Bldg, Swarthmore College 610-328-8025
Oct 20, Architectural Landscapes, New York, NY
6PM-7PM, Lecture by landscape architect Andrea Cochran, Scandinavia House, 58 Park Ave @ 38th St. Sponsor: NY Botanical Garden 718-817-8747
Oct 20, Plant Gems of the Emerald Corridor, San Francisco, CA
7:15PM, Lecture by Dylan Hannon, The Huntington's Curator of Tropical Collections, County Fair Bldg, SF Botanical Garden 415-566-5222

Oct 27, Memory & Imagination, New York, NY
6PM-7PM, Lecture by landscape architect Kim Wilkie, Scandinavia House, 58 Park Ave @ 38th St.  Sponsor: NY Botanical Garden, 718-817-8747
Oct 30, A Green Apple, Washington DC
6:30PM-8PM, National Building Museum, Panel discussion on a "green" Manhattan. 202-272-2448

Lookahead:

Nov 6-8.  Re-imagining Cities: Urban Design after the Age of Oil, Philadelphia, PA
Symposium, Houston Hall, University of Pennsylvania. Exhibition, Lectures, Workshops & More. 215-898-8330

Nov 13-15 2nd Wave of Modernism in Landscape Architecture, Chicago, IL
Conference on modernist trends in current landscape architecture. The Cultural Landscape Foundation, 202-483-0553. Space limited.

Everything You Can't Figure Out On Your Own

I was a math whiz in high school, but darned if I can remember all those formulas to figure the area of a trapezoid, a hexagon, an ellipse, and you name it.  Not to mention the irregular landscape features that so many designers encounter every day.  So this handy little book will do it all for you.

Mathematics for the Green Industry: Essential Calculations for Horticulture and Landscape Professionals (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2008) will tell you everything you ever thought you might want to know about calculating areas, volumes, plants per square foot, etc for landscape plans, greenhouse structures, and much, much more.

And there are very useful little tables sprinkled throughout the book that will make your work at the drawing table much, much easier. There's a lot in the book that designers won't need -- fertilizer application rates, turf management, plant growth regulators and the like -- but you might want to take a look at the chapters on estimating landscape costs.  Terrific conversion tables are in the back of the book, along with: YES! the solutions to practice problems just to check the real answers against what you try to do in your head.

New 09 Roses & AARS Winners

Pink Promise  2009 AARS Winner

One of the best things about this new hybrid tea is that it's the official rose of the National Breast Cancer Foundation, and for every plant purchased, a percentage of the profits will be donated to the foundation.  If you know someone who's had or has the disease (and what woman doesn't?) -- it could be a perfect present next spring.  Or you might want to plant one in memory of a close friend or family member.

Pink Promise is a hybrid tea with a strong, fruity fragrance, large, delicate long-stemmed pink blooms and glossy green foliage.  The plant will attain a height of about 5 feet, and it's also said to have good disease resistance and it will do well in cooler climates.   This rose was hybridized by Jim Coiner of Coiner Nursery of LaVerne, CA.  It's available through Jackson & Perkins.

Cinco de Mayo 2009 AARS Winner

This is very funky looking rose, maybe because it was bred from the 2006 winner Julia Child.  Anyway, it's a floribunda that seems to be a perfect fit for any garden that's less-than-formal.  It has a rounded habit, somewhat bushy, and could easily be used as a hedge -- wow! think about that.  The color is described as smoky lavender and rusty red-orange, and the blooms have an apple-like scent. 

AARS says it has fantastic disease resistance and has performed well across the country with little or no care.  Bred by Tom Carruth of Weeks Roses of Rancho Cucamonga, CA. Available through Jackson & Perkins.

News & Notes 9-18-08

Free Garden Books
GardenVisit.com is giving away eBooks through the month of October to celebrate its 10th anniversary.  They are:
The Principles of Garden Design by Garden Visit editor Tom Turner
24 Historic Styles of Garden Design by Tom Turner
You can download them at the Garden Visit website.

Free Water-Wise Landscaping Seminars
Saturday, Sept 20, 2008
Mountain View College, Dallas TX Room 171, West Bldg.
Water Wise Landscape Design 9AM-12:30PM
Fantasic Plants for North Texas 1:30PM-5PM
INFO: 214-670 3155 or this website.

Organic Lawn Project through October 15
Berkshire Botanical Garden, Stockbridge, MA 413-447-7582
The garden has opened a Natural Lawn Demo Project to teach visitors how to create organic lawns without using harmful chemicals.  If you have to have a lawn, this is how to do it.

PA Hort Society Web Video Show
The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has a new weekly gardening video show, Gardeners' Studio, starring Philadelphia Flower Show designer Sam Lemheney and Jessica Story, the head grower at Meadowbrook Farm in Meadowbook, PA. The first installment aired on Sept 17th, and it can be viewed at www.philly.com

A Garden of Mystery & Mysticism

Innisfree
Whichever way you turn, this garden enriches the soul, calms the mind, and nourishes the spirit.  It's the wind through the trees, the babble of water, the sun shining through a fountain-jet of mist, the huge, stately rocks placed meticulously throughout the landscape.

Innisfree is the masterpiece of the late American painter Walter Beck, and his wife, Marion.  Marion was the daughter of 19th-century iron magnate Wellington Burt, and she inherited 950 acres, including a lake, forests and valleys in Millbrook, NY. The couple visited Europe for gardening inspiration and found it in London: a Chinese scroll by 8th century poet and painter Wang Wei. 

Beck decided to re-create at Innisfree what he saw in the paintings.  He called them "cup gardens" -- individual scenes composed of boulders, plantings, and water set into the natural landscape. 

Beck started work at Innisfree in the 1930's.  In 1938 he met landscape architect Lester Collins, and that was the beginning of their long collaboration on the garden.

A Skater's Garden

Ice Pond Farm
Keep watch for this garden in North Salem, NY, during the Garden Conservancy's Open Days.  It's been on the tour in the past, and when it's open again, it's a must-see. 

In the winter, an old ice pond sometimes freezes over, and when it does, the owner puts on his skates and takes a few turns or more around the surface.  The skater is no other than Dick Button, the only American to win two Olympic golds in figure skating -- and the first person in competition to land a double axel, a triple loop and a camel spin. He also invented the flying camel.  After his retirement from skating, Button became a sports commentator -- and since the mid-90's, he's devoted a lot of time to his garden.

During a viisit by members of the APLD this past summer, Button said the design of his garden really "comes from skating."  He explained that designing a garden is really all about views -- like the ones you might see spinning around a mountain top rink.

Button said he learned about gardening by attending lectures and visiting a lot of other people's gardens. And whichever way you look on his farm, you can see he's obviously learned a lot. In skating, he said, there's always a sense of humor and surprise and that what he strives for in his own garden design, along with a sense of the unexpected.

In the Magazines Sept - Oct 08

American Gardener Sept-Oct

• Profile of Holly Shimizu, Executive Director of the US Botanic Garden in Washington DC.
• Native Magnolias, from the evergreens (southern and sweetbay) to the deciduous (Ashe, bigleaf, umbrella, cucumber). All you need to know.
• Orchids for temperate gardens.
• Selecting plants to relate to the site with a designer's eye.
• Species Tulips

Garden Design Sept-Oct

• The stunningly modern home garden of landscape architect Ron Radziner of Marmol Radziner
• A rooftop prairie in Chicago designed by Hoerr Schaudt landscape architects
• A new generation of classic old violas
• And new in design: giant cedar thread spools as garden seats; soft pile fabrics to go with outdoor fireplaces; the new metallic finishes on garden furniture, from chairs and tables to vases and lighting fixtures.

Sunset September

• How to create a great garden path
• A patchwork garden that reflects the surrounding farmland
• A modern patio with infinity-edge pool that complements the view of Paradise Valley in Arizona: stone, water, fire
• Plus, tips on how to brighten a dark garden; expand a cramped garden space; deal with a steep slope; plant a narrow side yard.

The Original Glass House

Lyndhurst
What a surprise to discover this gem on a very early morning stroll during the APLD conference in Tarrytown, NY. We came upon this vista as we emerged from a woodsy path, chasing away several deer in the process.  The greenhouse pictured here -- now just a shell -- was the first metal-framed glass house manufactured in the United States, by the Lord & Burnham Co. of Irvington, NY in 1881.  Its construction was considered a turning point in American greenhouse manufacturing.

The greenhouse is on the Lyndhurst Estate in Tarrytown.  Now a National Trust property, the estate was the former home of NYC mayor William Paulding, merchant George Merritt and railroad magnate Jay Gould.  In the late 1830's Paulding hired architect Alexander Jackson Davis to design the gothic-style mansion, which was located on a site overlooking the Hudson River in a park-like setting reminiscent of the English landscape style. 

The original landscape for the property was designed by Andrew Jackson Downing, considered one of the founders of the landscape architecture profession in the United States.  Downing planted a lot of the original trees on the property, including many old lindens -- hence the name Lyndhurst.

An original greenhouse on the property burned to the ground in 1880, shortly after Jay Gould bought the property, and he had it re-built by Lord & Burnham in its present form.

News & Notes

New Sustainability Website

The Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College has a new website on sustainability:  native plants, lawn alternatives, invasive species, plant conservation, just to name a few of the topics covered.  Also -- classes at the arboretum on sustainable subjects, and a section on how you can make your own garden more ecology-friendly.

Sky Gardens Website

Green Roofs.com has started a new blog on ... well ... green roofs.  An interesting resource for those interested in greening cities.

Green Roof Tours

And ... if you're hankering to see some terrific green roofs .. in Europe .. check out the Green Roof Safari website ... guided tours to some of the best green buildings in the world.