GardenDesignOnline

Halprin Obit

Lawrence Halprin, one of the 20th century's prominent landscape architects, has died at the age of 93 in San Francisco. Among Halprin's most famous works are the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial in Washington DC; Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco; Freeway Park in Seattle, Sea Ranch in northern California and, pictured below, Ira Keller Fountain in Portland, OR.

Charles Birnbaum, president of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, told the San Francisco Chronicle that Halprin was "the single most influential landscape architect of the postwar years," ... who "redefined the profession's role in cities."

For more on Halprin, see the Cultural Landscape Foundation's profile, here.

(photo ©Jane Berger)

Happenings Nov 09

Through Nov 15 Kiku in the Japanese American Garden, Bronx, NY
Final Kiku show at the NY Botanical Garden. Lectures, Demos, More 718-817-8616

Nov 1 Garden Tours, Mt Kisco NY
10AM-4PM Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours
Nov 2, Design: Urban Landscapes, NYC
6PM-7PM, Lecture, landscape architect Walter Hood, Scandinavia House, sponsor NY Botanical Garden, 718-817-8700
Nov 3  Xeriscaping Basics, Phoenix, AZ
6PM-8PM, Workshop, Desert Botanical Garden, 480-941-1225
Nov 6, Symposium, Landscape Architect John Simonds, Pittsburgh, PA
8AM-4:45PM, Andy Warhol Museum, 202-483-0553

Nov 9, Design: Beyond Chicago, NYC
6PM-7PM, Lecture, landscape architects Douglas Hoerr and Peter Lindsay Schaudt, Scandinavia House, sponsor NY Botanical Garden, 718-817-8700
Nov 11-13 Trees in the Urban Landscape, Boylston, MA
8:30AM-4PM, 12th annual Symposium, Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 508-869-6111
Nov 12, The American Meadow Garden, San Francisco, CA
5:30-7:30PM, Book launch & signing, Flora Grubb Gardens, sponsor: Garden Conservancy
Nov 13, Symposium on American Landscape History, Chicago, IL
8Am-5PM, Chicago Architecture Foundation, "Shaping the Am. Landscape: Midwest Landscape Architecture, 202-483-0553
Nov 13-18 Pool & Spa & Backyard Living Expo, Las Vegas, NV
Mandalay Bay Convention Center. Lectures, Demos & More.

Books: Black for Halloween

How about a little black plant to go with that little black dress?  Or a bouquet of black flowers to add a sense of mystery to that Halloween table or a sinister boutonniere in the lapel of that costume?

In his first book, Black Plants: 75 Striking Choices for the Garden, author and nursery owner Paul Bonine profiles all the great black candidates that would be a striking addition in any garden.

Some of them -- black mondo grass, 'Queen of Night' tulip, 'Black Lace' elderberry, 'Diablo' common ninebark -- are quite familiar to most designers, but others are quite exotic and unknown (at least to me).  They include 'Night Wings' daylily, the Persian fritillary, the Vampire's dracula orchid, and a 'Karma Chocolate' dahlia, just to name a few.

Each of the 75 entries in this small volume includes a full-page photograph of the plant (leaves or flowers, whichever is black) and on the opposite page a brief description of the plant, along with its hardiness zone and cultural requirements.

There's not a plant among them that doesn't have a real 'wow' factor ... and this lovely little book would not only make a gardener happy at Halloween, it would also make a great Christmas stocking stuffer.

(click on link to purchase book from Amazon)

Saving Hemlocks

As most of you readers already know, the wooly adelgid that attacks our native hemlock trees has been moving north at a rapid pace, threatening to wipe out the trees that remain in our Eastern forests.  Hemlocks native to western states are not affected by the beetle.

Now, two entomologists at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, are conducting experiments with a natural adelgid predator -- the Laricobius nigrinus beetle from the Rocky Mountains --  in hopes that our remaining hemlock forests might be saved. Two years ago, researcher David Mausel began releasing the predatory beetle in hemlock study plots in Pennsylvania, New York, Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.  He returns to the sites later this year to find out whether the beetles are still there and whether they've slowed the damage to hemlock trees and reduced the wooly adelgid population.

According to team member Joseph Elkinton, if they can get the beetles established in northern forests, the adelgid population may become simply "innocuous."  Elkinton says the battle to save the eastern hemlock is important because "they're one of the few evergreens whose loss affects stream temperatures, for example, so trout and other fish species are lost.  When the hardwoods move in, many characteristic birds of the hemlock forest are gone, too.  Losing the hemlock has an ecosystem-level impact."

Historic Garden Photos

The Smithsonian Institution's Archives of American Gardens has put up a series of images of early 20th century American gardens on Flickr ... in honor of American Archives Month.

The garden above, in Bar Harbor, Maine,  is designed by landscape architects Ann Leighton Smith and Beatrix Farrand.  It is part of the garden archive's glass lantern slide collection, which includes thousands of images that illustrate the design work of some of our country's most important early landscape architects:  Marian Coffin, Lawrence Halprin, Hare & Hare, Umberto Innocenti, Fletcher Steele, Ellen Biddle Shipman and many more.

Three thousand glass slides and tens of thousands of 35mm images were donated to the Smithsonian after the Garden Club of America found them in an old closet at their NY headquarters in the 1960's.  This collection is an important historical record of early American gardens, as many of the landscapes are now lost forever.

The Smithsonia Flickr presentation can be found here ... so take some time, peruse the photos, and then follow links to more images and info on historic American gardens.

(image: Archives of American Gardens)

 

Books: Beatrix, Again

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Beatrix Farrand's death ... so it's certainly appropriate to have another volume on the life and work of America's first female landscape architect and a founding member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).

In her new book, Beatrix Farrand: Private Gardens, Public Landscapes, landscape historian Judith B. Tankard takes us again through the familiar Farrand territory:  her privileged childhood in a prominent upper-class New York family (she was the niece of author Edith Wharton); her fascination with plants and landscapes; her early tutelage under Charles Sprague Sargent of Boston's Arnold Arboretum; and her many commissions that stemmed from her personal acquaintances among the well to do in high society.

Tankard takes the reader briefly through Farrand's childhood, then quickly moves on to her decision to pursue a career as a "landscape gardener," and her early commissions for clients in Newport, Providence, Maine, and Long Island.

 

Farrand's most famous garden, which still survives today, is Dumbarton Oaks in Washington DC, pictured above.  Tankard calls it "her most challenging yet rewarding project and the one for which she is most remembered today."  While the lower part of the garden is now overgrown and unused, the "designed" parts of it are still as lovely as they were in their original state, although many plantings have been replaced. 

Tankard concentrates on Farrand's gardens that are still intact throughout the country.  They include gardens at The Mount, Edith Wharton's home in Lenox, MA; Hill-Stead, the home of architect Theodate Pope Riddle in Farmington, CT; several college campuses, including Vassar, Princeton, Oberlin, and Yale; and also The Huntington in San Marino, CA  and Farrand's own garden on Mount Desert Island, Maine.

The book includes a number of Farrand drawings and photos of many gardens.

If, however, you already have the Diana Balmori book, Beatrix Farrand's American Landscapes: Her Gardens and Campuses (Sagapress, 1985) or British author Jane Brown's book Beatrix: The Gardening Life of Beatrix Jones Farrand 1872-1959 (Viking, 1995), you many not feel the need for another book on Beatrix Farrand which covers much of the same ground.

If, however, you missed those two volumes, you certainly won't be disappointed with the new book by Judith Tankard.  It's a welcome addition to the genre, written in a easy to read style, and it covers all the important facts and facets in the life of a most fascinating woman.

(photo of Dumbarton Oaks ©Jane Berger)

Garden Design Online - 5th Anniversay

Hard to believe that this is the fifth anniversary of Garden Design Online ... which simply celebrates some of the best in landscape design and horticulture.

What I like about this garden is the wonderful blend of color and texture that simply makes it come alive ... a garden by my friend and colleague Barbara Katz of London Landscapes in Bethesda, MD.

At Tanglewood in Lenox, MA, you'll encounter some of the finest hemlock hedges you've ever seen ... and luckily, they haven't yet been hit by the wooly adelgid. There's not a plant in my estimation that makes a finer hedge, but you just don't see them anymore because of the pest problem. So make a trip to see these at some point soon, before the adelgid moves into the area.

My blog aims to bring you news about landscape design and designers, events worth attending, new books you might like to read, new products to try, plus word of plant and pest problems and possible solutions.  I also like to profile new plants coming on market, just to alert everyone about great new possibilities.  I make no claims about whether or not the plants will live up to the grower's descriptions, but it's always worth trying something new, as it might be just the perfect plant for your environment.  I enjoy writing this blog and I hope you enjoy reading it.

And I'll leave you today with an image from Dumbarton Oaks in Washington DC ... a garden that's been around a long time and remains a very special place today.

 

photos ©Jane Berger

Upscale Garden Furniture in NYC

McKinnon & Harris, NYC

If you haven't heard of McKinnon & Harris, hop on over to 211 East 59th Street to see some of the finest and lovliest garden furniture you'll ever encounter.

All of their furniture is hand-crafted in Richmond, VA, each piece is signed and dated, and has a lifetime guarantee.

Not for those whose wallets are slim these days, but if you want style, simplicity and elegance, this is the place to go.

For a full range of their offerings, visit the website here. 

(image: McKinnon Harris)

Events Update Oct 09

Oct 16, Garden Tour,  Baltimore, MD

8:15AM-6:30PM. Private Gardens of Baltimore.  Join landscape architect Wolfgang Oehme and Carol Oppenheimer for a bus our of three stunning gardens in Baltimore, with lunch at the Petit Louis Bistro.  Sponsored by the Corcoran Gallery of Art. 202-639-1774. Bus leaves from the Willard Hotel, Washington DC.

Books: The Tree Guide You Want

I spent an entire year once learning trees and shrubs ... three-hour classes most every Saturday morning at local arboretums and parks, studying the plants up close, learning which species have alternate or opposite branching, which have compound or single leaves, which ones flower at what time of year, and learning all of the botanical names (and how to spell them).

Some of the trees are hard to tell apart, and I've yet to find the perfect tree ID book, but the new Sibley Guide to Trees (Alfred a. Knopf, 2009), comes mighty close.  It's written and illustrated by David Allen Sibley of the Sibley Guide to Birds, and it's a masterful contribution to the genre.

The guide covers 668 native and/or commonly found trees throughout the US and Canada, and it includes descriptions of all native trees except for the 100-plus that are only found in southern Florida.

After he takes you through the basic botany of trees, Sibley divides the book by taxonomic families, and then classifies the trees by genus and species.  That is, the Rose Family (Rosaceae), includes not only cherries, but also plums, apricots, almonds, peaches, hawthorns, apples, pears, mountain ashes, serviceberries and more.  While some people might find plant families confusing, once you get used to them, it's actually a most sensible way to help identify particular plants.  And there are a couple of great indexes in the back of the book, so if you're just looking for oaks, you can find them very easily.