GardenDesignOnline

Garden Shed Show

If you're in the Berkshires this summer, don't miss this special exhibition on garden sheds at the Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge.  The exhibition opens May 1st and runs through the season.  Top designers and architects have contributed structures -- the garden shed re-imagined -- that redefine how small buildings can transform a garden space.

Curator Matt Larkin said the designers have turned "every-day sheds into truly original garden features."  He adds that the exhibit is "intended to inspire the visitor to work with their own back yard structures to create a stylish living space that reflects their individual taste and personality." 

The sheds on display include everything from a classic 18th century hideaway to a summer studio and an Adirondack-style treehouse.  Something for everyone.

(image: Berkshire Botanical Garden).

Happenings May 2010

Selected events around the country:

Thru July 25, Losing Paradise: Endangered Plants, Bronx, NY
NY Botanical Garden, Exhibition, 718-817-8700
Thru Nov.  Making Scents: The Art & Passion of Fragrance, Kennett Square, PA
Exhibition, Longwood Gardens, 610-388-1000

April 30-May2 Living Green Garden Show, Los Angeles, CA
LA County Arboretum & Botanical Garden.  Everything Sustainable.
May 1, Garden Tour, Venice CA
10AM-5PM, Self-guided tour of 25-30 gardens, 310-821-1429
May 1-2 Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours, NY, CA, CT
NY: East Hampton, Fishers Island, Wainscott, Mt. Kisco, Rhinebeck, Trumansburg, Chappaqua;
CA: Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga, Los Angeles; CT: Stonington
May 1-2 Mary Lou Heard Garden Tour, CA
10AM-5PM, 39 Gardens in Silverado, Laguna Hills, Long Beach & other locations. 714-566-4800
May 2, Garden Tour, Alameda & Contra Costa Counties, CA
10AM-5PM, "Bringing Back the Natives," 50 gardens, self-guided, 510-236-9558
May 4, Classical Chinese Garden Design Ideas, San Marino, CA
7:30PM, Lecture, The Huntington, 626-405-2100
May 5, Garden Design School Open House, Boylston, MA
10AM-3:30 PM, Tower Hill Botanic Garden With British designers Robin Templar Williams and Moira Farnham 513-867-0437
May 6-8 Landscapes for Living: Post War Years in Texas, Dallas-Ft.Worth, TX
Symposium, Postwar Legacy of Public & Private Landscapes, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, 202-483-0553
May 7 National Public Gardens Day. Various events around the country. Check your local public garden.
May 7-9, Antique Garden Furniture Show & Sale, Bronx, NY
New York Botanical Garden, 30 dealers, tours and talks. 718-817-8700
May 8, Georgetown Garden Tour, Washington DC
10AM-5PM, 7 gardens 202-965-1950
May 8-9, Garden Tour, Atlanta, GA
10AM-5PM, 26th Annual "Gardens of the Connoisseurs"- Atlanta Botanical Garden, self-guided tour 404-976-5859

May 9 Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours, CT, NY
CT: Middletown; NY: Cold Spring
May 15-16, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours: CA, NJ, NY, TX
CA: Atherton, Woodside, Los Altos; NJ: Short Hills, Far Hills; NY: Amenia, Cutchogue, Stony Brook, East Norwich, Mill Neck, Old Westbury; TX: Dallas, Heath
May 17, New Approaches to Landscape Design, Bronx, NY
6PM, Lecture, landscape architect & artist Ken Smith, NYBG Midtown Center 718-817-8700
May 20, Hidden Gardens of Beacon Hill, Boston MA
9AM-5PM, Garden Tour, 12 gardens 617-227-4392
May 22-23, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours: CA, CO, CT, DC, NJ, NY,  PA, WA
CA: San Francisco; CO: Centennial, Denver, Littleton; CT: Branford, Middlebury, Salisbury, Sharon; DC;  NJ: Glen Gardner; NY:Ancramdale, Copake Falls, Brewster, Rosendale, Saugerties, Bedford Hills, Ossining; PA: Philadelphia; WA: Graham, Orting

May 29, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours, NY
NY: Mount Kisco

LOOKAHEAD:

June 2-5 Annual Millersville Native Plant Conference, Millersville, PA
Millersville University.  Author William Cullina, Landscape Architect Larry Weaner & others. 717-871-2189
June 4-5 Rhododendron Festival, Sandwich, MA
Heritage Museum & Gardens.  Lectures, garden tours, much more 508-888-3300

June 25-27 Newport Flower Show, Newport, RI
"Safari Flora & Fauna," Lectures, Demos, Plant Sales & More 401-847-1000

Books: Best of the Perennials & Grasses

For some reason, I'm not a great fan of Monarda, but I just might change my mind and give it a try after seeing the photo of 'Gardenview Scarlet' beebalm in the garden of Adrian Bloom.

Bloom, of course, is famous for his past ownership of the Blooms of Bressingham nursery in Britain, and here in the U.S., many know him from the Victory Garden TV show.

Now, in his new book, Bloom's Best Perennials and Grasses: Expert Plant Choices and Dramatic Combinations for Year-Round Gardens (Timber Press, 2010), he offers his expert advice on his favorite choices for home gardens.

As he puts it in the preface, "This book highlights the best perennials and ornamental grasses and explains how to use them, but equally it is about the pleasure and benefits, the excitement and the drama that can come from gardening--and often stay with us for life."   And to say the least, the book is definitely dramatic.

The first chapter is a photo essay on his garden at Bressingham ... showing in great detail the possibilities for garden drama throughout the seasons.  Chapter two focuses on design, from the very formal to the very informal as well as prairie gardens, small gardens, sustainable gardens and more.  Bloom names 12 winning plants that he believes are standouts in any garden:  among them are black mondo grass, Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost', golden hakone grass and Sedum 'Matrona'. 

Finally, there's a directory of perennials and grasses, with a written description of each one, along with a very welcome list of recommended cultivars.  Bloom also includes, at the end of book, some useful lists of plants that are moisture, shade, and drought tolerant,  those with variegated leaves; others that attract bees and butterflies, that are resistant to deer and rabbits; and shorter cultivars for small gardens.

All in all it's a book most gardeners will find useful, and designers will find the photos of plant combinations an important reference. A recommended "buy."

10 Plants to Monitor Global Warming

Yup, it's just the common forsythia, but it's one of 10 plants that's providing important clues to confirm the fact that climate change is indeed underway. Since 2007, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), in cooperation with the Chicago Botanic Garden and many other organizations, has been collecting data from volunteers around the country who monitor the date each year that plants burst into flower.

According to UCAR, volunteers in Chicago who have been watching 15 plants for the past four years have observed that seven of them are flowering earlier this year than at any time in the past 50 years. The results, however, must be confirmed in coming years to compile a more complete picture of what's actually happening. Project Director Sandra Henderson of UCAR said that the project will need volunteers "to make observations for a number of years before we can fill in an accurate picture about the impact of climate change on our landscape."

In addition to the forsythia, the other plants on UCAR's top ten list to monitor are the Red Maple, Black Cottonwood, Redosier Dogwood, Chokecherry, Common Lilac, Mayapple, Virginia Bluebells, Spiderwort and Red Columbine.

So far, participants in Project Budburst have made more than 10 thousand observations so there's a good baseline for future studies. And since more volunteers are welcome, just sign up on the project's website.

(image: Forsythia 'Magical,' Monrovia)

2010 Top Landscape Designer

The Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) has named James Doyle as the 2010 International Designer of the Year.  Doyle, owner of James Doyle Design Associates in Greenwich, CT,  favors the use of clipped shrubs in many of his designs.

His designs are definitely modern, combining untraditional 21st century elements with many traditional principles such as formal, very symmetrical layouts. 

 

A couple of years ago, I had the chance to tour two of Doyle's creations, and this formal vegetable garden, enclosed in hedges, is typical of his style.

From the upper level, you descend to terraces below and a knot garden filled with ornamental grasses and other unlikely candidates instead of roses and lavender.

This garden has an amphitheater built into the bottom terrace, but Doyle's sense of whimsy comes through in this sculpture just outside the knot garden. And in case you're wondering, yes ...

it is made from recycled tires.

(top image: APLD)

Design Disasters: Color

DC springs are hard to beat, but why, oh why, must homeowners plant screaming fuschia or red azaleas in front of a red brick house?  And believe me, there are houses all over the city and the suburbs that look almost exactly like this ...  makes me want to rent a flame thrower!

Please plant the red and purple azaleas in front of stone houses with gray or tan hues, or plant white ones (only)  in front of brick (you can also get away with very pale pink and lavenders).  Maybe the ubiquitous off-kilter color schemes are the reason why a lot of Washingtonians come to hate azaleas and avoid planting them at all costs.

BUT ... If you can't bear to get rid of the big old azaleas that have been in the yard for years, at least move them around and add some whites and perhaps other hues to tone down the color scheme.

The photo below is of azaleas at Hillwood Museum & Gardens in DC ... and as you can, the mixed colors look pretty spectacular when in the right setting. 

 

Our Endangered Plants-NYBG

Wollemi Pine, (Wollemia nobilis) Beverly Allen, Australia

"Losing Paradise? Endangered Plants here and Around the World," an exhibition at the NY Botanical Garden, opens on May 6th and runs through July 25th of this year. If you're anywhere near NY city, it's well worth a trip to see this important show.  Three years in the making, the exhibition features some of the world's best-known botanical artists, as well as some newcomers who have documented at-risk plants from all six of the world's habitable continents.

Green Ixia, (Ixia viridiflora), Jean Emmons, US

Jeff Downing, the garden's VP for Education, says the exhibition "provides viewers with a glimpse of some of the world's most endangered specimens and will help inform the public about plants that are disappearing every day."

According to the garden, about 20 percent of the world's flora is in danger of extinction, and scientists around the world are making efforts to document some 50 thousand species yet to be scientifically described.  

The Wollemi pine, pictured at the top, was thought to be extinct for about two million years, but it was found in a remote canyon in Australia is 1994.

Some of the rare American plants in this exhibition include the Midwestern lakeside daisy, with only two colonies remaining in the country; the "ghost orchid" from Florida's Everglades; a white poppy from the Mojave Desert of Utah; and the Santa Cruz cypress of the California coast. 

There will also be many special classses offered in association with the exhibition.

(images: NY Botanical Garden) 

In the Magazines April-June 2010

Garden Design April 2010

• A fabulous Hamptons landscape by landscape architect Eric Groft of Oehme Van Sweden. (and a profile of Groft as well).
• Landscape architect Heather Lenkin designs a Japanese-style garden on a Pasadena hilltop with great landscape views.
• Profile of landscape architect Mark Rios & one of his California residential designs. 
• Australian-born designer Bernard Trainor & the regional inspiration of California landscapes.
• Evolution of the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

Fine Gardening June 2010

• Innovative & simple seating solutions.
• Growing lavender (even in humid conditions)
• Dry shade perennials
• Plant-drive design: really???

Horticulture May 2010

• The Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail, CO
• Heucheras for heat & humidity
• Creative plant choices for cottage gardens
• Donna Hackman's English garden in Middleburg, VA

Design: Instant Raised Beds

In the right place, for the right client (likely one with a small or patio garden), these new raised beds might be the perfect solution.  Made from recycled metal, the corner braces -- called M braces -- allow you to slip boards up to 12 feet long into them.

So if you can use any length board with them, they are cerainly versatile, and what's more, if you change your mind you can move them around ... or take them with you when you move. You could even do a small herb (or veg) garden, and maybe the carrot brace, below, would be just right for that.

See the full line of braces at www.artofthegarden.net   If you don't feel like fooling around constructing raised beds of your own, do it the easy way.

(Photos: Art of the Garden)

Design: Modern Lights

One thing about garden lighting is that it's sometimes hard for consumers to image what it's really going to look like in the landscape. 

This "Taos" square outdoor LED light from Lightology is one  of the company's best-sellers, likely because it has a low voltage power supply and the lamp can be directed up or down.  It also comes in a round version.

What's unusual about Lightology is that it's outdoor lighting can be seen in a natural setting ... a "Garden in the Sky" in downtown Chicago atop the building where Lightology is located.  It's open to the public during normal business hours, but Lightology also donates the space for charity events, and uses it for seminars and its own functions as well.

It's a great space to inspect outdoor lighting up close and enjoy the skyline views of the city while you're at it. The garden's walkways and planters were constructed of the Brazilian hardwood ipe, and there's also a sheltered area made of welded copper piping with climbers ascending and covering the structure for quite an effect. So as well as the lighting show, there's a great roof garden design that would be well worth a visit the next time you're in the Windy City.

(photos: Lightology)