It's not often you're privileged enough to see a garden writer's garden, but I was lucky enough this summer to see Judith Tankard's garden on Martha's Vineyard. Judith is a well-known landscape historian and author, and among her recent books are Beatrix Farrand: Private Gardens, Public Landscapes
and Gardens of the Arts and Crafts Movement: Reality and Imagination.
Among the highlights: an unusual espalier of Viburnum plicatum 'Mariesii,' which I'd never seen before, but then this garden was recently re-done by designer and author Nan Blake Sinton.
Designers often talk about "sweeps" of one plant, but in this case, there's a patio entirely enclosed by just one kind of shrub ... hydrangea, although two cultivars, blue lacecaps and also Hydrangea macrophylla 'Enziandom.' (Another view, looking back, below).
A fence surrounding the garden overflows with 'New Dawn' roses, and the main garden, although quite small (as are many of the gardens in the center of Edgartown), nevertheless is roomy enough for two 'Donald Wyman' crabapples, a Viburnum sieboldii and lilacs. (Click on pictures to enlarge).
The small garden shed is particularly charming ... Clematis montana rubens as well as roses climbing up and over it ... and of course lilies and nearby garden beds filled with catmint and astilbes, lavender and salvia, hollies and deutzia, and the classic Rose of Sharons at home throughout New England.
Very nice, Jane. Glad you got to see it! The house color is great for the garden. And the hydrangeas are a good example of planting for a time of year in which the homeowner will be around to enjoy.
Posted by: Cheryl Corson | July 25, 2010 at 08:29 AM