GardenDesignOnline

Happenings Sept 2010

Selected Events Around the Country:

Thru Oct 12 Designer Shed Exhibition, Stockbridge, MA
Berkshire Botanical Garden, 413-298-3926
Thru Nov.  Making Scents: The Art & Passion of Fragrance, Kennett Square, PA
Exhibition, Longwood Gardens, 610-388-1000

Sept 1  Vertical Gardening Workshop, Philadelphia, PA
6PM-9PM, Urban Jungle, 215-988-8762
Sept 4.  27th Succulent Plants Symposium, San Marino, CA
9AM-5PM, The Huntington, Six speakers, 626-405-3504

Sept 10-13, ASLA Annual Meeting, Washington DC
Sept. 10-13  Gardenwriters Annual Symposium, Dallas, TX
Sept 11, Water-Wise Garden Design, Dallas, TX
9AM-12:30PM, Mountain View College, 214-670-3155
Sept 11, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours
NJ: Nutley, Short Hills, Gladstone; NY: Craryville, Linlithgo, East Hampton, Wainscott; RI: Little Compton

Sept 12, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours
CT: Burlington, Farmington, West Hartford, Meriden; NY: Lewisboro, Waccabuc
Sept 13, Rediscovering Boxwood, Charleston, SC
6:30 PM, Charleston Museum, Lecture, Paul Saunders, 843-579-9922
Sept 15 Designing with Flora of the American East, Ithaca, NY
7:30PM, Lecture, Author Carolyn Summers, Cornell Plantations, 607-255-2400
Sept 17, Bay-Friendly Landscape Conference, San Francisco, CA
8AM-5PM, St. Mary's Event Center. Lectures, Expo, Tours & More.
Sept 18-19 Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours
NY: Cold Spring; NC: Cary, Raleigh

Sept 20, Spotlight on Design, Washington DC
6:30-8PM Lecture, Landscape Architect Warren T. Byrd Jr,  FASLA, National Building Museum, 202-272-2448
Sept 22, Northeast Regional Perennial Plant Symposium, Wellesley, MA
8AM-5PM, Elm Bank Horticulture Center, "Exploring Design, Plant Selection, and Maintenance of the Mixed Border," 614-771-8431
Sept 25-26 Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours
Washington DC; MD: Silver Spring; NC: Charlotte; SC: Rock Hill; NY: Brewster

Sept 27- Oct 2 APLD Annual Symposium, Dallas, TX
Sept 29, Wicked Plants, Ithaca, NY
7:30PM, Lecture, Author Amy Stewart, Cornell Plantations, 607-255-2400

LOOKAHEAD

Oct 6-7 50th Annual Landscape Expo, Long Beach, CA
For Landscape Professionals.  Lectures, Demos, Expo, more 714-979-5276
Oct 15, Perennial Plant Conference, Swarthmore, PA
8AM-5PM, Swarthmore College, Speakers include Piet Oudolf, Eric Fleischer & others, 610-388-5238
Oct 15-16 Southern Garden Symposium, St. Francisville, LA

Nov 30-Dec 5, 8th Annual Green Roof and Wall Conference, Vancouver, Canada
Lectures, Workshops, Roof Tours, Expo, Awards & More 416-971-4494

August Break

Readers.

I'm taking an August break for a couple of weeks.  Please take some time, poke around the site, and pass on any suggestions.  I'll be back with September events toward the end of the month. Hope everyone had a great summer, and enjoy the rest of August.

Bee Gardens

Scientists at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service say half-acre bee gardens filled with native wildflowers could boost populations of blue orchard bees that can pollinate almond and fruit trees. Millions of bees are needed every year to pollinate US agricultural crops, and the premier pollinator, the European honey bee, has in recent years been in decline because of diseases and other problems.

For the past four years, ARS entomologist James H. Cane of an ARS research unit in Logan, Utah, has been conducting experiments on bee gardens, or bee pastures, at outdoor sites in Utah and California and at a research facility indoors. The California five-spot flower (Nemophila maculata) shown above, is one of five natives in that state that are ideal for bee gardens.

Cane estimates that orchard bee populations could increase four to five-fold a year in a well managed bee pasture ... that bees could be transported to almond groves to pollinate flowers ... then returned to the pasture to produce larger generations of bees.

Chinese houses (Collinsia heterophylla), shown left, is the favorite among bees, but other suitable wildflowers include Baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii), Tansy phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia) and California bluebell (Phacelia campanularia).

Cane estimates that every 10 square yards of pasture or garden filled with these wildflowers could produce enough bees to pollinate three acres of almond trees the following year.  And he says the pastures could also be adapted for use in other areas of the country to pollinate cherry, apple, and pear orchards.  "Bee pasturing," he says, "is an efficient, practical, environmentally friendly, and economically sound way for bee managers to produce successive generations of healthy young bees."  The bee gardens might look pretty good, too.

Books: NYC Garden Guide

Every designer and gardener needs to pick up a copy of this revised guide to NYC Gardens ... because who isn't in NYC at some time?  And if you're headed somewhere else through NY, you surely need to stop for day or two and take in some of the country's greatest gardens.

Garden Guide: New York City (Revised Edition) (W.W. Norton & Company, 2010) by Nancy Berner and Susan Lowry is simply indispensable, and the latest version includes the latest gardens, among them The High Line, designed by two firms, James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.  The garden, suspended 30 feet above ground is slightly over a mile long (at this point) and the naturalistic plantings are by Dutch designer Piet Oudolf.  Other new gardens include those at the Battery, The Bronx County Courthouse green roof, the Red Hook Community Farm, and much more.  And in case you missed it last time, the book offers a comprehensive look at more established gardens -- the NY Botanical Garden, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Park Avenue malls, Paley Park (my absolute favorite), and Wave Hill, just to mention a few.

And even if you're not going to be in NYC anytime soon, you won't want to miss reading this little book on more than 100 NYC gardens, complete with info on the garden's history, the designer, the planting plan, who designed them, and apt descriptions of each one.  A real treasure, with many fabulous photos by Joseph De Sciose.

PHS Gold Award Winners 2011

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has just released its Gold Medal Plant Awards for 2011. (click on images to enlarge)

'Slender Silhouette' American Sweetgum
(Liquidambar styraciflua)

I love these trees for their fall color, but they're just too darn big for most yards.  Now, there's a great solution for small yards and narrow spaces.  This cultivar is only four feet wide, and up to 50 feet tall ... could be the perfect tree to screen out unsightly views in a small yard.  Also, it produces very little fruit (although the spiky one-inch balls are said to be excellent slug repellants).  Prefers moist soil, sun or shade, zones 5-9.
And, best of all, it's a native tree.

'Cool Splash' Southern Bush Honeysuckle
(Diervilla sessilifolia)

Another American native, this lovely shrub spreads by suckers, and it does best in full sun, when you get the full blast of variegation in the leaves. Small yellow flowers appear from June to August atop the stems of new growth.  Size is about two and a half feet high by three and a half wide, and it would be great massed along a border.  Hardy zones 4 to 7.

'Midwinter Fire' Bloodtwig Dogwood
(Cornus sanguinea)

We've all seen red-twig dogwoods, but when did you see one that produced fall and winter stems of orange, red, and yellow hues?

This superior plant is a deciduous shrub with green leaves in spring that give way to a greenish-purple color and then drop off the plant, leaving brilliant stems that show off well into winter. Full sun and a hard pruning in spring work together for the best colors on the stems. Drought tolerant, frost tolerant, and well suited to urban city conditions. Size is about eight feet high and ten feet wide, zones 4-7. Fabulous, of course, against a dark evergreen background.

Debonair 'Morris' Bald Cypress
(Taxodium distichum var. imbricarium)

This particular cultivar of the Bald Cypress is said to do very well in almost all landscape situations, but particularly well in wet conditions. It has a nice bronze-y fall color and a lovely pyramidal habit with pendulous green foliage.  A striking plant almost anywhere, it reaches 50 feet tall or more, about 20 feet wide, zones 5 to 9. And, another native American tree.

(all photos: PHS)

A Penelope Garden

How many times have I stared at a plan or drawing in a Penelope Hobhouse book and wondered what the real garden would actually look like? Finally got my chance on a Garden Conservancy tour this summer on Martha's Vineyard.

This garden in Edgartown was re-designed by Hobhouse in the late 1990's, when she added a sunken garden in the shape of a flag to create an outdoor room.  Sure looked like what you might imagine from all of Penelope's books, and the view from above, seen here, was particularly charming.  Note the hedge to the rear, and the arch through it on the right, which opens into another "room" -- the seaside garden. (Click on photos to enlarge).

The expansive lawn is edged on each side by lush borders filled with enormous drifts of huge perennials -- Joe Pye Weed, Giant Fleeceflower (Persicaria polymorpha) and the native Thimbleberry (Rubus odoratus).

Out near the dock, a small sitting patio was partially enclosed by a native shrub (new to me), the Groundseltree (Baccharis halimifolia), which had lovely green foliage, somewhat reminiscent of laurel, and I can't wait to see it when it blooms in the fall, as the flowers are said to persist for a very long time.

The house itself dates back to 1840's, and the property has a number of trees and shrubs that you won't see in every garden ... The Glory Bower tree (Clerodendrum tricotomum); Persian Ironwood (Parrotia persica); and an entire array of hydrangeas: Regula, Enzian Dome, Penny mac, Beni Gaku, Fuji Waterfall, Limelight, Serrata Preziosa.  Be sure to see this garden the next time it's on the garden tour. 

FLO Film Premiere

The Olmsted Legacy

Premiere: Wednesday August 4, 2010 8PM
Bandshell, Prospect Park, Brooklyn NY

If you live in NYC or thereabouts, don't miss this one-hour film on the life and work of Frederick Law Olmsted, the founder of American landscape architecture and designer of many of our most famous landscapes:  Central Park and Prospect Park in NY; Boston's Emerald Necklace; the grounds of the US Capitol, just to name a few.

The documentary film features actor Kevin Kline as the "voice" of Olmsted, and Kerry Washington as narrator.  The film is focused on Olmsted's role in the design and construction of the first great city parks and green spaces in the United States.  Visit The Olmsted Legacy website for more information (and darned if I can find out anywhere about other cities in which this film might be shown).

Also, a Wall Street Journal article on the film's backer provide a bit more info.  Read it here.

Gardens & Personalities

Great article in the Boston Globe about a few well-known Massachusetts gardens that reflect the personality of the owner ... and gardens whose designs are so unique that they're worth seeing any time of year, even when the flowers have faded.  Read the entire article here.