GardenDesignOnline

Last-minute Garden Gifts

You cannot go wrong if you give someone a membership to your favorite local garden.  This always tops my Garden Gift List, and it's also a great way to support the people who make your life so pleasurable.

If there's not a garden in your area (and even if there is), do consider a gift to The Garden Conservancy, an organization that works tirelessly to preserve magnificent gardens around the country.

Also, you can order tickets now -- a great gift for someone --  for the Philadelphia Flower Show, March 6-13, 2011, with a theme of Springtime in Paris.

Christmas Garden Books III

Some of my favorites from the past year (in no particular order) with links to my reviews. 

Understanding Garden Design, by Vanessa Nagel, APLD.
Nagel explains how landscape designers work in this A to Z about successful garden design.

The Western Garden Book of Edibles from Sunset.
THE bible you want for veg and fruit gardening, even if you don't live out west.

Private Gardens of Connecticut by Jane Garmey.
Lessons here for everyone on designing great gardens.

Garden Guide: New York City (W.W. Norton & Co)
Everybody eventually gets to New York, so this is the book you want for the scores of places to visit in and around the city.

And unfortunately, there weren't a terrific number of great garden titles this year.  Hope to see more next year.

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Gifts IV - Luxe

This little chair from Archie's Island actually comes apart for easy storage, so a perfect gift for the apartment dweller's balcony or that small townhouse patio.  Not only is it colorful, it comes in 28 colors, including bright tangerine, lime, and bright yellow, among others.

For the deluxe modern garden,  you couldn't go wrong with a deluxe set of garden furniture by Brown Jordan. The sofa shown here is from the Architect collection, available in 26 finishes.  Many more styles at the Brown Jordan website.

  The Siena bench from Stone Forest is carved from limestone -- serpeggiante or travertine -- and each piece is unique, depending on the natural stone. A classic in almost  any garden setting.

Christmas Gifts III

(Click on images to enlarge)

For lovers of Longwood Gardens, this limited-edition ornament designed by Christopher Radko says it all.  It depicts Longwood's conservatory and was hand-crafted in Poland.

 

Is there a gardener around who doesn't like dragonflies? (As a Peace Corps volunteer in Korea some years ago, I learned that in the Korean language, "helicopter" is a compound word: "dragonfly airplane.")  Quite appropriate.  Anyway, these stakes are made of copper, galvanized wire and glass -- almost three feet high, installed.  A whimsical touch for any garden bed. From Gardener's Supply.

A new take on the color wheel, how about a vegetable wheel from the Chicago Botanic Garden? It explains cool and warm weather crops & offers advice on sun requirements and harvesting schedules.  Herb wheel also available.

Indoors on a cold day, this lovely paperweight commemorating the 50th Anniv. of the Missouri Botanic Garden's climatron will remind you of the outdoors and all the wonderful things that go with it.

Finally, fromt the Kinsman catalogue,  trowels from India with an edge that can be sharpened, so they can be used for cutting or scooping.  Sounds quite useful.  In three sizes, and a color that won't get lost on the ground.

 

 

Christmas Books II

A couple of books from last year -- hardbacks still in print -- would make great Christmas presents this year.

Hidcote: The Making of a Garden (Revised Edition) by Ethne Clark (W.W. Norton & Co, Inc) would please any English garden aficionado.  And of course Hidcote was created by an American designer, Major Lawrence Johnston, who ran in literary circles of the time. He was friends with Edith Wharton and many of Britain's leading gardeners and designers.  Of all the gardens in England I've visited (many, but not all), I think Hidcote Manor Garden is still my favorite.  The book is essentially a bio of Johnston, a somewhat mysterious but fascinating character. Originally published in 1989, this new, revised version includes much more info on Johnston's impact on landscape design in England.  There's even a plant list of the many we know today that originated at Hidcote: Hypericum 'Hidcote', Rosa 'Lawrence Johnston', Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote', 'Hidcote Pink' and 'Hidcote Giant', just to name a few.

Also from Norton, Parks, Plants, and People: Beautifying the Urban Landscape by Lynden B. Miller is perhaps the best book ever written about the benefits of parks and open land in urban landscapes.  Miller is the force behind New York City's many revitalized parks, including Bryant Park (behind the NYC Public Library), Madison Square Park, and the Conservatory Garden in Central Park.  In the book, Miller explains in great detail why and how gardens can civilize cities plagued by urban decay.  Studies have shown that such places help cut the crime rate, boost local economies, and improve the natural environment.

An inspiration for all, this book was one of last year's top award winners, cited by the American Horticultural Society.  If you didn't get this book for yourself or someone else last year, get it this year!

Christmas Gifts II

Selected Christmas Gifts from around the Internet. (click on images to enlarge)

I love this wall-mounted planter from Terrain.  It's made of  steel and aluminium and, once planted, would be great decor anywhere near a window.  Constructed so that the back of it does not come in contact with the wall.  Unusual and striking.

And for the garden, check out the wall planters from Wooly Pockets, which can be hung from a wall, a deck, a house, or almost anywhere else and expanded to fit the space.  Inexpensive and a great system for planting large vertical areas ... the planter itself cannot be seen once you've got all the plants in place. 

And, even better, Wooly Pockets makes a number of free-standing planters that can be used indoors or out.  They zip up around the plant, depending on its size, and they're a great solution for those large tropicals that you want to move indoors and outdoors, depending on the season.

 

For real wall art, check out the beautiful prints by botanical artists of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Floralegium Society, who are documenting the garden's living collections. This particular print is of Rosa 'Fourth of July.' A GREAT gift for gardeners.

 

Finally, if you know anyone who still reads real books (just kidding, of course), these wooden bookmarks -- also from the shop at the BBG, would fit perfectly into a stocking (or a book on gardens).  Various motifs, including a rabbit, a rose, a fern, a dragonfly and others.

 

Christmas Gifts I

For everyone interested in garden design and horticulture. (And click on images to enlarge)

From the NY Botanic Garden Gift Shop:

Stainless steel pinwheels ... wind and whimsy for the right place in the right garden.  Forty to 52 inches high, about 12 inches across. Sparkly and bright, and if placed properly,  they may deter some creatures from getting too close to certain plants. Imported from Germany.

Historic Horticultural Plates

Impress your friends at garden parties with images on these hefty paper plates from the Tabulae Phytographicae, an important 18th-century botanical work by the great Swiss naturalist Johannes Gessner, a work in the garden's collection. Also, a bamboo tray is available and paper napkins with the same motif.

Christmas Ornament

 Nothing says Christmas season better than holly, with its bright red berries and dark green leaves.   Similar ornaments feature dogwood flowers or lily of the valley or poinsettias. And more.

Leaf Motif Vase

This unusual ceramic vase comes in different sizes and colors to match almost any flower or branch you'd like to feature in a display from the garden.  

Tulip Tote

Haul your garden books and class catalogues around in a distinctive tote bag roomy enough for lots and lots of notebooks, pens and most anything else. Plain NYBG tote and pink floral tote as well.

 

Christmas Garden Books I

If you want a "big" garden book as a present this year (for yourself or as a gift to someone else), you should definitely consider The Great Gardens of China: History, Concepts, Techniques by Fang Xiaofeng (Monacelli Press, 2010).

In this sumptuous book filled with breath-taking photos and drawings, Xiaofeng, a professor at the Academy of Arts and Design at Tsinghua University in Beijing, takes you through China's most famous gardens, but also introduces many others that are likely unfamiliar to most people in the West. 

In early chapters, Xiaofeng discusses the historical development of garden design in China and its focus on the relationship between man and the natural environment.  The earliest Chinese gardens date back to 700 BC or so, although most of the ancient gardens still in existence today were constructed during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1616-1911) Dynasties.

The book describes the central elements in Chinese garden design -- architecture, rock stacking, waterscapes, plants, borders, and scenic routes -- and explains the role of each in the landscape.  For example, a tingtang, akin to a "hall" in English, is found in many gardens. It's a compound composed of a ting, a place to discuss affairs, and a tang, a large, bright and sunny room. Ornamental windows, another common element,  are carefully considered so that window patterns echo landscaped plants.

From the gardens of Suzhou, including the Master-of-Nets Garden, the Humble Administrator's Garden and the Surging Waves Pavilion to the Zhanyuan Garden in Nanjing and the immense Summer Palace on the outskirts of Beijing that stretches for more than 12 miles, you'll find it all in this invaluable book.

It's an inspiration to everyone who likes gardens; it contains valuable lessons in basic design concepts that all designers will want to have on hand.

 

 

 

 

In the Magazines Nov-Dec 2011

Garden Design Nov Dec 2010
*Eye-catching winter/holilday container style.
*Plants that take well to a frosty coating.
*A South Florida landscape by Sanchez & Maddux, inspired by some of the world's most famous gardens.
*A PA state legislator goes all out for a sustainable landscape -- designed by Jonathan Alderson
*The NYC waterfront -- Brooklyn side.

The American Gardener Nov Dec 2010
*Tough, herbacious plants that brighten any garden in winter
*Preserving garden wildlife habitat through the winter season.
*Fabulous conifers that give the garden structure throughout the year.  Consider 'Miss Grace' dawn redwood and 'Wate's Golden' Pinus virginiana
*Using moss as "lawn" in shady garden spots.
*Small-space edible landscaping.

Fine Gardening Dec 2010
*How to integrate a mature tree into a landscape design
*Designing with edible plants
*Miniature versions of some favorite plants
*Hydranges that beat late frosts
*Four season trees
*How to design a poorly drained site.

 

 Horticulture Dec 2010-Jan 2011
*New plants for 2011
*Garden designers describe their "most valuable plants"
*Profile of Steven Still, educator & exec director of the Perennial Plant Assn
*The sculpted garden of Berta Atwater in Rhode Island