GardenDesignOnline

Plants: New Japanese Snowbell

Styrax japonicus 'Spring Showers'

Japanese snowbell has always been one of my favorite flowering trees:  there's nothing else remotely like its delicate white bell-shaped flowers that appear in May and June, especially when you stand or sit beneath the tree and view the blooms from below.

The problem with the trees has often been branch dieback or lack of flowers, primarily because the flower buds often emerge as soon as the weather warms up, and late spring freezes can destroy the buds and even cause the tree to die.

Now, there's a new cultivar developed by the US National Arboretum at its McMinnville, TN worksite -- 'Spring Showers' -- which may resolve the above-mentioned problems.

Happenings October 2011

Selected Events Around the Country:

Sept 29-Oct 1 The Landscape Show, Orlando, FL
Florida Trade Show: Lectures, Demos & More. 407-295-7994

Oct 2, Annual Fall Garden Tour, Charleston, SC
1PM-4:30PM, Hampton Park & Wagener Terrace gardens, 843-579-9922
Oct 3, Character, Significance & Spirit of Place, NYC
6:30 PM, Lecture, Brazilian designer Rosa Kliass, NYBG Midtown Center, 800-322-NYBG(6924)
Oct 6-8 America in Bloom National Symposium & Awards, Washington DC
Garden tours, lectures, awards and more. AHS, 614-487-1117.
Oct 7 Leadership in Landscapes: Design from around the World, Kennett Square, PA
8:30AM-2:30PM, Symposium, Longwood Gardens, 610-388-1000
Oct 7, Sustainable Gardening for Homeowners, Washington DC
noon, Lecture, US Botanic Garden, 202-225-1116
Oct 8, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours, Putnam County, NY

Oct 9, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours, Tarrant County, TX
Oct 11, Small Spaces, Big Impact, Baltimore, MD
7:30PM, Lecture, Chanticleer curator Jonathan Wright, 410-821-5561

Oct 14 Perennial Plant Conference, Swarthmore, PA
7:30AM-5:30 PM, Scott Arboretum, 610-388-1000 (CEU's, APLD, ASLA)
Oct 14, Right Plant Right Place, Washington DC
noon, Lecture, US Botanic Garden, 202-225-1116

2011 Threatened Landscapes: The Landscape I Love

Click to enlargeThe Cultural Landscape Foundation has released its list of endangered landscapes for 2011.  This year's theme -- The Landscape I Love -- includes 12 sites that are threatened, and it notes the people who are working to save them.

 The landscapes include the well-known Pennsylvania residence by Frank Lloyd Wright, Fallingwater, (pictured above), to 

Weequahic Park in Newark, New Jersey (at left), a 311 acre site designed by the Olmsted Brothers and a retreat for residents for more than 100 years.

The list also includes the Sonoran Desert in Arizona; McMillan Park in Washington DC; a 50-mile stretch of the Ohio River between Westport and West Point, Kentucky;

The Yarbrough Residence (at left) in Columbus, GA, designed by celebrated landscape architect James Rose; Afton Villa Gardens in St. Francisville, LA; the Saugatuck Dunes on the west shore of Michigan; and others.

You can view the entire list -- along with detailed information about each one --  at the TCLF website here.

photos: top: © Rick Darke courtesy TCLF; middle: courtesy TCLF: bottom: ©Allison Barnes courtesy TCLF

 

 

Garden Art: The "Larsen" Container

Jack Lenor Larsen, international textile designer, author, collector,  is renowed for his contemporary designs and for the LongHouse Reserve, the sculpture garden and arboretum he founded in Easthampton, Long Island, and opened to the public in 1992.  Now, Larsen has expanded his horizons ... and designed this new terracotta planter for Seibert and Rice.

Known as the JackPot, the new terracotta planter is part of Seibert's American Collection, planters designed by Americans and hand-made at the company's workshop(s) in Italy. It's of a very generous size ... 25 inches diameter, 25 inches high -- a great size for small shrubs or loads of perennials and/or annuals.  Moreover, it's tall enough to take its place in a garden bed, perhaps surrounded by more plantings that would almost make it float above the ground.

 

 

 

Books: Farming in the City

This book definitely has it all: edible walls, rooftop gardens, imaginative containers, veg gardening in window boxes, hydroponic systems, small back yards and community gardens.

In Carrot City: Creating Places for Urban Agriculture (Monacelli Press, 2011), authors Mark Gorgolewski, June Komisar and Joe Nasr clearly demonstrate that you don't have to go way outside the city to grow and/or find excellent local produce. It's likely the most comprehensive survey to date of the "locavore movement" that's persuading chefs, educators, designers and homeowners that there are benefits to growing food close to home -- it promotes good health and also reduces the carbon footprint. 

Top Rose 2012

  Sunshine Daydream™ (Rosa 'Meikanaro')

I somehow missed the announcement earlier this year, but All America Rose Selections has awarded its top prize for 2012 to a light yellow grandiflora rose introduced by Conard Pyle Co/Star Roses.

AARS says it's the first rose to win the award under "no spray" conditions, so it's billed as having excellent disease resistance.

The shrub's dark green, glossy leaves contrast beautifully with the large, light yellow, cup-like flowers that change to a creamy color as they open.  One thing on the downside is that there's no noticeable fragrance, but the plant does bloom from spring until early frost.  The size is about five feet high and four feet wide,

'Sunshine Daydream' was hybridized by Meilland International of France and introduced here in the US by Conard Pyle/Star Roses.

(photo: AARS)

Eradicating Beach Kudzu

Click to enlarge

Looks kind of pretty, doesn't it?  But Vitex rotundifolia is a highly invasive thug that has devastated large tracts of Carolina beaches.  Now, after a 10-year effort to get rid of the stuff, the Weed Science Society of America reports that a grassroots task force is successfully battling the vine-like groundcover that's been a threat to Carolina dunes, turtles, shorebirds, and some of the country's most popular beaches.

In the Magazines Sept-Oct 2011

Sunset Sept 2011
*Five tough coastal plants to give your yard a "beachy" look -- and more online.
*Terrific two-page spread with ideas to turn your own back yard into a landscape that approximates a private beach club.  Lovely detail by designer Molly Wood.
*A circular "floating" deck of redwood that opens views to the Pacific Ocean by landscape architects Arcadia Studio.

Fine Gardening Oct 2011
*Design on the diagonal for more "space" in the garden.
*Design options for slopes
*Low-maintenance panicle hydrangeas
*Secrets of great container design

The "Proprietary" Garden?

Click to enlarge Seems like this kind of post is going to turn into one of my annual rants ... against the garden photo-phobes who put their gardens on public tours and then refuse to let anyone take photos.

I've always remembered one kernel of good advice from the former head of the landscape design program I attended.  It went something like this:  "Go visit gardens, look at books, steal good ideas and adapt them to suit yourself and the type of garden you're designing ... that's the best way to learn."  I've always taken that advice to heart.

9-11 Landscape Architecture

 Landscape Architecture Magazine, the September issue, has a special feature and in-depth interview with the landscape architect of the 9-11 Memorial,  Peter Walker.  Walker talks about his relationship with originial designers Michael Arad and about the main features and difficulties of the project.  

Download a PDF of the feature:  Download LAMsep11_WTC-Feature.

 Read the entire interview here.

Sad, fascinating, inspiring.

photo: Village Voice