GardenDesignOnline

Happenings November 2011

Selected Events from Around the Country:

Nov 1, Nov 8, Edible Landscape Design, Phoenix, AZ
6-9PM, Workshop, Desert Botanical Garden, 480-941-1217
Nov 4, Sustainability Seminar, Swarthmore, PA
19AM-4:15PM, Scott Arboretum, Wister Center, 610-328-8025 (APLD CEU's)
Nov 5, 9th annual SALT (Smaller American Lawns Today) seminar, New London, CT
8:30AM-3:30PM, Connecticut College Arboretum, 860-439-5060

Nov 7, Envisioning Gardens, New York, NY
6:30PM, Lecture, Landscape Architect James Burnett, NYBG Midtown Ctr, 800-322-6924
Nov 7, Ecology Meets Design, Philadelphia, PA
6PM, Lecture by designer Piet Oudolf, Penn Design, Meyerson Hall.
Nov 8, Ecological Design for the Real World, Baltimore, MD
7:30PM, MD Hort Society, Lecture by Landscape Architect Larry Weaner, 410, 821-5561
Nov 9, Tom Armstrong: A Singular Vision, New York, NY
6PM, Panel & celebration of the late Garden Conservancy chairman, 845-265-2029
Nov. 10, Ecological Landscaping Assn Summit, Leominster, MA
8:30AM-4:30PM, Lectures, Panels, lunch & networking 617-436-5838
Nov 12, Apartment Gardener's Saturday, New York, NY
10AM-4:45PM, NYBG Midtown Ctr, 800-322-6924
Nov 12, Sustainable Gardening Practices, Stockbridge, MA
1PM-3PM, Lecture, Berkshire Botanical Garden, 413-298-3926
Nov 12-13, Bromeliad Bash, Encinitas, CA
9AM-5PM, San Diego Botanic Garden, 760-436-3036

Nov 15, Challenges of an Overgrown Garden, Bronx, NY
1PM-3PM, Lecture, author Page Dickey, NYBG, 800-322-6924
Nov 17, Film: Women in the Dirt, NY, NY
6:30PM, NY Horticultural Society, film about top female landscape architects 212-757-0915
Nov 17, 19th annual Trees in the Urban Landscape Symposium, Boylston, MA
9AM-3PM, Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 508-869-6111
Nov 17, Placemaking: Beauty & Dreams, San Francisco, CA
6PM, Disney Family Museum, Lecture, designer Andy Cao, Garden Conservancy 415-441-4300 

Nov 30-Dec 3, 9th annual Green Roof & Wall Conference, Philadelphia, PA
Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown. Lectures, demos, trade show, tours.

 

 

Halloween Rose

Pumpkin Patch™ Rose

If it's orange, it's perfect for Halloween. So could there be a better rose to go along with the pumpkins and the ghosts? This one, released by Weeks Roses, a couple of years ago, is described as the color of pumpkin pie, on the caramel side. It's a floribunda, medium-sized, round and bushy, with a moderately fruity fragrance. Hybridized by Bedard, it's said to like a little afternoon shade. Parentage is Goldmark x Honey Dijon.  Might be just the right thing for a planting beside the front porch, so that Halloween visitors won't miss it.

(photo: courtesy Weeks Roses, © Gene Sasse

Garden Design Online - 6th Anniversary

click on image to enlargeThis month is the 6th anniversary of Garden Design Online.  I began this blog in October of 2005 with the intent of bringing you news about landscape design and horticulture:  great designs, new plants and products, new up and coming designers.  My subjects have since expanded to the environment and sustainability, as that's the only way for all of us to go in the future.

All writing and photography on this blog is by me, Jane Berger, unless otherwise noted.

Aside from this blog, I'm a certified professional landscape designer, I'm on the Board of Directors of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD), and I write on occasion for other publications, including Landscape Architecture Magazine, The American Gardener and others.

Old Forest Restoration & Symposium

The largest remaining old-growth forest in New York City is at the NY Botanical Garden, dating back to the 17th century.  The 50-acre forest -- now known as the Thain Family Forest -- is located along the Bronx River, and it's home to hundreds of towering oaks, beeches, hickories, sweetgums, tulip poplars, and many other beautiful, old trees.

For the past several years, garden employees and volunteers have been restoring the forest by removing hundreds of invasive trees and shrubs, including 800 Amur corktrees, Japanese honeysuckle, linden viburnum and devil's walking stick.  Taking their place are 5200 native trees, shrubs, and perennials, among them oaks, hickories, tulip poplars and sweetgums; spicebush, witch hazel and low-bush blueberry; ferns, goldenrod, white wood aster, and many, many others.

Garden in the Sky

Anyone who flies anywhere has to go through O'Hare from time to time, but now it might be a welcome stopover ... thanks to the airport's new aeroponic garden -- the world's first.  (FYI, aeroponic is not yet in my online dictionary, but aeroculture is defined as "growing plants without soil by suspending them above sprays that constantly moisten the roots with water and nutrients). 

Produce from the 928 square foot garden in the Rotunda Building Mezzanine will be used by some of the airport restaurants.  For now, the crops include lettuce and peppers, chard, edible flowers, green beans, and herbs.  The project is a joint venture between the Chicago Dept of Aviation and HMS Host, the airport's retail and beverage provider. Elie Maalouf, President and CEO of HMS Host, said the garden is due to "growing demand from travelers for fresh local produce." 

The garden features 26 aeroponic towers -- each eight feet tall -- that can produce food throughout the year.  A great place to visit the next time you're caught in one of those mammoth winter snowstorms that could strand you for hours -- maybe even days -- waiting for the next flight out.

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Leaf Mag

Leaf Magazine's first issue is out this week -- an online magazine devoted to outdoor style. Launched by some of my good friends in landscape design, be sure to check it out (as well as my article on master basket designer Kari Lonning).

Sign up for a free subscription ... and check out their Twitter feed @leafmag.

Books: The New Dirr - A Must Have

With an emphasis on the best new plant introductions of the last 10 to 15 years, Michael Dirr has outdone himself in his new book, Dirr's Encyclopedia of Trees and Shrubs (Timber Press, 2011).

Right from the beginning, you know you're going to like this book: Up front, page 5   -- a list (by botanical name) of all the shrubs and trees covered in the book. Dirr doesn't really leave out anything -- he even includes Idesia polycarpa, the Igiri Tree, a tree I've seen only once in my life at the US National Arboretum in Washington DC. (And I only noticed it because I happened to be walking by when it was in full fruiting mode in the fall).

New Roses 2012

Looking for something different in a new rose?  You've got it with Ketchup & Mustard™ from Weeks Roses. This medium sized floribunda has a rounded, bushy shape with bright red flowers that have a mustard-colored center.  It has a mild fragrance, and the blooms hold their color until they drop.  Great accent plant in the right place.  Parentage is City of San Francisco x Shockwave, hybridized by Bédard.

  But if you want impact, you want the new climber from Weeks, Stormy Weather™, a deep purple rose that'll arch up 8 to 10 feet. Its large flowers are repeat bloomers with a moderately spicy scent. Parentage Heart 'n Soul x Rhapsody in Blue, bred by Orard.

For a stand-out hedge, try Double Red Simplicity® from Jackson & Perkins. Looking just like the flowers of a tea rose, it blooms from spring until fall and reaches a height of about three and a half feet.  It has just a slight fragrance, glossy dark green foliage, and does well in zones 5 to 10.

I simply cannot resist apricot-colored roses, and while the new 'Caribbean Breeze' floribunda, also from J&P, is really a coral color, it's close enough for me.  Peachy-pink petals with a peach-like scent, the shrub reaches a height of 2.5 to 3 feet with glossy dark green leaves.  Zones 5 to 10.

To see all of the new roses for 2012 from Weeks and Jackson & Perkins, click on their websites, underlined above.

Photos: Weeks, Jackson & Perkins

 

NYBG Japanese Exhibit

Not too surprising ... but the Kiku exhibits in recent years at the NY Botanical Garden were ever so popular that the garden decided to bring them back.  The Fall Flowers of Japan exhibit actually started last month, but Kiku returns for the last two weeks of the show ... thousands of chrysanthemums in various styles, including kengai (Cascade), shino-tsukari (Driving Rain), ogiku (Triple Stem) and the dome-shaped ozukuri (Thousand Bloom).  Don't miss the show if you're in the area,

Design: Go With the Site

(click on all images to enlarge)

Sometimes you just can't out-compete a landscape. This owner of this residence in Marblehead, MA,-- a former financial exec -- could've afforded just about anything in the way of the garden.

So: in the above photo, no sandy beach, but lots of ornamental grasses planted in containers that are buried in gravel. Because of harsh winter winds, they're brought inside for the winter -- except for the taller phragmites in the distance, which the wind and cold keep under control.

There is a strolling garden, seen here from above, filled with tough shrubs and perennials that bloom throughout the summer season. At the right, that's a weeping camperdown elm, and there's a secluded sitting area underneath it with two small chairs and a tiny table. 

  There's even a lily pond built into the wall of an upper patio ... an open-air terrace, actually, off one side of the house, where you can sit on the seat wall and take in the views.... 

And there's a small vegetable garden ... we saw tomatoes and corn doing very well among the other crops ... behind a boxwood hedge, and the decorative tuteurs are nice in and of themselves.

This was one of the most restrained gardens I've ever seen, and it was the perfect solution for this site.  No huge swimming pool scarring the site, no enormous pergola, no outdoor kitchen, no sizable stone terrace beside the house. Instead, the entire space feels dramatic because of the views, yet gracious.  And there really is almost everything you need:  space to sit and relax, a quiet, lush green garden where you can walk around and enjoy the blooms and scent, a small upper terrace where you can watch the sailboats and sunsets, enjoy some afternoon drinks, and  decks that complement the modern architecture and provide plenty of space for gatherings of family and friends.