GardenDesignOnline

Garden Furniture: Interieurs

Some pretty cool furniture that came rocketing into my email box last week: couldn't decide what I liked best, but here are a few examples: all from www.interieurs.com

 

Atlantis teak coffee table that you can roll around on a deck, a patio, a pool ... very handy, and I like the sleek look.

 

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The Allegra Collection ... a wicker look-alike on an aluminum frame ... the bright white is perfect for summer almost anywhere in the country.  Looks like it would be pretty comfy as well. 

 

And, the Equinox dining table and chairs, also in teak, and there's also a chaise lounge and coffee table.

 

 

Happenings March 2012

Thru Apr 15, Orchid Daze, Atlanta, GA
"Hanging Gardens," Atlanta Botanical Garden, 404-876-5859
Thru March 25: Orchid Mania, Cleveland, OH
"This Side of Paradise," Cleveland Botanical Garden, 216-721-1600
Thru Apr 29, Orchid Show, Washington DC
"Orchid Mystique: Nature's Triumph," US Botanic Garden, 202-225-8333
March 3-April 22 Orchid Show, Bronx, NY
"Patrick Blanc's Vertical Gardens," NY Botanical Garden, 800-322-NYBG (6924)

March 1-4 Nashville Lawn & Garden Show, Nashville, TN
TN State Fairgrounds: "Gardens Past, Present & Future," 615-876-7680
March 2-4, Maricopa County Home Show, Phoenix, AZ
"Southwest Flower & Garden Experience," Univ of Phoenix Stadium, 602-485-1691
March 3, "Wake Up Your Garden" Saturday, Bronx, NY
10AM-5PM, 3 Classes, NY Botanical Garden, 800-322-NYBG
March 3-8, Ecological Landscape Association Conference, Springfield, MA
Workshops, Lectures, Marketplace & more. 617-436-5838

March 4-11, Philadelphia Flower Show, Philadelphia, PA
"Hawaii: Islands of Aloha," PA Convention Center, 215-988-8899
March 6, Davidson Horticultural Symposium, Davidson, NC
"The Inspired Gardener," Davidson College, 704-604-6618
March 9-11, Michigan Home & Garden Show, Pontiac, MI
Silverdome. Gardens, lectures, demos, marketplace. 800-328-6550
March 9-11, Washington DC Home & Garden Show, Washington DC
Washington Convention Center, 703-823-7960
March 10, Annual USBG Production Facility Open House, Washington DC
US Botanical Garden plants open house, 202-225-8333
March 10-18, Chicago Flower & Garden Show, Chicago, IL
Navy Pier: Gardens, Workshops, Lectures, Marketplace 312-595-5400
March 10-18, Indiana Flower & Patio Show, Indianapolis, IN
IN State Fairgrounds, 54th Annual Show, 317-576-9933

March 14-18, Boston Flower & Garden Show, Boston, MA
Seaport World Trade Center, "Blooms!": Gardens, Lectures, Products, more 617-933-4900
March 14, "Gardens of Alcatraz," Los Altos, CA
7PM, Lecture, Western Hort Society
March 14, "Design Ideas to Shrink Your Lawn," Washington DC
6:30-PM-8PM, Lecture, US Botanic Garden, 202-225-8333
March 15, "Recent Works of Gustafson Porter, London", Philadelphia, PA
6PM, Lecture by Neil Porter, Penn Design, Meyerson Hall, 215-898-6591
March 15, "The Backyard Revolution," Bronx, NY
10AM-noon, Lecture, author Thomas Christopher, NY Botancial Garden, 800-322-NYBG

March 19, Intro to Wetland Restoration, Bronx, NY
10AM-3:30PM, Workshop, NY Botanical Garden, 800-322-NYBG
March 21-25 San Francisco Flower & Garden Show, San Mateo, CA
San Mateo Event Center, "Garden for a Green Earth," 415-684-7281
March 22-25, Green Roof Boot Camp, NY, NY
8:30AM-5PM, Various Workshops, Hort Society of NY, 212-757-0915 (CEU's)

March 24, Spring Gardening Symposium, Seattle, WA
8:30AM-4PM, NW Hort Society,  "Woodland Gardening," 206-780-8172
March 24, Water-Wise Landscaping, Dallas, TX
9AM-12:30PM, Workshop, Landscape Designer & author Bonnie Reese 214-670-3155
March 24, Fantastic Plants for North TX, Dallas, TX
1:30PM-5PM, Workshop, Landscape Designer & author Bonnie Reese 214-670-3155
March 24, More Native Plants Saturday, Bronx, NY
10AM-5PM, 3 classes, NY Botanical Garden, 800-322-NYBG
March 24, Tree Whispering, Upper Marlboro, MD
9:30AM-5:30PM, Workshop with Jim Conroy, 301-372-0797

March 26, Wetland Restoration: Planting & Design, Bronx, NY
10AM-2:30PM, Workshop, NY Botanical Garden, 800-322-NYBG
March 30, LA (Landscape Architecture) Expo, Long Beach, CA
9AM-3PM, Long Beach Convention Center: New Products, Panels, Lectures, & More 714-979-5276
March 31, Lahr Native Plant Symposium, Beltsville, MD
8:30AM-3:30PM, sponsor: US National Arboretum, 202-245-4523
March 31, Residential Design Workshop, NY, NY
10AM-3:30PM, with Sheila Brady of Oehme van Sweden & Associates, NY Botanical Garden, 800-322-NYBG
March 31, "Garden Tour for the Senses," San Diego, CA
9AM-4PM Nine private gardens in La Mesa, SD Horticultural Society, 619-296-9215

LOOKAHEAD:

April 15-16 Colonial Williamsburg 60th Garden Symposium, Williamsburg, VA
"Beautiful Gardens: Bountiful Options,"  800-603-0948
April 21-28, Historic Garden Week in Virginia
250 gardens open around the state, 804-644-7776
May 19, What's Out There Weekend, Washington DC
Special Tours of exceptional gardens & landscape sites, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, 202-483-0553

Flower Regenerated after 30 Thousand Years

 

Svetlana Yashina

 An amazing story ... A team of scientists in Russia have grown this plant from tissue that lwas buried in frozen arctic tundra some 32 thousand years ago. 

The flower is a narrow-leafed campion that's reminiscent of the modern variety Silene stenophylla.  It was found in ancient squirrel burrows on the lower Kolyma River in Siberia by a team led by scientists Svetlana Yashina and David Gilichinsky of the Russuan Academy of Sciences.  Their report was published Feb 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

The team tried and failed to germinate seeds found at the site, so they then took cells from frozen fruit in the burrows and propagated them to produce the plants with flowers.

You can read further details about the study in an article that appeared in the New York Times here.

 

 

Books: Rain Gardening

 

In many cities and suburban areas, all that rainwater cascading off the roof, the driveway, the patio and other hard surfaces drains into sewers, where it joins a deluge of dirty water that empties into local bodies of water.  A better option for any homeowner is to construct a rain garden, where stormwater can be re-directed back into the soil to help recharge the water table.

 In her latest book, horticulturist and author Lynn Steiner teams up with water scientist Robert Domm in a handbook on rain gardens that both garden designers and homeowners will find exteremely useful. 

Rain Gardens: Sustainable Landscaping for a Beautiful Yard and a Healthy World (Voyageur Press, 2012), explains why rain gardens are important and how to locate, design, and build them.  The authors tell you how to calculate exactly how much rainwater you can capture from your roof and how much water you can store underground; how to plan where the water will go; and which plants are best, depending on the amount of water they'll take.

While the authors note that most rain gardens are planted with perennials, they also outline plans for larger rain gardens that are suitable for trees, shrubs, and ornamental grasses.  Particularly useful are the plant lists in this book:  plants for seasonal interest, perennials and grasses by height; plants that attract butterflies and birds; plants that tolerate road salt -- and plants to avoid.

Finally, there are alphabetical (by botanical name) lists of perennials, shrubs, trees and grasses that are good rain garden candiates, and there's also a list of rain garden resources for more information about these gardens in general and native plants that would be useful.

If there's any doubt in your mind about the utility of rain gardens, they require far less care than traditional gardens.  As the authors note, " A rain garden planted with species that are native to your geographic region should never require fertilizer or pesticides to thrive."

Every gardener who cares about the health of their local environment and the planet in general should have a copy of this book.

Garden Containers: "Grey" Terracotta

 

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 What could be better than another color for terracotta? Now, you've got it from Seibert & Rice.

This new line of pots, all in grey, are also made for the company in Impruneta, Italy, and they're frost-proof to minus 20 degrees F. The colors vary a bit from dark to light grey with white highlights and the occasional finger or hand print.  According to Mara Seibert, "This is a polychromataic grey" ... with "more depth and character than cement or cast stone."

She might have a point there.  Aside from the boxes shown in the photo, the grey terracotta also comes in other shapes.  All perfect for the modern garden.

 

Blog: Grounded Design

Grounded Design: A Blog You Want to Read

 

I wish I had more time to read the many wonderful blogs out there on design and gardening and many other topics, but if you're a designer and you haven't yet stumbled across Thomas Rainer's blog, you need to subscribe, as I recently have.

The link is here.

Thomas doesn't write every day or even every week -- he is, after all, a busy landscape architect -- but you won't want to miss any of his posts.  It's one of the most relevant and fascinating and informative blogs on the subject of landscape design and/or architecture that's out there. You will not be disappointed.

Books: Vertical Gardening from the Master

 

If you're planning on a vertical garden, then go to the inventor to find out how.  There's now an update of Patrick Blanc's classic book on vertical gardening, The Vertical Garden: From Nature to the City (Revised and Updated) (W.W. Norton & Company, 2012). 

Blanc, a French artist and botanist, has transformed cityscapes all over the world by installing gardens on walls of museums, shopping centers, hotels, skyscrapers, and ordinary homes. The inspiration for his tropical walls, he says, came from aquariums he first saw in a doctor's office as a young child, from the waterfalls in the Bois de Boulogne, and from the tropical plants he saw at the 1964 International Flower Show in Paris.  Visits to tropical forests increased his interest in epiphytes and how they grow, and he began experimenting at home, growing plants on vertical boards. 

In his book, Blanc first explains how plants grow under waterfalls, along riverbanks, clinging to rokcs and cliffs, on rocky outcrops, in caves, dark glens, and in the forest understory.

He then takes you on a tour of his first vertical gardens, explaining that his main objective is to "forget the seasons and create continuity between indoors and out, especially in winter."

 

 

Soon, Blanc was installing his vertical gardens everywhere, as on this residence in Brussels.  The book explains the structure that supports the plants and the system Blanc uses to feed, water, and maintain them.

And finally, there are detailed descriptions and beautiful photos of many of his vertical masterpieces, from the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art in Paris to private homes in France and Italy, to many projects in the United States, including the Juvia Restaurant in Miami; the Drew School in San Francisco; the Miami Art Museum and the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix.

It's an essential book for any designer who wishes to change the nature of urban areas filled with concrete and make the natural world available to everyone. As the planet continues to warm and population increases, cities filled with green walls are surely to become the norm in cities and suburbs around the world. And thanks goes to Patrick Blanc.

 

Restoring the Prairie

 

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Invasive plants such as cheatgrass (shown here) have overtaken sizeable tracts on American prairies, fueling wildfires and depleting the plants that livestock depend upon for grazing.  But now, scientists at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) report progress in helping native plants regain areas lost to invasive invaders.

Ecologist Roger Sheley and colleagues tested new techniques at the Kicking Horse Wildlife Mitigation Area in Montana.  "Killing a weed is like treating a symptom," said Sheley.  He added that his research is focused on understanding why some plants are able to invade in specific areas and not in others.  "We want to find the cause," he said, to find out "what has changed in the ecology of the system and how can we change it back."

 

native plants and shrubs prevent invasives from taking over.

 

Sheley and team found that in areas where the ground was bare, soil was dry and native plants were few, it was effective to seed the bare sites with native plants species and water them.  At sites where there were invasive plants, the team first killed the invasives with herbicides, then tilled the soil, opening up space for natives to spread.  At a third site, where native plants were few, the team simply tilled the soil and seeded it -- permitting a nearby wetland to provide the moisture required for the seeds to take off.

According to the ARS, it's important to determine what kind of conditions exist on the site, and then it's possible to use the best technique available to give native plants the best chance of survival. You may read the full report here.

photos: ARS

 

New Plants for 2012: III

 

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Tangerine Streams™ Rose  (Conard Pyle/Star Roses)
(Rosa 'Bagstream')

Sure love this rose -- whose color would fit with almost any garden color scheme -- it's an orange hue that turns creamy yellow with apricot and pink tones.  Double blooms about three inches in diameter.  Unfortunately, no fragrance, but a very bushy shrub about four feet high with good resistance to mildew and rust.  Bred by John Bagnasco, introduced by Conard-Pyle Co./Star Roses.

 

Orchid Romance™ Rose (Conard Pyle/Star)
(Rosa 'Radprov')

Can't beat the color on this floribunda, bred by William Radler.  Upright, bushy form with dark green, semi-glossy leaves, very resistant to black spot, powdery mildew and rust.  Abundant flowers, and continuous bloom as well.  About 4.5 feet high, 3 feet wide.

 

Eyeconic Lemonade™ (Conard Pyle/Star)
(Rosa 'Sprolem')

What I think of as an old-fashioned shrub rose ... this floribunda also comes in pink -- Eyeconic Pink Lemonade (Rosa 'Sprolempink'). A bushy shrub about 4.5 feet high and wide, with abundant, continuous bloom. Either would be great to brighten up a dull spot in the garden. Bred by Jim Sproul.