GardenDesignOnline

NYBG Orchid Show

© Lanny Provo Photography courtesy Raymond Jungles, Inc.

You won't want to miss this year's orchid show at the New York Botanical Garden, March 1-April 21.  Called "Key West Contemporary," it's inspired by one of the modern landscapes of designer Raymond Jungles of Miami.  

In the centerpiece of the show, the NYBG's Francisca Coelho has created an exhibition inspired by the Jungles garden shown above, complete with a "green" garden wall and a fountain flowing into a pool with stepping stones.  The garden was designed for Susan Henshaw Jones, President of the Museum of the City of New York, and Judge Richard K. Eaton. The garden won an honor award from ASLA in 2005.

photo: NYBG

The show, which takes place inside the garden's Enid Haupt Conservatory, also features many lush displays of thousands of orchids.  See the garden's website here for info about many special programs associated with the exhibit.

 

Happenings March 2014

Selected Events Around the Country:

Thru March 3, Orchid Show, St. Louis, MO
Missouri Botanical Garden, 314-577-5100
Thru March 9, Orchid Mania, Cleveland, OH
Cleveland Botanic Garden, 216-721-1600
Thru March 16, Orchid Show, Glencoe, IL
Chicago Botanic Garden, 847-835-5440
Thru March 30: Orchid Extravaganza, Kennett Square, PA
Longwood Gardens, 610-388-1000
Thru April 13, Orchid Daze, Atlanta, GA
"Lasting Impressions," Atlanta Botanical Garden, 404-876-5859
Thru April 27, Orchid Symphony, Washington DC
US Botanic Garden, 202-225-8333

Feb 27-March 3, Nashville Lawn & Garden Show, Nashville, TN
25th Show, TN State Fairgrounds, 615-876-7680

March 1-9, Philadelphia Flower Show, Philadelphia, PA
"Articulture," PA Convention Center, 215-988-8899
March 4, Davidson Horticultural Symposium, Davidson, NC
"It's All About the Plants," 206-979-6483
March 5, Landscape Design as Ecological Art, Cambridge, MA
7PM-8:30PM, Lecture, landscape arch Darrel Morrison,  Cambridge Public Library, 617-354-0502
March 7-8, 6th Ithaca Native Landscape Symposium, Ithaca, NY
8AM-5PM, Cinemapolis, 607-533-7193
March 7-9, Maricopa County Home & Garden Show, Phoenix, AZ
Univ of Phoenix Stadium, 602-485-1691
March 7-9, Blue Grass Trust Antiques & Garden Show, Lexington, KY
Alltech Arena, 859-253-0362
March 8, US Production Facility Open House, Washington DC
US Botanic Garden Production Facility DON'T MISS IT!!! 202-225-8333
March 8-16, Indiana Flower & Patio Show, Indianapolis, IN
IN State Fairgrounds, 56th Annual Show, 317-576-9933

March 12-16, Boston Flower & Garden Show, Boston, MA
"Romance in the Garden," Seaport World Trade Center, 617-933-4900
March 15-23, Chicago Flower & Garden Show, Chicago, IL
"The Colors of Spring," Navy Pier,  312-241-1250
March 16, Garden Dialogues, Houston, TX
10:30AM-4:30PM, Tour of Private Gardens with Landscape Architects, TCLF, 202-483-0553

March 19-23, San Francisco Flower & Garden Show, San Mateo, CA
San Mateo Event Center. Eshibitions, Lectures, Garden Advice from APLD, more. 415-684-7278
March 20, "Designing with Native Plants," Bronx, NY
10AM-noon, Lecture,  Landscape arch. & author Thomas Rainer, 718-817-8700
March 20, "Larger Landscapes," Landscape Arch. Ken Smith, Philadelphia, PA
6PM, Philadelphia Horticultural Society, Lecture, 215-988-8800
March 22, NW Horticultural Society Annual Symposium, Kenmore, WA
8:30AM-4PM, Bastyr Univ. Auditorium, "Small Space - Big Impact" 206-780-8172
March 22, Water-wise Landscape Design, Dallas, TX
9AM-12:30PM, Workshop, TX A&M Agrilife Research & Extension Center, 214-670-3155
March 22, Native Plant Garden Saturday, Bronx, NY
10AM-5PM, Seminar on Native Plants, NY Botanical Garden, 718-817-8700
March 22, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours, Tompkins Cty, NY

March 23, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours, Jacksonville, FL
March 27 & 28, Olmsted & the American West, Palo Alto, CA
8:30AM-5:30PM, Symposium, Stanford University, sponsor: National Building Museum, 202-272-2448
March 28, Healing Nature Forum, NY, NY
9:30 AM-3PM, Center for Architecture, Hort Society of NY, 212-757-0915
March 29, Lahr Native Plant Symposium & Sale, Washington DC
US National Arboretum, 202-245-4523

LOOKAHEAD:

April 10, Landscape Lectures, Boston, MA
7PM, Landscape Arch Andrea Cochran, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 617-278-5156
April 19, Northern Gardening Symposium, Randolph Center, VT
9AM-3PM, New England Wildflower Society, 508-877-7630
May 20-24, Chelsea Flower Show, London, UK

Philadelphia Flower Show Preview

ARTiculture - March 1-9. Philadelphia, PA

Art & horticulture have always had a close relationship, and this year's Philadelphia Flower Show will bring the two together in a grand celebration of museums and artists, along with the plants and landscapes that have inspired them.

Some of the country's great museums, including the Guggenheim, the National Portrait Gallery, the PA Academy of Fine Arts, the Barnes Foundation, the J. Paul Getty Museum and Grounds for Sculpture will participate in the show.  Among the special exhibits are floral prints by Andy Warhol, works by sculptor Steve Tobin, and selections from an art collection amassed by a local financier.

Visitors will enter the show through an entrance garden inspired by the works of Alexander Calder,  three giant frames containing a garden of topiaries, sculpted trees, boxwoods, and suspended elements that recall Calder's over-sized mobiles.  The dance troupe BANDALOOP from California will also perform several times a day on an overhead structure suspended above the exhibit.

There will also be some international exhibitors: British garden designer Andy Sturgeon and James Basson of Provence, who is creating a garden inspired by a minimalist painting in the private collection of Prince Albert of Monaco.

 

 

Books: Easy Meadows for Everyone

So ... you always wanted a meadow but didn't know how to plant one? Well, with this new book, you can plan a meadow for your urban townhouse garden, your large suburban lot, or even your big estate.

In his new book, The Know Maintenance Perennial Garden (Timber Press, 2014), plantsman and designer Roy Diblik offers 62 plans with just 74 plants that will work almost anywhere -- but you can change them to fit your own particular climate and zone. 

Diblik explains the concepts behind self-sustaining plant communities -- plants that naturally grow well in harmony and require little maintenance, once established.  With Diblik's method, you can throw out the mulch, abandon staking, deadheading, the fertilizers and herbicides, the end-of-the-season cleanups.  Instead, you'll learn to understand how plants grow -- their soil, water, and light requirements -- and the easy ways to get what you want.

There's a brief profile and excellent photo of each plant used in his designs, along with suggestions for particular cultivars and companion plantings.  You then move on to 62 plans, each a block of 10 x 14 feet, for either sun or shade.  These plans are the "building blocks" of your meadow or natural perennial garden.  Each plan is a viable plant community that can be expanded, reduced or adapted to fit your own garden -- a plant community that will thrive with only a little maintenance.

Diblik has profiles of seven designers/horticulturists at the end of the book, all of whom are proponents of naturalistic plantings.  He also offers a list of books that will assist anyone who wants to delve deeper into the subject.

A wonderful book for homeowners and designers alike -- it definitely belongs on your bookshelf.

 

 

NYBG New Research Institute

photo: NYBG - Robert Benson

The New York Botanical Garden has established a new Humanities Research Institute within its LuEsther T. Mertz Library.  And it's a great idea.  The institute will bring together NYBG staff, visiting scholars, and graduate student fellows to study landscape and garden design and history; art history; cultural anthropology; environmental policy; urban social history; and urban ecology and the changing nature of cities.

The mission is to promote new ideas about humans and their relationship with nature and the environment.  NYBG CEO Gregory Long noted that the NYBG's focus has been on botanical exploration in the wild and cultivation through horticulture.  "With this new Institute," he said, "we are expanding our scope to include broader research topics that the LIbrary is fully equipped to support, and we are looking forward to interacting with scholars in disciplines that sit adjacent to our traditional interests."

In the next three years, the NYBG will sponsor year-long fellowships for emerging pre-and post-doctoral students from a number of disciplines, and the fellowships are open to graduate students from around the world. The Institute will also sponsor one symposium every year.  The first one, "Women and the City: From the Landscape Perspective," will take place on June 20th of this year.  It is tied to two exhibitions this year, Groundbreakers: Great American Gardens and the Women Who Designed Them (May 17-Sept 7) and The Changing of Nature of Cities (November 7).

Design: Raymond Jungles

Check out the article on landscape architect Raymond Jungles in the Wall Street Journal.

 

View the article here. A great read.

Also, he's speaking on 2/27 at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, where he'll discuss the work of Roberto Burle Marx.   More info at www.ftg.org

Landscape Design: FLW Garden?

photo: Stewart Hass & Associates - click to enlarge

You always have to wonder what Frank Lloyd Wright would've done if he'd designed all the gardens to go along with his houses.  This is the Turkel House in Detroit, the only built example of a two-story Usonian. It was commissioned in 1955 for Dorothy Turkel, later passed through several owners, fell into vacancy and disrepair, and then was bought by Dale Morgan and Norman Silk, owners of a floral business in the nearby suburb of Birmingham, who restored it over the next four years.  

I saw the house and gardens last summer on an APLD tour ... and it's well worth a visit if you're ever in the area. The extensive gardens were designed by landscape architect Norman Hass, who explained that the landscape's predominant new wave and new perennial plantings complement the modern design of the house. 

Hass also noted that the owners have added a number of whimsical touches of their own, as seen near the terrace fountain. There's another full size standing buddha statue elsewhere, and the glass globes appear in numerous garden beds.

Inside the house, there's a red tile floor, and although there was not originally an outside terrce, Hass designed one and matched the concrete pavers to the color of the floor inside.  It works beautifully to extend the house out into the new landscape and tie the two together.

The owners also wanted a place where they and visitors could enjoy their modern sculptures, so Hass designed a sculpture court, (also seen from above in photo number two),  placed between the street side of the property and the house.

I don't know if FLW would have approved of all the garden elements, but it's definitely a standout, as is the house, unlike any other you're likely to see.  The house is open to visitors from time to time, so check the website frequently for tours and special events. 

Plants: Top Perennial 2014

images: perennial plant assn - click to enlarge

The Perennial Plant Assn (PPA) has named 'Northwind' switchgrass (Panicum virgatum 'Northwind') as its perennial plant of the year -- and it's certainly a great choice.

Switchgrass, of course, is native to the United States; it has a lovely airy form, no serious insect or disease problems, and deer don't like it either.

This cultivar, selected by plantsman and designer Roy Diblik, emerges in spring with bluish-green leaves and turns a gorgeous golden amber color in fall.

Diblik noticed this particular plant growing along railroad tracks in South Elgin, Illinois, and propagated it from wild-collected seed.  It was particularly desirable because it grows upright rather than arching over like other panicums. 

'Northwind' grows best in full sun, but will tolerate some shade.  It grows in almost any soil and is hardy in Zones 4-10.  A true winner for almost any garden.

Garden Art: Ferns

I kind of like these Fiddlehead stakes from Kinsman.

They'd look the part in a shade garden, and I like the whimsical air about them.  Made of steel, they are clear coated and come in two sizes -- so they can be used either in garden beds or in containers.  The large ones are 32, 40, and 48 inches tall.  The smaller ones are 14, 19, and 25 inches.   Hand-crafted as well.

Books: Cornelia Hahn Oberlander

Cornelia Hahn Oberlander is one of the most influential landscape architects of the 20th century, known particularly for her dedication to the principles of sustainability.  Now, there's a new book out about her life and career,  Cornelia Hahn Oberlander: Making the Modern Landscape (University of Virginia Press, 2014) written by Susan Herrington, Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of British Columbia.

The foreward to the book was written by E. Marc Treib, Prof. of Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley.  He says that throughout her long career, which began shortly after the end of World War II, Oberlander has held the belief that one may control, through the design of form and space, "the perceptions of landscape that lead to enjoyment, instruction, and even revelation."

Oberlander was born in Germany in 1921 and escaped with her family to Britain in the 1930's and settled in the United States.  After graduating from Smith College and Harvard's Graduate School of Design, she eventually settled in Vancouver.  She's best known, perhaps, for her work on Robson Square and the Provincial Law Courts in Vancouver, but also for the design of children's playgrounds and her dedication to sound principles of conservation.

Herrington takes the reader chronologically through Oberlander's life and her major projects with great detail about her design process.  As Herrington notes, Oberlander's "willingness to experiment and invent has enabled her to realize design solutions that challenger conventional approaches, providing an alternative vision of practice."  The book is filled with photos and images of her plans, both residential and commercial.  The book is engaging and very informative, and anyone in the field of design should find it mandatory reading.