GardenDesignOnline

Happenings February 2016

Selected Events Around the Country:

thru May 1: The Landscape Architecture of Oehme van Sweden, Washington DC
Exhibition, National Building Museum, 202-272-2448
thru March 6, Orchid Mania, Cleveland, OH
Cleveland Botanical Garden, 216-721-1600
thru March 27, Orchid Extravaganza, Kennett Square, PA
Longwood Gardens, 610-388-1000
thru April 26, Interlocking Science & Beauty, Washington DC
20th Smithsonian Orchid Show, US Museum of Natural History 202-225-8333

Jan 23-May 9, "The Artist's Garden: American Impressionism and the Garden Movement, 1887–1920," San Marino, CA
Exhibition, The Huntington, 626-405-2100
Feb 6-March 27, Orchid Show, St. Louis, MO
Missouri Botanical Garden, 314-577-5100
Feb 13-March 13, Orchid Show, Glencoe, IL
Chicago Botanic Garden, 847-835-5440
Feb 13-April 10, Orchid Daze, Atlanta, GA
Atlanta Botanical Garden, 404-876-5859
Feb 11-March 12, The Highgrove Florilegium Exhibition, Wellesley, MA
Botanical Watercolors of Plants from the Prince of Wales' garden at Highgrove, MA Hort Society, 617-933-4900
Feb 27-April 17, The Orchid Show, Orchidelirium, Bronx, NY
NY Botanical Garden, 718-817-8700

 

Feb 2, Kitchen Design Webinar
noon-1:15PM EST, Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet
Feb 3, Native Plant Gardens, Learning by Example, Cambridge, MA
7-8:30PM, Lecture, Cambridge Public Library, 781-790-8921
Feb 4, Landscape Architect Thomas Balsley, Philadelphia, PA
6PM, Lecture, Penn Design, 215-898-6591
Feb 5, Today's Horticulture Symposium, Kennett Square, PA
8AM-4PM, Longwood Gardens, 610-388-1000
Feb 5-14, Great Big Home & Garden Show, Cleveland, OH
Cleveland IX Center, 216-676-6000
Feb 6, Midwest Perennial Plant Association  Symposium, Lisle, IL
8:30AM-4:30PM, Morton Arboretum, 630-968-0074

Feb 11, Landscape Lecture: LA Margie Ruddick, Boston, MA
7PM, Lecture, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 617-278-5156
Feb 11, Landscape Architect Walter Hood, Philadelphia, PA
6:30PM, Lecture, Institute of Contemporary Art, sponsor Penn Design 215-898-6591
Feb 11-14, New Jersey Flower & Garden Show, Edison, NJ
NJ Convention Center, 732-449-4004
Feb 12-14 Nashville Antiques & Garden Show, Nashville, TN
Music City Center, 888-405-7350
Feb 12-15 Great Backyard Bird Count
Help Audubon and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology keep track of our birds.

Feb 16, Continued Legacy of Lawrence & Anna Halprin, San Francisco, CA
6-8PM, CA Historical Society, Panel Discussion, sponsor: TCLF, 202-483-0553
Feb 16, 'Naturalistic Planting Design," Bronx, NY
1-3PM, Lecture, LA Thomas Rainer, NY Botanical Garden, 718-817-8700
Feb 17, Landscape Architect Shane Coen, Philadelphia, PA
6PM Lecture, Penn Design, 215-898-6591
Feb 17-21, Northwest Flower & Garden Show, Seattle, WA
"America the Beautiful," Washington State Convention Center, 253-238-3807
Feb 18-21, Rhode Island Spring Flower & Garden Show, Providence, RI
RI Convention Center, "Spring Fling," 401-272-0980
Feb 18-21, Connecticut Flower & Garden Show, Hartford, CT
CT Convention Center, 860-844-8461
Feb 20, Wake Up Your Garden Saturday, Bronx, NY
10AM-5PM, NY Botanical Garden, 718-817-8700

Feb 23, Principles of Ecological Landscape Design, WEBINAR
noon-1PM EST, Ecological Landscape Alliance, 617-436-5838
Feb 25, "Gardening in the Round," Bronx, NY
10-11:30AM, Lecture, British designer Sarah Price, NY Botanical Garden, 718-817-8700
Feb 26-28, Arkansas Flower & Garden Show, Little Rock, AR
"Rock in the Garden," Statehouse Convention Center, 501-821-4000
Feb 26-28, Southern Spring Home & Garden Show, Charlotte, NC
Park Expo & Conference Center, 704-376-6594

 LOOKAHEAD:

March 4-5 Ithaca Native Landscape Symposium, Ithaca, NY
March 5-13 Philadelphia Flower Show, Philadelphia, PA
March 9-10 Sustaining the Living Landscape, Amherst, MA
22nd Ecological Landscape Alliance Conference, 617-436-5838
March 10, 16th Land Ethics Symposium, Doylestown, PA
March 19, Northwest Hort Society Spring Symposium, Kenmore, WA
8:30am-4pm, "Sustainable Design for Beauty, Biodiversity & Habitat," 206-780-8172

May 24-28, Chelsea Flower Show, London, UK

New Roses 2016 - (2)

These three from David Austin Roses:

'Olivia Rose Austin' Rose
(Rosa 'Ausmixture')

David Austin himself says this new cultivar is "possibly the best rose we've ever bred."  Named for his granddaughter, this rose flowers a full three weeks earlier than most others, and -- at least in England -- it blooms along with lilacs and wisteria.  Austin's technical director Michael Marriott says "it's achingly beautiful, fragrant, and as close to disease-free as we've ever seen." Moreover, it's a re-bloomer, and the scent is medium strong.  The leaves are a dark green,  making a nice contrast with the soft pink flowers. Three and half feet tall, three feet wide.  Zones 5-10.

'The Poet's Wife' Rose
(Rosa 'Auswhirl')

This rose is only the 16th Austin rose with yellow flowers, and it's one of the most fragrant of all. According to Marriott, it's a rose of "superlatives," with a rich yellow color, and a strong and appealing aroma of Old Rose with hints of lemon rind, peach and mango. It's also a tough and reliable, with excellent disease resistance and repeat blooms.  "It was worth the wait for this glorious yellow rose," says Marriott. It's a low-growing rose, about four feet high and 3.5 wide, so it would be great for the front of the border. Zones 5-10. 

'Lady of the Lake' Rose
(Rosa 'Ausherbert')

This  rambler rose produces lots of flowers, and it has a strong citrus scent. The blooms are a blush pink with yellow stamens, and it re-blooms throughout the season.  It's a short rambler at 10 to 15 feet, perfect for a trellis, an obelisk, walls or even climbing through a small tree. Hardy in Zones 7-10, but will grow in Zone 6 with winter protection.

Books: Thinking of Veggies

Everyone who grows vegetables naturally wants the most out of each plant.  Now, there is expert advice from Colin McCrate and Brad Halm, former CSA farmers and founders of the Seattle Urban Farm Company, a firm that designs, builds, and maintains edible gardens. In their new book,  High-Yield Vegetable Gardening: Grow More of What You Want in the Space You Have (Storey Publishing, 2015), the authors take you through all the steps to get the most out of your garden, no matter what the size. They show you how to plan your garden for what you need or what you want.  They cover all the bases, from crop rotation to seed selection and storage, soil preparation, irrigation, pests and disease, supressing weeds, and extending the growing season.  In other words, everything you need to understand for a successful vegetable garden. The book is filled with useful charts and drawings to make sure you'll have a bountiful harvest.

  And if you're really into growing vegetables, you may want to consider Blue Ribbon Vegetable Gardening: The Secrets to Growing the Biggest and Best Prizewinning Produce (Storey Publishing, 2015) by Jodi Torpey, a garden writer and editor-in-chief of WesternGardens.com.  Torpey's book could make you a winner at the state fair or at other competitions.  She'll show you how to grow the biggest pumpkin, the best-tasting tomato, straight instead of crooked cucumbers.  And of course much more.  It's for those truly dedicated to vegetable growing ... or those who want a lot more from every plant.

New Plants 2016 - I

Just a few of the great new introductions this year from Spring Meadow Nursery. All photos Spring Meadow - click to enlarge

'Golden Treasure' Birch
(Betula x plettkei 'Golden Treasure')

If you love birch trees but haven't got room for one, then this is the plant for you.  It's a dwarf shrub birch, just two to four feet high and wide, and best of all, the tiny yellow leaves emerge orange-red in spring.  It can be shaped, pruned, hedged or trained into a miniature tree.  Likely perfect for the patio container or a small urban garden.  Hardy to Zone 2 as well.  Developed by Michal Andrusiv from the Czech Republic and winner of the Green is Life Silver medal in Poland.

Double Play® Candy Corn™ Spirea
(Spiraea japonica 'NCSXI')
Just 1.5 to 2.5 feet high, this spirea has ever-changing foliage.  The leaves emerge a candy-apple red color, then transforms to a deep golden yellow as the season progresses.  Flowers that bloom in late spring are a deep purple color, a great contrast with the leaves.  It would likely look great massed in a low-border planting, but small enough for patios or containers. Plant it in full sun -- and it also attracts hummingbirds. To Zone 4.

Tuff Stuff™ Red Mountain Hydrangea
(Hydrangea serrata 'SMNMAKTSR')
This hydrangea, like the original Tuff Stuff, has great bud and stem hardiness, but the bloom color on this one is dark pink-red. The flower open a two-toned green and red and then mature to red.  It has a mounded form, reaches two to three feet in height, and is hardy to Zone 5. The shrub can be used in the garden, and is also suitable for containers.  And ... it re-blooms until frost.

Madame Maria™ Clematis
(Clematis 'Maria Sklodowska Curie')
You can never have enough Clematis in the garden, and this new one is a real standout. It produces a ton of pure white double flowers that fade to pale green in cool weather. The blooms appear from June to July on old wood and re-bloom in late summer on new wood.  Prune back to three feet each spring.  It's named after Marie Curie and was developed by Szczepan Marczynski of Poland.  Five to seven feet tall, two to three feet wide and hardy to Zone 4.

In the Magazines Jan-Feb 2015

Sunset Jan
*Check out the trapezes for air plants on page 56
*Innovative designs for steep slopes by Ryan Prange, APLD of Solana Beach, CA and Beth Mullins of San Francisco
*Fabulous landscapes in Palm Springs
*Hourglass urns from allmodern.com

 

Better Homes & Gardens Jan
*Gardens that Inspire:  Some of the most celebrated gardens on tour every year with the Garden Conservancy, including one in Eugene, OR, that's a true floral tapestry. 

 

Horticulture Jan - Feb

*The Public Gardens Issue:
*Gardens of AlcatrazZ
* America's Best Sculpture Gardens
*Botanic Garden Planting Tips
* Quality Dwarf Conifers

 

 

  Landscape Architecture Jan
* The lowdown on tree roots in urban areas
* Great new firepits
* Inspiring landscape by Fletcher Studio at a multi-family condo complex in San Francisco

Share Your Expertise

If you're a garden designer, writer, or speaker, your head is filled with knowledge about horticulture, plants, hardscape materials, and principles of good design.  While you often share your knowledge with clients, or through writing or speaking, why not attract a wider audience?

Landscape architect, writer, and educator Cheryl Corson has now developed a webinar series to teach YOU how to conduct your own webinars.  Cheryl's been doing webinars to help aspiring landscape architects pass the arduous certification test, but she's now branching out into other areas.

In a new webinar series, Corson will explain how to get started with webinars, without spending a huge amount of money.  Sessions are recorded, with some live Q&A's -- but everything can be watched/listened to on your own time.

More about the webinar series here. It starts later this month.

Certified Organic Trees

photo: Malus 'Liberty' -- Raemelton

Well, why not?  Ramaelton Farm Nursery in Adamstown, MD, is growing USDA certified organic trees, so if  you or your clients are into sustainable gardening, this is what you want.  At the moment, there are only about 60-70 of these trees available, but several acres are in production and some one thousand trees are in the pipeline.  At the MANTS trade show in Baltimore last week, owner Steve Black said designers in the mid-Atlantic region can spec the trees right now, but he'll ship anywhere in the country. 

Black says he believes Raemelton is the first wholesaler in the country to receive USDA certification, but I'm sure that others will follow.  At the moment, Black is growing 13 types of certified organic trees, including two apple trees, three cherries (two ornamental, one fruit tree) as well as a number of landscape trees: Red Sunset® Maple, Forest Pansy Redbud, Dawn Redwood, Red and Scarlet Oak, Greenspire Linden, and Princeton and Valley Forge Elms.

clilck to enlarge photos

Black uses vinegar and other non-toxic solutions to keep weeds under control; the trees are fertilized with compost; and he's experimenting with companion plantings to keep pests away.  There's about a 30 percent bump-up in price for the organic trees, but committed environmentalists will certainly not mind the cost increase.  What consumers want these days, says Black, is non-GMO products, as well as ones that will reduce pollution and the carbon footprint.  He's probably right about that, and right that these trees will soon be showing up in retail garden centers.

 

 

Urban Tree of the Year 2016

photos: J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co.

The Society of Municipal Arborists has selected Zelkova serrata 'Musashino' as this year's top urban tree.  The award program started 20 years ago, is often given to species or cultivars that should be used more frequently, and winners are selected for their ornamental characteristics and adaptability to harsh city conditions.

click to enlarge photos

This particular tree was introduced 16 years ago by the J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co.  It's a narrow, upright, fast-growing Zelkova with attractive fall foliage that has been a popular street tree in Japan. Schmidt says that if it's planted alone, the tree is "a landscape exclamation mark."  If planted in groups, it creates "a vertical design statement for parks, campuses, boulevarads, and other public spaces."  In addition, the company says it's a great choice for alleés or to screen out unpleasant views.

The tree was planted in Providence, Rhode Island, where City Forester Doug Still says it's been a great success along Atwells Avenue, famous for its Italian restaurants and gourmet groceries. "I heartily recommend 'Musashino' zelkova when you've got a tight space and you need a reliable tree," he says. 

In Rochester Hills, Michigan, 47 of the trees were planted over the past six years.  Dave Etz of SMA's forestry division says the tree is one of hardiest zelkova cultivars.  After two harsh winters, he says, "we've seen zero dieback, and many of our 'Musashino' are located along major roads and boulevards, where they also show good tolerance to deicing salt spray."

What's not to like about this tree?

Happenings January 2016

SELECTED EVENTS AROUND THE COUNTRY:

Jan 23-May 9, "The Artist's Garden: American Impressionism and the Garden Movement, 1887–1920," San Marion, CA
Exhibition, The Huntington, 626-405-2100

 

Jan 6-8, MId-Atlantic Trade Show (MANTS), Baltimore, MD
Baltimore Convention Center, 800-431-0066
Jan 7-8, 27th NDAL Conference, "Zooming In, Zooming Out," New London, CT
Connecticut College, sponsor:New Directions in the American Landscape, 215-886-9740

Jan 10, Urban Gardening: Water Conservation, Cambridge, MA
1:30-3pm, Cambridge Public LIbrary, New England Wildflower Society, 508-877-7630
Jan 13, Large-Scale Landscapes Symposium, Wellesley, MA
8:30AM-4:30PM, Wellesley College, Sponsor: Ecological Landscape Alliance, 617-436-5838
Jan 14-15, 27th NDAL Conference, "Zooming In, Zooming Out," Blue Bell, PA
Montgomery County Community College, sponsor: New Directions in the American Landscape, 215-886-9740
Jan 15, "Planting Design Reinvention," Glencoe, IL
9AM-4PM, Symposium, Chicago Botanic Garden, 847-835-5440
Jan 15-17, Oklahoma City Home & Garden Show, Oklahoma City, OK
State Fair Park of Oklahoma, 405-948-6704
Jan 15-17, Maricopa County Home & Garden Show, Phoenix, AZ
Arizona State Fairgrounds, 602-485-1691

Jan 19, "Lighting with Intension," Bronx, NY
1PM-3PM, Landscape Design Alumni Series, NY Botanical Garden, 718-817-8700

Jan 21-22, Western Trade Show, Kansas City, MO
Crown Center Exhibit Hall, New plants, exhibits, lectures, more 888-233-1876

 

Jan 26, Plant-O-Rama, Brooklyn, NY
8AM-4PM, Hort Trade Show: Lectures, Exhibits, More. Brooklyn Botanic Garden 212-757-0915
Jan 28, "Modern Gardens: The Essence of Nature," Bronx, NY
10AM, Lecture, Ulf Nordfjell, NY Botanical Garden, 718-817-8700
Jan 29-31, 30th Southern Gardening Symposium, Pine Mountain, GA
Callaway Gardens, 706-663-5153

 

LOOKAHEAD:

Feb 11, Landscape Lecture: LA Margie Ruddick, Boston, MA
7PM, Lectue, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 617-278-5156

March 5-13 Philadelphia Flower Show, Philadelphia, PA
March 19, Northwest Hort Society Spring Symposium, Kenmore, WA
8:30am-4pm, "Sustainable Design for Beauty, Biodiversity & Habitat," 206-780-8172

May 24-28, Chelsea Flower Show, London, UK