GardenDesignOnline

Books: An Architect's Garden

Not every architect wears leather biker gear with buckles and studs, but Peter Marino has told interviewers that his clothing -- he calls it the "tatooed biker look" -- is just a decoy.  He's actually a distinguished award-winning architect, as well as a noted art collector.

Marino has also designed his own gardens at his 12-acre estate on Long Island.  In The Garden of Peter Marino (Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2017), Marino offers two different ways to look at his gardens: the first part of the book offers photos of the gardens in different seasons.  The second section is comprised of photos that were taken just after an afternoon thunderstorm.

click on photos to enlarge

In the introduction to the book, Marino describes it as "a sense of order blended with the chaos of nature." He adds that "the most interesting parts of the garden are the accidents, the bits that don't conform to a plan."

He's been working on the garden for about 20 years, and it's now a series of outdoor rooms -- squares and rectangles -- that are designed along a single axis.

There's a rose garden and an azalea crescent, a great lawn, a forest, an orchard, and native plants along with a thousand hydrangeas. 

Placed throughout the gardens are almost 40 sculptures by French artists Claude and Frencois-Xavier Lalanne.

It's a great book for collectors, for landscape designers who are interested in something different, and for anyone who muses about the wondrous possibilities that plants and classic design can offer.

Happenings July 2017

Selected Events Around the Country:

Exhibitions:

thru Aug 12, Happiness: The Writer in the Garden," New Haven, CT
Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, 203-432-2977
thru Sept 10, Roberto Burle Marx Drawings, Landscapes, More. Glencoe, IL
Chicago Botanic Garden, 847-835-5440
thru Oct 29, Artworks & more by Dale Chihuly, Bronx, NY
NY Botanical Garden, 718-817-8700
thru August 31, 2018, "Cultivating America's Gardens," Washington DC
National Museum of American History, sponsor: Smithsonian Gardens & Smithsonian Libraries, 202-633-1522

June 25, West Seattle Garden Tour, Seattle WA
9am-5pm, 10+ gardens, 206-324-2061
June 29, Renssalear County Garden Tour, Troy, NY
4pm-8pm, 10+ gardens, Cornell Cooperative Extension, 518-272-4210

July 7-8 Rockport Garden Tour, Rockport, MA
10am-4pm, 11 private gardens, "Rockport in Bloom."
July 7-16 Crested Butte Wildflower Festival, Crested Butte, CO
Hikes, Jeep Tours, Garden Tours, Classes, Workshops, More

July 8, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours: MA, NY
MA: Martha's Vineyard; NY: Suffolk County
July 12-16, AHS National Children & Youth Garden Symposium, Portland, OR
Educational sessions, Keynote speakers, field trips more. 703-768-5700
July 13-17, APLD International Landscape Design Conference, Boston, MA
July 15, Garden Dialogues, South Londonderry, VT
2pm-4pm, Garden tours with landscape architects, TCLF, 202-483-0553
July 15-16, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours: CT, NY, WI
CT: Hartford, Fairfield, Litchfield Cty;  NY: Putnam Cty,  WI:  Milwaukee, Freedonia

July 16, Dearborn Gardenwalk, Chicago IL
noon-5pm, 59th Self-guided tour, 312-632-1241
July 19-22 Cullowhee Native Plant Conference, Cullowhee, NC
Western Carolina University, Lectures, Walks, Workshops, more.
July 21, Woody Plant Conference, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA
July 22, Garden Dialogues, Lee, NH
10am, Bedrock Gardens; tours with landscape architect, TCLF, 202-483-0553
July 22-23, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours: IL, MA, NH, NY
IL: Chicago North Shore, Lake Forest; MA: Berkshire Cty; NH: Merrimack Valley; NY: Columbia Cty

July 23-28, Perennial Plant Symposium, Denver, CO
July 25, "Alternatives to Lawns" Workshop, Framingham, MA
1pm-5pm, Garden in the Woods, 617-436-5838
July 29-30 Gardenwalk, Buffalo, NY
10am-4pm, America's Largest Garden Tour, 400+gardens 716-247-5004
July 29-30, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours: IL, MN, NY
IL: West Chicago;  MN: Minneapolis; NY: Columbia, Dutchess, Suffolk, Westchester Cty, East Hampton

LOOKAHEAD:

Aug 4-7 Gardenwriters Annual Conference, Buffalo, NY
Sept 9-10 Hollister House Garden Study Symposium, Southbury, CT
8am-3:30pm, "A Passion for Gardens," 860-868-2200
Sept 13-20, Garden Tour New York City, NY, NY
McDuff Tours, includes High Line, BBG, Central Park, NYBG, Kykuit & more.  540-818-0154
Sept 18-21, Cities Alive Conference, Seattle, WA
"People, Community & Places," Annual Green Roofs for Healthy Cities Conference.
Oct 20-23, ASLA Annual Meeting & Expo, Los Angeles, CA

National Pollinator Week

This is national pollinator week .... so go out, get some more natives for your yard and plant them!

Our bees, birds, and butterflies are in danger and they depend on us to keep them alive.

Check out the website here of the Pollinator Partnership ... everything you need to know about what you can do to help.

 

A Garden in the Zen Zone

click on photos to enlarge

Not sure I would've had the nerve to take on a project like this ... a multi-level house on a very steep site .. rising way up in the back yard once you reach the top.  But it was no challenge at all for designer Carolyn Mullet of Carex Garden Design and Carex Tours (to fabulous sites in Europe).

Carolyn has  been working on this garden for about 10 years, and just last year she added this "pollinator garden" just to the left of the drive in the photo above.  It was the sunniest spot on the property, and the intermingled plantings catch your eye on either side of the new limestone steps.

First level up is a nice, wide patio entrance with a good wide look across the neighborhood.  And note the tiny patio on the upper level, for even more distant views.

At the rear of the house, way up top, a narrow path was installed to the left of the new, modern screened porch designed by Mark McInturff Architects, who also designed the rectangular plunge pool just beyond. 

The new architectural elements gave Carolyn a chance to put in a drainage system that directs water to a dry well at the front of the property, and also to re-arrange many of the backyard plantings and add some new ones as well.

Note the lush plantings of Hydrangeas, Hostas, Abelia, Ferns, and much, much more. There are even a couple of birdhouses way up high (and many a plant to attract them, as well).

And a look back the other way ...  there's a utility area behind the fence, but also a lovely garden bed with a small tree and other plantings, so that you'll find something nice and attractive when you peek around the corner.

Mullet says her client calls this garden in the heights her "zen zone," and there's no mistaking why. (Carolyn on the right in this photo).  The tour was sponsored by the local chapter of APLD, of which Carolyn is president.

 

 

A Garden of Color and Contrast

There's no mistaking one of Barbara Katz's gardens.  Katz, a garden designer who owns London Landscapes LLC and practices in the Washington DC area, is a master in the art of color, texture and architectural form. The garden was one of four featured in a recent tour by the local chapter of APLD.

This particular site in Bethesda, MD was nearly devoid of landscape plants when the project first began.  Katz fashioned a number of garden rooms where the homeowners can hang out, all packed with interesting cultivars you won't see in every garden.

Katz's husband, an architect, designed an addition on the back of the existing residence that includes a ground-level pool, with doors that open out into the landscape for use in warmer months.

There's not an inch of ground in this garden that's not planted with something ... and Katz is not afraid to use a small patch of gooseneck loosestrife, which many designers would not go near. 

Note as well the lovely stonework, and the placement of plants within it.  Katz is well known for plant trials in her own garden, as well as careful study of cultivars -- so when she tells you that 'Hearts of Gold' is the best cercis cultivar with yellow leaves, you know you're getting the right info.

Two New Books: Fairy Gardens & Ambitious DIY Garden Projects

Fairy houses for children are pretty popular these days, so how about some fairy gardens to go along with them?

In The Gardening in Miniature Prop Shop: Handmade Accessories for Your Tiny Living World (Timber Press, 2017), author Janet Calvo shows you how to create miniature accessories to go along with the garden. You might also want to order her first book, Gardening in Miniature: Create Your Own Tiny Living World (Timber Press, 2013), which outlines how to create miniature gardens for those fairy houses.  The new book has enough projects to keep you -- and maybe your children --  busy for months:  benches, garden containers, stone paths, treehouses, bridges, fountains, and much more. 

But for people with large hands and fingers, you'd be better off with Big Impact Landscaping: 28 DIY Projects You Can Do on a Budget to Beautify and Add Value to Your Home (Page Street Publishing, 2017) by landscape designer Sara Bendrick, host of the DIY Network's I Hate My Yard! A lot of Bendrick's project are quite appealing -- such as the raised U-shaped Veg Garden, a Panel Screening Wall, and a Simple Garden Bridge --  they're all projects I would have to hire someone else to build.  But if you're handy, the book has a lot of good ideas, and the "look" is quite professional.  Go to it.