GardenDesignOnline

Happenings August 2018

Selected Events Around the Country:

Exhibitions:

thru Oct 28: Georgia O'Keeffe: Visions of Hawaii, Bronx, NY
NY Botanical Garden, 718-817-8700
thru August 31:  "Cultivating America's Gardens," Washington DC
National Museum of American History, sponsor: Smithsonian Gardens & Smithsonian Libraries, 202-633-1522

Events:

Throughout August: Garden Conservancy Special Events

Aug 4-5 Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours: PA, NJ, IL, NY
IL: West Chicago; NJ: Hunterdon Cty; NY: Greene Cty; PA: Bucks Cty
Aug 7-8, Native Plants for Professionals, Framingham, MA
10am-3pm, two-session class, Garden in the Woods, 508-877-7630
Aug 8, "Know Maintenance" Gardens, Glencoe, IL
9:30am-2:30pm, workshop, author & plantsman Roy Diblik, Chicago Botanic Garden, 847-835-5440
Aug 11, Gardens of Piet Oudolf, Boylston, MA
2pm-4pm, Film Screening, Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 508-869-6111
Aug 11-12, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours, Columbia & Putnam Cty, NY

Aug 13-16 Gardenwriters 70th Annual Conference, Chicago, IL
Aug 18, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours: NY, CT
NY: Columbia Cty; CT: Fairfield Cty

Aug 21, Northeast Perennial Plant Symposium, Wellesley, MA
9am-3pm, MA Horticultural Society, 617-933-4900
Aug 22-24, Farwest Show, Portland, OR
Oregon Convention Center, Trade Show, Lectures, Demos, More
Aug 25-26, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours: RI, CT
RI: Washington Cty; CT: Litchfield Cty

LOOKAHEAD:

Sept 8, Hollister House Garden Study Weekend VIII, Southbury, CT
9am, Heritage Hotel, "A Passion for Plants," Garden Conservancy, 845-424-6500
Sept 13-17, APLD International Design Conference, Toronto, ON
Sept 13, Landscape Lecture by Douglas Reed, Boston, MA
7pm, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Douglas Reed of Reed Hilderbrand, 617-278-5156
Sept 24-28, Cities Alive Annual Green Roof & Wall Conference, Brooklyn, NY

Oct 19-22, ASLA Annual Meeting & Expo, Philadelphia, PA

Nov 8, Landscape Lecture, Mikyoung Kim, Boston, MA
7pm, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Mikyoung Kim Design, 617-278-5156

 

2018 APLD Gold Award - 1

photos: Matthew Cunningham - click to enlarge

Landscape Architect Matthew Cunningham won APLD 2018 gold awards for these two residential projects, this one in Westport, MA.

The owners of "Camp Brown" on the Westport River wanted a three-season family retreat sans the leaking and dilapidated pool. Cunningham designed a modern pool garden with marsh views, river sunsets, and an energy-efficient pool.

He also added a new parking area with room for guests' vehicles, new walkways and terraces, and mostly native plants, including bayberry and beach plums, that can withstand the salt and ocean exposure.

Writer's Retreat
East Chatham, NY

A well-known writer hired well-known NYC architects to design a true retreat in the Berkshires with fabulous views of the Hudson Valley. High and isolated, Cunningham aimed to ground the residence to its surroundings. 

He added stone paths hand-tucked with moss that meander through the woodland, a "floating" stone staircase that bridges home and garden, a crib for firewood at the main entrance, and a hammock for relaxation and reading.

Out in the woods, there's even a cedar sauna. New plantings of native birch, mountain laurel, fothergilla and bayberry were strategically placed to frame views on the property and off in the distance.

For more photos, visit the APLD website here.

Woodland Garden - 18 APLD Tour

click images to enlarge

This is the newly-designed front yard garden of Cathy Carr, APLD, in Silver Spring, Maryland, which she graciously opened to members and other local designers earlier this summer.

The real focus is the backyard, where there's a lovely studio at the rear, a firepit where guests can stay warm on cooler evenings on the rustic patio.

Going back up toward the house, there's room for a spacious perennial garden (in more sun) and you'll note the Chinese palm, one of a number which Cathy brings into the garage to overwinter.

And please take note of this manufactured decking.  At first glance, I thought it was a tropical hardwood, but it's Zuri, here in walnut finish.  If you're an APLD designer & you're visiting DC, call Cathy & if she's home, perhaps you can arrange a visit ... well worth it. 

And check out Cathy's website, Greenheart Garden Designs, with lots more photos of her backyard and her projects.

Books: Martha Stewart Flowers / Window Boxes

As with everything Martha, I almost defy you to try and re-create what she's accomplished with flowers.  Among her favorites, outlined in Martha's Flowers: A Practical Guide to Growing, Gathering, and Enjoying (Clarkson Potter, 2018) are daffodils, peonies, roses of course, hydrangeas, lilies, black-eyed susans, and dahlias.  Just to mention a few.

In the introduction, Martha says that she is the "grower" and Kevin Sharkey, her friend and colleague, who first came to work at Martha Stewart Living magazine, is the flower "arranger." As Martha writes, "The bouquets and arrangements in this book resulted from our close planning and envisioning -- and luck -- in growing spectacular blooms that combine well with one another, or with foliage, to bedazzle a room or call one's eyes to attention."

And that's a very apt description of all the arrangments you'll see in this book:  yellow and bi-color yellow and purple tulips in a shallow copper baking pan; pale yellow narcissus in a vase with deep violet lilacs and trout lilies; gladioli in a ginger jar; tall glass trumpet vases filled with clematis; black-eyed susans and purple coneflowers occupying a ceramic mixing bowl.

This book will inspire you to let your imagination run wild as you bring in blooms from your garden to make arrangements of all kinds:  romantic, modern, old-fashioned, exuberant -- whatever mood happens to strike you.

Comprehensive tips on how to select and grow each plant are welcome additions, along with special sections on tools, flower supports, vases and vessels, and techniques to make those arrangements last.

This little book by Chantal Aida Gordon and Ryan Benoit,  How to Window Box: Small-Space Plants to Grow Indoors or Out (Clarkson Potter 2018), is a treasure about small-space plants to grow inside or out, with great, great appeal.  The combination of plants is stunning, and is certain to get you growing.  How about an indoor box of cacti and euphorbias in a sunny window, in a box filled with sand?  Or an "Icebox" arrangement with small evergreens, ivy, pansies and ornamental kale: it'll withstand temperatures well below zero. There are window boxes for almost any situation, and the gorgeous photos will guide you along your way to filling your window sills and outdoor patios and balconies with plants for every season.

 

In the Magazines July 2018

Landscape Architecture July 2018

*My article on Palm Trees (& shrubs) ... design with them farther north than you think!
*Crescent Park in New Orleans by Hargreaves & Associates ... past and future.
*Lights: Sconces, pendants, and other lovely fixtures

Garden Design Summer 2018

*A low-fuss, lovely garden in Austin, TX, by designer B.Jane
*A seven-acre woodland garden in Forestburgh, NY
*New daylilies (check out 'Red Volunteer')
*15 Garden "Stay-cations" -- why go anywhere?

Sunset July 2018

*A Northwest garden filled with desert-loving plants. 
*Replace the lawn with drought-tolerant groundcovers by Growsgreen Landscape Design.
*Palisades chair and portable board games for the backyard.

Horticulture July/August 2018

*A Catskills garden in Andes, NY, designed for views & plant close-ups.
*Design a dry-streambed with impact
*A rare-plant garden on Long Island.

 

Better Homes & Gardens July 2018

*Super-charged sweet peas in containers
*The rooftop garden at historic Fenway Park
(Fenway Farms)
*The Catskills garden of artist Roger Griffith:
herbs, flowers, veggies & more