GardenDesignOnline

Happenings June 2020

Some gardens are still closed, so events this month are limited. Make sure to check the events listed below in the event they might be cancelled.

EVENTS:

Garden Dialogues: Tours with Landscape Architects, TCLF, 202-483-0553
June 20, 10am-1pm, Jennifer Horn Landscape Architecture, Vienna, VA
June 27, 2:30-5pm, Jennifer Horn, Severeid House, Alexandria, VA

June 20, South End Garden Tour, Boston, MA
10am-4pm, Rutland Sq, Pilot Block, Claremont Park, Chester Sq. Trustee of Reservations
June 20, Garden Conservancy Open Days Garden Tours, CT, NJ, NY, PA, WA
CT: Litchfield County; NJ: Hunterdon Cty; NY: Columbia, Dutchess, Nassau, Saratoga Counties; PA: Bucks, Montgomery Counties; WA: Bainbridge Island
June 20: Digging Deeper: Richmond, CA
1pm, Art in Your Garden, Mosaics & More, Garden Conservancy
June 20, Digging Deeper, MIllerton, NY
4pm, An Architect's Garden in the Country, Garden Conservancy

June 25, Bainbridge Island Garden Tour, Bainbridge Island, WA
10am-4pm, NW Horticultural Society, 206-780-8172
June 27-28, Garden Conservancy Open Days Garden Tours: CT, NY, MA
CT: Litchfield Cty; NY: Westchester, Ulster Counties; MA: Berkshire Cty
June 27, Digging Deeper: East Falmouth, MA
10:30am, A Small Space with a Big Feel, Garden Conservancy

LOOKAHEAD:

July 1, Annual Symposium, Coastal Maine Botanical Garden, Boothbay, ME
July 16, Woody Plant Conference, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA

August 10-13, Garden Communicators Annual Conference, Williamsburg, VA
October 2-5, ASLA Annual Conference, Miami Beach, FL

USPS Garden Stamps

click to enlarge

The US Postal Service has just issued a series of American Garden Forever Stamps -- and if you're like me, you like to order horticultural stamps and the like -- for the rare times you post letters to friends and others.

This series was issued May 13 as part of National Public Gardens Week.  The gardens include Biltmore Estate, NC; Brooklyn Botanic, NYC; Chicago Botanic, IL; Coastal Maine Botanical, ME; Dumbarton Oaks, DC; The Huntington Botanical, CA; Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park, FL; Norfolk Botanical, VA; Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, OH; and Winterthur, DE.

Stamps available at your post office, at usps.com/shopstamps, or 800-STAMP24 (800-782-6724)

Books: Design Class by Top Landscape Masters

One hundred brief essays by landscape architects, designers, horticulturists and garden stylists on everything from restoration and materials to symmetry, space, scale, water, estates, borders, hedges, romance, liberty --  you name it.

In Garden Design Master Class: 100 Lessons from The World's Finest Designers on the Art of the Garden (Rizzoli International, 2020), author Carl Dellatore asked 100 designers for their thoughts on the elements that go into notable gardens. 

You'll know many of the essayists, but you'll meet others with whom you are unfamiliar.  The book is divided into six main themes: theory, process, style, structure, elements, and inspiration. 

Here's just a sampling of what you'll get -- and why you want to have this book in your library.

On the subject of "Ecologies," landscape architect Edmund Hollander notes that there are three that guide his firm's designs:  natural ecology, composed of the site's hydrology, vegetation, geology and soil; architectural ecology, composed of the built landscape; and human ecology, ie, the people who'll live in the landscape.  The combination of these three, he says, "bring life and form to our designs."

Landscape architect Larry Weaner, writing on "Meadows," says "patience and and a thoughtful, ecology-based approach can yield nearly self-sufficient landscapes, unsurpassed in their beauty and wildlife value.  The experience will be worth the wait."

British landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith, in "Liberty," says some gardens are "places where we can experience an intense kind of freedom, losing awareness of the boundaries of ourselves for a moment, and an intense feeling for a place that is perhaps a kind of love.  So I think the idea of individual liberty is at the heart of my appreciation for gardens."

Horticulturist Phillip Watson writes that "Juxtaposition" includes light and shadow, different colors, what's inside and outside the property line. "Whether people or plants," he says, "good companions respect boundaries and don't overrun their mates; some prop up one another from time to time; most enjoy many of the same things; and all are interesting as individuals and enchanting as couples."

Each essay is just one to two pages long, accompanied by beautiful photos of the gardens these masters have designed.  The advice they offer on myriad subjects is advice you'll take to heart and put to excellent use in your own designs.