GardenDesignOnline

Happenings August 2020

Make sure to check the events listed below in the event they might be cancelled.
Garden Visits:  A lot of gardens are now open -- some with timed entries, limited hours or other requirements. Check the garden website before you visit.

EVENTS:

Check your local botanical garden for other online events.

Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours for August are cancelled.

Aug 5 Online Advanced Design Workshop with Patrick Cullina
8:30AM-5PM, Ecological Landscape Alliance, 617-436-5838

Aug 5-18 : NDAL Webinars
Aug 5 Cross-Pollination with Doug Tallamy & Larry Weaner
Aug 11: Native Annuals
Aug 12:Genetic Variation & Native Plant Design
Aug 13: Collecting Seed for Landscape Projects
Aug 18: Organic Planting & Management

NY Botanical Garden Online Classes August - Gardening, Landscape Design, Horticulture
Some excellent classes -- check them out

Phipps Conservatory Exhibit: Tropical Forest Cuba Pittsburgh, PA

Aug 25, Creating Transformative Spaces with Plants, Atlanta, GA
7pm, Lecture by Patrick Cullilna, Atlanta Botanical Garden

LOOKAHEAD:

Sept 23-26 APLD International Design Conference: Virtual
Oct: ASLA annual conference in MIami Beach has been cancelled

Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden in Danger

The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) has placed the garden, by landscape architect Lester Collins, on its list of at-risk landscapes.  The Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden in Washington DC wants to re-design the garden, and hired architect Hiroshi Sugimoto to come up with a new plan.

The New York Times has published an article about the controversy that you can read here.

It includes a rendering of Sugimoto's plan.

New Plants 2021: Monrovia

Monrovia is featuring some of its new 2021 plants at Cultivate ... the horticultural show that's going online this year ... July 13-16.  Here are a few plants to be introduced by Monrovia.

Nitty Gritty™ Groundcover Roses

They come in five colors -- peach shown here -- but also pink, yellow, red and white.  At three feet tall and four wide, they're said to offer exceptional disease resistance, along with a sweet fragrance and repeat blooming from late spring to fall.  What's not to like about that?  Hardy in zones 4-9.

 

Jazzy Jewel® Tropical Hibiscus

There aren't too many shrubs with orange flowers, so this is a candidate if you're looking for something different.  Flowers last for three days, with glossy deep green foliage and good disease resistance, including to bacterial leaf spot.  Flower colors come in ruby, gold, amber, and opal. Zones 10-11, two feet tall, spreading to six. It can also be grown as an annual in colder climates.

 

Seaside Serenade® Newport Hydrangea

There's always room for another hydrangea, and this one is perfect for either large or small gardens. It's a new part of the Seaside Serenade collection and is said to have particularly strong stems that do not flop in wind or rain. It has a compact habit and re-blooms from early summer until fall.  The flowers are either deep plum or pink, depending on the acidity of the soil.  Four feet tall and wide, it's hardy in zones 4-9. 

 

 

Books: Celebrating Women

Designers will likely know many of the women profiled in this book, but in The Earth in Her Hands: 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants (Timber Press, 2020), author Jennifer Jewell introduces us to many more women working in the general field of horticulture.

Each woman gets three or four pages that describe her work over many years, along with lovely photos of each person and her specific art.  Many of the women will be familiar: designers Edwina von Gal, Julie Moir Messervy, Lady Arabella Boyd; landscape architects Martha Schwartz and Mia Lehrer. 

Writers include Amy Stewart, Anna Pavord, and Jamaica Kincaid.  You'll also meet Gwen Stauffer, CEO at Lotusland in Montecito, CA, an old friend who I first met seemingly eons ago when she was horticultural director at Hillwood Museum & Gardens in DC.  And nurserywoman Annie Hayes of Annie's Annuals & Perennials, who says "Plants make my heart leap."  And botanist Julie Kierstead Nelson of the US Forest Service; Mary Pat Matheson, CEO of the Atlanta Botanical Garden; garden photographer Marion Brenner -- and many, many more.

Jewell's profiles are heavy on US West Coast women, but you'll find others from all around the world. Keep this book by your bedside and dip into it every once in a while. You'll be inspired by every story you read.  And if you haven't yet tuned in, Jewell's public radio program, Cultivating Place.