GardenDesignOnline

Happenings May 2022

Exhibitions:

Thru May 16, A Garden of Words,
The Huntington, San Marino, CA
Thru June 19, Chihuly in the Desert, Phoenix, AZ
Desert Botanical Garden, 480-941-1225

Events:

Garden Conservancy Digging Deeper Events
Reserve NOW for future months

April 30-May1, Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour, CA
Bayside & Inland Gardens, Self-guided
May 2, Vaux le Vicomte Lecture, Washington DC ONLINE
5:30PM, co-owner Alexandre de Vogué, Hillwood Museum & Gardens
May 5, What is Missing? Lecture, Bronx, NY
11am, Artist Maya Lin & Landscape Designer Edwina von Gal,
NY Botanical Garden
May 5, Olmsted & Yosemite, Lecture, ONLINE
2-3pm Eastern, Garden Conservancy
May 6-7 Making Landscapes Symposium, ONLINE (Free)
9am, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC
May 6-15, GO Public Gardens, Nationwide
Events to Celebrate Public Gardens
May 7, Garden Dialogues, Los Angeles, CA
10-11:30am, Tour & Lecture, Cummings Estate, TCLF
May 7, Georgetown Garden Tour, Washington DC
10am-5pm, 92nd annual tour.
May 7-8, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours: CA, IL, NJ, NY
CA: Alameda Cty; IL: Elburn, IL; NJ: Hunterdon, Someset Ctys; NY: Dutchess, Suffolk, Greene Ctys.

May 13-15 Tamiami International Orchid Festival, Miami, FL
May 14, Garden Dialogues, Los Altos Hills, CA
10-11:30am, Tour & Lecture, modernist Slot House, TCLF
May 14, Trade Secrets Show & Garden Tour, Lakeville, CT
Garden antiques, rare plants, private garden tours
May 14-15, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours: CA, MA, NJ, NY, PA
CA: Los Angeles; MA: Groton, Worcester Cty; NJ: Passaic, Essex Ctys;   NY: Amenia, Westchester Cty, Boiceville; PA: Bucks Cty.

May 17, Landscapes of Memory & Meaning, Bronx, NY
11am, Lecture, LA Sara Zewde, NY Botanical Garden
May 19, Hidden Gardens of Beacon Hill, Boston MA
9am-5pm, nine gardens, Beacon Hill Garden Club
May 21, All About Containers Saturday, NY, NY
10am-5pm, 3 Sessions, NY Botanical Garden, Midtown Center
May 21-22, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours: CA, CT, MA, WA
CA: Mendocino Cty; CT: New Haven, Fairfield Ctys; MA: Boston Area; NY: Suffolk Cty; WA: Pierce Cty.
May 21, Afternoon Salon for Gardeners, Stony Creek CT
4-6pm, Garden of Fred Bland, Garden Conservancy

May 22, Restoring Sporting Greens, Milton, MA
noon-2pm, Tea & Croquet, Spaulding Garden, Garden Conservancy
May 22, Garden Dialogues, Studio City, CA
10-11:30am, Tour & Lecture, El Cerro Residence, TCLF
May 24-28, Chelsea Flower Show, London, UK
May 28, Behind the Garden Gate Open Days, Charleston, SC
9am-2pm, 5 gardens, Garden Conservancy, Repeats June 4.
May 28-29, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours: CT, SC
CT: Fairfield Cty; SC: Charleston
May 29, Stage to Garden, Westport, CT
5-6pm, Blau House & Garden, Garden Conservancy

LOOKAHEAD:

June 3-5 Mount Vernon Symposium, Mt. Vernon, VA
Lectures, Events on Colonial Gardening & Landscaping
June 11-19, Philadelphia Flower Show, Philadelphia, PA

July 21-25, APLD International Design Conference, Chicago, IL

Sept 10, Garden Study Weekend Symposium, Southbury, CT
with Bunny Williams, LA Deborah Nevins, Page Dickey & others

Books: Garden Basics

You might want to buy this book for the whimsical, mod illustrations alone. What's on the cover is a dandelion and a dog rose. In The Joy of Weeds, A Celebration of Wild Plants (Portico Books, 2022), British artist and printmaker Paul Farrell profiles 50 weeds you may want to reconsider before pulling them out of your garden. Each entry has a stunning print and a page that includes a description of the plant, along with quirky historical factoids and a summary of ways the plant can be used.

Did you know that the dog rose (Rosa canina), a valuable source of Vitamin C,  was sent to the front lines during the Second World War to boost the health of British soldiers?  Did you know that Buddleia davidii is named after the Reverend Adam Buddle, a 17th century English botanist and cleric? And that it symbolizes resurrection, rebirth, and a new beginning? 

As Farrell says, "I hope to show you the joy of weeds and to go some way to help rewild ourselves by understanding the benefits of weeds as medicines, food sources and importance for wildlife. One person's weed is another's treasured wild plant, first aid kit, fortified tea, salad garnish, ornamental cutting, power pollinator and all-round wild force."  Yes! You want this fascinating field guide.

 

As a box on the back of this book proclaims, "Gardening is Climate Activism." In Grow Now (Timber Press, 2022), author/designer/organic gardener Emily Murphy covers all the basics of what she calls "regenerative gardening." As she says in the introduction, when people garden, "...we can repair ourselves and our plots of earth with our own two hands.  When we then connect these spaces to other gardens, parks, and pen spaces through living greenways, nature has the opportunity to repair itself and to restore its resiliency."  She shows the reader how to plan, design, and grow a garden filled with edibles, plants that attract wildlife and support biodiversity. If you want to help save the planet, put this book on your bookshelf.  And check out Murphy's blog, Pass the PIstil.

 

For a different take on the same subject, consider The Regenerative Garden: 80 Practical Projects for Creating a Self-Sustaining Garden Ecosystem (Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc, 2022) by Canadian author and gardener Stephanie Rose.  In the introduction to the book, she says "Regenerative is beyond the concept of sustainability....It's a space that can thrive on its own without human input, as Mother Nature has been doing since the beginning."  She starts with the basics of soil, water, planting, then moves on to projects that deal with climate issues, reducing waste, encouraging diversity, and community gardening.  Just a few of her "projects" include rain gardens, self-watering planters, companion plants, espaliers, gardens for bees, integrated pest management, planting a wildlife hedge. It's a valuable book for anyone who wants to turn their yard into a functioning ecosystem.

 

You might first want to ask, What's a Forest Garden? You'll find out everything you might want to know in The Home-Scale Forest Garden (Chelsea Green Publishing 2022) by self-taught gardener and retired clinical psychologist Dani Baker.  She explains throughout the book how to create a garden that needs no weeding, watering, fertilizing, mulching, spraying for pests and diseases. There are chapters on planning an implementing a forest garden, and others on choosing overstory and understory trees, shrubs, ground covers, vines and fungi, and how to group plants for the best results.  It also has lovely photos, drawings, and very useful lists of plants.

 

 

Olmsted Events

image: Natl Assn of Olmsted Parks

This year marks the 200th anniversary of Frederick Law Olmsted's birth -- on April 26, 1822 -- and there are many events celebrating his life and work as the founder of landscape architecture in the United States. 

First, you can download, free, an exhibit on his life and legacy curated by Dr. Caroline Mesrobian Hickman of the Univ of MD in conjunction with the Oak Spring Garden Foundation.  Register and download the exhibit here.

The events are listed on a new website, Olmsted 200, a website founded by ASLA, the National Association of Olmsted Parks (NAOP), and others.

Some events you might want to consider:

April 12, 12:30pm -- Livestreams from NYC's Central and Prospect Parks, both designed by Olmsted. 

April 25, 10:30am ET, Instagram Live Program with the Central Park Conservancy & National Assn for Olmsted Parks

April 26: Birthday celebration in Central Park, many other tours & events around the country.

Check out the main website for events throughout the year.

And there's a blog, Shared Spaces, with lots of info on Olmsted.

Books: Kitchen Gardens with Style

Vegetable gardens can look pretty messy, especially when not designed by a professional.  So if that's not your style, you might want to take a look at The Elegant & Edible Garden (Cool Springs Press, 2022) by Linda Vater.  She's a self-taught designer, but you wouldn't guess that from this beautiful and very useful book. 

As she says in the introduction, "This isn't a book about soil pH, insect and fungal issues, or double-digging .... This is a book about capturing the romance, the artistry, and the experiential nature of a garden and garden living.  It is a book about designing a garden that is distinctly yours, using edibles as ornamentals, with lots of pictures for inspiration and emulation."

In the UK, Vater takes you to kitchen gardens in the Cotswolds and to Rosemary Verey's garden in Gloucestershire, and she tells how to adapt elements in those gardens to your own.  She tells you what factors to consider when planning your garden, such as soil type, sun exposure, and most importantly, lifestyle; and how to formulate a plan for the design. I liked her "takeouts" on Plants for Tightly Pruned Hedges, and particularly her Fundamentals for enclosures, focal points, garden structures, color, and tips for garden composition.

If you want something a little special for your herbs and vegetables, as well as lovely blooms, this is the book for you.

Note: Commissions Earned