Garden Traveler Clippings

A Man Named Pearl

2011-03-28T14:35:00.000-07:00

One of the most remarkable artists (and gardeners) that I know of is a man named Pearl.

Pearl Fryar is an artist and his medium is topiary. But his are not the typical shear-a-boxwood-into-a-meatball topiaries. Sometimes described as “Dr. Seuss meets Edward Scissorhands,” Pearl wields a chainsaw and what he does with a Leyland Cypress will blow you away.

By now Pearl Fryar's three- acre topiary garden outside Bishopville, SC. is a well known destination for garden clubs and gardeners and anyone who appreciates beauty. His garden has been featured in local, regional and national media, including the NY Times, CBS, PBS, HGTV and Turner South. It’s important to remember that Pearl Fryar has had no formal training in sculpting topiary. He was once given a three-minute demonstration at a local nursery, but that’s it. For Pearl, it’s simple. He wanted to create a feeling and as a freehand, abstract artist, he goes with his vision.

Pearl often is often invited to give talks at garden shows, which is where I was fortunate enough to catch up with him. Along with his PowerPoint presentation of his garden, Pearl brought along his chainsaw. He fired that sucker up and told the audience not to be afraid to cut – one of his many gems of wisdom that he shared. This is a man who is not afraid of heights. One of the slides showed him perched on top of an extension ladder, which is propped up on the hood of an old red pickup truck, and he’s happily trimming away at one of his trees.

As Pearl often says, “When horticulture people come to my place, to my garden, the first thing they say is ‘you shouldn’t be able to do that.’ And I say, ‘I didn’t know that.’ One time in my life, ignorance paid off.”

How he got started is the stuff of legends. Pearl and his wife Metra bought a house on the outskirts of Bishopville in the early 1980s and this was the first time Pearl actually had a yard. At the time, Bishopville was a small southern town and some folks with small minds were concerned that he wouldn’t keep up his yard. Pearl had seen "Yard of the Month" signs given by the garden club of Bishopville on other people’s lawns and decided he was going to get yard of the month.

Growing up in a rural town in North Carolina in a sharecropper’s family, Pearl was raised to work hard. When he and his wife bought their house, he was working at a local can company doing 12 hour shifts – four days on, four days off. So, he worked a 12 hour shift and then went home and worked on his dream. At first, his neighbors couldn’t figure out what was going on and were understandably skeptical. But, as one of his neighbors said, “He kept working, morning till night, and you could just see the miracle happening.”

Plants for his yard came from a scrap pile of discarded plants at a local nursery. In a documentary about his life and his garden, Pearl says, “I took my hedge trimmer and every plant that was in my yard, I cut some kind of design in it. It took me about three to five years to say, this is it. I got it.”

What was he aiming for? “It wasn’t important to me to create a garden. I wanted to create a feeling. When you walk through my garden, you feel differently than you did when you started.”

Now, when a bus load of gardening enthusiasts pulls up in front of his garden, he often tells them, “There are people who go by the book. I don’t go by the book. I’m writing my book and my book is going to be what you don’t find in the other books.”

Visit Pearl Fryar's Topiary Garden Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm145 Broad Acres Rd Bishopville, SC 29010-2819The Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden has been designated a Preservation Project of the Garden Conservancy. As such, the Conservancy will help ensure that important gardens like this one are able to continue so future generations can enjoy them.

2011 Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden Calendar is now available

In celebration of the 26th Anniversary of the Yard of the Month Award given to Pearl Fryar and his garden by the Iris Garden Club of Bishopville, S.C., in January 1985, The Friends of the Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden have published a second annual calendar. Proceeds support ongoing maintenance and preservation efforts of the garden by the Friends organization. Calendar sales will also support the Pearl Fryar Scholarship Funds at Clinton Junior College in Rock Hill, SC and at Central Carolina Technical College in Bishopville.

Knoxville Botanical Garden & Arboretum

2010-06-23T17:04:00.000-07:00

Located on an East Tennessee ridge overlooking the Smokies and five minutes from downtown Knoxville, this 44-acre garden was once a nursery run by descendants of David W. Howell, who was originally granted the land for service during the American Revolutionary War. Citizens formed a not-for-profit in 2001 with the mission to preserve and establish a botanical garden. The site has some 2,000 plants, with mature trees and shrubs, along with whimsical round stone buildings, stone-sided greenhouses and secret garden paths and alleys.

Now open -The Martha H. Ashe Garden. The stone walls surrounding the garden were some of the first built by the Howell landscape crew, dating to the early 1930's. A few of the unique plants featured in the Garden are a pair of large Japanese Tree Lilacs (syringa reticulata), a Snowball Viburnum (Viburnum macophylla) that has been trained as an espalier, Allegany Serviceberry (Amelanchier laevis), a large China Fir (Cunninghmia lanceolata) and several Blue Atlas Cedars (Cedrus atalantica). The entire garden is watched over by a majestic Southern Red Oak (Quercus falcate) that measures 15 feet around.

Open daily, sunrise to sunset.

Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly)

2010-06-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

Photo: The Sequim Lavender Grower’s Association

Lavender wands, lavender sachets, lavender ice cream, lavender cookies. It’s time for lavender festivals, coast to coast. http://www.gardentraveler.com/pages/events.htm

Now it’s time for some lavender songs. Lavender Blue (Dilly, Dilly) was performed by Burl Ives in a Disney movie and some other artists, including Solomon Burke. Sammy Turner had a Top 40 hit that your grandparents (or you) danced to back in 1959. Remember this one?

Here are the lyrics and a link to Sammy Turner singing:
Lavender Blue (Dilly, Dilly)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6djUWGzhnc

Lavender blue, dilly-dilly

Lavender green

If I were king, dilly-dilly, I'd need a queen

Whoa-oh, who told me so?, dilly-dilly

Who told me so?

I told myself, dilly-dilly

I told me so

If your dilly-dilly heart

Feels a dilly-dilly way

If you'll answer yes

In a pretty little church

On a dilly-dilly day

You'll be wed in a dilly-dilly dress of

Lavender blue, dilly-dilly

Lavender green

Then I'll be king, dilly-dilly

You'll be my queen

Then I'll be king dilly-dilly

You'll be my queen
Lavender's blue, dilly dilly,

Lavender's green

When you are King, dilly dilly,

I shall be Queen

Who told you so, dilly dilly,

Who told you so?'

Twas my own heart, dilly dilly,

That told me so

Call up your friends, dilly, dilly

Set them to work

Some to the plough, dilly dilly,

Some to the fork

Some to the hay, dilly dilly,

Some to thresh corn

Whilst you and I, dilly dilly,

Keep ourselves warm

Lavender's blue, dilly dilly,

Lavender's green

When you are King, dilly dilly,

I shall be Queen

Who told you so, dilly dilly,

Who told you so?'

Twas my own heart, dilly dilly,

That told me so

Emily Dickinson’s Garden: The Poetry of Flowers

2010-05-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

Isn’t there a bit of a poet in every gardener? After all, many of our greatest poets turned to their garden, whether for inspiration or solace when the words wouldn’t come or another rejection letter showed up.

During her lifetime, Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) was better known as a gardener than as a poet. Currently the New York Botanical Garden is hosting a multi-venue exhibition, Emily Dickinson’s Garden: The Poetry of Flowers, highlighting the connections between her life and poems, and her love of gardens. The exhibit re-creates Dickinson’s own mid- 19th-century New England flower garden, a replica of the family property in Amherst, along with books, manuscripts and other artifacts. Visitors can stroll through Emily Dickinson’s Poetry Walk, with over 30 poetry boards and audio messages featuring Dickinson’s poems and the plants and flowers that inspired her to write them -- daffodils, roses, daisies, tulips, crabapples, and hemlocks.

Also on display is Emily’s white dress “She dresses wholly in white, & her mind is said to be perfectly wonderful." - Mabel Loomis Todd on Emily Dickinson.

April 30 -June 13.

An Olmsted Tabletop Garden

2010-04-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

Biltmore House, the 250-room French Renaissance chateau located in Asheville, NC, was built in the late 1800s as the country retreat of George and Edith Vanderbilt. The Vanderbilts commissioned Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of landscape architecture in America, to design the grounds.

Probably best known as the landscape architect of Central Park in New York, gentleness, charm and naturalness are keynotes of Olmsted's style. If creating your own park based on Olmsted’s principals is beyond reach, why not try creating a miniature landscape -- an "Olmsted Basket."

To create this small garden you must first choose a container, plant materials, and accessories that compliment each other and your setting.

Creating An "Olmsted Basket"

Biltmore's gardens were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted as his last great commission. Gentleness, charm and naturalness are keynotes of Olmsted's style. The picturesque and pastoral elements of Olmsted’s gardens can be recalled in our miniature landscapes. To create this small garden you must first choose a container, plant materials, and accessories that compliment each other and your setting.

Containers

Can be a basket, ceramic bowl, brass dish or wooden box; anything deep enough to hide the pots and give you room to create.
If you use an open weave basket, line it first with sphagnum moss so the foil and mechanics won't show.

Plant material

Best to use plants with similar requirements such as light, water, humidity, and temperature.
Use some tall and low plants, some upright and some spreading or vining to add interest or depth.
The size of the plant or pot is determined by the size of your container; 4" pots are easy to handle and to keep watered. Pots of various sizes can be mixed but will change the ease of care.
All pots should have drainage holes; soggy roots will rot.

Accessories

Best to use natural materials; nests, rocks, bark, twigs, lichens, gourds, berries.
Be creative! Consider where the arrangement will be placed; buffet - candles or fruit; table - ornaments or figurines.

Procedures for designing "Olmsted Basket":

Soak all plant materials well and allow to drain.
Line the basket carefully with florists’ polyfoil. This foil is moldable and has a plastic coating on one side. Use two layers of foil (wicker can punch a hole in the foil) as you want to create a watertight container.
Use floral foam (oasis) to stack and wedge the pots into position. The foam will not only secure the pots but will absorb the water that drains from pots and will raise the humidity.
Arrange the plants in an uncontrived manner, want a rambling, natural, fresh, simple feeling. Don't crowd and do vary height or depth of pots in the container.
Consider ease of watering when placing the pots. If too close to the edge of the container water could spill over. If the pots need to be close to the edge be sure the pot is slightly lower than the edge of the container. Plants toward the center can be elevated; run off water will be caught in the container or liner.
Place moss over all oasis and pots to cover your mechanics. Create interest with mosses by using different textures. You may use dried or living mosses. Brush moss debris from foliage with a small paintbrush.
Put your Olmsted Basket in place and accessorize!
Water with care as required by each pot; feel the soil. Some plants may need to be removed for watering or to be replaced. Just pull out, water, replace and remoss.

Notes:

These small landscapes are to be used indoors. Rain could drown your work. The pots have drainage but the basket does not!
By carefully choosing plant materials, using care in watering and by moving your basket to improve light conditions, your design can be very long lasting!

Pawpaws to the People

2010-02-17T06:32:00.000-08:00

Did you ever hear anyone say, "I wish I had a dollar for every pawpaw I ate"?

Probably not because chances are you don't know of anyone who has actually ever seen a pawpaw, let alone eaten one.

Sometimes called the poor man's banana, pawpaws (Asimina triloba) are a fruit that you're not going to find at Kroger. In fact, when I asked a clerk in the produce department yesterday, she said she had never heard of it, but as this was only her third day she went off to ask her manager. Her manager came over and, I even spelled it: p-a-w-p-a-w , but she'd never heard of it either.

Well, that may be changing. There seems to be a growing interest for pawpaws amongst gardeners. Kentucky State University has announced that it will release the first in a series of trademarked pawpaw cultivars developed on the KSU Research and Demonstration Farm. According to their Web site, Kentucky State has the only full-time pawpaw research program in the world and they are working towards the development of pawpaws as a new fruit crop.

Its taste has been described as a combination of banana, mango and pineapple, and the pawpaw is the largest edible fruit native to the U.S. The catch is that pawpaws supposedly taste best when one shakes the pawpaw tree and the fruit falls on the ground. Hence the old song: "Picking up pawpaws, put 'em in your pocket . . . "

Pawpaws will generally grow in USDA zones 5 - 8. they prefer deep, well drained slightly acidic soil, and plenty of moisture.

For more information, check out the KSU Pawpaw Program: http://pawpaw.ksu.edu/

Pawpaw seedlings are available from the Kentucky Division of Forestry: http://www.forestry.ky.gov/seedling/

For you Garden Travelers who are also interested in pawpaws,the 2010 Ohio Pawpaw Festival -- PAWPAWS TO THE PEOPLE! -- is scheduled for September18 & 19 in Lake Snowden in Albany.

A Garden Traveler’s Pilgrimage: Charleston

2010-01-29T04:20:00.001-08:00

Where’s your Holy Grail?

One day, are you going to follow the Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James) across northern Spain, a route that has been walked by millions of pilgrims since the Middle Ages, and who, even today, make the journey on foot, or bicycle or mule? Are you one of the legions of Elvis fans across the world (including Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi when he visited the U.S.) who make the annual pilgrimage to Graceland in Memphis?

For gardeners, Charleston, known as “a city set in a garden” is Mecca. For me, within this Celestial City of Southern Gardens, my Mecca remains steadfast: Mrs. Whaley’s Charleston garden on Church Street.

It was early on a Sunday morning and, of course, the garden wasn’t open to the public the first time I made it there. But we were heading back to Atlanta and I could not/would not leave Charleston without making an attempt to see one of the most visited private gardens in America.

Like many of the gates and fences standing sentinel at the gardens of Charleston, the grillwork here was fashioned in black wrought-iron; a flirtatious Southern belle offering just a glimpse of a well-turned ankle. A charming gate, but still, it was keeping me outside of this particular Eden and I wanted to see more. Was that pittosporum (Pittosporum tobira) around the corner? I fancied that I caught a whiff of Confederate jasmine. Perhaps that sweet scent was a tea olive (Osmanthus fragrans)? Somewhere nearby a church bell was chiming. The current occupants of the house were undoubtedly enjoying a leisurely second cup of coffee, lingering over the Sunday paper, oblivious to this stranger lurking just outside. But I was to determined to, at the very least, catch a peek at the masterpiece the late Emily Whaley created, based on the plan originally drawn up for her in 1940 by Mr. Loutrel Briggs, the renowned landscape architect who designed many of the wonderful gardens in Charleston.

Alas, my traveling companion was tugging on my arm, mumbling about trespassing on private property, and I was forced to retreat with only a hasty look at my Holy Grail of Charleston’s gardens. In my mind I was not trespassing. After all, when your garden is the title of a book – Mrs. Whaley and Her Charleston Garden, by Emily Whaley in conversation with William Baldwin -- as well as the subject of numerous magazine and newspaper articles and has even appeared on the cover of the Charleston telephone book, it’s inevitable that stray gardener pilgrims will pop up from time to time.

Luckily for me (and everyone else), during Historic Charleston Foundation’s Annual Festival of Houses and Gardens, owners of the private gardens in the Historic District of Charleston graciously open their signature wrought-iron garden gates – and in many cases their front doors – to welcome visitors. During the month-long celebration, daily tours feature the interiors and gardens of nearly 150 historic private houses in 12 colonial and antebellum neighborhoods during the peak of the city's blooming season.

The late Emily Whaley said it best. “Inspiration is the bottom line. Without it the first move could not be made. . . . We see, absorb, winnow, and sift, and finally our imaginations take wing and out of all this come our gardening plans.”

The gates will be open in Charleston, March 19 - April 18.

10 Books for Gardeners

2009-12-16T15:54:00.000-08:00

Here are my suggestions for Santa ..hint, hint, hint

(I have a good many but not all of these)

“The Wild Braid, A Poet Reflects on a Century in the Garden” by Stanley Kunitz
"American Horticultural Society New Encyclopedia of Gardening Techniques: The Indispensable Illustrated Practical Guide" edited by David J. Ellis, Fiona Gilsenan, Rita Pelczar and Graham Rice
"Home Outside: Creating the Landscape You Love" by Julie Moir Messervy
“A Countrywoman’s Notes” by Rosemary Verey
“Garden Wisdom” by Leslie Geddes-Brown

“The Welcoming Garden; Designing Your Own Front Garden” and “The Intimate Garden. Twenty Years and Four Seasons in Our Garden” by Gordon Hayward & Mary Hayward.
“Mrs Whaley and Her Charleston Garden” by Emily Whaley
“Vita-Sackville-West: Selected Writings" Mary Ann Ann Caws (Editor), Vita Sackville-West
“Notes from Madoo: Making a Garden in the Hamptons,” by Robert Dash
"Hidcote: The Making of a Garden," by Ethne Clarke

Dunaway Gardens, Georgia

2009-10-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

Minnie Pearl got her start here and Walt Disney loved to visit.

When Hetty Jane Dunaway, one of the most popular actresses on the Chautauqua Circuit of summer theater, married booking agent Wayne P. Sewell, the couple moved to the Sewell's family cotton plantation near Roscoe, Georgia.

There, Hetty Jane turned red clay and cotton fields into her vision: a storybook garden as a setting for a theatrical training center. After its heyday during the 1930s and 1940s, the garden was neglected for nearly 50 years.

Today the 25-acre Dunaway Gardens is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Regrded as one of the south's largest natural rock and floral gardens, there are spring-fed pools, stone waterfalls and extensive hand-laid rock paths, walls, and staircases.

Open May – Mid-November. Friday & Saturday, 10 AM - 4 PM. Sundays, noon - 4 PM

A Garden Walk for All Seasons

2009-07-03T08:29:00.000-07:00

Seasonal Walk at the New York Botanical Garden

Armchair gardeners everywhere can stroll along the famous New York Botanical Garden’s Seasonal Walk and watch what promises to be a truly inspired garden installation take shape over four seasons. Linger as long as you want. In fact, if you want to go back and see April’s “confection of tulip’s blooming once again, go right ahead.

The New York Botanical Garden’s Seasonal Walk is a broad garden path running between two wide borders, adjacent to the glass-domed Enid A. Haupt Conservatory that the Garden redesigns yearly, and refreshes seasonally.
For 2009, the Garden invited two international garden design superstars from the Netherlands, Piet Oudolf of Hummelo, NL and Jacqueline van der Kloet of Weesp, NL, to create a custom four-season garden installation, evolving over 12 months... “Both designers are known for sophisticated plant mixes, an artist’s eye for form and color, and complex naturalized plantings that evolve over the seasons,” according to the Garden’s Web site.

The Seasonal Walk Chronicles is a year-long project documenting the design as it evolves week by week, month after month. From planting approximately 30,000 bulbs in November of 2008 – along with the what, why and how (if you want to learn the flick-of-the-wrist technique so “the whole surface is a tapestry of bulbs”) is the work of Tovah Martin (the writer whose work has appeared in Victoria magazine, among numerous other places – including several Tasha Tudor books) and Rob Cardillo’s beautiful photographs.

There’s also a Step-by-Step Guide for Landscapers, with useful advice such as “how to make a mixed bulb border happen,” along with plant lists and photos so you know what the plant actually looks like, and stunning photos of plant pairings(courtesy of Rob Cardillo) and lots more.
Enjoy! Over and over again!

A Garden Traveler’s Pilgrimage: Charleston

2009-03-21T10:00:00.000-07:00

Where’s your Holy Grail?

I have visited Mrs. Whaley’s garden several times – legitimately, courtesy of events like these in Charleston – and I am always inspired and always vow to return. After all, inspiration is what we’re all searching for, in one form or another.

The late Emily Whaley said it best. “Inspiration is the bottom line. Without it the first move could not be made. . . . We see, absorb, winnow, and sift, and finally our imaginations take wing and out of all this come our gardening plans.”

The gates will be open in Charleston, March 19 - April 18.

Say it With Bare Root Roses

2009-02-11T06:50:00.000-08:00

Valentines Day isn’t the only reason to think roses in February.

Depending on where you live, it’s approaching the time to get ready to plant your own bare root roses, which I personally think are the best way to grow roses. Those of us in the South plant in mid- to late February, but check with your local Rose Society for information for your area.

If you need some inspiration, this year's AARS award winning roses for 2009 are Carefree Spirit™, Pink Promise (shown here), and Cinco de Mayo.™ Carefree Spirit is the first landscape shrub to be named a winner.

For suggestions on planting bare root roses, check out these instructions from the AARS.

The American Rose Society is another great source of information, plus they can put you in touch with local Rosarians in your area who'll give you advice.

Flower and Garden Shows 2009

2008-11-29T06:43:00.000-08:00

“Passion! How do you Bloom?”

That’s the theme for the 22nd annual Southeastern Flower Show, scheduled January 28 - February 1, one of the first of the garden shows to be held in 2009. This year the show moves to its new home, the Galleria Centre in Cobb County, GA (free parking this year!!!).
Horticultural societies are getting ready to kick off spring with the 2009 Flower and Garden Shows around the country. No need for green thumbs, just make sure you’re wearing your walking shoes when you go. Prepare to be dazzled and inspired by fabulous gardens and displays, plus there’s typically demonstrations, lectures and great shopping.

Check back with Garden Traveler for updates on future shows.

http://www.gardentraveler.com/pages/events.htm
21st Annual Southeastern Flower Show Entrance Garden
Design by Chuck Henry, Director of Show Design, Southeastern Flower Show
Rendering by Jim Keen, Landscape Architect

Lavender Fields Forever

2008-07-05T11:22:00.000-07:00

Our lavender is just coming into bloom and it’s gorgeous. We use it as a hedge throughout our rose garden, and now the purple and blue spikes rock gently with bumblebees and butterflies perched atop the blossoms, like a sway pole in a circus.
Some background: Lavender (lavandula angustifolia) is native to the Mediterranean region. It was used in ancient Egypt as part of the process for mummifying bodies. Lavender's use as a bath additive originated in Persia, Greece, and Rome. The herb's name comes from the Latin lavare, which means "to wash." (from Wikipedia)

Do you yearn to visit the lavender fields of Provence? If that’s not on your agenda in the near future, visit one of the Lavender Festivals here in the U.S. Both Washington and Oregon have cultivated viable, thriving agribusinesses of lavender and many of the region’s farms will be open during the festivals.

12th annual Sequim Lavender Festival
Friday, July 18 - Sunday, July 20, 2008
Sequim, Washington is known as the Lavender Capital of North America and this is the largest lavender event in the country, with eight farms on tour. The Street Fair showcases many products made from lavender grown locally in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley by members of the Sequim Lavender Growers Association. There are 45 different varieties of lavender for purchase, along with new flavors of lavender ice cream, smoothies, and possibly lavender pie.

For more lavender festivals, visit the events section of Garden Traveler.

If you’re fortunate enough to have some lavender already growing in your garden, here are some instructions for making lavender wands: http://www.achs.edu/mediabank/files/Lavender_Wand_instructions.pdf

Gardens of Seattle

2008-06-02T05:39:00.000-07:00

Q. We are master gardeners and are coming to Seattle area in June. What gardens should we see? Are there private gardens open to visitors? (We visited back yard gardens in Ireland) Any help you can give on this would be most appreciated.Thank you!

A. The Seattle area has wonderful gardens – here are a few for your gardens-I-must-visit list. (Please check individual garden links for the latest visiting hours!)

The Garden Conservancy Open Days: Seattle, June 8

The Garden Conservancy is a national, nonprofit organization founded in 1989 to preserve exceptional American gardens. Gardens of unusual merit across the U.S. are identified and the Garden Conservatory works with their owners and others to ensure the gardens’ futures and to make them permanently accessible to the public. Inspiration came from England’s National Gardens Scheme and its guidebook, Gardens of England and Wales Open for Charity, informally known as the Yellow Book. During the Open Days in the U.S., private gardens are open for self-guided tours, $5 admission fee per person per garden.
· Old Goat Farm Old Goat Farm is a small nursery located in the foothills below Mt. Rainier. The property includes a very small farm with a 100-year-old farm house and a large garden featuring both sun and shade beds.
· Homeranch_Ted Van Velzen & Ruben Corpuz
· The Chase Garden
The garden is also open to the public on Fridays and Saturdays from April through October, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Reservations are not required on these days for self-guided tours. Entrance fee is $5.00 per person.

Blodel Reserve

Seattle Chinese Garden

Evergreen Arboretum & Gardens

Kubota Garden

Ohme Gardens

Growing a Garden: Idaho’s Sawtooth Botanical Garden

2008-04-05T07:40:00.000-07:00

To conceive and create a botanical garden is a daunting endeavor for anyone, anywhere, but in Idaho?

The Sawtooth Botanical Garden started as a community garden. In 1995 a small, yet determined, local group of gardeners and environmentalists acquired a former horse pasture – with the help of the Global Environmental Project Institute. The idea was to demonstrate sustainable gardening practices and allow community members to rent plots and grow vegetables and flowers.

As membership grew, so did the vision. By 2000, the Community Garden was renamed the Sawtooth Botanical Garden, with a vision to celebrate the unique beauty and diverse plant life of the region and to educate and inspire people to appreciate and live in balance with the natural world.

The Garden of Infinite Compassion

In the Northeast corner is the Garden of Infinite Compassion, a high altitude alpine rock garden designed for meditation by renowned landscape designer Martin Mosko. At its center is a beautifully carved Tibetan Prayer Wheel, installed in conjunction with a visit by the Dalai Lama in September, 2005 and blessed by His Holiness.

The 400 lb. copper Prayer Wheel, created by Buddhist monks in Dharamasala, is filled with over one million written mantras. As the Prayer Wheel spins, blessings and hopes for peace and compassion are sent worldwide. A journey through this garden begins with a path to the serenity pond, where benches offer a place to relax and enjoy the Healing Crystal. Placed throughout the garden, giant boulders keep watch over reflecting ponds and a quiet, meandering stream.

Riparian
Willow, Aspen and Cottonwood trees, along with other native riparian plants, line the banks of the spring-fed creek that runs through the garden. This creek is known as a Comstock Ditch which never freezes and flows year-round. It is a wetland wildlife habitat for birds, native trout, beaver, moose and insect life.

Home Demonstration Xeriscape Garden
Funded by a grant from the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust, these beds showcase a wide variety of colorful drought-tolerant plants and demonstrate low water usage with a drip irrigation system.

Herbaceous Perennial Display Garden
A project donated and installed by The Dig It Garden Club, this formally arranged garden displays perennials blooming spring to fall in the Wood River Valley’s high altitude climate.

For more information about building a community garden:

Announcing the Garden Conservancy’s 2008 Open Days

2008-03-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

April 5, Vero Beach, Florida
My courtyard is typical of Andalusian courtyards in Spain, which were recreated in the Caribbean during the Spanish conquest.

April 5, Ithaca, New York
A unique collection of over 400 snowdrop varieties along with other very early spring flowers. The 1848 Greek Revival-style farmhouse was moved to this site in 1990.

April 27, Pasadena, California
Designed in the 1930s by Roland Coate, we are the second owners of this magnificent Monterey Colonial house which is surrounded by majestic old oaks, broad lawns, and a variety of gardens. We have a mature, old-fashioned, two-acre estate which offers peace, beauty, and woodland serenity.

Photo: Greenwood Gardens is a twenty-two acre formal garden in Short Hills, New Jersey, about twenty miles to the north of New York City.

From coast to coast, April through November, more than 300 private gardens like these will once again welcome visitors on scheduled days through the Garden Conservatory’s Open Days Program.

The Garden Conservancy is a national, nonprofit organization founded in 1989 to preserve exceptional American gardens. Gardens of unusual merit across the U.S. are identified and the Garden Conservatory works with their owners and other interested parties to ensure the gardens’ futures and to make them permanently accessible to the public.

The Open Days are self-guided tours, with a $5 admission fee per person per garden.
For more information, as well as the 2008 schedule, visit http://www.gardenconservancy.org/opendays/index.pl

Catch up: Indoor gardening

2008-01-25T07:41:00.000-08:00

It’s winter and my garden really isn’t that inviting, but check out my terrariums! More and more gardeners are capturing nature in miniature and under glass.

Bring the outdoors in with miniature gardens
MSNBC - USA
Now’s the time to try three classic indoor gardening projects: terrariums, topiaries and bonsai.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22828363/

An inside job on terrariums
Los Angeles Times - CA,USA
A new generation of designers is reinventing the mini-garden, and devotees are lining up.
http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-terrariums24jan24,1,2981593.story?ctrack=7&cset=true

Mini plants, major care
Mini plants, major care
Los Angeles Times - CA,USA
How should tend your terrarium? With anything from a heart surgeon's tweezers and surgical scissors to tools found in your kitchen drawer.
http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-terrariumsside24jan24,1,2568933.story?ctrack=5&cset=true

Gardeners get ready: 2008 Flower and Garden Shows

2008-01-08T07:19:00.000-08:00

Anxious to get out in the garden and start planting, but cold weather and gray skies holding you back? Gardeners put on your walking shoes and get ready. The 2008 Flower and Garden Show season is about to start and thousands of garden enthusiasts, from neophytes to master gardeners, will find garden design inspiration and advice to make this year’s garden the best ever.

Show highlights typically include professionally landscaped gardens; amateur and professional floral designs; seminars and demonstrations; horticultural information and advice for gardeners of all ages; and great shopping.

One of the first shows is the 21st annual Southeastern Flower Show.
This year’s theme: Imagine That!
Wednesday, January 30 – Sunday, February 3, 2008
Georgia World Congress Center, located across from CNN Center at Andrew Young International Boulevard and Marietta Street,
Atlanta, GA.

The granddaddy of all flower shows: the Philadelphia Flower Show.
This year’s theme: Jazz It Up
Sunday, March 2 - Sunday, March 9
Pennsylvania Convention Center
Philadelphia, PA

Begun in 1829, the Philadelphia Flower Show is the oldest U.S. flower show and the largest annual indoor flower show in the world, covering 33 indoor acres in all. The country's premier landscape designers and florists turn 10 acres of the Convention Center into a floral fantasy world with exotic plants and eclectic designs.

For other shows around the U.S. visit: http://http//www.gardentraveler.com/pages/events.htm

Emily’s Birthday

2007-12-10T05:25:00.000-08:00

Some say Emily Dickinson (1830–86) is America’s greatest poet. I know that she’s definitely one of myFaves. Since today’s Miss Emily’s birthday, here are some of her thoughts.

To make a prairie it takes a clover
And one bee, ―
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do
If bees are few.

###

Before you thought of spring,
Except as a surmise,
You see, God bless his suddenness,
A fellow in the skies
Of independent hues,
A little weather-worn,
Inspiriting habiliments
Of indigo and brown.

With specimens of song,
As if for you to choose,
Discretion in the interval,
With gay delays he goes
To some superior tree
Without a single leaf,
And shouts for joy to nobody
But his seraphic self!

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Inside Out

2007-12-06T05:59:00.000-08:00

The Art and Craft of Home Landscaping
By Jeff Hutton

Are you a gardener or a landscaper? According to Jeff Hutton, a landscape designer in Vernon, Connecticut, there’s a distinction.

After all, would you furnish your home by popping into a furniture store on a whim, buying whatever catches your eye and then shoving your I-don’t-care-if-it-is-too big -and-clashes-I-want-it-anyway sofas and chairs just anywhere and expect your home to look attractive and inviting? Well, if your whole house is furnished straight from Ethan Allen, yeah, you might. Most people, however, decorate their home with at least some thought to the basics of concepts like color, space, patterns, flow, scale — even if it’s only subconsciously.

These same basic design principles could and should apply to the landscape outside of your home as well, according to Hutton, who shares his more than thirty years of experience designing outdoor living spaces in his new book, Inside Out. Hutton advocates “. . . merging the surrounding landscape with the structure of the house.” Calling himself, “a great proponent of what I call ‘inside out’ – effectively blurring the border between architecture and landscape architecture, or interior and exterior design,” he contends: “Your yard is the canvas. Design is about composition, no matter what the application.”

Since too much of my garden canvas is now blank, courtesy of the ongoing drought here in Georgia, this book offers a much-needed landscape cache of information and ideas. Foundation beds, walkways and paths, decks and porches, patios and courtyards, retaining walls, ornamental grasses, ornamental and shade trees, foliage and flowers, as well as easy-to-follow discussions of integration, intersection, association, balance, composition, and color are all here in the wonderful book.

Hutton is also a self-proclaimed lifelong student of plant nomenclature and he includes a fascinating chapter on deciphering the Linnaeus Code, the methodology of classifying and naming living organisms organized by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, often called the Father of Taxonomy. According to Hutton, “It’s pretty satisfying to be able to read the label on a plant, and understand its character from its name.”

Do you think this is useless information? Not so. If you’re browsing the garden center for something to plant in that small wedge of ground next to your house, you’ll know enough to give the plant with giganteum on its label a pass.

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Child’s Play: Longwood's New Indoor Children's Garden

2007-11-12T11:39:00.000-08:00

Does “children” and “garden” and “glass” sound like a kid-friendly activity? Most definitely — at Longwood's New Indoor Children's Garden. More than a decade in the making, the new 4,000 square-foot Indoor Children’s Garden is three times larger than Longwood’s previous indoor children’s garden. A surrounding walkway allows “grown” children to enjoy the garden, as well as keep an eye on the action.

What’s the theme? “Longwood Children’s Garden is unique because there is no central theme,” said Patricia Evans, communications manager at Longwoods. “We have created a magical world for children to explore and most importantly, use their imaginations to create the story or experience with each visit. There are educational elements, and the opportunity for kids to learn about plants, but the most important goal was for children to realize the joy of being in a garden, to want to visit gardens and perhaps inspire future horticulturists!”

Along with 17 fountains, Longwood’s Indoor Children's Garden features:
The Central Cove, with a tree-covered seating area, a central pool with flower-shaped water jets and jewel-like mosaics, and three animal adorned sculptures shooting streams of water from overhead into the pool. Children will move from the Central Cove into the Rain Pavilion, which features water curtains on two sides. Look up and you will see the glass ceiling allowing a view of water running overhead.
The Secret Room is home to the Drooling Dragon water feature, and a balcony that overlooks the Central Cove.
The Ramp, accented by an ever-changing Water Curtain and animated by the leaping water “glow worm,” leads children to a Tower overlooking the Bamboo Maze. Water runs down the glow worm into a swallowing salamander at the bottom of the ramp.
The Grotto Cave, underneath the Tower, contains a shallow fog-covered pool activated by water dripping from sculpted snakes coiled overhead.
The Bamboo Maze offers a jungle of tree-size bamboos for children to explore. The Maze contains five visitor-activated water features accented with ornate bird sculptures.

Longwood Gardens, located on US Route 1 near Kennett Square, PA, is open daily. For more information, visit www.longwoodgardens.org.

The Drooling Dragon (pictured) is the centerpiece of Longwood’s new Indoor Children’s Garden. Weighing an amazing 3,500 pounds, water streams down the Dragon’s mouth and colored lights add to the effect.

The $64 Tomato

2007-08-25T15:19:00.000-07:00

The $64 Tomato, How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity,

Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis

in the Quest for the Perfect Garden

By William Alexander

I don’t know about you, but I have never considered adding up how much I spend on my garden during the year and then, somehow, calculating how much each plant has actually cost. I’m feeling stressed just thinking about it.

However, a New England gardener named William Alexander did just that for his three acre backyard vegetable garden and small orchard in a small town in the Hudson Valley. The result is his hilarious book: The $64 Tomato.

Alexander relates his quest for organic gardening, IPM (integrated pest management) and agonizes over the philosophical horticultural conundrum: what actually constitutes “organic”? He takes us along as he starts down the slippery slope of chemicals in the garden, providing us with lots of laughs, as well as a lot of interesting facts. (Although I learned more than I really needed to know about apple trees and baggies.)

When his family has the inevitable plumbing problems related to their septic tank, we meet Lou, the local excavator, who doesn’t quite finish up the job he started back in the November. Not only do the Alexanders not hear from him, but Lou leaves his backhoe behind, stuck in their yard.

For Alexander, gardening is also a bit of a blood sport. He tries to go after deer, squirrels, an opossum and a groundhog he calls Superchuck. I’m not a hunting/trapping fan, so I was rooting for his Havahartattack trap. Thankfully, Alexander is rather inept at animal control.

William Alexander deftly and hilariously relates his gardening/small-scale farming experience (When does a vegetable garden become a farm? Is yet another thought worth exploring.) When it’s too hot or too cold to be out in your garden, do yourself a favor and curl up with this excellent book. You won’t be disappointed.

P.S. Next year I’m going to grow heirloom Brandywine tomatoes.

“Gardening is, by its very nature, an expression of the triumph of optimism over experience. No matter how bad this year was, there’s always next year. Experience doesn’t count. Just because the carrots have been knobby, misshapen, and somewhat bitter four years in a row doesn’t mean they’re going to be knobby and misshapen next year.” --- William Alexander

Cemetery Gardens: Mount Auburn Cemetery

2007-07-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

Nobody wants to visit a garden where most of it is dead, do they? Well, when the garden is beautiful and what’s dead is buried, then yes – a garden -- found in a cemetery -- is well worth a visit. In fact, some of the most beautiful gardens in the U.S. are found in cemeteries, beginning with "America's first garden cemetery,” the Mount Auburn Cemetery of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Founded in 1831, Mount Auburn Cemetery is widely acknowledged as the catalyst for the “garden cemetery” movement, where landscaped parks become an alternative to burial in church graveyards. Up until then, the dead were buried in churchyards located in close proximity to churches. General Henry A. S. Dearborn, president of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, along with Alexander Wadsworth, a civil engineer and surveyor, plus others, banded together to create a tranquil and beautiful landscape that not only honors the dead, but provides enjoyment, succor, and inspiration for the living as well. Mount Auburn became the model for cemeteries nationwide and inspired the creation of America’s public parks.

Today, Mount Auburn Cemetery has over 5,000 trees, representing 630 taxa, and thousands of shrubs and herbaceous plants throughout 175 acres of hills, dells, ponds, woodlands and clearings. There are Victorian and formal ornamental gardens, contemporary gardens and natural woodlands.

Open daily, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. October through April.; 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. May through September.

From: The "Rural" Cemetery Movement and its Impact on American Landscape Design;
U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service; II. BURIAL CUSTOMS AND CEMETERIES IN AMERICAN HISTORY

The "rural" cemeteries laid out by horticulturists in Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York in the 1830s were romantic pastoral landscapes of the picturesque type. Planned as serene and spacious grounds where the combination of nature and monuments would be spiritually uplifting, they came to be looked on as public parks, places of respite and recreation acclaimed for their beauty and usefulness to society.

In the early "rural" cemeteries and in those which followed their pattern, hilly, wooded sites were enhanced by grading, selective thinning of trees, and massing of plant materials which directed views opening onto broad vistas. The cemetery gateway established separation from the workaday world, and a winding drive of gradual ascent slowed progress to a stately pace. Such settings stirred an appreciation of nature and a sense of the continuity of life.

By their example, the popular new cemeteries started a movement for urban parks that was encouraged by the writings of Andrew Jackson Downing and the pioneering work of other advocates of "picturesque" landscaping, most particularly Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted, who collaborated in the design of New York City's Central Park.

See Rock City

2007-05-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

Everybody should see Rock City. Why? Located atop Georgia’s Lookout Mountain, just six miles from downtown Chattanooga, Rock City is a true marvel of nature and advertising.

It was started in the 1920s by the Carter family (Garnet and Frieda, not those other Carters). Garnet decided to develop a Lookout Mountain community that ended up including the first miniature golf course in the U.S. (The originally planned traditional golf course was way behind construction schedule so Garnet offered guests a “miniature” golf course. That turned out to be very popular and the Carters franchised the concept: Tom Thumb Golf.)

Meanwhile, Frieda set out to develop “a rock garden to end all rock gardens.” Today her vision has developed into a 4,100-foot trail along rock formations, caves and wonderful gardens with native plants.

However, situated on top of a mountain, Rock City was in an out-of-the-way location. To attract crowds, Garnet decided to advertise in a new medium. In 1936 Garnet Carter gave Clark Byers, a sign painter, a truck, some paint and a mission: paint "See Rock City" on barn roofs on highways from Michigan to Texas. According to a background of Rock City, “Clark Byers painted the barns for three decades and became a legend in his own right by braving bulls, slippery roofs and lightning bolts. When he retired in 1969, he had painted some 900 barns in 19 states.”

The Rock City barns became an American icon, but there’s truth in that advertising. The impressive views alone are worth the trip. From atop Lookout Mountain, visitors have a spectacular panorama of seven states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Rock City combines natural and man-made wonders. Plus, you can also buy a world-famous See Rock City birdhouse!

Announcing the Garden Conservancy’s 2007 Open Days

2007-03-05T14:55:00.001-08:00

The Open Days Program is a series of tours of more than 450 private gardens around the country — from April through October — in conjunction with the Garden Conservancy, a national organization dedicated to preserving exceptional American gardens.

It’s estimated that more than two-thirds of great American gardens have already been lost. The Garden Conservancy identifies exceptional gardens and works with their owners and others to ensure the gardens’ futures.
Proceeds from the Open Days Program support the national preservation work of the Garden Conservancy.

The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Directory books list Open Days and participating gardens with garden descriptions, open hours, and directions. To order an Open Days Directory, please click here.

For more information visit www.gardenconservancy.org

All-America Rose Selections Announces 'Designing With Roses' Competition

2007-01-04T08:42:00.000-08:00

How About a Bed of Roses?

When love came first to Earth,the Spring spread rose-beds to receive him.
- Thomas Campbell, Scottish poet

(1777-1844)

All-America Rose Selections™ (AARS™) announced the call for entries for its Designing with Roses Competition, which honors excellence in landscape architecture and garden design.

Submissions must incorporate U.S. roses as a primary design element.

Competition is open to professionals, students or teachers in the fields of landscape architect and landscape/garden design. New this year is a category for the best regional public gardens.

Even if you don’t qualify for the competition, you can still tackle a new challenge: design your garden with roses. You say you always wanted a bed of roses? Well, this is your year. Go for it.

You have lots of beauties to choose from, including the AARS’ 2007 award-winning roses above.

Top: Rainbow Knock Out

Middle: Moondance

Bottom: Strike It Rich

All-America Rose Selections is a nonprofit association dedicated to the introduction and promotion of exceptional roses. For more information visit http://www.rose.org

Prison Break at the Botanical Garden

2006-11-01T17:01:00.000-08:00

How can anyone seriously think that a botanical garden isn’t the perfect setting for action-packed drama? After all, gardens are pretty thrilling places. Gardeners know that and so do viewers of the hit Fox network drama, Prison Break.

In this episode, Michael Scofield has to make a stop at the Blanding Botanical Gardens. He checks the prison tattoo on the back of his right elbow and a tourist map of the gardens and goes looking for ….

Check out Episode 209 of Prison Break that aired on 10/30/2006 and find out what Michael Scofield was looking for at the Blanding Botanical Gardens.

http://www.fox.com/prisonbreak/recaps/

(Back story: Scofield committed a crime so he would get sent to Fox River State Penitentiary -- where his brother Lincoln Burrows is on death row -- and stages the ultimate Prison Break to free his brother and assorted others. Now they’re on the run.)

Fairy Gardens

2006-08-06T14:22:00.000-07:00

When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces
and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies.
Sir James M. Barrie; Peter Pan

If you believe in fairies, clap your hands and get started.
There’s a popular gardening trend just for you: Fairy Gardens.

Create your miniature fairy garden wherever your imagination leads -- window boxes, terra cotta containers, a trough, wooden boxes, bird baths, or even a sandbox.

Use twigs and sticks and bark for tiny houses. Paths and a pond or lake can be made of pebbles and colored sand. When designing your landscape, keep a fairy-sized scale in mind. An enchanted forest can be made up of miniature and dwarf conifers that grow one inch or less a year. Plants with small leaves such as herbs work well. After all, in Shakespeare’s play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream,” the fairy queen Titania sleeps in a bed of thyme.

Here are a few more sources:

The magical world of fairy gardeningMini landscapes allow creativity to shine
The magical world of fairy gardeningThe Coloradoan - Fort Collins,CO,USA

Rebecca’s Garden, HGTV; September 22, 2006
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_design_other/article/0,1785,HGTV_3566_3479587,00.html

Step-by-step directions for children to make an indoor miniature fairy garden out of a window box or container.
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_containers_indoor/article/0,1785,HGTV_3559_1667624,00.html

Walk this way . . .

2006-07-27T14:12:00.000-07:00

The Garden Traveler's Library:

The Welcoming Garden; Designing Your Own Front Garden

by Gordon Hayward

walk this way, walk this way, walk this way. . .

No, Aerosmith wasn’t singing about the pathways and front gardens of American homes. But it could well be garden designer Gordon Hayward’s personal mantra. He wants gardeners everywhere to rethink our front and entry gardens and make them more imaginative and inviting. After all, it’s what visitors see first.

As this book demonstrates, there is more to front yard landscaping than foundation plantings. Hayward provides a step-by-step approach to transform your own front garden to reflect your personal style and your landscape. He gives design principles that everyone can follow, including plenty of gorgeous photographs of actual gardens.

2006 Perennial of the Year: Dianthus Firewitch

2006-01-30T05:13:00.000-08:00

I first fell in love with pinks at an office park. The landscape company used them to ring a flower bed and they were absolutely breathtaking. After they bloomed, some of us were hoping that they would be dug up and discarded (as is usually the case in commercial office park’s season landscaping plans – out with the old, in with the new) -- and we could give them permanent homes in our gardens. However these pinks remained and their blue-gray evergreen foliage were a pleasure to look at as we trudged past them every day.

This year the perennial plant association has named a pink as the perennial plant of the year for 2006: Dianthus gratianopolitanus “Feuerhexe’ (Firewitch). Here’s what they say about it:

"Dianthus gratianopolitanus “Feuerhexe’ (Firewitch) is a low growing, mat-forming alpine plant with narrow bluish-gray foliage that remains evergreen. Brilliant purplish-pink flowers cover the plant at bloom time. The flower color has also been variously described at hot pink or purple red or magenta. The color combination of the foliage and flower is striking at peak bloom in id-spring. And if that weren’t enough, the air becomes performed from the scented flowers which have a spicy and clove-like fragrance. Peak bloom is mid-to-late spring with rebloom occurring in the summer and fall especially when the spent flowers are removed. The foliage height is 3 to 4 inches with flower stems reaching to 8 inches. This favorite Cheddar pink is hardy from USDA zones of 3 to 9."

If you've only had Bath's Pink in your garden up until now, find some room for Firewitch -- it's going to cast a spell on gardeners everywhere this year.

2006 February Flower and Garden shows

2006-01-20T13:48:00.000-08:00

Southeastern Flower Show
at the Georgia World Congress
February 8 – 12

If you don’t have a trip planned to Italy any time soon, you can drop in at the Southeastern Flower Show at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta and visit some Italian inspired gardens and exhibits. The theme of this year’s show is "Inspiration, Education, Entertainment . . . The Italian Experience."

And for Georgia Bulldog fans who like to garden, they may catch a glimpse of the new member of the Southeastern Flower Show board of trustees at the show: UGA athletics legend Vince Dooley, the former University of Georgia Athletics Director and the most successful football coach in the University of Georgia history. Coach Dooley is an avid gardener whose impressive Athens garden includes a species of hydrangea named after him – the Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Dooley’-- as well as a topiary Bulldog (of course) covered with a fig vine.

For more 2006 flower and garden shows around the country, visit Garden Events at GardenTraveler.com.

What's In/What's Out for 2006

2006-01-05T13:50:00.000-08:00

Take a peek into the crystal ball for what's hot and what's not in gardens across the country this year. (Courtesy of the Garden Media Group)

What’s In	What’s Out
Lived in gardens	Showplace gardens
Simple elegance	Fussy gardens
Gardening in small spaces	Colossal landscapes
Pot-scaping	1-D containers
Adventuresome	Safe
Boom without bloom	Just flowers
Mixing containers	Mixed containers
Indoor living color	Plant-less houses
Safe gardening	Reckless gardening
Fountains	Ponds
Home grown	Fast food

The Garden Traveler's Library: The Wild Braid

2005-12-09T15:02:00.000-08:00

The Wild Braid; A Poet Reflects On A Century in the Garden
by Stanley Kunitz with Genine Lentine

“a garden that dances”

Every gardener has the soul of a poet, whether they’re tending a pot of red geraniums on an apartment balcony or planting a vignette of baptisia, balloon flower and blackberry lily in the perennial bed of a Colonial Williamsburg garden.

Poet and centenarian Stanley Kunitz recognizes that as much as breathing is essential to his life, so is his garden. He observes that while making a garden, “You’re helping to create a living poem.”

In this remarkable memoir, the man who was named the U.S. Poet Laureate and who has received nearly every award possible for a poet, including the Pulitzer and Bollingen Prizes, reminisces about his early life and his beloved Provincetown seaside garden on Cape Cod where he has spent his summers for more than forty years.
And if you’re the sort who associates poetry with your yawn-inspiring high school English teacher, don’t worry, Stanley will not bore you. Nor will he intimidate you. But he will charm you and probably inspire you. Marnie Samuelson’s wonderful photos show a whisper of a man of 100+ years, stooped and frail, as he goes about his garden. Yet he can shout, oh, how his words shout —and sing and croon and whisper. Words are an instrument that Kunitz plays with virtuosity and he credits the garden as his teacher.

“I associate the garden with the whole experience of being alive,
and so, there is nothing in the range of human experience
that is separate from what the garden can signify
in its eagerness and its insistence,
and in its driving energy to live – to grow, to bear fruit.”
And:
“The universe is a continuous web.
Touch it at any point and the whole Web quivers.”

This slim volume offers insight into his work and his heart. It is a distillation of conversations between Kunitz and his associate, Genine Lentine, as well shares some of his poems and their environment: The Portrait; Lamplighter: 1914; My Mother’s Pears; The Testing Tree; Route Six; The Mulch; The Snakes of September; The Layers; Raccoon Journal; Touch Me; The Long Boat; The Round.

And, like most gardeners, he has strong opinions about what he likes and dislikes. Stanley Kunitz tells us, “There are some gardens, for example, that seem almost stationary because of the repetition of one color. I like a garden that dances; variegation of the leaves and variation in color of the bloom and in texture all keep the garden alive.”

This is a book to savor.

Recipe Box: Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA

2005-11-11T11:03:00.000-08:00

Longwood Gardens, created by industrialist Pierre S. du Pont, is celebrating the grand reopening of its $25 million redesigned East Conservatory, Ballroom, Music Room and new Organ Museum.

For a taste of Longwood Gardens, enjoy these favorite recipes from the Terrace Restaurant at Longwood.
(Courtesy of Frank Perko, Executive Chef; Mark Ziebis, Chef de Cuisine; and Gerald Ward, Executive Pastry Chef. ) Enjoy!

Chesapeake Crab Cakes

2 lbs Backfin Crabmeat
1tsp Old Bay Seasoning
1 tbsp. dry mustard
½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 eggs
½ cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp. parsley, minced
¼ lemon, zest only
¼ cup bread crumbs

Combine all ingredients and mix well, being careful not to break up the crabmeat. Portion into 3 oz. cakes. Chill until ready to cook.

To cook, sauté each side over medium high heat 2 to 3 minutes, or until golden brown. Service with lemon wedge and your favorite sauce.

Peach and Almond Pandowdy

Filling
4 cups sliced peaches, cooked
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp. Lemon Zest
2 tbsp. flour
½ cup sliced almonds, toasted

Topping
4 eggs
½ cup sugar
¾ cup all purpose flour

Combine peaches, lemon, 1 cup sugar, 2 tbsp. flour, and toasted almonds. Place in a baking dish. Whip eggs and ½ cup sugar with a wire whisk or mixer. Fold in ¾ cup flour. Place on top of peach mixture in baking dish. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

Shaw’s Garden: Tower Grove House Reopens

2005-10-31T11:54:00.000-08:00

Henry Shaw's Victorian Landscapes: The Missouri Botanical Garden and Tower Grove Park , written by Carol Grove

Home of Famed St. Louisan Henry Shaw Reopens

Although the official name is the Missouri Botanical Garden, to many St. Louisans, it’s always been Shaw’s Garden. After all, the garden was established by Henry Shaw, the Englishman who came to St. Louis in 1819 and made his fortune selling hardware, tools and cutlery that would be needed by the pioneers passing through the frontier town known as the Gateway to the West.

Now, after being closed for renovations for several years, Tower Grove House, the country home Henry Shaw lived in while he planned his legacy to the city of St. Louis and the world – the Missouri Botanical Garden – is once again open to the public. This time, Tower Grove House (named for its observation tower overlooking a grove of oak and sassafras trees which are still near Shaw’s mausoleum) reflects the essence of the man who was Henry Shaw when he lived there and planned what would become a world-renowned botanical garden.

Shaw, a frugal yet practical man, felt that he had made enough money at age 39 and retired. According to historical records, a fellow business acquaintance of Shaw’s wrote: “He retired, not because he was afraid of losing what he had made, or thought he could not make any more; but because he felt he had enough, and intended to enjoy it. He always owned his money; his money never owned him.”

With funds and time at his disposal, Shaw embarked on a Grand Tour of Europe and visited some of the finest gardens in the world, including the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and the gardens at Chatsworth, the Duke of Devonshire's country seat in Derbyshire.

It is thought that while visiting Chatsworth Gardens, Shaw was inspired to create an important garden on his properties back in St. Louis. He owned 1,800 acres in what is now south St. Louis and in 1851 began to develop what is considered America's oldest botanical garden.

In a historical footnote, the gardens almost were never built. In 1859, Shaw made headlines when a St. Louis woman named Effie Carstang claimed that Shaw had promised to marry her and then backed out. She sued him for breach of promise and initially won a judgment of $100,000, but Shaw later won on appeal. If he had lost, he probably wouldn’t have had enough money to fund the gardens.

Shaw, a lifelong bachelor, never married anyone. He always said his true love was his garden. In a story reported in the Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden:

“ . . . Mr. Shaw was escorting a lady visitor through the Garden, and pointing out to her the various rare plants and flowers he knew so well and watched so fondly. She said to him, ‘I cannot understand, sir, how you are able to remember all these different and difficult names.’ ‘Madam,’ he replied with a courtly bow, ‘did you ever know a mother who could forget the names of her children? These plants and flowers are my children. How can I forget them?’”

Founded in 1859, the Missouri Botanical Garden is one of the oldest botanical institutions in the country and a National Historic Landmark. In 2004, the garden received the Garden of Excellence award from Horticulture Magazine and the American Public Garden Association. 79 acres of beautiful horticultural display, including a 14-acre Japanese strolling garden, the Climatron® conservatory, and Garden founder Henry Shaw's original 1850 estate home.

Source: Missouri Botanical Garden

The Garden Traveler's Library: The Intimate Garden

2005-10-21T15:59:00.000-07:00

The Intimate Garden. Twenty Years and Four Seasons in Our Garden.
By Gordon Hayward & Mary Hayward. W.W. Norton & Company

Even if you don’t live in a 200-year-old Vermont Farmhouse with a one-and-a-half acre garden, you’ll still find this book a treasure trove of inspiration and ideas that you can apply to your own garden.

Garden and landscape designer Gordon Hayward gives you a personal tour of the twenty-year “labor of love” he created with his wife, Mary, and along the way, explains what you see and feel and why and helps you understand how to apply what the Hayward’s have done to your own garden.

Almost 200 color photographs of the garden throughout the year, as well as before-and-after shots, makes Hayward’s’ garden design precepts enjoyable and easy to grasp. Garden maps, plant lists and maintenance are also included.

Again and again throughout the book, Hayward exhorts us to “look to gardens you’ve visited” for design ideas and solutions to problems. In the introduction, Hayward includes invaluable advice on what to look for when visiting other gardens. For the introduction alone, this book deserves a place on your bookshelf.

Madoo

2005-10-08T12:24:00.000-07:00

If you have the opportunity, visit the garden of an artist and savor their particular vision. Madoo, located on two acres on the south shore of eastern Long Island, is the garden of artist Robert Dash. "Madoo" is derived from an old Scottish word meaning "my dove". The New York Times called Madoo "Robert Dash's ever-changing masterpiece." Begun in 1967, the garden’s fundamental tenant has always been that “plants are the dominating forms, structures are secondary.” The garden is open Wednesday and Saturday from May until the end of September.

Julia Child's a Winner

2005-10-04T17:13:00.000-07:00

The All-American Rose Selections for 2006

It’s time to start thinking about where to plant these winning beauties in your rose garden next year, including Julia Child (WEKvossutono), a butter-gold (naturally) floribunda with a sweet licorice perfume that was personally chosen by the legendary chef herself.

Other winners (left to right):
Tahitian Sunset
Rainbow Sorbet (BAIprez) (Floribunda)
Wild Blue Yonder (WEKisoblip) (Grandiflora)

(All photos courtesy of All America Selections)

All-America Rose Selections is a nonprofit association dedicated to introducing and promoting exceptional roses. AARS winning roses are judged on 15 key gardening characteristics including disease resistance, hardiness, color, form, flowering effect, fragrance, vigor and novelty. Winners must perform exceptionally well over a two-year period in 20 test gardens throughout the United States.

No More Ivy League

2005-09-16T06:39:00.000-07:00

First impressions count the most, right? Well, unless you walked up to my front door wearing a blindfold, your initial impression of my home was probably along the lines of: hey, this must be that place where people drop off their cars to be fixed.

At one time, my front yard was a skateboard-landing pad and decent pitcher’s mound and infield. There was one particular strip of ground next to the driveway where my-daughter-the-artist would use the garden hose to clean the toxic chemicals off her paintbrushes. Even chickweed didn’t grow there.

Call me paranoid, but I think my neighbors turned their heads when they drove past my house, trying to ignore the blight I was inflicting on the subdivision. My yard consisted of dirt and just about every weed native to Georgia, and a few that weren’t, but sprouted anyway.

I decided it was time to do something about my yard. I started out with the best of intentions, but no matter what I planted, it died. Snapdragons and dianthus died in the spring. Roses and gardenias and petunias died in the summer. Pansies croaked in the fall.

I was ready to throw in my trowel and have my yard excavated. Then, one day I was sitting at a stoplight and the lawn of a house next to the road caught my attention. The house itself looked pretty ordinary, but the yard, the yard was a bed of ivy -- beautiful, emerald, verdant ivy -- with nary a weed in sight.

Immediately I knew I had my solution. I stopped by the garden center at Home Depot and bought half dozen one-inch black plastic pots, each with a tendril of ivy poking up. The sign next to the ivy promised, “Hardy. Sun and shade tolerant. Spreads quickly.” Just what my yard needed!

I went home, unloaded my plants and promptly forgot about them for the next two weeks. When I finally remembered, I dug six holes in the front yard with a bent serving spoon (I couldn’t find my garden trowel). I plopped the little ivys into their holes, went inside to answer the phone, and forgot about them again. A couple of weeks later, I dumped fertilizer on the tiny sprouts.

You know what? Those cute little ivyettes adored my yard and started to multiply. Didn’t matter what the season was, my ivy spread. And spread. Without a doubt, my yard was soon going to be the envy of the neighborhood.

Now my family has never been known for our green thumbs except for my cousin Barb in Seattle, and now me. When Barb called to say she would be in town for a few days, I was ecstatic. I picked her up at the airport and brought her out to my house. I was pulling her suitcase out of the trunk of my car when I heard her gasp. “My gawd, what’s this?” She was staring at my ivy like it was a worm that just crawled out of her salad.

“I planted some Hedera helix. You know, English ivy,” I said nonchalantly. “I have amazing luck with it. If you like, I’ll cut some for you.”

Barb looked at me like I just suggested hacking up a kitten. “Ivy is a noxious weed. You need to get rid of it immediately!!!.” She pointed to a pine tree with cute little ivyettes making their way up the trunk. “Do you know what could happen there?”

I shrugged my shoulders uneasily.

“If you don’t get rid of that ivy, it will smother those trees and they’ll DIE!!!! Ivy can turn into a parachute in a strong windstorm and your trees will suck right out of the ground. Like Dorothy and Toto in the tornado.”

This was not the reaction I expected, but Cousin Barb was on a roll. “In the Great Pacific Northwest, people are banning together to eradicate ivy. Ivy is an invasive plant. It transforms your yard into a monoculture, which is bad for native plants and wildlife. It’s your duty to pull it out.” She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you tackle this blight while I’m here. We’ll pull it out together.”

“Oh. Good.”

One thing I discovered was this: ivy vines are the strongest things on earth. Picture a pot of spaghetti noodles globed together, but the noodles are made of steel and go on for miles before they burrow into the mess in the pot and you can’t just get rid of the main glob, you have to figure out where the other end of each individual strand of glob starts, or you’ll end up with even more humungous globs. Of course this is impossible and it would be better to just set off some dynamite, but Barb was determined we handle the ivy removal properly.

Barb stayed with me for three days. Instead of checking out antique stores and good restaurants, we were on our hands and knees, toiling to eradicate all my beautiful ivy from my yard. Barb was upset that she couldn’t prolong her visit and before she left, she apologized profusely that, after all of our work, there was still ivy lurking in my yard. She made me promise to be “vigilant until the ivy is completely gone” so it doesn’t return and send my pine trees into orbit.

After Barb left, I surveyed my once again barren yard and sighed. Now that I know better than to want this stuff in my yard, I know my ivy will never totally go away. But I have a plan to turn my fiasco into a money-making venture. For starters, I’m going to offer my services, based on first-hand experience, to the ivy-league schools. Do they realize the potential environmental (and financial) disaster that lays in wait? I foresee a lucrative career. Ivy eradiation consultant? Ivy removal coach? Ivy commando? The potential is as far-reaching as an ivy vine.

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Garden Traveler Clippings

2005-08-16T06:06:00.000-07:00

Welcome to The Garden Traveler's Clippings -- articles, thoughts and links to extraordinary gardens.

The Art of Gardening. Visit wonderful public and private gardens. Feed your imagination with the best gardening books, magazines and works of art. And let your imagination grow.
-- The Garden Traveler

Garden Traveler Clippings

A Man Named Pearl

Knoxville Botanical Garden & Arboretum

Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly)

Emily Dickinson’s Garden: The Poetry of Flowers

An Olmsted Tabletop Garden

Creating An "Olmsted Basket"

Pawpaws to the People

A Garden Traveler’s Pilgrimage: Charleston

10 Books for Gardeners

Dunaway Gardens, Georgia

A Garden Walk for All Seasons

A Garden Traveler’s Pilgrimage: Charleston

Say it With Bare Root Roses

Flower and Garden Shows 2009

Lavender Fields Forever

Gardens of Seattle

Growing a Garden: Idaho’s Sawtooth Botanical Garden

Announcing the Garden Conservancy’s 2008 Open Days

Catch up: Indoor gardening

Gardeners get ready: 2008 Flower and Garden Shows

Emily’s Birthday

Inside Out

Child’s Play: Longwood's New Indoor Children's Garden

The $64 Tomato

Cemetery Gardens: Mount Auburn Cemetery

See Rock City

Announcing the Garden Conservancy’s 2007 Open Days

All-America Rose Selections Announces 'Designing With Roses' Competition

Prison Break at the Botanical Garden

Fairy Gardens

Walk this way . . .

2006 Perennial of the Year: Dianthus Firewitch

2006 February Flower and Garden shows

What's In/What's Out for 2006

What’s In

What’s Out

The Garden Traveler's Library: The Wild Braid

Recipe Box: Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA

Shaw’s Garden: Tower Grove House Reopens

The Garden Traveler's Library: The Intimate Garden

Madoo

Julia Child's a Winner

No More Ivy League

Garden Traveler Clippings