Seating areas

One of my most favorite photos taken in a garden is this opening shot. It shows my daughter Lauren (now 19) quite a few years ago. We were touring the horticultural learning gardens at the New York State University at Farmingdale and Lauren was totally engrossed in one of the earliest Harry Potter books. Farmingdale has magnificent tropical gardens and I'll be touring them again in a few weeks with my garden club.

What you see here is the perfect setting for seating in a garden. Surrounded by lush plant material, it's a little oasis, a place to sit and relax while still being a part of nature.

My mom bought us this swing a number of years ago. It took a few tries before I had it located the way I wanted. Now, it is the crown jewel in my herb garden. I have spent many a lunch time sitting in this swing.

It's a perfect place to sit in early spring because the sun shines on you and warms you while you are sitting there. In the summer, you can only sit there with breakfast in hand or in the late afternoon when the roof shades you. It also is the perfect spot to take photos and we've had many people pose here exactly for that purpose.


The most used seating area in our yard is this one, by the swimming pool. For some reason visitors just gravitate to this spot. I think it's the subconscious thought that it's "OK" to relax when you are by a swimming pool.

Now I have to add that none of these seating areas are the new super deluxe, break the bank, kind of furniture sets. In fact, this white vinyl set was bought second hand at least 10 years ago and still does it's purpose. While those fancy sets are fine, they don't really impress me. I don't need my garden to look like the inside of my house, shabby chic works fine when outdoors.


This is not a good photo but it's my gazebo out front and it's the one seating area that I rarely find people sitting in (and that includes myself). I know what's missing from here but I just haven't gotten around to getting it right. This area needs to be part of a setting, it needs to send out an invitation that says "come sit here and your worries will fade away". I guess I can look at it as another challenge in the garden.

Today's challenge though will be to get a few hours of work done without freezing or getting soaked. Maybe in the summer we will be longing for these cold wet days but somehow I don't think so.

It's spring, so think green!
Melanie

Use your Senses

When doing a program on Design, whether it's Garden Design or Landscape Design I always finish off the same way. I tell people to use their senses in the garden.

The sense of Sight would come first as looking at our gardens gives us such pleasure. Your garden is your art form, enjoy looking at it.

The sense of Sound is one that is often ignored. Here on Long Island it's pretty hard to find a place that's truly quiet. When I go hiking on the Walt Whitman Trails I can still hear the parkway. Even in secluded, million dollar areas I seem to always hear somebodies lawn service or leaf blowers being used.

Our home is near Old Country Road (ah ha, part of where the name comes from). While this road looks quite rural, we still hear the traffic during busy hours. By adding things in the garden to mask the man-made sounds, I find it a more relaxing place. Wind chimes and running water are my first choice. Bird sounds are excellent too.

The sense of Taste. From what I've been reading, vegetable gardens are back in fashion. While I haven't had a vegetable garden in years, I've always grown herbs for our use. These Garlic chives were a pass-along plant and I think they are so cool looking!

The sense of smell is one we tend to think of more often but do we really use it? I just love seeing somebody walking around the garden with a big spot of pollen on their face or nose. You know exactly what they did, they stopped to smell the flowers. (Well maybe not this Peony but many flowers will leave pollen on your face.)

The sense of touch is one one that has so many different ways to be enjoyed. First to mind is the soft touch of some plants like the Stachys byzantina (Lambs ears) shown here. What kid isn't glad to be handed one of these leaves to hold in their pocket?

The sense of touch can be expanded to wonderful plants that when touched, release a second sense, the sense of smell. When I show the garden to friends I can't resist picking a leaf or a bloom from here or there and having them do the scratch and sniff test. Mondarda is in the mint family and the foliage smells heavenly.

The sense of touch is so important that I also had to include a third photo. To me, there's nothing like the feel of potting up new plants, burying your hands into that warm potting soil, and lovingly patting down your new babies in their nice pots. I think this is what I look forward to the most right now as spring is almost in reach.


Finally, don't forget your sense of humor! Now I don't have a toilet bowl planted in my garden, if I did the lid would be down (come on, this has to be a man's planting). But I do have lots of funny things here and there. We all have a different sense of humor but why not consider having something in your garden that makes you smile every time you see it?

What's your favorite sense in the garden?

What do you plant to scratch that itch?

Garden Design - Part 3

In the past week I've posted part one and part two of my Garden Design class. Today I'd like to look at the things I consider when actually looking at the plant material used in the garden.

The last thing I had written on this topic was that I feel diversity is the key to a healthy garden. To me, diversity is what makes a garden call out to me, I'm just not a mono-culture kind of person. Maybe that's a result of growing up in New York City.

Diversity means many different things. In the plant world it means that I look for all different kinds of plants. I want annuals, perennials, bulbs, biennials, big blooms, little blooms, excellent foliage, and more. There's an amazing array of plants out there to add to the garden and I'm always glad to try something new. In the photo above you can see Camassia quamash which is a bulb that I rarely see in gardens. Next to the Camassia is Euphorbia polychroma. My two clumps of Camascia were given to me by my gardening friend Mary Kay and this year I will have enough to divide and spread about a bit. Thanks Mary Kay!

Another bulb that I see for sale often but don't see in enough gardens is Crocosmia. I admit I'm a lazy gardener when it comes to this plant and often just buy it already potted up. While Long Island is considered in the safe growing zone for this beautiful bulb, it hasn't always made it through the winter for me. You can bet if that happens I'm going to go out and buy some more.

Diversity also pertains to the size of the plant material. If you want to read an excellent article about why size is important in the garden you should take some time and visit the Garden Renegade, click on his link Design and then scroll down and click on "Top 10 Gardening and Landscape Blunders - and How to Avoid Them!". Warning, before you head over there, take a potty break, get yourself a cup of something to drink and a snack, you will be there for a long time! Don't forget to come back here and visit me again :-)

This hardy perennial is Veronicastrum and it grows over 6' tall (2 meters) in my garden. When it's in bloom I'm guaranteed that people will stop and ask for it's name.

This photo is a bit blurry but it shows you how the Veronicastrum stands out in the garden. What it does is take a border that might be a bit boring (all mid thigh high and lower) and add some much needed punctuation points.

Foliage is another key when choosing plant material. If you want to read more on foliage, you can read through the last few weeks of my blog where I've touched upon it more. It's obvious that you can choose plants with hot foliage colors and never even have a flower blooming in your garden. These plants though are annuals for us but don't worry, there are perennials too with great foliage.

Hosta 'Spritzer' and Pulmonaria 'Raspberry Splash' have similar shaped foliage, even similar shaped growth but the foliage contrasts wonderfully. Other foliage combinations might have the same color foliage but totally different leaf shapes.

Of course we can't forget about color. Everybody sees color differently, and everybody has different color favorites. If you want to check out some excellent articles on color, head over to Hayefield and see what Nancy J. Ondra has to say. Take the time to scroll back through her blog, her sense of color has me in total awe.

This is an older daylily variety named 'Fairy Firecracker' yet it gathered quite a bit of attention when the American Hemerocallis Society (daylily folk) toured here.

Taking color a step further, you have to consider timing.

Are your plants going to bloom at the same time? Believe me, I've made that mistake often, either I plan a wonderful combination and they don't bloom together or I plan to have two distinct colors bloom at different times and they end up blooming together.

Many people don't realize that the plants they buy at the nursery often come from a different climate. Those plants aren't necessarily blooming at the same time that they will bloom in future years when they settle into your garden. Sometimes it takes a year or two of experimentation before you find the right time combinations.

The above photo shows the hard to find daylily 'Jeanne Fitton' and another unsung perennial hero Stachys monieri. I absolutely adore both plants and they don't look bad together, they just could look better next to something else. If I brought forward the blue cloud of Nepeta 'Six Hills Giant' that's barely visible in the back drop, I'd have a better combination.

If you aren't sure of combining colors, you can still have diversity with your plant material and keep things in the same color range. This daylily (name not available) and the Echinacea purpurea are very similar in color and even in bloom shape yet earlier in the season the foliage of each plant contrasts nicely.

For the more adventurous, you can take your colors and use them for contrast like I have done here with the daylily 'Eggplant Escapade' and Rudbeckia 'Herbstsonne'. Luckily for me this is a very tall, late blooming daylily. When the Rudbeckia flopped a bit because I forgot to pinch it back, I didn't cry, instead I grabbed my camera and enjoyed the view.

Well, that's it for today. It must almost be spring, my garden club is having our first meeting of the year and we have an awesome speaker lined up. I'll tell you all about it some time.

Auf wiedersehn, Cheerio, Tah Tah and all that jazz.

Garden Design - Part 2

Sometimes when you are designing a garden you come across unsurmountable obstacles. In my own garden it's an area filled with jugulone poisoned soil from black walnut trees. Maple trees and other trees with large, shallow roots can make it almost impossible to plant a garden. This can be very frustrating if you don't have many spaces to choose from for your garden.

One solution would be to mass a bunch of containers in that area and fill them with all kinds of plant material. I really liked this solution in the top photo, cover the ground with mulch and put something there that will make you smile.

Accessories are an important part in garden design. Perhaps you just need a spot of color in an area that is waiting for seasonal bloom. Maybe you just inherited a cool bowling ball and want to show it off!

It's important to take into consideration the style of your house and gardens when you choose accessories. Since my garden is named "Old Country Gardens" and my house is an older colonial style, I like accessories that are old or appear old.

Seating is another important consideration. You might want to sit in your garden, or sit looking at your garden. But, one thing is for sure, there is going to be a time that you are out there working in your garden and you are going to want to sit down. Why not make the experience pleasant?

Nature plays a huge role in a gardeners life and should be a priority when designing a garden. If you plan on inviting creatures of the earth to your garden, you have to choose plants that they will appreciate. Many bird species need specific homes so you have to do a bit of homework to find out what is needed. Having lots of birds around is a good thing, especially here on Long Island where mosquitoes carry West Nile disease. I'd rather have something eating those mosquitoes than have them eating me.

Don't forget a drink of water for those lovely creatures. I find that many larger birds actually prefer this bird bath at ground level. They will line up in the area and wait their turn to take a mini spa treatment.

Having butterflies fly around in your garden is like having the blooms take wing and float around you in the air. Yet, so many people don't want those darn caterpillars chewing up their foliage. Well that's how it is, you need to feed those caterpillars if you want to enjoy the butterflies.

Pests abound and you are sure to find a few of them in your garden. Plan in advance so you have enough plant material for all. Another option is to find companion plants that will deter the pests. In my garden I have a large clump of Hellebores. The rabbits never nibble on the bulbs that grow at the edge of that clump.

Lots and lots of plants means that your chances of having something left for you to enjoy is going to be much greater. It also means diversity, the key to a healthy garden.

Plants such as Achillea (yarrow) actually invite tiny insects called minute pirate bugs. The larvae of those bugs eat thrips. So what? Well, thrips make holes in my daylilies and I don't want to spray any deadly chemicals so I grow yarrow by my daylilies.


Besides, don't they look nice together? The orange yarrow two photos above was 'Terra Cotta' and the yellow one in this photo is 'Moonshine'. As for this spectacular daylily, it's name is 'Big George' and it will stop you in your tracks.

Thats it for this part on garden design. Next I'll finally get around to things you need to consider when choosing your plant material.

Till then, stay safe my gardening friends.

Melanie

Garden Design - Part 1

Last night we held our second gardening class at Walt Whitman High school. I've promised to cover the class material here at Old Country Gardens so that students that miss a class can keep up to date. This is also for the many people who told me they'd like to attend but could not.

Our topic is Garden Design which I consider different from Landscape Design. By garden design, I'm talking about a specific garden, not your entire plot of land (which will be covered next week).

Before you begin choosing actual plant material for your garden you need to consider a number of factors. Here's some things you should think about before sticking your shovel in the ground.

What kind of garden do you want? ___________________ (Fill in the blank, it could be a tropical garden, a cottage garden, an edible garden, herb garden or so on.)

Are you sharing your garden with other household members? Children or pets in the garden will determine much about what you should or should not do.

How much work do you want to do? There's no such thing as a "no-work" garden but the type of garden and plant material you choose will determine the amount of work involved in keeping that garden in good shape. Ask a farmer how easy it is to keep plain farm rows planted, weeded and harvested.

What kind of soil do you have? Now is a great time to get your soil tested. Take the time (and money) to amend your soil before you begin to plant. Incorporate compost and manure. Pay attention to the results of your soil test. Rather than choosing plants that have you amending your soil yearly, look for plants that grow well in the conditions you already have.

Water is a huge consideration when planning a garden. Do you live in an area with water restrictions? Have you suffered drought conditions or flooding conditions lately? What kind of drainage do you have?

How do you get water to your gardens? Do you have to drag a hose to get there? Are there underground sprinklers in that area and do you know where they are so you don't hit them when digging?
Do you have a budget for your garden plan? Hiring somebody to come help in the garden can drastically change the cost of any garden plan.

Be realistic in what will grow in your weather zone. If you keep choosing plants that struggle to bloom or survive through the winter you will soon be very frustrated with your garden.

How are you going to get to/around/through your garden? Do you want to install hard-scape such as concrete walkways or are free wood-chips in line with your budget?

How do you plan on edging your garden? No edge (just lawn up to the bed) is fine but you will need to maintain that edge every time you mow the lawn. Edging can be fancy stone, plastic strips or simple wooden logs (see the bottom of the photo above). Choose edging that suits your house and landscape.

Is there a specific feature you want to include in your garden? For instance, do you want to design a garden around a water feature such as a pond or swimming pool? You will need to have access to the workings of that feature for seasonal maintenance.

There are still more things to consider before beginning to chose your plant material. Stay tuned as this will be continued...

Down the Drive - Part 2

Designing a perennial border along a driveway seems easy at first. You have one border already established for you, the driveway itself. When I first began planting this garden I gave thought to light conditions but that's about it. I knew that some areas were very shady and other spots had more sun. That's the only thought I put into deciding on plant material.

What I learned after 2 years though is that conditions varied greatly depending on how close plants were to the hot stone border. This would also apply to a garden planted along a blacktop driveway but not so much to a garden along a concrete driveway.

In sunny areas the belgium block and gravel really heat up and wick any moisture away quickly. Plants that would thrive just a foot or two away from this border would crisp up and look awful right against the front edge.

Yet other plants would thrive in the excellent drainage and dry conditions against the stone and gravel. At the top is a photo of Verbascum 'Jackie' that lived for at least 4 years in one spot. As I understand it, 4 years is pretty long in the life of a Verbascum.


Daylily hybrids were prefectly happy with the conditions near or far from the stone and gravel but I don't really care for daylily foliage. While there are a few shorter varieties near the front, on the whole I have the daylilies set back in these gardens. Above is the cultivar 'Magic Carpet Ride' which is a strong grower here and has the most clear red color imaginable.


In early spring, the first big patches of color come from Euphorbia polychroma. This is a plant that has been in gardens for a very long time and yet every year we have visitors who have never seen this and must have a piece. I let my Euphorbia go to seed but never get enough seedlings from it to keep up with demand.

I'm so taken with this plant that I did a Plant Profile post on it when I first started blogging. You can click on Plant Profiles in the list of labels (on the right here) and scroll down. The last post is about this plant although I see now that research gave me the name Euphorbia epithymoides. Peeking in my trusty plant catalog here I see it listed both ways.


In late spring there are a number of different Iris cultivars in bloom. There are Iris Germanica, Iris Siberica and above is one of my Iris Ensatas although I don't have the name here at the computer today.


Another spring bloomer that I couldn't do without are my hardy Geraniums. This photo shows a Geranium sanguinium, it was a pass-along plant given to me so I have no cultivar name. Over the years I have added pieces of this geranium to every bed on this property and shared (and sold) many pieces to other gardeners.


While I could never pick out one favorite plant, I will say that I have a special feeling for the white Baptisia in the middle border. The first time I saw this plant was while lecturing in the South and I just had to have one of my own. I let it go to seed every year but have never yet found a seedling. Sometimes I wonder if I'm at the northern most zone for this lovely plant.


Penstemon 'Sour Grapes' was a 3 year beauty. At the time it disappeared I didn't know it was a short lived perennial and thought I had done something wrong. If I see this for sale again this year I will be sure to pick up a pot or two.


Hard to photograph (at least for me) but lovely in the garden is the dark purple (almost black) Aquilegia vulgaris (columbine). This too was a pass-along plant and I love it dearly. It self sows nicely, never too much but I don't have many people asking for a piece. One year I let it sow in an area that had been top dressed with tons of aged horse manure and it made an instant clump!
Unlike some other columbines that resented too much manure (just in my own experience) this variety really grew like crazy , I have the same result with Digitalis (fox gloves).


Throughout all my gardens are waves of Lychnis coronaria (the gray leaf in the background). I have both white and shocking pink. People usually assume it's Stachys (lambs ears) unless it's in bloom. I wouldn't be without them in my gardens as they make great cut flowers for informal bouquets. Another perennial that self sows around a bit is Campanula persicifolia 'Alba' (Peach leaf bell flower). The bunnies here like to nibble on this one, probably why I never have enough to share.


Here you can see a combination of hardy Geraniums (the cantabrigense varieties are just fantastic in this location) a Sedum 'Vera Jameson', the tip tops of Stachys (lambs ears) and in the back ground is Achillea (yarrow). I like to add lots of yarrow here because it invites a beneficial insect that eats thrips. For some reason, the yarrows haven't been hardy over the last few winters and I have to keep adding them.

I know that at one time I was worried that my yarrows were too aggressive and would take over so I don't really understand why they keep dying out now. Perhaps they prefer plainer soil?

Come summer time the huge clumps of Phlox burst into bloom. I'm still not sold on them, I either need to move them somewhere else or give them different companions but once they start blooming I don't have the heart to even touch them.

The waves of Liatris, coneflowers (both Echinacea and Rudbeckia) and daylilies during the July and August are just breathtaking in my opinion. It's funny though how opinions differ. We have a neighbor in a new house two doors away who is heavily into landscape. He drives his bobcat around his property pushing soil this way and that way and plants lots and lots of trees and shrubs.

A year after these neighbors moved in the wife made a comment that I must get very depressed in the winter when I see how dead my garden looks. I don't remember how I answered her but I've thought often that I should have just said that I'm a gardener, not a landscaper. I didn't design this garden to look beautiful year round, it's my idea of the perfect combination of a country/cottage/English perennial border.

That same year I had another woman stop her car out front while I was weeding. She told me that once a month she drives down our street to the old-age/assisted-living home up the road. Her grandmother is there and this woman stops in front of my garden and looks at what is blooming. Then she goes to visit her grandmother and tells her all the flowers she saw that day. When I told her she could bring her grandmother here she explained that her grandmother was blind now but the joy of hearing what was blooming in my garden made each visit special. I cried after she drove away, it's probably the best compliment I'll ever receive about my garden.

One last note, if you don't read the comments that other post, you are really missing out. On my last posting I incorrectly named the plant in the last photo. It should have been Heliopsis 'Summer's Night' and my thanks to Connie for catching that!

Off to head outdoors, we're supposed to reach 50 degrees today!