The Garden Glamour blog is the "little black dress" for an entertaining lifestyle. The "must read" postings offer inspired stories about horticulture; garden art; Garden Design. My passion for beauty & culture celebrates artful products;Exterior & Tablescape Designs; book reviews; homegrown food & drink; Garden-to-Glass Finishing Touches; & funny, insouciant anecdotes about the humbling, glorious & glamorous world of Gardens!
If fashion runways ~ Catwalks ~ are meant to grab attention for introducing new fashion lines, then the 21st edition of the iconic orchid exhibition at The New York Botanical Garden, The Orchid Show: Florals in Fashion, is a heart-stopping, fashion-inspired celebration of all things orchid that you can’t take your eyes off of.
What does the intersection of “Hort-Couture” and “Haute Couture” look like?
You won’t believe this orchid-inspired “Collection” style. Here’s a sneak peek of what you’ll see at this year’s Orchid Show:
It occurred to me while I’m working the gardens again this year at the extraordinary Hacienda Cusin located in the mountains of the Ecuadorian sierra that there are lessons for all about designing a garden that has more to do with editing out, cleaning up, scale, texture, color -- in other words, all the same elements that go into a great garden design plan, but using existing plants from the garden bed or your extended property.
Moreover, it’s about taking out, pruning the plants for health and looks, and moving plants for pretty much the same reasons.
It doesn’t take a lot of tools to prune and edit; here I brought with me just four: a hand trowel, a small hand-held cultivator, a foldable pruning saw, and of course, my ever-present lightweight, ARSsnips that I first read about on Margaret Roach’s “A Way to Garden.com.”
I can’t recommend these razor sharp grape or needle-nosed pruner snips too much. Margaret wrote: “I haven’t used my pricey, famous-name pruning shears in weeks and weeks.” I know why once I got the ARS snips. I carry them everywhere and they certainly deserve OT!
They do almost every task and cut all but the biggest branches or limbs.
I love them and their Corvette-red grips.
Of course there are rakes and shovels that I need to borrow from the resident jardineros.
And there are indeed plenty of top-tier tools that have been engineered to make garden work easier and more efficient. For example, not that long ago I was asked to review the Radius Root Slayer for Garden Products Review.
Gardens
While I have designed gardens here at Cusin with architectural plans - approved by the owner in discussions back in the States - and we have purchased plants at local nurseries - by and large there is more editing of the gardens.
Why? Because the garden rooms or niche gardens are mature and there is no need to start from scratch. If we edit out a lot of salvageable and preferred plant material that we don’t want to compost, we simply create a new garden bed in an unused area.
Things grow super fast here in paradise so there’s essentially no need to worry about making a big mistake when editing or removing or pruning…
It’ll grow back in a New York minute, it seems.
Editing
There is approximately eight or nine+plus niche garden rooms I was tasked to work on in terms of updating or refreshing the garden designs.
After a day or two of garden work, I realized my design training and aesthetic kicked in as if on auto pilot.
See, it’s not “just” horticulture - although that is the number one, overarching concern: the welfare and health of the plants.
The other, seemingly obvious element is the look - do the garden beds look picture perfect? And I defy anyone to stop taking pictures here at Cusin. I must have hundreds (or more!) And I see the guests walking the garden grounds transfixed at the incredible beauty of the plant combinations and birds and bees and hummingbirds!
What to Do - Easy Steps to Successful Editing
First there is the need to do a Site Analysis.
Ask yourself these questions:
How will the space be used?
Has the utility of the space changed over time?
Who will be using the space
What time of day will the space be seen and/or used?
Are there pets who visit the garden?
Can the dimensions of the garden bed be modified? Should it?
Do an inventory - whether you digitally record the plants in the garden space - or write down the plant names - it is better to keep a garden journal and track the plant’s progression as they grow and age and also note their relation to one another - to other plants that you’ve added or that the birds or other pollinators have. The botanists referred to it as “the poo factor!”
I suggest you add a photo of the plant next to the plant’s name so you can more readily identify the plants later on.
I can also heartily recommend Grow It a mobile-based App that allows you to search for plants, create a project, share your plants and flowers or search for plants - using a crowd-sourced community too. I first met the developers/founders Seth Reed and Mason Day some years ago at a Green Industry / Hortie Hoopla event at The School of Professional Horticulture’s annual happening at The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG).
Tracking the garden plants is especially important in an era of climate chaos.
Things just ain’t what they used to be…
Therefore you - and all us - need to see what the “new normal” will be over an extended timeline given the extremes we’ve experienced the last few years.
If you contract with a garden designer - he or she is probably already doing a Site Analysis and the tracking.
Showcase Your Garden with a Garden Tour
Plus, plant lists are fun to showcase when guests visit.
You can provide a garden tour and/or have the content available on a print-out, photo album, or provide a digital copy to download - so the guests can take a self-guided tour.
I keep a number of copies of my garden’s plant lists, by garden room, along with the photo of the plants which are all labeled.
I wanted to do this for a recent Historical Society event when our gardens were featured as part of the tour and I thought it would help our visitors. Following that, I found it a great aid when family and friends visit and want to tour the gardens.
Think of it like this: you’ve worked so hard to make this living work of art something you want to delight in, as well as your houseguests - so don’t be shy. I was honored to provide a garden tour for one of my garden design clients at her annual summer family party. They loved getting acquainted with the beautiful gardens and plants...
People get very excited to see and experience a good garden. It’s your story… Share it.
Gardens Naturally Change
Because gardens are dynamic there will a natural, organic rhythm of change…
Add in the effect of plant companions, pets, extreme weather - and let’s face it, neglect, and you have a situation that more often than we care to admit, needs attention.
I see far too many suburban homes that are saddled with “Too Big” shrubs that have outgrown their usefulness. They were probably put there by the builder in the first place with no thought other than it’s green and it's a foundation plant.
Can you see me now?
And I see trees that haven’t been pruned and are now leaning this way or that or are too big in context to the house and yard. Folks just let them keep growing! Don’t do this. Work with an arborist and/or your garden designer.
Editing Plan
Be honest.
Start with the big pruning first -- rid the space of an overgrown, leggy shrub, or tree.
Then stand back. Look at the space. Take a few photos and react to the image.
Next, I determine what can enhance the opened up space.
In the example of the Ecuador beds, I cleaned out from under the areas where I cut back the African or Euryops Bush Daisy, the Euryops pectinatus, that had stolen most of the stage.
Then I cut back and pruned the dead plant material that was a result of the bigger thug taking over. I had to prop up the forlorn jade plants that had bowed under all that shrub. I used a beautiful branch that had fallen from a tree, and that is loaded with jewel or lace-looking lichen. Wow.
Once I removed what I thought was the first stage, and cleaned out the space, I was ready to add.
In one bed, for example, I grafted off some of the succulent plant pups, the agavaceae, and planted them in a group of three in front of the beds and around the side borders of another bed. This is a win/win - for the plant and for the look.
I took some of the all-too-plentiful Rose Campion or Lychnis Coronia, and balanced out the front view in the middle bed so that there is a grouping on each side there.
In another, related bed, I surgically pruned out the fern grove; there were too many of the thug crocosmia growing around and in the grove.
This was tedious but it had to be accomplished for a neater, healthier finished look.
I used the extra ferns that I had cut out here as a backdrop in a different bed in a different area. Another win/win.
It was also a fun, interesting moment when an adorable tree frog suddenly popped up as I was pruning. What a treat!
As a kind of a related aside, many often remark how passionate gardeners are about working with plants -- and it did occur to me while I was preening the plants that perhaps a leading reason for that passion is that we gardeners get very, very intimate with our lovers, the plants.
I mean, I’m right in the plants’ blossoms, stems, roots, and every other plant part - cleaning and fussing and prepping like for a beauty or cosmetic treatment.
It’s no wonder we feel so familiar and loving with our plants…
On the other hand, if you’re not feeling the love yet; if you are paralyzed by the thought of tackling a bigger project element - change it up - meaning work on other areas and come back to it. Or ask a friend or family member to help.
In the Cusin beds, I also knew I wanted to uncover the pretty pots or containers in one of the gardens.
All three looked neglected so a bit of color by way of roses and geraniums added a sweet pop and the pink and fuschia colors complemented the Surprise Lily, Lycoris squamigera and well, the fuschia plant!
The pots are a bit of hardscape to be used like garden art.
If you are fortunate enough to have a yard with garden beds, don’t think everything needs to be in the ground.
Rather think about scale and dimension. In this way, pots or containers can elevate the eye with drama and color.
My favorite containers and garden art to use is Pennoyer Newman - they offer so many sublime designs and shapes and styles to create an enduring look that works in traditional as well as a more minimalist garden design. And Virginia and team are so very nice to work with.
I wanted a bit more height where the ferns were now shaped up, so after I created a curved, shovel cut around the new fern grove, later added an orange aloe here that I took from a later pruning project, to work with this emerging color scheme.
I added a tall orange Bee Balm, Monarda,
which in turn complemented the yellow and orange-colored crocosmia and the gold california poppies that I rearranged and planted on the new shasta daisies fronted by their diminutive cousins near the front of the bed.
Normally you would the tallest or taller plants in the back of the bed and layer down with a mix of evergreens, ornamental grasses, perennials and annuals near the front of the bed for the burst of color
When you have dual access to the bed - meaning paths on both sides - you can anchor the height more or less in the middle or on one side.
View of front - After and of all three refreshed garden beds.
And don’t forget to use edibles as ornamentals. I’ve designed gardens for clients using a color-inspired series of edibles-as-ornamentals beds - made the kitchen garden so much fun! And delicious. The colors practically beckon you to the garden.
Recently, Brie Arthur, the “Plant Lady” who launched her first book, Foodscaping, advises adding edibles to the front of ornamental garden beds. (PS. I had a ball with Brie in Gotham touring the High Line and indulging in champagne following her keynote address at last year’s Hortie Hoopla at NYBG.)
Before and After of a garden using Editing and Design. Discovered new planters that were hidden! Added some pop of color here, too.
After Editing in another part of the garden opposite some of the original rooms at Cusin, I found a lichen-laced roof tile to prop up a succulent and discovered a third stone planter. Can you see it in the back and identify the plants I popped in?
Just like rearranging your furniture and adding some new items, refreshing your garden beds to meet your ever-changing needs or style is an efficient and practical way to decorate your garden rooms.
The past year has been overloaded with the dramatic
diversions brought about by climate chaos that resulted in such extreme swings
of toooo hot and toooo cold and tooo wet and -- well, tooo much.
One would be forgiven for thinking this was a Goldilocks
scenario straight out of a Grimm’s scary fairy tale.
Grim indeed…
But while no place on earth is spared their own creeping misfortunes, I am most fortunate to once again be in a “plant paradise” - in Ecuador - at Hacienda Cusin - that for all the world seems to be a pocket of miracles -- where hummingbirds the size of sparrows flit among the Fuchsia and Lily of the Nile.
I think I can safely say that I have learned their marked chirp and can better anticipate their presence. Doesn't help that they are so fast in terms of getting a video.
I implore them, "Why do you have to zoom away like a fairy when you know how beautiful you are and we just want a moment. Or two. Or a photo...?)
They don't stick around to explain.
But I'm happy for the fleeting moments I can get.
Llamas are lawn mowers,
And the Andean snow-capped mountains are terraced up with agricultural farms that look like a green-hued quilt.
The Sierra, where I am - at Cusin - is noted for its dairy products - and roses. And volcanos.
The plants here are as excited to see me as I am to reacquaint with them. Check out this plant action from the welcoming committee - a big green wave!
Did you ever see a cuter ladybug? It looks like a mini VW bug taxi – all yellow and black and so cute you just want to "hug the bug. "
The blossoms here come in a riot of fiery, fierce bold colors – and soft, sweet hues.
Can you name them?
Each bloom and its plant could be a postcard.... I cannot stop taking photos of them!
Look at those freckles!
Hacienda Cusin - and its gardens especially - is a magical place that fills me with wonder and awe.
In terms of good garden design, I believe that every garden needs a bit of aesthetic decay -- that sense of mystery that if walls could talk... or the unshakeable sense that there is a story hidden in the garden - be it romance or a darker, brooding tale.
The hardscapes and the plants conspire to whisper such a narration...
In essence, that's why gardens captivate our imaginations and our hearts... Because every great garden tells a story.
At Cusin, there is a sublime, intoxicating sense of artful decay: a blend of the heart-pounding, vibrant beauty and the true arc of decay; haunting, symbolic culture as nature and time transport us to the other-worldly...
There is no doubt that here I experience an intimate connection with the enduring drama of nature, the peace, the harmony, the food, and the people...
Enjoy the Green. Especially those of you in winter's embrace. Remember, gardens are glamorous in all seasons. In every climate.
If gardens could smile, this little rainbow of a container garden would be grinning, blowing bubbles, and turning cartwheels.
And if it wasn’t so effective and so darn easy, you’d be forgiven for just having fun with this charming garden project using the soon-to-be-released product and ingredients created by PaperSoil. More about the company in a minute.
Let’s get right to the fun part. PaperSoil discovered a way to make make “soil” from recycled colored paper. I suspect that it’s actually recycled paper that is colored using vegetable or natural dye. Nevertheless, it’s a phenomenon I just found out about. The company calls it “jar gardening.” How cute is that? How it Works
The PaperSoil kit, if you can call it that, (it’s all so intuitive and simple that you really don’t even need directions) arrives packed with six different rainbow-colored paper soil bags, seeds, a teeny, tiny shovel (repurpose for your fairy garden?), a mini plastic watering squeezer with a needlepoint top, and a kind of old-fashioned milk jar that stands about 5 inches or six inches. You can use the jar in the kit -- or use any glass container you have. Or think about creating a composition of jars at varying heights. Or use one tall jar. The possibilities got my imagination fired up once I came to understand how it all worked. The concept is so refreshing; so new that it takes a bit of wonder to to get your garden art ideas flowing.
I could see creating a cheerful tablescape for a brunch or outdoor garden party. Or a fun project for a child’s party. You could just pile all the different colored paper soils in cups and have the kids layer their soil selections in the jar -- or mix up the colors. Squeeze a bit of water on top. It kinda’ works like making an ice cream sundae -- with sprinkles. Kids of all ages can make their own rainbow jar garden to take home and watch in awe as their seeds sprout.
The company says the light-as-confetti “colored recycled paper is specially created to replace the traditional soil of jar plants or the water in glass vases, bringing color and cheer into your home or office.” PaperSoil additionally suggests using the jar gardens in your car. Not exactly sure that’s the best environment but hey - if it can put that bit of zen oxygen in your motoring - and you have a steady, flat surface - I’m on board with it. Especially because this PaperSoil can help conserve trees, water, soil.
According to PaperSoil:
This is a fresh idea -- completely new technology that replaces the traditional soil with recycled colored paper, contributing to the protection of the environment in an entertaining way.
It’s Eco-Friendly -- certified by SGS, the world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company, ensuring that PaperSoil meets European Union environment standards.
An Easy Method -- just plant the seed and then just water them. PaperSoil technology is ideal to prompt the growing of plants.
Color Options
The PaperSoil kit comes with everything you need. (The magic wand though, is mine…)
Because of international regulations, the company cannot ship seeds but does offer a number of seeds to optimize the gardens, including pretty, yet easy-to-grow plants, including a choice of Zinnia Elegans, Mimosa Pudica, Four O’Clocks (I love seeing this old-fashioned plant favorite as part of the feature seeds), Catgrass, Mint, Impatiens Balsamina, Cosmos Bipinnatus, Ipomoea Nil, and Sunflowers, - although I’m not too sure how these last few plants in particular would do in the small jar I received. Perhaps better to order enough PaperSoil and plant in a tall glass container or vase.
This is my happy Jar Gardening results -- placed on a morning sun windowsill, the seeds sprouted within a week!
Further, the garden novelty company has just 40 hours to go on their Papersoil Kickstarter campaign. It looks like they’ve exceeded their goal - but hey -- get in on a good thing -- there is a collection of Pledge Rewards that will tickle your Green Thumb.
Hats off to garden technology and new, fun ways to engage with plants. Please do write me with your PaperSoil Jar Gardening ideas and success - why its garden glamour is practically made for Pinterest and Instagram!
Anticipation was amped-up for the Thomas Rainer talk at The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG). He and co-author, Claudia West recently headlined at Metro Hort’s annual trade show and symposium: Plant-O-Rama. And frankly, I hadn’t heard this kind of frothy excitement for a speaker in I can’t remember when. Well, really I can. It was when Tracy DiSabato Aust launched her series of planting guide books, including or especially, The Well-Tended Perennial Garden
Rainer, landscape architect, teacher, and writer didn’t disappoint. He is authentic, experienced - as in he’s done this - not just come up with some ideas. And he is, understandably, more than inspiring. In a soft-spoken way. Not like the image of a firebrand "revolutionary." But make no mistake - Rainer is at the vanguard of a revolution: a "renaissance of horticulture."
I was lucky to have ridden the train back to Manhattan with Thomas so we got to chat a bit about the business vagaries of today’s horticulture, gardens, deer - they are destroying our understory and our gardens.. and why do we need to import New Zealand lamb when we are being overrun with bloody deer?! And tax credits for maintaining edible gardens (those last two, I confess, are my hot topics!) Not a surprise Thomas is just as delightfully professional one-on-one as he is in the lecture hall. I can more readily appreciate how he is a leading voice in ecological landscape design. And boy do we need this now.
Rainer and West’s book, Planting in a Post-Wild World has aroused garden designers and landscape professionals to a reverential state. The book claims no less than to be the “future of planting design.” By the end of the lecture, it was with a respectful awe that I rather came round to agree with this assertion. Like a force of nature, it took some time to understand it all. And while I haven’t read the entire book yet, my notes from the lecture and looking through my autographed Post-Wild book (lucky me!), I’ll share the top-line revelations as to why you must get this book and become a Wild advocate.
First, there is the concept of Plant Communities and their “relationships with the environment” not as types or categories but as a series of layers that are sequentially added to the site.” The book notes, “Understanding the distinction between design and functional layers is crucial to balancing beauty with function.”
Like any disciple of fashion knows, it’s all about the layering.
So too, Post-Wild’s planting model utilizes the concept of vertical layering with planting designs. The First Layer or Structural Layer “describes the tallest, most visually dominant species within a (plant) community.” These are the glamour plants that the book says, “draw your attention with their distinct architecture, tall height, and bold colors and textures.”
Think trees, shrubs, tall perennials and grasses. This layer, the authors assert, is the “design layer because its goal is to create visually pleasing horticultural effects.”
The next layer is the Functional Layer. Hey, not all plants are divas. This layer, the authors describe, as “the mix of low, ground-covering species.” They claim that “almost no one sees it.” I may not be totally on-board with this suggestion as I’m a meticulous, ie. obsessive garden designer and enthusiast. For me and my clients. But I understand the concept. Which is, according to Wild, “to hold the ground and fill any gaps to prevent weed invasion.” I Love this layer “nook and cranny” planting design. Plus, let’s not continue to think of mulch as the filler, Rainer suggests.
There is one more element to fostering the true plant community and that is the “Seasonal Theme Layer.” These are the companion plants or "friends" to the Structural Plants. This plant category represents from 25 to 40 percent of the planting and is dominated by the plants’ “filler” performances in terms of structure, and color balance.
Layer 3 or the Ground-Covering Plants include those with “aggressive, clonal-spreading behavior (yikes!) such as ferns, sedges, (ahhh) and woody plants such as Vaccinium or Heath, Calluna vulgaris, or Origanum, Tiarella or Geum.
Rainer lamented the decline of natural wild spaces. There is no doubt that increasingly we live in urban-esque environments. He cites the “enchanting power” of wildness.
Planting is a Post-Wild World is truly a doable, revolutionary approach to landscape design.
Later, in line for the book signing, I overheard the woman two after me gush, “You changed my life." This kind of worship is most often reserved for spiritual leaders or life coaches. But then, hearing Rainer’s garden landscape manifesto, there is no doubt that surely, he is indeed a kind of spiritual leader.
Please get this book and come to a new place of garden design…
Plants naturally interact. Wild offers a place and mind-set to reflect on the marriage or intersection of horticulture and ecology. Oh, and one more design and fashion point here, Rainer admonishes a point so close to my garden design ethos: “Abandon the lawn.” Not entirely, mind you. He explains, it’s better as an “area rug vs. a carpet - a terrace when surrounded by plants.”
Published by Timber Press - every plant lover’s favorite - Post-Wild’s blurbs capture the celebrities of the horticulture world, including the cover page’s quote from Doug Tallamy and back-of-book quote from landscape architect, Larry Weaner. High praise from the best. We can all learn and enjoy the journey.
Post-Wild suggests that wild is no longer “nature lost” as in we could just leave the city or move to a less-developed area. Now, the “front lines of the battle for nature are in our own backyard” … parking lots, and public spaces….
Let’s embrace this garden design “revolution.” No need to barricade the gates. After all, they are happy, garden gates - the entry to understanding a sustainable, ecological, landscape.
Rainer’s blog, grounded design by Thomas Rainer offers a potent credo. One of the more salient points is: "Nature should be interpreted not imitated in designed landscapes." Furthermore, the feedback from readers on Amazon delivers plenty of four-star accolades you’ll find inspiring, thought-provoking and well, revolutionary. A glamorous - and sustainable - road map to the future of garden design.
OvS Organics from Seibert &; Rice premieres today, photo courtesy of Seibert & Rice
Seibert & Rice, the leading importer of Fine Italian Terra Cotta from Impruneta, is proud to announce its collaboration with the internationally renowned landscape architecture firm, Oehme, van Sweden & Associates, Inc. (OvS) recipient of the 2014 Landscape Architecture Firm Award of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)
OvS has designed a line of historically-inspired terra cotta vessels for Seibert & Rice’s American Collection. The line is called OvS Organics.
OvS Organics will make its debut at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC today, October 15, 2015, where the pots will be included in the exhibition, The New American Garden: The Landscape Architecture of Oehme, van Sweden, which runs through April 2016. The exhibition is organized by The Cultural Landscape Foundation
Photo courtesy of the Cultural Landscape Foundation
Seibert & Rice noted, "The product line adds drama to the garden, while reinforcing the time-honored craftsmanship of Italian pottery. Buyers can chose from a set of three pots of varying sizes, equally dramatic whether used individually or coupled in the classic OvS grouping of three."
According to Eric Groft, one of the principals of Oehme, van Sweden, “Inspiration for these vessels was drawn from the beauty and vitality of nature as represented classically through the ages, but infused with a modern and fresh look, indicative of OvS’ garden style made famous by the founders Wolfgang Oehme and Jim van Sweden.” Imagery of the calla lily, the cardoon thistle and the hellebore or Lenten rose enliven these boutique garden accessories. Garden Glamour reported on Groft's landscape lecture at NYBG last year: goo.gl/jjQviJ
Oehme van Sweden design, photo courtesy of OvS
The vessels were fashioned by the artisans of the small, Tuscan town of Impruneta outside of Florence, Italy. In an effort to preserve the ‘hand-of-man’ quality of terra-cotta pottery, the artisans used the ancient coil and slab methods of pot construction. The thickness of the terra-cotta and the skilled workmanship is evident in each shape.
The OvS Organics collection includes the Calla, which measures 35” H x 33 W, $2,050; the Hellebore, 12” H x 32” W, $980; and the Cardoon Thistle, 19” H x 31” W, $1,700. They are available from Seibert & Rice, P.O. Box 365, Short Hills, NJ 07078, (973) 467-8266,
And if you are looking for a vertical look to add drama - hanging planters offer a design option that is all too often overlooked. I had a line of lightweight hanging pots
However, if you have your favorite, high-quality planters and are looking for a hanging solution, then you'll be delighted to discover Design Rulz macrame that add sleek glamour to your home: inside or out. The 20 DIY Macrame Hanger Patterns recently came to my attention. So I'm passing on the good news. The company writes: "Macrame, the art of knotting cords and rope together, was a huge hit back in the ’70s with DIY-ers. Now, modern macrame is sleek, chic and way cooler than its hippie counterpart. We’ve gathered 20 projects for you to try your hand at, and we know that you’ll love getting knotty with some rope and cords when you tackle these tutorials."
Good looking and fun! A home decor partnership that is irresistible. And your design options are limitless.
