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Join Danielle Desilets, senior landscape architect at Carol R. Johnson Associates, for a lecture examining contemporary garden and landscape design in New England on Thursday, Aug. 2 at 6 p.m. at Historic New England’s 1784 Governor John Langdon House.

In the past few years, topics such as “sustainable landscapes” and “ecological horticulture” are becoming increasingly important in landscape architecture. Desilets explores how landscape architects work to balance these ideas with historic preservation, blending the old with the new. After the program participants have an opportunity to view the exhibition Lost Gardens of New England.

The program begins at 6 p.m. at the Gov. John Langdon House at 143 Pleasant St. in Portsmouth. Tickets to the lecture are $12, $8 for members of Historic New England. Register by calling 436-3205 or visiting www.HistoricNewEngland.org.

The Langdon House is open Friday through Sunday, June 1 through Oct. 28, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $6 and includes the Lost Gardens of New England exhibition and a tour of the house. Tours are on the hour and the last tour begins at 4 p.m. For information call 436-3205, e-mail programinfo@historicnewengland.org, or visit www.HistoricNewEngland.org.

About Historic New England

The Governor John Langdon House is one of thirty-six historic properties owned and operated by Historic New England.

Historic New England is the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive regional heritage organization in the nation. We bring history to life while preserving the past for everyone interested in exploring the New England experience from the seventeenth century to today. Historic New England shares the region’s history through vast collections, publications, programs, museum properties, archives, and family stories that document more than 400 years of life in New England.

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The Garden Life: Open your garden to others

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The Garden Life: How lessons learned can take root in your garden

Robb Rosser is a WSU-certified master gardener. Reach him at Write2Robb@aol.com.

Midsummer is a wonderful time to visit gardens that garden owners are willing to open to the public. An “open garden” is a generous gift to a community of fellow gardeners. The only garden I can remember visiting as a child was my grandmother’s garden. Even when we moved away, we would spend holidays and summer with her in Southern California. The heady scent of roses and the sweet sugary tang of a climbing honeysuckle (Lonicera ssp.) still take me back to that place of carefree days when there was nothing more important to do than play the day away.

Every morning, in the sunny California winter, Grandma would take a tray of ice cubes out to the garden and empty the ice around the base of the hydrangeas. Her hydrangeas were the only ones in the neighborhood that I remember seeing in full summer bloom. She knew what she was doing and focused her energy on what she liked to do in the garden. When I look back on memories of that early garden, I realize what good gardening friends my grandmother and I would be today.

Nevertheless, I don’t think my grandmother would have opened her garden to visitors the way so many Northwest gardeners do today. In those days, most people gardened with more intention, growing flowers for cutting; tomatoes, lettuce and onions for household meals. The only people who opened their garden to visitors had expansive, high-end gardens that were elegant and grand compared to what we considered normal neighborhood gardens. At least, that’s what Grandma thought. If asked to do so, she would have simply said, “Now why would I want to do that?”

I can think of any number of ways to use the experience of visiting an open garden to enhance my own garden, especially in the area of garden design. One of the reasons I visit other gardens is to check out ideas that would work in my garden. I take the time to consider the work and details that go into that idea before I commit to the expense and labor involved in a garden project. Wouldn’t it be great to see the water feature of your dreams before you installed it in your garden? How about visiting half a dozen greenhouses before choosing one for your work space?

What you get out of a garden visit is really up to you. If your intention is to garner inspiration for your own garden design, visit 10 open gardens. You might visit other gardens just for the fun of it but you can also visit with the purpose of finding your own style and learning how other gardeners created their style. A garden tour is an ideal way to learn how to best use plants in the garden. It’s a great way to discover which plants you want in your garden. Don’t get hung up on terminology such as formal, informal or natural. Most plants and many garden features are interchangeable in different styles of gardens.

Do, however, keep in mind which elements you must have for a garden you can live with. Choose a selection of plants and ideas that match your enthusiasm for gardening. Take away only ideas that you really like and leave what you don’t. As you enter a garden, be aware of how it makes you feel. Does a shady reading nook fill you with delight? If so, take the time to consider how this feature is designed and where it will fit into your garden plan.

Take in elements

To get the most out of a garden tour consider looking at each element of the garden as if it were already established in your design. Does a formal, flagstone dining patio fit with your lifestyle? Do you like the herringbone brick pattern used in the walkways or would you prefer the earthy crunch of a gravel path under your feet? It can really be a delightful experience imagining that every feature in every garden you visit is a possibility in your own garden. The more gardens and garden events you visit, the better your chance of ending up with a garden that satisfies you in many ways.

My grandma made gardening look so easy. She knew what she was doing and focused on growing a few flowering shrubs and fruit trees that she truly loved. One of my strongest memories is that she had a nectarine and an apricot tree in the backyard. Nectarines are my favorite fruit to this day. Now that I think about it, Grandma actually did open her garden to family and friends, especially grandchildren. Nothing would make me happier than to go back in time and visit my grandmother’s garden again.

Robb Rosser is a WSU-certified master gardener. Reach him at Write2Robb@aol.com.

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A dedication ceremony will be held this afternoon at the new Temescal Garden Showcase at the Storm Stadium.

The ceremony starts at 4:30 p.m. at 500 Diamond Drive, Lake Elsinore. Light refreshments will also be served.

The Temescal Garden Design project was started by the EVMWD as a way to “encourage customers to use less water while still maintaining a beautiful and inviting landscape,” according to a press release. The EVMWD has installed three demonstration gardens at the Storm Stadium, and visitors will be the first to see water-wise landscape designs from Lake Elsinore, Wildomar, and Canyon Lake that residents can easily replicate at their own homes.

According to the EVMWD, the plants are all available at local nurseries and home improvement stores, and use less water than a standard turf lawn. 

Posted: Tuesday, July 31, 2012 6:30 pm

Stock up on design ideas this weekend at Home and Garden Show

Staff report

Your West Valley

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Make your house a home at the Maricopa County Home and Garden Show, the Southwest region’s largest home show, taking place Friday through Sunday at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.

The locally produced home and garden show provides a bevy of design ideas, techniques and seminars for all of your home improvement needs all under one roof.

“For more than 20 years we have been producing home shows in Phoenix.Starting from the ground up, the Maricopa County Home and Garden Shows have grown to become the largest home shows in the Southwest,” said Rene Smith, owner and president of the shows. “This summer, we have mixed it up by incorporating more interactive and experiential elements for everyone.”

During the show, guests will be able to engage with interactive booths and experience much more than just home and garden improvement ideas. Guests will be able to walk through beautiful garden landscapes and visit more than 400 vendor booths. Some activities include:

• Visit Macmedia’s Apple and iTechnology Solutions Center to experience and learn about the new and cutting edge Mac products and get free Mac advice at the “technology bar.”

• Get your Gnome Passport in the Home Show Magazine. Spot the eight garden gnomes throughout the venue and enter for a chance to win a $500 Visa gift card.

• Check out the AZ Pro Sports Fan Experience interactive display.

• Learn how to plant a vegetable garden, compost and more at the University of Arizona Master Gardeners seminars.

• The Sassy Sommelier is presenting tastings and flights in the show’s first wine garden.

• Register to win a variety of prizes including $10,000 worth of swimming pool products and getaway packages at Cactus Valley Pool Supply’s booth.

• Volunteer and donate to local nonprofit groups and organizations in the Community Village.

The show is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Admission is $5 daily for adults, $2 for ages 3-12. Children 2 and under are free. Free on-site parking is available. Senior morning will take place on Friday from 10 a.m. to noon and guests ages 60 and older will receive $1 admission. Bring a new backpack and receive free admission for two and help children in need get a head start back to school. Customer Appreciation will take place Friday evening: Attend the show between 4 and 6 p.m. for $1 admission and a free home show gift.

For information, call 602-485-1691 or visit www.MCHomeShows.com. Follow on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HomeShows. The next two shows are scheduled to take place Sept. 28-30 and Jan. 11-13 at the Arizona State Fairgrounds.

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Tuesday, July 31, 2012 6:30 pm.

Perennial garden design poses many challenges for gardeners as we endeavor to create the illusion of continuous color, but the ever-changing palette throughout the growing season is well worth the research and constant relocation of plants required to achieve this elusive goal. Nearly every day in the perennial border presents a unique portrait with peaks and valleys in the bloom sequence. Attractive textural and colored foliages serve to bridge the gaps and act as the primary players throughout the growing season. Many new varieties of plants have the good fortune to display leaves that offer multi-tinted hues.

On this cool, gloomy, Sunday afternoon, after hours of watching our Olympic athletes pursue their dreams for gold medals, I ventured outdoors for a brief stroll and found my eye continually drawn to the bright golden foliage which, despite overcast skies, seemed to glow and command attention throughout my landscape. In my earlier years, I had an aversion to plants with gold foliage, especially when viewed in individual containers on nursery benches. To my eye, they appeared sickly, as if suffering from nitrogen deficiency, but in recent years I have come to recognize their value to brighten, enhance, and offer contrast in a sea of green leaves.

In the realm of woody plants, there are numerous gold-colored evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs to provide a colorful contrast to the green, blue, or burgundy foliages in our foundation plantings and shrub borders. Gold-tinted evergreens include the elegant ‘Skylands’ oriental spruce, junipers, like the spreading J. ‘Mother Lode’, and several types of false cypress (Chamaecyparis) such as the delightful thread-leaf cypress, C. pisifera ‘Golden Mop’, C. obtusa ‘Fernspray Gold’ and the compact C. obtusa ‘Verdoni’. Many homeowners have already discovered the radiant glow of variegated yellow and green euonymus cultivars including ‘Green and Gold’ and ‘Moonshadow’. A handsome, gold and green striped Yucca known as ‘Gold Sword’ also provides an evergreen accent.

A number of lovely deciduous shrubs can be used to add the “Midas Touch” to your landscape, serving as a singular focal point or repeated in several locations to provide rhythm to your design. The Spirea family presents several handsome introductions including ‘Ogon’, a feathery shrub with early spikes of tiny white flowers, or the later-blooming cultivars ‘Gold Mound’, ‘Gold Flame’ and ‘Magic Carpet’, all of which form dense mounds. The disk-shaped leaves of a gold-tinted smokebush, Continus ‘Golden Spirit’ are stunning turning multiple shades of coral, orange, and red in autumn and Caryopteris ‘Sunshine Blue’ offers yellow leaves and feathery blue flowers beginning in August on a 3-foot shrub. I prefer to use gold-tinted trees and shrubs as accents rather than as mass-plantings which can become overwhelming.

In the shady border, where foliage color and texture tend to predominate during the summer and fall, radiant gold leaves give the shady garden pizzazz! A relatively new introduction, Dicentra ‘Gold Heart’, exhibits the appealing blossoms of old-fashioned bleeding hearts against a backdrop of bright gold leaves and maintains its foliage much longer than the green-leafed species. A sensational spiderwort, Tradescantia ‘Sweet Kate’, provides eye-catching yellow strap-like leaves with deep violet blue flowers and is more clump-forming than its weedier counterparts. Numerous hosta cultivars are available ranging in color from lime green to pale gold, depending on the amount of sunlight the plant receives. Personal favorites among the numerous offerings of handsome gold hosta cultivars include ‘Gold Standard‘, Daybreak’, ‘On Stage’, ‘Golden Scepter’, ‘Piedmont Gold’, ‘Sunpower’, ‘Dancing Queen’, ‘Fire Island’ with bright gold leaves and red stems, and a vigorous miniature called ‘Dragon Tails’.

A handsome companion to the broad leaves of blue, green, or variegated hostas, the decorative Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa) adds a fine-textured contrast: H. macra ‘Aureola’ is streaked yellow and green and a newer addition, H. ‘All Gold’ is a glittering solid gold. Growing l to 2-feet tall, plants gradually spread to form soft, mop-like mounds that sway in the breeze like waves on the ocean. A golden sedge, Carex ‘Bowles Golden’ provides a more upright clump, its narrow blades edged with a deeper green.

The attractive leaves of coral bells (Heuchera) offer colorful accents throughout the growing season and into the winter months. Many new varieties of Heuchera and Heucherella have been introduced and each season the color palette expands with unique combinations. Newer cultivars that feature bright yellow or lime-green leaves, including ‘Lime Rickey’, ‘Citronelle’, and ‘Electra’ with red veins, glow in the shade while Heucherella ‘Stoplight’ and ‘Gold Zebra’ offer a shocking combination of bright yellow leaves with stunning red central blotches.

For sunnier locales, look for Veronica, ‘Aztec Gold’ or Campanula ‘Dickson’s Gold’ which form low-growing mats and blue blossoms. Perhaps the hardiest sun-lover is the mat-forming Sedum ‘Angelina’ with needle-like foliage that becomes cinnamon-tinted in late fall and winter; best of all, this sedum keeps its foliage throughout the year. It should be noted that the foliage of many gold plants, especially those with soft, deciduous leaves, may burn in hot afternoon summer sun and may look best given sun only until midday.  

Touches of gold-tinted foliage added to container gardens give these portable gardens great visual impact. Gold sweet potato vines and lemon-tinted licorice plant, Helichrysum ‘Limelight’ are valuable additions to trail over the edge of planters while upright selections such as the two-toned yellow and green leaves of Duranta, gold coleus, and Canna Tropicana Gold with dramatic striped green and yellow leaves serve as thrillers in containers and are particularly effective when paired with purple foliage.

Try a few gold-leafed plants in your landscape. Their radiant foliage will add a magical touch of color and will transform a dull, monochromatic planting into a vibrant, exciting panorama.

Suzanne Mahler is an avid gardener, photographer and lecturer who has been developing the 1.5-acre property surrounding her home in Hanover for more than 30 years. Her weekly gardening column ‘Green Thumbs Up’ has appeared in GateHouse Media New England newspapers for more than a decade. She is a member of two local garden clubs, past President of the New England Daylily Society, an overseer for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and is employed at two garden centers.

Desirables

Milton Glaser Cuts a Rug

Portland’s Lapchi collaborates with the eminent, octogenarian graphic designer as he applies his creative spirit to a new medium, carpet.

Posted by: Kristin Belz on Jul 30, 2012 at 11:00AM0 Comments

Andrew Neave of Lapchi explains the story behind one of the new Milton Glaser line of carpets, for which he was “technical director” collaborating with the “I [heart] NY” graphic designer. The rugs themselves tell stories as well, yet need no explanation.

Milton Glaser has brought his talents and imagination to many projects, including several graphic design classics that we know by sight if not by name of designer. He came up with the “I [heart] NY” campaign (in 1975, on a scrap of paper, in a taxi, natch). He’s created countless rock concert posters, and the iconic image of Dylan, in profile, with wild, curly, psychedelic colored hair. Glaser’s images speak of particular times and places, and yet are timeless.

His latest creations will likely prove to be just as timeless. The challenge he’s recently taken on, the medium to which he’s applied his talents, is wool and silk. Specifically, wool and silk woven into carpets, made by Lapchi.

Together, the 80-something designer (he still goes into the office in New York, where he works with a small staff in a room where everyone can hear everyone else) and the Portland-based carpet company have made a line of 32 original, limited edition, hand-woven carpets.

Milton Glaser’s Mandala series for Lapchi includes this version, Water; the line was exhibited at the Santa Monica Museum of Art in March.

Glaser came up with sketches, and Lapchi creative director Andrew Neave was the “technical director,” leading Glaser up the steep learning curve of high-end, custom-made rug weaving. In true artist fashion, Glaser was eager to take on the new challenge. His polyglot career has ranged from designing the interiors of the Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow Room to co-founding New York magazine, as its first creative director. Rugs are simply a new chance to engage people and tell stories.

Those stories, as Neave says, don’t have to be understood to be appealing and engaging. Some of the designs are abstract, riffs on stripes even. Others are floral, almost traditional. Still others are illustrative, incorporating colorful creatures that will evoke different things to different people, but create a tone of playfulness, invention and activity.

The Mandala series, Earth version, by Milton Glaser for Lapchi.

For Glaser, the designs are somewhat autobiographical, the themes and motifs elements that he’s been exploring in various media throughout his 60-plus years as a prolific artist. The line includes Mandalas (Water, Earth, Fire and Air), a Tantric series, Chinese paper dragons, snakes (a positive image in eastern religions), Matisse-like “paper flowers,” and even a center medallion and border design that could be a “play on an oriental rug,” or a garden plan of “heaven on earth”, as Neave says.

Glaser made his sketches for Lapchi in watercolor, cut or torn paper (colored, coated, one- or two-sided) and other media. It was up to Neave to reproduce and/or interpret the designs, match the colors, determine whether they could even be made into hand-knotted wool and silk carpets. Sometimes, mistakes in computer color renderings led to happy accidents.

Glaser is rightfully famous for this image of Bob Dylan, circa 1966.

The months-long creative and technical process was organic yet systematic, to hear Neave tell it. And the results are certainly more than happy accidents. They’re heirlooms, and works of art.

Atelier Lapchi
809 NW Flanders Street @ Park
Portland, OR 97209
503.719.6589
Hours: M-F 10-6, Sa-11-5, Closed Sundays

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Monday, 30 July 2012 14:25

A Skerries based garden designer has scooped a Silver Gilt Medal at one of Britain’s top competitions at Tatton Park near Manchester.

Stephen Dennis impressed judges with a unique entry to the show. His creation ‘Remount’ combines a modern contemporary look with a classic barn. It is the latest success which has put Ireland at the forefront of contemporary garden design. Stephen explains: “Remount combines tradition with a new ‘chic’ and boasts a living chandelier as one of its highlights. Inspiration has been taken from the shape and materials of the barn, which was made from old Cheshire brick, cobbles and partially rendered walls with overgrown ivy.” he said.

An ornamental tree and the living chandelier of sky planters hanging over a patio table makes the garden the place for the in-crowd to chill out in the outdoors. An ornamental tree in purple together with a meadow of herbaceous perennials and grasses in purple, green and white completes the display.

A living wall with trailing plants adds to the modern feel and helps create an area where people can relax and forget everyday pressures.

Stephen is one of a number of Irish designers leading the field in contemporary garden design. Last year he also took the Silver Medal after impressing the judges with his entry ‘Breath’ which centred on a patio with ponds and a giant glass cube giving a modern area for relaxing and entertaining.

Nothing says summer quite like the ‘burr’ of a dragonfly’s wings whizzing past you in the garden, and Cambridgeshire is one of the best places in the country to spot them.

Rather confusingly the term ‘dragonfly’ covers both damselflies, whose wings stretch back along their bodies when resting, and dragonflies themselves, which hold their wings out or downwards.

There are three stages in the lifecycle of all dragonflies: an egg hatches into a larva, or mymph, which moults up to 15 times before emerging as an adult. Unlike most other insects, there is no pupal stage and the transition from larva to adult is known as incomplete metamorphosis. The adult stage is usually the shortest in the lifecycle and rarely lasts for more than a matter of weeks in Britain, which might explain their somewhat frantic mating habits!

There are 56 species recorded in Britain (20 damselflies, 36 dragonflies), making them a rather simple group to memorise when compared to bird or butterfly varieties, and you can see an impressive 21 of them at local reserve Wicken Fen.

Make sure to visit the site on Sunday for its dedicated dragonfly day.

Running from 10.30am-5pm, the National Trust will be teaming up with two leading dragonfly conservation organisations, the British Dragonfly Society and the Dragonfly Project, to raise awareness of these amazing insects, who are closely related to the huge insects which flew over our forests 300 million years ago. 

A fun programme of dragonfly activities for all the family is planned including guided dragonfly walks, dragonfly spotting boat trips, larva-feeding demonstrations, pond dipping, work sheet activities for children and exciting craft activities, including making pipe cleaner and origami dragonflies.

The fen is also home to the National Dragonfly Centre, which is open at weekends throughout the summer and houses colourful displays and information on dragonflies, with experts on hand to advise on latest dragonfly sightings on the fen. The centre also offers a regular programme of events from dragonfly safaris to introductory and advanced dragonfly courses.

Wicken Fen Nature Reserve and Visitor Centre is open daily (except Christmas Day) from 10am-5pm. Entry is free to National Trust members and under-5s. Adults £6.30, children £3.15, family ticket £15.75 (two adults and up to three children). The reserve is located off the A1123 near the village of Wicken.

By LIZZY DENING

Small gardens are often taken in with a single glance and that means there is nowhere to hide when it comes to sneakily sweeping dead leaves into a corner or not putting tools away. Like rooms, gardens look best when they are swept and tidy, but time is often at a premium and the job of sorting out the garden may get shunted down the list in place of more immediate tasks.

On a nice sunny day, though, I thoroughly enjoy spending time in the garden tidying and rearranging furniture and pots. I am often accused of sweeping away my stresses, and I do always feel much better after a few hours outside. There is an immense sense of satisfaction when all is like new again, if only for a brief time. I am definitely “old school” in my approach and like to use a broom and a dustpan and brush to clean, sweep and tidy: my other half blitzes things with as much machinery as possible. Both approaches have their benefits, but two such differing techniques do not often result in horticultural harmony at the same time in the same small space.

I have to concede that there are a few power tools that do make life easier in the garden when time is pressing. A good blower or garden hoover/shredder is a boon, especially if you have bamboo or other plants that shed their leaves all year round. These tools allow you to clean places that perhaps you couldn’t ordinarily get to and are hugely useful for getting the leaves and debris out from behind large pots. There is a bewildering choice in stores and online and it is always worth trying out machinery to see whether it is lightweight enough to be comfortable to use and powerful enough for the tasks you will ask of it.

Irrigation is another time saver. Pressurised drip irrigation was still OK to use during the hosepipe ban and is simple to install on a small scale via a battery operated system. Off the shelf Gardena or Hozelock systems are readily available in good garden centres and DIY stores, and once you have got your head round how it all fits together it is actually very simple to operate. If you do not have the time or inclination to install a system yourself, there are lots of companies that will be able to design you a whole system and make it as complicated or simple as you wish.

A gas weed gun is also useful in small areas of gravel or pebbles where it can be difficult to sweep up leaves and debris between the stones. The elongated blow torch incinerates them and also helps to kill off any seeds lurking in the gravel waiting to germinate – although you will never get every one and the process will be ongoing, especially with rampant seeders such as Verbena bonariensis and erigeron.

Small gardens benefit from planning well and when I design a garden, how much maintenance the client wishes to undertake is always part of the overall design process. No matter how well thought out, any external hard landscaping will be subjected to all the elements mother nature can throw at it and there will be times when simply brushing and washing down your terrace doesn’t get it as clean as it could be. There are a multitude of products on the market to clean stone: always read the label and try a test patch first regardless of which product you purchase. Some such as Patio Magic provides really good effects on sandstone and man made paving. It is a product that can be diluted and watered on, there is no scrubbing or brushing and even if effects are not perhaps immediate, the gentle cleaning effect keeps on working through the year.

The maintenance of your garden shouldn’t be a chore; it should be something you enjoy and want to do if you want to actively garden your space rather than employ a maintenance gardener. Whichever approach you take (dustpan and brush or blower and gas gun) the time spent in cleaning and tidying should always be worth the time you spend in the garden after enjoying the fruits of your labours.

Kate Gould is an award-winning garden designer and a regular exhibitor at the Chelsea Flower Show. This is the latest in her series of monthly posts on design tips for transforming small gardens: read the rest here.