A GARDEN designer from north Dublin has won silver at one of Britain’s most prestigious flower shows at Tatton Park in Cheshire.

Stephen Dennis, from Skerries, won the medal for his modern garden design that includes a living chandelier of sky planters.

“I’m very happy. The silver gilt is the highest award I’ve achieved; it’s only about four marks off the gold,” he said.

The 45-year-old has already claimed two bronze medals and a silver with previous entries at the venue near Manchester.

The Royal Horticultural Society Flower Show at Tatton Park is the highlight of the north of England’s gardening calendar. This year there were nearly 500 exhibitors.

There were 33 gardens including 16 show gardens, nine back-to-back gardens, five orchestra gardens, three visionary gardens and three young designers.

Stephen’s winning design, called Remount, was inspired by an old British garrison in Lusk that no longer has a roof and was becoming overgrown.

His take on this uses old Cheshire brick, cobbles and partially rendered walls with overgrown ivy to create the ‘barn’.

The ultra-chic modern garden includes a living chandelier of sky planters hanging over a patio table.

“Whether relaxing with a glass of wine or surfing the iPad, Remount is where you can take some time out,” he explained.

An ornamental tree in purple, together with a meadow of herbaceous perennials and grasses in purple, green and white, completes the display.

However Mr Dennis had to overcome several problems, particularly from the weather.

“The weather has been horrendous. We’ve been here for two-and-a-half weeks and it’s rained every day … any problems with the finished garden are weather-related.”

He is now one of the leading designers in contemporary garden design. He believes the future of gardening is ‘vertical’.

“Imagine if you have a wall, you can turn it into a living wall with plants.”

hnews@herald.ie

– Teresa Gallagher

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By BETH J. HARPAZ

The Associated Press

SEAL HARBOR, Maine — Some of Maine’s most popular destinations are located on Mount Desert Island, including Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. But the island is also home to several remarkable gardens, all connected to the renowned landscape architect Beatrix Farrand, whose philosophy of garden design emphasized native plants and using natural landscapes to define outdoor spaces.

This July 2011 photo provided by the Beatrix Farrand Society shows the restored terrace garden at Garland Farm in Bar Harbor, Maine, where Farrand, a renowned landscape designer, lived and designed her last gardens. Farrand is connected to several gardens in the area, including a private garden designed for Abby Aldrich Rockefeller that’s open to the public just a few days a year. (AP Photo/Beatrix Farrand Society)

This July 2011 photo provided by the Beatrix Farrand Society shows the restored terrace garden at Garland Farm in Bar Harbor, Maine, where Farrand, a renowned landscape designer, lived and designed her last gardens. Farrand is connected to several gardens in the area, including a private garden designed for Abby Aldrich Rockefeller that’s open to the public just a few days a year. (AP Photo/Beatrix Farrand Society, Carolyn Hollenbeck)

This July 12, 2012 photo shows the pond at the Asticou Azalea Garden in Northeast Harbor, Maine. Asticou includes plants once owned by the renowned landscape designer Beatrix Farrand, who also designed the nearby Abby Aldrich Rockefeller garden, a private garden open to the public just a few days a year. (AP Photo/Beth J. Harpaz)

This July 12, 2012 photo shows a wooded path lined with moss and ferns at the Asticou Azalea Garden in Northeast Harbor, Maine. The Asticou contains plants from the collection of renowned landscape designer Beatrix Farrand, who also designed the nearby Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden, a private garden open to the public just a few days a year. (AP Photo/Beth J. Harpaz)

One of the gardens, the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden in Seal Harbor, is a private garden that’s open to the public, by reservation only, just a few days a year. But the other two, Thuya Garden and Asticou Azalea Garden in Northeast Harbor, which contain plants from Farrand’s Bar Harbor home, welcome visitors daily for much of the spring, summer and fall.

All three gardens use natural settings so artfully that it’s sometimes hard to tell where the landscaping ends and nature begins.

Farrand, the sole woman among the founders of the American Society of Landscape Architects, was born in New York in 1872 and died in Bar Harbor in 1959. She designed gardens for the White House, consulted at Princeton and other institutions, and had many prominent private clients, including John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his wife Abby.

Farrand worked with Abby Rockefeller to design the private garden in Seal Harbor between 1926 and 1930. The property is still owned by the Rockefeller family. Each summer, the garden opens to the public one day a week, but reservations fill up fast. As of mid-July, only a handful of slots were left for late August and early September. And there’s no sneaking in: To be admitted, your name must be on a checklist at the entrance, which is virtually unmarked and hard to find even with directions. Photos are permitted only for personal use.

Once inside, most visitors head to the rectangular lawn, where the borders burst with colorful flowers and plants familiar to any backyard gardener, from bright purple clematis vines to gray-green dusty miller. But in some ways the Rockefeller garden is at its most stunning away from the sunny flower beds, where the landscaping melts into the woods. Forested paths are carpeted by velvety moss; giant hostas and feathery ferns offer contrasting textures and a palette of greens. A stone wall punctuated by doorways shaped like the full moon or a bottle give the feeling of stepping into a secret garden hidden in a magical forest. The property also displays centuries-old Asian art, ranging from Buddhas to tall stone figures lining the walkways.

David Bennett, a landscape architect in Washington D.C., has visited the Rockefeller garden as part of his research for restoration of Farrand’s kitchen garden at The Mount, the country estate in Lenox, Mass., created by Farrand’s aunt, writer Edith Wharton. Bennett says Farrand wanted her gardens to “fit into their natural settings. She had a strong appreciation for the natural character of the land and the appropriate way of integrating a designed landscape with its natural context.”

She used plants to create “impressionistic” effects of texture and color, and was also known for creating outdoor “garden rooms,” with “the idea of moving through a landscape in a sequence, from one space to another, where each space has its own character,” Bennett said. “One space may be very shady and enclosed, and you pass through a hedge or a row of trees or through an actual gate in a wall to enter a very sunny and open space.”

The Thuya and Asticou gardens, easily found along Route 3 in the neighboring town of Northeast Harbor, both include plants from Farrand’s Bar Harbor estate, called Reef Point, which Farrand sold in the mid-1950s.

The azaleas at Asticou are finished blooming by summer, but Asticou’s landscaped pond is a star attraction in all seasons. The garden was created in 1956 by Charles K. Savage, who owned the nearby Asticou Inn. The picture-perfect pond reflects the surrounding flowers and trees like a mirror, and the layers of greenery and contrasting shapes and textures look like a Japanese landscape painting. Savage also designed Thuya Garden, where the centerpiece consists of spectacular rows of colorful flowers, from towering blue larkspur to delicate pink and white snapdragons bordering a rectangular lawn.

Those interested in learning more about Farrand can also visit Garland Farm on Route 3 near Bar Harbor, which this summer started offering regular visiting hours for the first time, Thursday afternoons through Sept. 13. Farrand retired to Garland Farm after dismantling Reef Point, bringing plants and ornaments with her and designing her last gardens there. Garland Farm is also home to the Beatrix Farrand Society, which just completed restoration of Farrand’s terrace garden at Garland Farm and is working on restoring other areas there.

Alvion Kimball, who owns the Orland House Bed Breakfast about 40 miles from Seal Harbor and is on the board of DownEast Acadia Regional Tourism, says each of the gardens has its own charms. At the Rockefeller property, he likes the mossy garden best, while the impressive show of flowers at Thuya is like “an English cottage garden.” The garden at Garland Farm is “a more personal garden, on a smaller, intimate scale,” but Asticou with its pretty pond and walkways is his favorite, even without the azaleas in bloom. “It’s just so understated, peaceful and quiet,” he said.

Kimball notes that Farrand’s preference for indigenous plants and natural settings, rather than exotic specimens or rearranged landscapes, was ahead of her time. “You look at what’s happening today with native plants and ecology,” he said, “and to me, it’s almost an extension of what she’d be doing if she were still here.”

___

If You Go…

THUYA AND ASTICOU AZALEA GARDENS: http://www.gardenpreserve.org . Located in Northeast Harbor, Maine, on Mount Desert Island. Asticou is at the intersection of Routes 198 and 3, and Thuya is a half-mile away on Route 3. Open daylight hours, May to October, $5 suggested donation for each garden.

ABBY ALDRICH ROCKEFELLER GARDEN: http://rockgardenmaine.wordpress.com/ . Located in Seal Harbor, Maine, on Mount Desert Island. A private garden open to the public one day a week in late July, August and early September, by reservation only, with two-hour slots filling up well in advance. Check availability online.

GARLAND FARM: http://www.beatrixfarrandsociety.org . Located on Route 3 near Bar Harbor, Maine. Open Thursdays, 1 p.m.-5 p.m., June 21-Sept. 13.

NEARBY ATTRACTIONS: Opportunities for hiking, swimming, boating, nature walks and other activities on Mount Desert Island abound, along with accommodations ranging from campsites to hotels. The island is home to Acadia National Park, http://www.nps.gov/acad/ and Bar Harbor, http://www.visitmaine.com/region/downeast/bar_harbor/ or http://www.downeastacadia.com . Other area gardens include the Charlotte Rhoades Park and Butterfly Garden in Southwest Harbor and the Mount Desert Island Historical Society’s Somesville Historical Museum and Gardens.

___

July 18, 2012 05:41 PM EDT

Copyright 2012, The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The London College of Garden Design that moved it’s one-year Garden Design Diploma classes to take place in the Orangery conference facilities at the world famous Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in September 2011, this week celebrated the success of students with a graduation ceremony held at Cambridge Cottage in the grounds.

Jon Sims took the honours with the College prize and David Holme was presented with a prize awarded by Luciano Giubbilei. Already graduates from 2011 have been making their mark at RHS shows with Graeme Thirde’s Best in Show at BBC Gardeners World and Katherine Wills as a finalist in the Young Garden Designer of the Year at Tatton Park.

Director Andrew Wilson said “Not only have graduates been winning awards they are also getting great commissions and many are starting their careers with leading designers such as Andy Sturgeon and Bowles Wyer. Our success is down to a unique combination of talents and teaching that students are finding to be a compelling reason to study with us.”

Click here for more information about the London College of garden design
–Ends—

For further information contact:
Andrew Fisher Tomlin on +44 (0) 20 8286 1858 or +44 (0)7957 855457
Or email andrewfishertomlin@lcgd.org.uk

This press release was distributed by SourceWire News Distribution on behalf of e-Zone UK. For more information visit http://www.dwpub.com/sourcewire

The 2011 Census shows the population of England and Wales has reached 56.1 million. GARETH McPHERSON asks what challenges face Cambridge with the number of people living in the city jumping by 13 per cent in a decade.

THE powers that be need to be smarter in the way they tackle Cambridge’s spiralling population rather than “desperately playing catch- up”.

That is the concern from those on the frontline of the city’s housing and school place shortages, as well as those facing the daily headache of getting through Cambridge’s notorious traffic.

There are 123,900 people living in the city, according to Census figures released yesterday  – a 12.7 per cent increase on the 2001 figure.

Nationally, population grew almost 7 per cent from 52.4 million to 56.1 million, fuelled by migration, increased life expectancy and rising fertility rates, according to the Office for National Statistics.

That represents the fastest decade of growth since the Census began in 1801.

For Cambridge, the figures are official confirmation of the city’s increasing population, a fact that will not surprise those at the thick end of the population boom.

John Marais, of Defend Council Housing, believes the Government should have acted years ago to prevent a housing crisis that sees many unable to afford the city’s sky-high rental rates or get on the property ladder.

He said shortages have led to a social housing waiting list of more than 8,200 with nowhere near enough houses being built to cover the existing population, let alone an increasing one.

The Arbury resident said: “Even without that increase in population there is a drastic shortage of genuinely affordable housing. It’s the failure of governments past and present to build genuinely affordable houses.

“If there had been a reasonable rate of building houses we would be in a position where we could cope with these sorts of population rises.”

He called on the Government to introduce a massive house building programme which would also provide jobs for the community.

Others have been frustrated by the impact on traffic.

Taxi driver John Knight, who lives in Cherry Hinton, said the traffic is “ridiculous” and affecting his trade.

He added: “If the population continues to go up and the councils continue to do nothing then things are only going to get worse.

“What’s going to happen when you get 10,000 homes next to Waterbeach and all these other homes? We’re going to get two Cambridges. The outer shell where everyone lives on top of each other and the city centre where no-one can move for the traffic. The infrastructure in Cambridge can’t handle it.”

But some businesses are thriving on the back of the population increase.

Danielle Minahan only opened Pear Tree pre-school in Orchard Park last year but already has 49 children registered for next year – and a waiting list of 20.

The pre-school owner said: “There is a real shortage of places in Cambridge. We want to extend but our site does not have expansion potential. There are other options by way of looking at opening new premises but we are wary of that, being such a new business.”

Nursery and primary school places are being squeezed by a rising under-5s population, which is only likely to get more profound.

There are about 4,600 more under-5s in the county than there were a decade ago.

Clare Blair, a governor at Orchard Park Community Primary School, said too often the county council was “desperately playing catch- up” to cope with the population outstripping school places.

She said: “We need to build schools so they can expand and contract in size as the population does.

“We need to be more flexible, like the way they build their schools in places like Holland.

“At the moment we increase capacity at a school and by the time it’s done we are scrabbling around for more places because the population has gone up again. We have to get smarter at predicting demographic changes.”

Tim Bick, leader of the city council, was pleased with the population figure produced by the Census after he said previous “nonsense” population estimates were much lower, meaning they got proportionally less money from Government.

He said: “This is in line with what we had been expecting from the Census. It clearly shows that Cambridge is a fast growing and dynamic place, which presents us with opportunities as well as challenges.”

He added the council is working to address the housing and traffic issues through its draft Local Plan, which has proposed 25,000 new homes for the city by 2031.

Cllr Mac McGuire, cabinet member for community engagement for the county council, said the population rise shows that people think Cambridgeshire is a “great place to call home”.

But he added: “Inevitably more people mean more pressure on our services and budget such as adult social care or education.

“Although the increase is a sign of a thriving county, growing communities do present some acute challenges for public services during times of national austerity.”

gareth.mcpherson@cambridge-news.co.uk

View full sizeThe OregonianWife comes around to husband’s view of topiary.ONE PLUS ONE: A British couple with two different approaches to garden design compromised with a melding of formal and casual.
The husband wanted the garden formal, with “elements, such as an
Italianate pond and, good grief, some topiary,” writes Leigh Bramwel in
The Star. “Once I’d have thought no, absolutely no topiary, not in this
messy subtropical landscape, but in the past few months I’ve seen quite a
few examples of using topiary in a casual landscape design, and I have
to admit it looks quirky, funny, interesting and charming.”

FLOATING UPRIGHT: The donation of a kayak for a display at the Northwest Flower Garden Show turned into an almost-vertical garden at the Agua Verde Paddle Club and Cafe in Seattle. I don’t think it quite qualifies as a green wall because it leans about 70 degrees rather than 90. But why not bend the rules? The seat and hatches are planted with Agave parryi v. truncata and assorted sedum and sempervivum.

GARDENING AND THE SCRIPTURES: Joe Liro, a professor at Austin Community College, is reminded of his faith when he is working in the garden.  “Gardens, herbs and spices — the Scriptures are full of references to them. Adam and Eve lived in a garden. God spoke to Moses from a bush. (In the Pulitzer prize-winning, two-part play “The Kentucky Cycle,” Austinite Robert Schenkkan writes that the bush was not really burning. What Moses actually saw was a bougainvillea in full bloom. An easy mistake.) The Magi brought spices for the infant. Years later, Jesus prayed in a garden and agonized there, “watering it with his tears.” He was buried in a garden, the garden to which the women returned to anoint him with herbs and spices, only to discover that Jesus lived.”

— Kym Pokorny

N.Y.’s stake in farm bill http://t.co/Ht0vptI3

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“In order to comprehend the beauty of a Japanese garden, it is necessary to understand — or at least to learn to understand — the beauty of stone.” — Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904)

The charming English cottage garden has its climbing roses and clematis. The Midwest prairie garden has its bluestem grass and coneflowers. And, the formal French garden has its clipped boxwood hedges and statuary. There are useful design elements and plant combinations to be gleaned from each one. But, it’s the serene, minimalistic Japanese garden, with its careful placement of stones, use of water, and thoughtful pruning of evergreens and other plants that can provide design ideas for creating a meditative, soothing setting no matter what style your current garden.

At Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, Ill., (andersongardens.org), one of the premier Japanese gardens in the U.S., visitors can’t help but slow their pace on gently meandering paths dotted with a boulder or two, where judiciously pruned tree limbs overhead subtly serve to point them onward. The crushed rock underfoot adds to the sensory effect in the stroll garden, and a stone lantern works as a focal point for contemplation.

“Our garden takes people away from their hectic lives,” says David Anderson of Anderson Japanese Gardens. “It offers visitors a place of tranquillity and peace.”

You won’t find wild, exuberant colors of summer annuals, but instead a restful green palette where the fine-textured leaves of Japanese maples and ferns contrast with the coarser foliage of hostas.

“There are tremendous dazzling colors in spring and fall, but it’s not a flower garden,” Anderson says. “The garden slows you down so you look around. There are many small scenes, like a stone lantern or a water basin. It just takes you away.”

A bridge sits in front of a waterfall that provides a fine mist, cooling the air on a hot summer day.

“It’s a really special spot that engages the senses: the sound of the water, the mist, the breeze, the moss-covered boulder, the fragrance,” says Tim Gruner, curator at the gardens. “This is an intensely manipulated garden, but it helps people connect with beautiful nature.”

Creating a meditative garden in a small space is like planting a bonsai tray planter, Gruner says. “A cluster of rocks and a tree — it takes you to an elemental place and it affects the heart in a positive way,” he says. “It creates the feeling that you’re in a vast landscape.”

While small home gardens might not have room for a Japanese tea house, you can create a quiet corner suitable for meditation and a cup of tea.

“If one of the functions of gardens in general is to bring us into alignment with nature and our inner selves, this is something that is implicitly understood in the Japanese garden,” says Stephen Mansfield, author of “Japan’s Master Gardens: Lessons in Space and Environment” (Tuttle).

“The book attempts to heighten the reader’s appreciation of dry landscape gardens and reveal their hidden order,” Mansfield says. “Unlike Western gardens, rock arrangements have always created a powerful mystique and dynamism in the Japanese garden. The symbolism is quite different. The sanzon-seki, a cluster of three stones often seen in Japanese gardens, for example, represents the Buddha and two disciples, or in some instances Mount Meru, the center of the Buddhist cosmos.”

When he created his own garden in Japan, Mansfield was adamant that there would be no artificial materials, such as concrete or plastic. Controlling the views was also vital, he says. “Depending upon your immediate environment, you will either want to borrow a view so that yours is enhanced or expanded through the optical illusion of enlargement by association, or you will wish to conceal something.”

At Anderson gardens, plants are pruned to reveal distant views.

“There’s a tremendous depth and you get a hint of what’s beyond,” Gruner says. “Plants are thinned out so there’s a sense of transparency. It creates a wonderful sense of three dimensions. You’re not just looking on the outside, but you see the inside leaves fluttering.”

Sound is another central element. “Not all Japanese gardens have water, but it’s a key element,” Gruner says. “It provides a sense of refreshment. It creates a sense of mystery. When you hear water, you’re drawn to it.”

sunday@tribune.com

From a Japanese-style garden to your home

Create a garden that encourages meditation and relaxation with these tips:

Patterns at Anderson Japanese Gardens are “very flowing and irregular,” says Tim Gruner. “Boulders that encroach a path, plants tucked up against a boulder, Japanese maples and pines — these are all subtle elements that create a nice backyard element.” Placing a boulder on the inside edge of a path provides the illusion that the path is a stream and the boulder has caused it to change direction.

Put large stones in the foreground, smaller ones at the rear to elongate depth of field, says Stephen Mansfield.

Subtle textures are key. “We use pachysandra under the pines with an occasional large hosta that breaks the pattern,” David Anderson says.

“We train the plants to grow as they do in nature,” Gruner says. “You’ll find trees that lean over the pond or a slope, which is something most people don’t think of doing in their own garden, but it looks very natural.”

“The deft and economical use of space, the elimination of redundant areas, is something that resonates with urban dwellers,” Mansfield says. In small courtyards consider using fewer plants, such as a Japanese maple underplanted with hostas. A small water feature will attract birds and dragonflies.

— N.K.