There’s plenty for them to see, too. Despite being surrounded and overshadowed
by both the M4 and A470, this accidental patch of greenery plays host to two
species of crickets (long-winged conehead and slender groundhopper). It also
features five species of orchid: southern marsh, bee orchid, pyramidal,
common twayblade and not just the normally pink common spotted, but rare
crimson and purple variants, some of which have been dug up and removed by
local flower-rustlers.

Meanwhile, in Truro, the message on the huge Trafalgar roundabout is spelt out
in lettuces. Not only have the members of the city’s horticultural
department created a full-scale image of the county’s winged emblem, the
Cornish chough, but they have also announced their success in the annual
Britain in Bloom contest, by creating the message “National BIB Finalist” in
edible leaf form.

Then there are the garden statue and design statements, some of which would
look bold in a full-scale RHS show, let alone at the junction of a
dual-carriageway.

Take the 15ft-tall, metallic flying geese that soar up from the roundabout in
the middle of the A6 at Belper, in Derbyshire. Or the giant silver cockerel
that guards the grassy traffic interchange at Deepdene, in Dorking (it
represents the five-toed variety of chicken peculiar to this area).

And for interpretation of a concept into full-blown roundabout reality, the
prize for thoroughness and commitment has to go to Seaside Garden, at Herne
Bay, in Kent. Here the notion of a traffic island has been given a whole new
marine twist, in the form of a sea-blue-painted perimeter, encircling not
just a bit of shingle and a few waving grasses, but a full-sized boat and a
pair of brightly painted beach huts.

“We have very little vandalism, too,” says Herne Bay’s Colette Ashwin-Kean.
“We made a point of involving local schoolchildren in the design and
construction of our Seaside Garden, and I think the whole community feels
rather proud of the finished product.

“In fact, it’s gone down so well, we’re thinking of building a similar
roundabout at the other end of the town.”

This might sound extravagant at a time when we are all having to dig deeper
into our pockets (and municipal parks departments are having to dig rather
less deep, with fewer staff). But this roundabout renaissance is, for the
most part, being funded not by the public purse, but by private sponsorship.

Recent years have seen the flowering of a small number of firms which
specialise in persuading local businesses to “adopt” a traffic intersection
in their area. Companies pay a sum of money: anything from £1,000 to £10,000
per year. In return they get to plant not just their corporate signboard in
the middle of a busy roundabout, but to have said roundabout planted,
beautified and maintained.

It’s big business. Over the past 10 years, Aberdeen City Council reckons to
have received half a million pounds’ worth of income via roundabout
sponsorship. In Wrexham, North Wales, it will cost you £2,000 per year to
have your name on even the barest bit of bypass.

Further south, the London Borough of Hillingdon, has 25 sponsored roundabouts
on its books (prices from £1,000 to £4,500 per year), while even a small
town like Burgess Hill, in Sussex, has all of its eight roundabouts happily
hooked up with sponsors, and a waiting list of firms keen to be involved.

The influx of cash has come with fresh attention for the quality of the
planting. Where once roundabouts might have been dreary affairs with lawn
and shrubs, now they are platforms for innovative horticultural thinking.

“Our displays have been developed using geraniums, polyanthus, hebe,
lavandula, flax and a variety of grasses,” says Paul Richards of the London
Borough of Hillingdon. “All planting schemes are carried out on an
individual basis, and careful consideration is given to soil type, soil
depth, ease of watering and exposure to wind, frost and sun.”

Plus car exhaust fumes, too. After all, these circular-shaped oases are
located in busy roads, not the middle of Kew Gardens. Certain horticultural
features aren’t an option. Towering, lush foliage, for instance.

“The layout of beds on a roundabout has to take vehicle sight lines into
account,” says Marilyn Ayoade, communications officer at Reigate and
Banstead Borough Council, in Surrey. “Tall planting is kept towards the
centre,” so cars can see what’s going on around the edges.

That said, local authorities can differ widely when it comes to safety
regulations.

“There are as many different rules as there are councils,” says Mark Barfoot,
of Sponsorthisroundabout.com. “In one county, the biggest signboard you’re
allowed is 800 by 225mm, but in the next-door county, it’s 1,625 by 625mm.
Some local authorities let you put up signs that dwarf the roundabout,
others make you put up signs so small, you can hardly read them.

“Some counties let you put up signs without applying for planning permission;
others insist you apply for planning permission at £325 a time.”

Some sponsors, he adds, also need help with the specifics of the gardening.
“It can be a minefield. You need to explain to them, for example, that it’s
fine to plant daffodils, but that they only flower for a short time. Not
only that, but for them to grow back healthily, you have to allow them to
die back and be deadheaded. Which means there’s going to be a fair bit of
time when the roundabout isn’t looking at its best.”

Along with the cost of maintenance, this is why more and more councils are
moving away from seasonal bedding displays, and towards all-year-round
arrangements, using dry beds instead of soil, plus drought-tolerant grasses
and perennials instead of short-lived annuals.

Others are opting for paving or mosaic-type decoration. Those who remain
wedded to a floral display are copying the artfully unkempt,
wild-flower-meadow look, as perfected on two edge-of-town roundabouts in
Loughborough, where it’s not just vehicles buzzing back and forth, but bees
and other varieties of insect.

Naturally, the sponsorship consultants talk up the commercial benefits of
exposure-by-roundabout.

“If a firm buys an advertisement in a newspaper, it’s in there one week, and
gone the next,” says Peter Knightley of Ukroundabouts.com. “But a roundabout
is seen every day by thousands of people.” What’s more, the money raised
helps beautify not just that individual roundabout, but the whole area.

“We realised some years ago that, with our roundabouts, we were sitting on a
gold mine,” says Patrick Phillips, head of horticulture at Bromley Council.
“The money we make from roundabout sponsorship pays for a substantial part
of our bedding throughout the entire borough.

“We’ve got just short of 100 roundabouts, of which 60 are already taken and
another 40 are available.”

Happy executives, plenty of lovely planting, and free-flowing traffic. At
these new roundabouts, businesses, plants and local councils all help each
other. Virtuous circles, you might say.

Three firms that bring roundabout sponsors and local authorities together

Ukroundabouts.com
(020 8869 9733)

Sponsorthisroundabout.com
(01424 205406)

Marketing Force
(01394 672467)

Park says plant-hunting is still popular. First editions of many of legendary
plantsman Frank Kingdon Ward titles seem to maintain their prices, though
the purple prose of Reginald Farrer is less popular than it was. And
collecting the complete works of certain gardener/authors can still be
profitable – modern authors such as Helen Dillon and Marylyn Abbott
frequently rise in value once their works are out of print.

Park is confident pre-20th-century gardening literature will always appreciate
in value, but later works are less certain investments. But he has a couple
of tips: hold on to old books (or guidebooks) on gardens that are still open
today – it is always interesting to compare old with new. Another central
tenet of Park’s is this: “The criteria I always use here is collect those
who actually garden, rather than just write about it. You can usually tell
if the hand that picks up the pen has soil under the nail.”

Collectable tips

Don’t throw out early seed catalogues

Book collectors will disapprove, but you can split books and frame the prints.
Who knows, they may make more money on the wall

See abebooks.co.uk
for prices

Have fun during the winter months by planning spring and summer gardens on paper. Scrapbooking is a popular indoor sport. Numerous catalogs and garden magazines have been piling up on the floor beside my desk. Garden photographs fill my computer scrapbook. Why not use photographs along with catalog and magazine pictures to design a new bed or to improve an existing garden?

A fourteen-year-old highly visible garden near our house is in need of a face-lift. It’s tempting to remove everything except the shrub rose and start over using a few of the existing plants and adding new perennials.

Armed with scissors, tape, and printer paper, I attacked the project with determination to plan a garden worthy of a dedicated gardener; however, this type of garden project is an excellent way for a novice gardener to plan a garden without spending money. Mistakes made on paper are easily remedied.

For a new garden, decide on the location. Will it be free-standing or against a fence or house? For one that is free-standing, the tallest plants are located in the center; for one against a fence, taller plants are in the back.

Allow ample room for mature growth. Determine spacing by dividing the mature width by two. A six-foot wide evergreen shrub would be planted four feet from a structure. Why four feet instead of three? The extra foot allows room for the gardener to move between the shrub and the structure for maintenance. For smaller plants such as hostas and impatiens, divide width by two. A 24-inch mature hosta would be planted 21 inches away from an 18-inch mature hosta. 24 plus 18 divided by two equals 21. Some overlapping is desirable.

Colorful clippings help the gardener decide which colors will either enhance or dominate the garden. If adding perennials to a shade garden, white and lighter tones will draw attention to the garden during twilight hours. Shade-loving ferns add texture as well as color to hostas, bleeding hearts, and astilbes. These additions would be particularly desirable near a patio or deck where the family and guests can enjoy the garden’s beauty.

Brighter colors tend to be sun-loving plants. An aging garden might be revived by one or more of the bright colored coneflowers. As most plants have green leaves, look for colorful foliage to add variety. Deer-resistant and hummingbird-loving heuchera (coral bells) offer several seasons of beauty with foliage that varies from dark chocolate to purple to lime green.

As clippings and photographs are added to the paper, on a separate pad make a list of plants and cost. If the expense is too much for one year, divide the garden into a three-year project. Ornamental trees and scrubs should be planted first as they take longer to reach maturity. Smaller perennials such as heuchera mature in three years.

Store your artwork for a few days and then reexamine your masterpiece. Make changes or add a few plants. Remember that wishful thinking is just wishful thinking but it will make garden choices easier in the spring.

Garden dos the next two week:

Use catalogs and magazines to design a new garden.

Check out the garden tools and supplies in local garden centers.

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The New Canaan Nature Center is hosting Gordon Hayward, a garden designer, writer and lecturer, at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 7, in a program called “Gardening on Granite: Making a New Hampshire Mountaintop Garden over Twenty Years.”

It is the tale of New Canaan residents Teddy and Peter Berg’s journey with Hayward and others in creating their own truly extraordinary landscape. The presentation will be followed by tea, sandwiches and cookies and a book signing.

Starting in 1986, Hayward and dry-stone waller Dan Snow collaborated with Theodora Berg on the development of a five-acre garden on Rice Mountain in southern New Hampshire, registered with the Smithsonian Institution since 2011.The central force driving the design of the garden was to evoke the passage of centuries of time, while acknowledging elements from Old and New England.

The one-hour lecture, which includes 80 pairs of images, traces the evolution of making a garden, including four trips to England looking for inspiration and artifacts.

Hayward wrote for Horticulture Magazine for 25 years and lectured on a nine-city tour across America. He was a contributing editor at Fine Gardening Magazine for six years and a contributing editor at the newly revamped Organic Gardening Magazine. He is the author of 11 books on garden design, two of which have won national awards. Hayward and his wife, Mary, have been developing a 1.5-acre garden around their 240-year-old farmhouse in southern Vermont for the past 29 year,s as well as a garden outside their cottage in the Cotswold Hills of England. They have led 16 tours for garden clubs to southern England.

The cost $10. For information or to register, visit www.newcanaannature.org or call 203-966-9577.

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Eerie creaking and odd groaning. I had never been to Asia and had never sat on a bench in a bamboo grove, as I was doing, watching leaves flutter and long green bamboo trunks clink and grind against each other, making weird noises in the wind. The sounds were haunting and alluring, oddly loud and surprising, especially since I was not in a sacred Japanese bamboo forest.

Rather, I was sitting on a sunny day this past January in a bamboo grove in south Florida — 7 miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean between Delray and Boca Raton and 20 miles southwest of the Gilded Age mansions and designer boutiques of Palm Beach.

The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens is a quiet hidden gem set on 16 acres of a 200-acre property in what was once Florida pineapple country. Known to locals, the property is less well known to tourists who, if they decide to venture west from the beach for a day, are in for a most pleasant surprise.

Besides its beautifully manicured, historic, and serene Japanese gardens, with wooden bridges, benches, water features such as koi ponds and waterfalls, sculpture, rocks, tropical plants and trees, a bamboo grove, bonsai collection, and tea house, the Morikami has a good restaurant with Japanese foods including teriyaki, wakame salad, and sushi. The museum and grounds also include an extensive art gallery, tremendous programs ranging from tea ceremonies to origami workshops and lectures, a library with historical volumes on Japanese art and gardening, and a small but excellent gift shop with items imported from Asia ranging from silk jackets and bamboo purses to porcelain vases, wind chimes, and jewelry.

Continue reading below

Morikami Museum Japanese Gardens

Bamboo forms a triad of auspicious emblems with pine and plum, a common motif in Japanese art.

The connection between Japan and Palm Beach County goes back over 100 years to 1904, when the scion of a samarai family named Jo Sakai, a recent graduate of New York University, returned home from his studies in this country to his birthplace of Miyazu, Japan, a castle town on the
Sea of Japan. He was there to recruit a group of pioneers who agreed to help him realize his utopian vision of revolutionizing US agriculture.

With the help of the Model Land Co., a subsidiary of Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway, the idea became a reality and they named their community Yamato, the ancient name for Japan. Initially only men, Yamato eventually included wives brought from Japan and children. So in the early 20th century, inland Florida became an odd melting pot of Japanese settlers in traditional costume with utopian ideas about farming who maintained their language, religion, and cultural traditions living peacefully among a bunch of pineapple farmers.

Morikami Museum Japanese Gardens

James and Hazel Gates Woodruff Memorial Bridge marks the entrance to the Japanese gardens.

Like most utopian communities, however, Yamato eventually failed to live up to its founders’ expectations. By the 1920s, the community, which had never grown beyond about 35 individuals, succumbed to the reality of easy cash for land as speculators and developers threw around piles of cash before the Great Crash of 1929. Most members sold their farmland, gave up their dreams, and returned to Japan.

Only one settler remained, a brave soul named George Sukeiji Morikami, who arrived at Yamato when he was 19 and who continued to cultivate crops after everyone else had left. During World War II, he endured anti-Japanese prejudice; at the same time the US government was isolating and segregating Japanese-Americans, Morikami tolerated indignities like having to carry a letter addressed “To Whom It May Concern” and signed by a local government official, proclaiming that Morikami, “who resides on a farm four miles south of Delray Beach on the Federal Highway has permission to travel on Saturday, July 18, 1942 from Miami to his home.”

Morikami Museum Japanese Gardens

The Karesansui Late Rock Garden (Edo Period, 17th-18th centuries). Karesamsui means “dry landscape.” In this style of garden, rocks are arranged in a bed of raked gravel, while plants take a secondary role.

Besides farming, Morikami also worked as a fruit and vegetable wholesaler. He eventually became rich. In the mid-1970s, when he was in his 80s and shortly after finally receiving US citizenship, Morikami donated much of his land to Palm Beach County to be used as a park to preserve the legacy of the original Yamato settlers. Now the museum and gardens are a nonprofit public-private partnership in cooperation with the county park system.

Over 20 years after Morikami donated his land, and following construction of the Yamato-kan teahouse, viewing gallery, and gardens, the Morikami Museum in 1993 opened a second large museum building. It now houses the restaurant, library, a 225-seat theater, classrooms, a permanent collection of more than 7,000 Japanese art objects and artifacts, exhibition galleries, the museum store, and an outdoor cafe with a scenic view of the lake and gardens.

There are many interesting artifacts and photographs about the history of the Yamato settlement and Morikami himself on display in the Yamato-kan, the Morikami’s original building, a teahouse inspired by traditional Japanese architectural design. Outside this picturesque building is a huge collection of bonsai trees.

When I visited the museum, I had the impression I had stepped into ancient Japan. In the main museum there was an exhibit on Japanese dolls and Kabuki theater as well as rooms full of paintings and photographs.

Morikami Museum Japanese Gardens

James and Hazel Gates Woodruff Memorial Bridge marks the entrance to the Japanese gardens, was erected in memory of Mrs. Woodruff, a lover of Japanese gardens, by her husband, a US Naval commander and veteran of Pearl Harbor.

The Zen-like gardens, though, are what originally attracted me to the Morikami. Space, light and darkness, texture and color, sounds — of rushing water and rustling leaves — Japanese gardens are designed to be holistically sensual rather than merely visual.

Designer Hoichi Kurisu created the complex around a lake as six distinct gardens — each from a different period of Japanese history.

Shinden Garden is from the Heian Period, between the 9th and 12th centuries, when the Japanese nobility adapted Chinese garden design ideals that featured lakes and islands that emphasized informality and appreciation of nature. Paradise Garden comes from the 13th and 14th centuries when strolling gardens were introduced as an earthly representation of the Pure Land or Buddhist heaven. Early Rock Garden is inspired by the 14th century when Japanese gardens were inspired by Chinese landscape paintings in ink that depicted water cascading from distant peaks into a sea or lake.

The other three gardens are: the Karesansui Late Rock Garden, based on 15th- and 16th-century rock gardens; the Hiraniwa Flat Garden from the Edo Period of the 17th and 18th centuries, which evolved out of late rock gardens; and the Modern Romantic Garden from the Meiji Period of the late-19th and early-20th centuries, reflecting Western influences that had begun to permeate Japan.

Walking through the gardens shortly after the New Year, I left the bamboo grove, walked over a Japanese wooden bridge, and wished I could stay for a meditation retreat. Walking slowly, staring at swaying leaves, breathing deeply — it was a great way to start 2013.

Scott and Lauren Springer Ogden to speak

Scott and Lauren Springer Ogden, authors of the Plant Driven Garden, the Moonlit Garden and other books. (Photo courtesy of the authors)

Writer: Robert Burns, 903-834-6191, rd-burns@tamu.edu

TYLER – The first of the East Texas Garden Lecture Series, set Feb. 16 in Tyler, will feature nationally renowned husband and wife authors, horticulturists and garden designers Scott and Lauren Springer Ogden, according to Texas AM AgriLife Extension Service county agent, Keith Hansen.

“Many gardens are designed cookie-cutter fashion, with little or no sense as to how plants may work in a particular environment or with each other,” said Hansen, AgriLife Extension agent for horticulture, Smith County.

The Ogdens, however, teach what they call “plant-driven” design, according to Hansen.

“It’s about how to use adapted plants in ways that are not just original and beautiful, but lend a ‘sense of place,’ and are sustainable with an emphasis on soil and drought tolerance,” he said. “The Ogdens emphasize that a garden’s design should be driven by the plants a gardener loves rather than by a rigid adherence to certain design styles or rules.”

The lecture series is a rethinking – as well as a renaming – of the East Texas Spring Landscape and Garden Conference, which Hansen has overseen in Smith County since 1994. the conference in years past was an all-day event, the lecture series breaks programming up into half-day sessions in February, March and April.

An example of a plant-driven designed garden in the Tyler area. (Texas AM AgriLife Extension Service photo by Keith Hansen)

“Our horticulture committee decided it would better serve our clientele to have several morning programs than one daylong program,” Hansen said.

The first part of the Ogden’s lecture will be “Plant Driven Design: Creating Gardens That Honor Plants, Place and Spirit,” followed by “Moonlit Gardens.”

Registration for the Ogden’s lecture opens 8 a.m. at the Tyler Rose Garden Center, 420 Rose Park Dr. The program will begin at 9 a.m. and finish at noon. Registration for each lecture will be $25, payable at the door on the day of the event.

“To keep costs down, we are not taking credit cards; only cash and checks,” Hansen said.

Upcoming lectures in the series are “Creating Creative Container Gardens” on March 16, and “Growing and Arranging Cut Flowers” on April 13.

For more information on the East Texas Garden Lecture Series, contact Keith Hansen at 903-590-2980 or khansen@ag.tamu.edu, or go to http://EastTexasGardening.tamu.edu .

For more information on the Ogdens and their books, go to http://www.plantdrivendesign.com/

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Billy Derian, host of DIY Network’s tear-it-up hit “Extra Yardage,” headlines the Yard, Garden Patio Show this year, but the gardens star, too. Seven designers took on the assignment to create displays of “Gardens Through the Ages.” Interpretations ranged from the romance of the past to the possibilities of tomorrow.

Find out which the judges prefer and vote for your favorite during the show’s run Friday-Sunday, Feb. 8-10. While you’re at it, catch one of almost 50 seminars, watch a cooking demonstration by local chefs and, of course, do some shopping.

— Kym Pokorny; On Twitter

 

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LMeyer Design, 503-705-5511; and JP Stone Contractors, 503-209-5982

Not Your Father’s Garden: Designer Linda Meyer intends to show a garden of the future created with materials of yesterday. The image begins with a snapshot of Dad flipping burgers on the barbecue, surrounded by lawn that’s edged in junipers. For the new garden, out go the lawn and the junipers, but remnants of five Weber barbecues remain, turned into vessels for fire and water as the centerpiece of the garden.

 

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Red Bird Restorative Gardens, 503-887-3439; and Living Color Landscape Nursery, 503-678-3364

Thrive Outside: P. Annie Kirk interprets the theme “Gardening Through the Ages” with a garden for our ages, one that reflects how we live through the stages of life. Sand forts, hideouts, wishing trees, a swing, fire and water — playgrounds for kids and adults — come to a crossroads made of a rectangular deck inlaid with swirls of Irish moss in what she calls a “fleur de floor.”

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Aspen Creek Landscaping, 503-625-6888

A Glimpse Back to the Fifties: The calm of the ’50s comes back to life in a garden made for people to relax in sundresses and slacks with their martinis and Coca-Colas. An amoeba-shaped planting bed centered in the geometry of a patio reflects the yin and yang design of midcentury.

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Dennis’ 7 Dees Landscaping, 503-777-7777.

Sentimental Journey: For his design, Corey Verch reached into the romantic era of the late-18th to mid-19th century when public gardens in the U.S. were coming into their own. A casual, arbor-covered path curves along a reflecting pool, eventually leading to a circle of stone floating on the water.

Live chat at noon Friday: The Oregonian’s garden writer, Kym Pokorny, will take your questions and comments online during the Yard, Garden Patio Show. She’ll also be posting updates, sharing photos from the Convention Hall floor and revealing trends, cool ideas and other tidbits.

YARD, GARDEN PATIO SHOW

WHEN: 10 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8, and Saturday, Feb. 9; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 10

WHERE: Oregon Convention Center, 777 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.  

PUBLIC TRANSIT AND PARKING: Several TriMet bus routes stop near the convention center, and MAX light rail goes right to its door. Convention center parking lot is a daily maximum of $9.

TICKETS: $12 at the door, 12 and younger free; $7 in advance at Dennis’ 7 Dees while supply lasts; for locations, go to dennis7dees.com, click on garden centers and then locations, or call 503-777-1421.

INFORMATION: ygpshow.com, 503-682-5089, 800-342-6401

HIGHLIGHTS:
— Billy Derian, host of DIY’s “Extra Yardage,” interacts with the audience on the show floor.
— Displays of seven gardens designed around the theme “Gardens Through the Ages” and a contemporary urban edible garden.
— Plant sale.
— Cracked Pots art sale.
— About 50 free seminars, featuring ever-popular plant collector Dan Hinkley; Cistus Nursery owner Sean Hogan; Joe Creek’s Maurice Horn; always-amusing Dan Heims, owner of Terra Nova Nurseries; Debra Prinzing, author of the new books “The 50 Mile Bouquet” and “Slow Flowers”; clematis expert Linda Beutler; celebrity radio host Mike Darcy; Willi Galloway, author of “Grow Cook Eat: A Food-Lover’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening”; garden designer Lucy Hardiman; and Richie Steffen  for the Great Plant Picks program.

SHOW-GOING TIPS
— Search out nearby restaurants or bring your own snacks. You don’t even want to know how much you’ll spend at the shows.
— Bring along a backpack or large bag to collect information and small items.
— Wear comfortable shoes.
— Use your smartphone or camera to record the ideas you’d like to copy or follow up on.
— Bring a notepad and pen.
— Make it easy on yourself by checking plants you buy at the holding station so you don’t have to carry them while enjoying the show. Or shop at the end of your visit.