February 15, 2013

THE DIRT ON GARDENING; Raised bed gardens can create visual pleasure

Anonymous


THE GOSHEN NEWS
The Goshen News

Fri Feb 15, 2013, 08:00 PM EST

Are you planning a raised-bed garden this year? Well congratulations — not only for your decision to grow your own but also for incorporating the raised bed design that has become so popular.

Raised bed gardens are the rave anymore because of the convenience, ease of harvesting and the neatness they provide to a homeowner — especially city dwellers.

While any garden that is well-maintained creates a visual kind of pleasure, a raised bed that is well placed in a more convenient spot, like outside your back door, will if properly maintained, fit right in to other landscaping and flower gardens.

A bed of this type doesn’t necessarily have to be the ho-hum garden with the standard vegetables one would ordinarily see in a garden for a food source.

Try to make your garden interesting by incorporating some unusual twists that separate it from the neighbors.

Flowers in the vegetable garden — well why not? I always ringed my garden’s outer edges with alyssum (Easter Basket Mix) that gave it a more finished look. I also planted a few marigolds to ward off insects. I filled an end with zinnias one year (the cut-and-come-again variety) just to make the garden a little more eye appealing and cosmos another year.

There are a number of things that you might do to set your garden off from the same ‘ole, same ’ole. Purchase a teepee style trellis for a vining flower or vegetable. There are simple ones and there are elaborate ones available to choose from and it will give your garden a handsome focal point. When doing this, always keep in mind the size of your garden and don’t overwhelm it with a giant behemoth.

Incorporate cement figurines for talking points like frogs, toads, turtles, angels or fairies. Place a gazing globe in a corner spot or plant flowers in an old galvanized sprinkling can and place it in a spot that can easily be seen. In other words, make it a fun place for yourself and one that neighbors and visitors will enjoy and comment on.

One such item, in a previous article of a friend’s garden, was a pair of cupped hands lying flat in the garden that contained a small amount of dirt planted with dragon’s blood sedum — how neat is that? This same cement creation could contain a small amount of bird seed or simply left for water to collect in when you’ve watered the garden. The birds will love you for it.

When laying out a raised bed (or two or three) keep things in perspective and consider surrounding landscaping and beds — in other words don’t just throw one out there. Make it a part of the whole landscape and design.

Keep beds level even if it means using more timbers on one end or cutting it into a slope in the lawn. Try to retain equal measurements between beds and use a level when laying them out and a square to keep corners even.

Raised beds planted on a slope should be cut into the slope to keep them level rather than following the slope of the landscape. It just makes sense for incorporating even watering practices and the prevention of run-off of the soil inside the parameters of the enclosure.

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Gibbs Gardens’ Daffodil Festival ushers in spring with the largest display of daffodils in the country. Beginning March 1 and running through April 15, the Gibbs Gardens’ Daffodil Gardens are “the most spectacular display of blooms this side of Holland . . . the most stunning daffodil gardens ever!” according to Southern Living Magazine.

Ball Ground, Georgia (PRWEB) February 15, 2013

Simply put: the gardens are amazing. More than 50 acres of daffodils blanket rolling hillsides and fields, flow along streams and border woodland nooks and crannies. Hundreds of cherry trees, forsythia, spirea, quince and thousands of mature dogwoods will come into bloom to create nature’s own spring bouquet during the six-week daffodil season.

Jim Gibbs – the owner, designer and developer of Gibbs Gardens – began planting daffodils in his gardens in 1987. “We’ve planted nearly 4 million bulbs of more than 60 varieties over the years, often planting more than 250,000 bulbs a year.”

Because Gibbs plants only bulbs that are naturalized for southern growing conditions, the bulbs divide each season to double in number year after year, creating a landscape bursting with an estimated 16 to 20 million lush daffodil blossoms. Gibbs Gardens is a very special place “where hillsides drip with gold and silver each spring,” says Southern Living.

The 300-acre Gibbs estate garden in Cherokee County includes 220 acres of breathtaking gardens set in mature rolling woodlands dotted with ponds, springs, streams and waterfalls. Visitors to Gibbs Gardens are amazed by the diversity and breadth of its 16 artistically designed garden venues and dazzled by the four feature gardens:

•     Japanese Gardens, at more than 40 acres are the largest in the nation.
•     Monet Waterlily Gardens, featuring 140 varieties of unique lilies and a replica of the bridge in Monet’s Garden at Giverny (outside Paris).
•     Arbor Crest Manor House Gardens, located on the highest ridge in northeast Cherokee County, where seven flowering terraces flow seamlessly down 150 feet of elevation from Arbor Crest Manor House to the Valley Gardens.
•     Daffodil Gardens, 60 varieties of daffodils sweep across more than 50 hillside acres under a canopy of flowering dogwoods and cherry blossoms.

Less than an hour’s drive from Atlanta, Gibbs Gardens is already considered “one of our regions most treasured landmarks.” The gardens are open from March 1 through Dec. 15. For more information, go to http://www.gibbsgardens.com. Gibbs Gardens is located at 1998 Gibbs Drive, Ball Ground GA, 30107. Phone 770-893-1880 or 770-893-1881.

Forty-year dream comes true:

Jim Gibbs, the owner, designer and developer of Gibbs Gardens, is the founder of Gibbs Landscape Co., one of the largest, oldest and most successful landscaping firms in Atlanta. Gibbs and his company have received more than 250 awards for landscape design excellence, including two national awards presented at White House receptions

.

“I’ve dreamed of creating a world-class garden in the Atlanta area for more than 40 years,” says Gibbs. “After spending six years finding just the right property and another 30 plus years designing and developing Gibbs Gardens, that dream came true when we opened Gibbs Gardens to the public in March 2012.”

Facts about Gibbs Gardens:

Gibbs Gardens is conveniently located less than an hour’s drive north of Atlanta, between SR 400 and Hwy 575. Visitors will enter Gibbs Gardens off Yellow Creek Road in Cherokee County, from Hwy 53 on the north or SR 369 on the south.

The Welcome Center adjacent to the parking area includes The Seasons gift store, ticketing and restrooms. Just steps away, The Arbor Café offers a selection of sandwiches on fresh baked bread, desserts and daily specials on baked goods.

Gibbs Gardens will be open from 9:00 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Tuesday through Sunday from March 1 until April 15 (closed Monday for maintenance) and Wednesday through Sunday from April 17 through Dec. 15 (Closed Monday and Tuesday for maintenance).

Tickets to visit the gardens are $20 for general admission to all 16 garden venues. Seniors (65 and older), tour groups of 10 or more and children 4-17 can visit the gardens for $18. Children 3 and under are free.

There is no charge for parking. Trams — $5 for a day pass — will be available to take visitors between the Manor House Gardens and Valley Gardens and along other garden routes.

Gibbs Gardens Seasons of Color:

Gibbs Gardens “Seasons of Color” will begin in March 2012 as the Daffodil Gardens cover acres of hillsides with millions of blooms. The following is a Bloom Calendar for 2012:

•     Daffodil Festival, March 1-April 15 – One of the largest daffodil gardens in the United States covering more than 50 acres and featuring more than 3 million bulbs.
•     Cherry Blossom Festival, two weeks in March – More than 500 cherry trees planted.

Fern Dell Festival, from April through November, one of the largest natural ferneries in the country presents a more than half-mile display of fern varieties along streams and paths in the Valley Gardens.

•     Dogwood Festival, two to three weeks in April – Thousands of mature native dogwoods throughout 292 acres.
•     Azalea Festival, April into Fall – More than 1,000 azaleas, including Kurume, Indica, Satsuki and native azaleas.
•     Rhododendron Festival, two to three weeks in May – More than 150 varieties and more than 1,000 rhododendron plants.
•     Rose Festival, May through November – More than 1,000 roses in bloom.
•     Hydrangea Festival, May through October – More than 150 varieties totaling more than 1,400 plants.
•     Waterlily Festival, May through November – More than 140 varieties comprised of hardy and tropical waterlilies in all colors.
•     Daylily Festival, June through August – More than 500 varieties and thousands of daylilies.
•     Annual and Perennials Festival, July through November. Hundreds of varieties of annuals and perennials bloom each season in Gibbs Gardens, especially in the Manor House Gardens where en amazing display of lush bloomers fill sever terraces that flow 150 from the Arbor Crest Manor House to the Valley Gardens.
•     Crape Myrtle Festival, July through August – More than 1,000 trees bloom in shades of pink, red, white and lavender.
•     Wildflower Festival, September through November – 20 acres of rolling topography feature Golden Rod, Asters, Sumac and Ornamental grasses.
•     Oktoberfest, October through November – Thousands of trees covering 292 acres provide spectacular fall color. By the end of October. Oct. 15 through Nov. 15, Japanese Maples Festival when thousands of Japanese maples representing more than 75 varieties come into color.

Press Release submitted by Click Ready Marketing.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2013/2/prweb10435251.htm

Gibbs Gardens’ Daffodil Festival ushers in spring with the largest display of daffodils in the country. Beginning March 1 and running through April 15, the Gibbs Gardens’ Daffodil Gardens are “the most spectacular display of blooms this side of Holland . . . the most stunning daffodil gardens ever!” according to Southern Living Magazine.

Ball Ground, Georgia (PRWEB) February 15, 2013

Simply put: the gardens are amazing. More than 50 acres of daffodils blanket rolling hillsides and fields, flow along streams and border woodland nooks and crannies. Hundreds of cherry trees, forsythia, spirea, quince and thousands of mature dogwoods will come into bloom to create nature’s own spring bouquet during the six-week daffodil season.

Jim Gibbs – the owner, designer and developer of Gibbs Gardens – began planting daffodils in his gardens in 1987. “We’ve planted nearly 4 million bulbs of more than 60 varieties over the years, often planting more than 250,000 bulbs a year.”

Because Gibbs plants only bulbs that are naturalized for southern growing conditions, the bulbs divide each season to double in number year after year, creating a landscape bursting with an estimated 16 to 20 million lush daffodil blossoms. Gibbs Gardens is a very special place “where hillsides drip with gold and silver each spring,” says Southern Living.

The 300-acre Gibbs estate garden in Cherokee County includes 220 acres of breathtaking gardens set in mature rolling woodlands dotted with ponds, springs, streams and waterfalls. Visitors to Gibbs Gardens are amazed by the diversity and breadth of its 16 artistically designed garden venues and dazzled by the four feature gardens:

•     Japanese Gardens, at more than 40 acres are the largest in the nation.
•     Monet Waterlily Gardens, featuring 140 varieties of unique lilies and a replica of the bridge in Monet’s Garden at Giverny (outside Paris).
•     Arbor Crest Manor House Gardens, located on the highest ridge in northeast Cherokee County, where seven flowering terraces flow seamlessly down 150 feet of elevation from Arbor Crest Manor House to the Valley Gardens.
•     Daffodil Gardens, 60 varieties of daffodils sweep across more than 50 hillside acres under a canopy of flowering dogwoods and cherry blossoms.

Less than an hour’s drive from Atlanta, Gibbs Gardens is already considered “one of our regions most treasured landmarks.” The gardens are open from March 1 through Dec. 15. For more information, go to http://www.gibbsgardens.com. Gibbs Gardens is located at 1998 Gibbs Drive, Ball Ground GA, 30107. Phone 770-893-1880 or 770-893-1881.

Forty-year dream comes true:

Jim Gibbs, the owner, designer and developer of Gibbs Gardens, is the founder of Gibbs Landscape Co., one of the largest, oldest and most successful landscaping firms in Atlanta. Gibbs and his company have received more than 250 awards for landscape design excellence, including two national awards presented at White House receptions

.

“I’ve dreamed of creating a world-class garden in the Atlanta area for more than 40 years,” says Gibbs. “After spending six years finding just the right property and another 30 plus years designing and developing Gibbs Gardens, that dream came true when we opened Gibbs Gardens to the public in March 2012.”

Facts about Gibbs Gardens:

Gibbs Gardens is conveniently located less than an hour’s drive north of Atlanta, between SR 400 and Hwy 575. Visitors will enter Gibbs Gardens off Yellow Creek Road in Cherokee County, from Hwy 53 on the north or SR 369 on the south.

The Welcome Center adjacent to the parking area includes The Seasons gift store, ticketing and restrooms. Just steps away, The Arbor Café offers a selection of sandwiches on fresh baked bread, desserts and daily specials on baked goods.

Gibbs Gardens will be open from 9:00 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Tuesday through Sunday from March 1 until April 15 (closed Monday for maintenance) and Wednesday through Sunday from April 17 through Dec. 15 (Closed Monday and Tuesday for maintenance).

Tickets to visit the gardens are $20 for general admission to all 16 garden venues. Seniors (65 and older), tour groups of 10 or more and children 4-17 can visit the gardens for $18. Children 3 and under are free.

There is no charge for parking. Trams — $5 for a day pass — will be available to take visitors between the Manor House Gardens and Valley Gardens and along other garden routes.

Gibbs Gardens Seasons of Color:

Gibbs Gardens “Seasons of Color” will begin in March 2012 as the Daffodil Gardens cover acres of hillsides with millions of blooms. The following is a Bloom Calendar for 2012:

•     Daffodil Festival, March 1-April 15 – One of the largest daffodil gardens in the United States covering more than 50 acres and featuring more than 3 million bulbs.
•     Cherry Blossom Festival, two weeks in March – More than 500 cherry trees planted.

Fern Dell Festival, from April through November, one of the largest natural ferneries in the country presents a more than half-mile display of fern varieties along streams and paths in the Valley Gardens.

•     Dogwood Festival, two to three weeks in April – Thousands of mature native dogwoods throughout 292 acres.
•     Azalea Festival, April into Fall – More than 1,000 azaleas, including Kurume, Indica, Satsuki and native azaleas.
•     Rhododendron Festival, two to three weeks in May – More than 150 varieties and more than 1,000 rhododendron plants.
•     Rose Festival, May through November – More than 1,000 roses in bloom.
•     Hydrangea Festival, May through October – More than 150 varieties totaling more than 1,400 plants.
•     Waterlily Festival, May through November – More than 140 varieties comprised of hardy and tropical waterlilies in all colors.
•     Daylily Festival, June through August – More than 500 varieties and thousands of daylilies.
•     Annual and Perennials Festival, July through November. Hundreds of varieties of annuals and perennials bloom each season in Gibbs Gardens, especially in the Manor House Gardens where en amazing display of lush bloomers fill sever terraces that flow 150 from the Arbor Crest Manor House to the Valley Gardens.
•     Crape Myrtle Festival, July through August – More than 1,000 trees bloom in shades of pink, red, white and lavender.
•     Wildflower Festival, September through November – 20 acres of rolling topography feature Golden Rod, Asters, Sumac and Ornamental grasses.
•     Oktoberfest, October through November – Thousands of trees covering 292 acres provide spectacular fall color. By the end of October. Oct. 15 through Nov. 15, Japanese Maples Festival when thousands of Japanese maples representing more than 75 varieties come into color.

Press Release submitted by Click Ready Marketing.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2013/2/prweb10435251.htm

New England may not be widely known for its public gardens, but those that do grow here inspire passion in the hearts of hardy-zoned green thumbs. The Glebe House, for example—the Connecticut birthplace of the Episcopal Church in the New World—also boasts the only extant American garden designed by Gertrude Jekyll, whose impressionistic style turned landscapes into flowing paintings. The other side of the state offers the Gothic Revival-styled Roseland Cottage (owned by Historic New England), with its vibrant mid-nineteenth-century boxwood-edged parterre gardens: “an elaborate, rather rare place, planted beautifully,” according to gardener Alan Emmet ’50, RI ’77, who wrote the authoritative So Fine a Prospect: Historic New England Gardens.

She also favors the normally private Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden, in Seal Harbor, Maine, designed by Beatrix Farrand, that is open to the public, by reservation only, one day a week in the summer. The estate’s “huge, fabulous” main lawn is bordered by countless varieties of lush flowers, Emmet says. Equally thrilling is the series of woodland scenes and outdoor “rooms” Farrand created, filled with hostas, ferns, and other shade-loving greenery, set along mossy paths that wind their way to a walled garden. “The paths also hold a lot of Asian sculpture collected from the Rockefellers’ trips,” such as stone Buddhas and towers, Emmet reports. “And the moon gate that you step through into the walled garden in the woods is just magical.”

In the interest of (temporarily) satisfying those late winter yearnings for blossoms and fresh greenery, and for planning excursions once the ground thaws, Harvard Magazine has produced a selective look at what’s growing where—now, and this summer—in zones 3b through 7a. Although “the greatest public gardens are probably in the South,” admits Roger Swain ’71, Ph.D. ’77, writer, gardener, and former longtime host of the PBS television show The Victory Garden, “what is here is definitely worth attention: certainly not shabby!”

For example, he says the greenhouses at Wellesley and Smith Colleges are “better than a ticket to Jamaica!” The Wellesley College Botanic Gardens has 16 of them (in addition to its arboretum and other artful landscapes). The spaces include sections devoted to succulents and desert plants, a fine array of unusual ferns, and tropical and subtropical trees and flowers, along with an orchid room and the 130-year-old Durant camellia, which came from Wellesley’s founders, Pauline and Henry Fowle Durant, A.B. 1841. An entire “camellia corridor” is walkable at The Botanic Garden at Smith College, as is an invitingly humid palm house, with coffee, banana, and cacao plants. The Australian fern trees are also worth a visit, and the college’s annual spring bulb show (March 2-17) is a popular tradition.

When the snow is gone, Swain urges a trip to discover “all the early bloomers, the spring ephemerals, the marsh marigolds, and skunk cabbages and other lovely early signs of spring” at the Garden in the Woods (home of the New England Wildflower Society in Framingham, Massachusetts). Enchanting pathways wind around various habitat displays, such as bog and swampland plants, meadow flowers, and an inspiring rock garden. Visitors can also take longer loops through woodlands and over the Hop Brook.

Later in the season, fans must get to “the best new public garden in New England—the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens,” Swain avers. More than 10 meticulously designed garden spaces have already been created on the organization’s 248-acre tract in Boothbay; all are open year-round. Classes, dinners, and other events are available (although the buildings are closed from December through March). Miles of walking trails wind along the shoreline, through the mossy woods, and past small ponds.

The gardens opened in 2007 after 16 years of planning and planting by hundreds of volunteers and a core group of residents, some of whom mortgaged their homes to help raise money for the ambitious project. “It’s a very creative and whimsical place for people of all ages,” says marketing director Kris Folsom.

The unique Bibby and Harold Alfond Children’s Garden is designed around well-known books with a Maine connection. Kids can sit atop “Sal’s Bear” from Robert McCloskey’s Blueberries For Sal, meet Miss Rumphius (by Barbara Clooney), who tells stories in a giant, handmade wooden chair, or search for E.B. White’s Charlotte the spider in the Story Barn. There are a real rock cave and tree stumps to jump among, water pumps and fountains, as well as living roofs to study and a pond that highlights the local art of lobstering. A “fairy garden” offers miniature houses and other scenes crafted from moss, bark, pine cones, and mushrooms that involve fantastical creatures (fairy events are held on Fridays in July and August). “Adults love the children’s gardens, too,” according to Folsom, “because the landscaping and color from the annuals there are spectacular.”

On the other side of the property, the Lerner Garden of the Five Senses provides a rare opportunity to enjoy the natural world in ways that go beyond our usual overdependence on visual beauty. There, paved stone pathways and elevated gardens ease the way for those with wheelchairs, walkers, and canes. There are herbs to smell and taste, a “popcorn plant” (Cassia didymobotrya), strongly scented flowers, and a wide variety of textured plants: “soft and fuzzy, others with jagged edges,” Folsom explains. “You will use all your senses as you go along.” The central water feature is a pond and waterfall that runs down over a stone wall: “You can run your hands along it and feel wet and cold water that travels from one pool to another,” she says, and listening to and keeping the water on the same side assures the vision-impaired that they are always moving forward through the gardens. “Even the labyrinth is made of stones whose sizes change as you walk toward the center,” she adds. “Take your socks off and walk the path to incorporate reflexology or experience it as a meditation—or just as a fun thing to do.” (Horticultural therapy sessions and classes are also held in the garden.)

There are also rich rose arbors, a kitchen garden, perennial beds, shoreline trails, loads of rhododendrons, and a hillside garden lined with moss, boulders, and an unearthly, glowing glass orb sculpture by Henry Richardson. “If you are up in Maine and you come to the turnoff for Boothbay, you’d better take it,” says Swain. “You can stop for lunch—there is a restaurant; walk in the gardens. It’s been beautifully planted and has sculptures. Everyone who goes there falls in love with the place.”

The 132-acre Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, Massachusetts, is another dynamic year-round destination—especially for those seeking ideas and inspiration for what they can accomplish at home. Various kinds of gardens (e.g., vegetable, winter plantings, and evolutionary) are on display, and woodland trails lead to diverse locales: a wildlife refuge pond and a mid-eighteenth-century English-style managed woodland with native species, a folly, and a Greek “temple of peace.” Two glass houses, the Orangerie and the Limonaia, help take the edge off New England winters with citrus trees and blooming camellias, calla lilies, and bird-of-paradise flowers—along with other nonhardy plants from around the world. “People tell us their stress level decreases as they come up our driveway,” says marketing and public-relations director Michael J. Arnum. “Tower Hill is a rejuvenating place, an oasis.” As the home of the Worcester County Horticultural Society (founded in 1842), Tower Hill is also an educational wellspring. The library is open to the public, as are concerts, classes, workshops, art exhibits, and flower shows, such as those coming up on African violets (April 20-21) and primroses and daffodils (May 4-5).

“The beauty of botanical gardens today,” says new executive director Katherine F. Abbott, M.P.A. ’88, “is that they have grown so much beyond being a plant museum to really being about larger conservation issues: connecting people to plants in every way, shape, and form in terms of plants being a part of the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink, as well as our spiritual, psychological, and emotional well-being.” The “systematic” garden, for example, which demonstrates plants’ relationships, is based on American botanist Arthur Cronquist’s taxonomic classification and is ordered evolutionarily: it begins with a primordial pool and moves through ferns to conclude with the Aster family, “the most complex compound flowers,” Arnum says. One centerpiece of the systematic garden is a Southern magnolia that is espaliered against the brick of the Orangerie, “and even blooms once in a while for us if it’s mild enough.”

“The systematic garden is a lovely introduction to what’s related to what—a teaching tool,” Roger Swain declares. “Worcester gets lots of credit for its teaching and shows.” But his favorite part of Tower Hill is the antique apple orchard. The garden purchased its first acreage from a dairy farm that also had an orchard, which has been nurtured and now includes 238 trees—among them 119 varieties of pre-twentieth-century apples. (Samples are available on Columbus Day weekend, but enthusiasts can order scionwood—cuttings from a tree—for grafting to their own trees and look forward to edible fruit.) Picnics, with wine and beer drunk in moderation, are allowed, or visitors can eat at the in-house Twigs Café, where food is served indoors or on a stone terrace with views of the Wachusett Reservoir.

To understand the depth and beauty of a 30-year collaborative artistic passion, visit Naumkeag, a National Historic Landmark built by McKim, Mead White for lawyer and diplomat Joseph Choate, A.B. 1852, LL.B. ’54, A.M. ’60, LL.D. ’88, and his family in 1885. Now owned by the Trustees of Reservations, the Gilded Age, 44-room house in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, is open to visitors from Memorial Day to Columbus Day, but the grounds alone, with their current designs by Fletcher Steele (who took landscape architecture classes at Harvard) in partnership with Choate’s daughter, Mabel (who also studied garden design), offer lessons in grace, harmony, and scale. “They ended up creating an amazing monument to twentieth-century landscape design,” says Mark Wilson, the Trustees’ west region cultural resources manager.

The two worked on realizing their vision from 1926 until 1956; Mabel died two years later, bequeathing the property to The Trustees. Now a $2.6-million restoration of their work, which has deteriorated somewhat over time, is under way. “We have a five-fountain system and an 80-year-old piping infrastructure, with over eight acres of long-running pipes,” Wilson says. “We have to look at sustainability and isolating some of that water.” (Fundraising is in progress to match a $1-million challenge donation.) Meanwhile, everything is still open and operating for visitors.

The project includes masonry repairs to the terraced Art Deco-style blue steps (made from a then brand-new building material: cinder blocks) that lead from the house to Mabel Choate’s extensive cutting gardens through an ethereal arbor of 75 white paper birches, which are near death and will be meticulously replaced. The serpentine lines of the 16 beds of roses sit in a sunny section by the house (designed to be seen from Choate’s bedroom); new varieties will be introduced and existing bushes rejuvenated. Restoration is also planned for the Chinese garden, which includes a temple designed by Steele. Entered through the “Devil’s Screen” and exited through a moon gate to bring good fortune, the garden holds carved lion and dragon stonework, foo dogs, and stone lanterns—treasures from Choate’s extensive travels abroad—along with Asian plants and trees, including nine ginkgoes hovering over large-leaved butterburr. The temple “took 20 years to complete,” Wilson notes. “The roof tiles came from Peking.”

Other foreign accents lend personal warmth and history. A cast-iron pagoda, containing a sacred rock brought from China, leads to the Berlin-style linden allée inspired by a trip to Germany; a statue of Diana greets walkers at the end. Another sculpture, Young Faun with Heron, commissioned by architect Stanford White from Frederick MacMonnies, was moved by Steele from the front of the house to his more intimate side “outdoor room,” known as the afternoon garden. The Italian-style courtyard is framed by Venetian gondola poles originally painted teal and red, with gold accents (all now faded), and held together by ship’s rope. In the center is a shallow oval pool with four fountains surrounded by stone chairs in the classical style. “We’re not a flower garden,” Wilson points out. “Mabel was moving away from the heavy maintenance of flower beds and extensive lawns to more ground covers and mass plantings, or open fields, and using trees and bushes as sculptural elements. And Steele was telling people not to use DDT [its insecticidal properties were discovered in the late 1930s] on the property. They were really ahead of their time.”

Coastal Rhode Island offers another, very different, example of a grand old house and gardens. “Blithewold is an early-twentieth-century place with wonderful old trees and roses and a beautiful setting on the Narragansett Bay,” says Emmet, who particularly loves its old-fashioned rose varieties. (Hybrid roses, she says, “hold no romance for me.”) Inspired by the English Manor style, the stone and stucco mansion with steeply pitched roofs sits at one end of an elegantly graded, 10-acre lawn that sweeps down to the water.

The entrance garden features 100-year-old climbing roses and dozens of shrub roses, including modern cultivars, as well as annuals and perennials, such as complementary blue and purple delphiniums and lavender—all immaculately maintained. The chestnut rose, with its thousands of pink blossoms, is among the largest in the country. The roses peak in mid June, with another round in late summer, but the house and grounds, open year-round, are worth touring any time. Bessie Van Wickle (later McKee) was an accomplished horticulturist who hired landscape architect John DeWolf to help realize her dream of creating a gardener’s paradise. She and her daughters, Marjorie and Augustine, lived at Blithewold at least half the year, from 1896 until the death in 1976 of Marjorie, who also gardened actively and developed the estate, now owned by the nonprofit Blithewold, Inc.

The 33-acre property is also known for its 1,500 trees and shrubs, including rare specimens and a century-old sequoia. Willows, cottonwoods, and Japanese maples surround the 1920s water and rock gardens, where a man-made pond is home to wildlife. Stone walls and a bridge add heft, while English yews and Eastern red cedars planted long ago also help shield tender plants from the coastal winds and salt sprays. The delicate task of managing the plantings, increasingly vulnerable to both storms and drought, holds lessons in climate adaptation for gardeners everywhere.

Watsonville nursery explores the art of multiplying plants

Sierra Azul Demonstration Garden is hosting two workshops on propagation, the production of more plants, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16, and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, March 16.

The first workshop will explore propagation by seeds. The second will discuss propogation by cuttings.

Admission is $95 for both or $65 for one. Call the kiosk at 831-728-2532 or email sierraazulnursery@yahoo.com to make a reservation.

Sierra Azul Demonstration Garden is at 2660 East Lake Ave., Watsonville.

ProBuild hosts free beekeeping seminar

ProBuild is hosting a free seminar on sustainable beekeeping 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 16, at Probuild Garden Center.

Patricia Indries of Grateful Garden landscaping will teach regenerative and treatment-free beekeeping techniques, with an emphasis on bee health and ecological gardens using the Top Bar Hive methods. Top Bar Hive kits will be available for sale on the day of the talk.

Probuild Garden Center is at 235 River St., Santa Cruz. For details, call 831-423-0223.

DIG workshop tackles orchids

DIG Gardens in Santa Cruz is hosting an upcoming orchid workshop.

Orchids 101: Repotting and Reblooming, at 2 p.m. March 16 will a feature hands-on demonstration workshop on how to care

for and re-pot orchids. The cost is $20.

For details, call 831-466-3444 or go to www.diggardensnursery.com. The store is at 420 Water St., Santa Cruz.

Love Apple holding host of workshops

Love Apple Farms is hosting the following classes:

Growing Tomato Transplants from Seed: Participants can choose from more than 125 varieties of heirloom tomatoes from Love Apple Farm’s seed bank. The class will show how to sow seed in flats, and how to germinate. $55, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 24, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 10.

Introduction to Bee-Keeping: Learn how to keep a busy, productive hive happy. This is a beginner’s course, so there’s no need to bring any special equipment or supplies. $55, 1-5 p.m. March 10.

Growing Herbs: Learn the basics of growing your own herbs from seed. $55, 9 a.m. to noon Feb. 16 and 2-5 p.m. April 14.

Basic Garden Carpentry: Learn how to build trellises, gazebos, benches, fences, planter boxes and arbors. $45, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 17 and May 11.

Private Farm Tour: Tour Love Apple Farms, which grows more than 200 cultivars of fruit, vegetables, herbs and edible flowers exclusively for chef David Kinch’s restaurant Manresa in Los Gatos. $9 children, $18 adult, 4 p.m. Feb. 17 and 10 a.m. March 10.

Preregistration required for all classes. Visit www.growbetterveggies.com. Love Apple is at 2317 Vine Hill Road, Santa Cruz.

The Sentinel welcomes submissions for Home Garden Digest. Email items to homeandgarden@santacruzsentinel.com, mail them to Home Garden Digest, 1800 Green Hills Road, Suite 201, Scotts Valley, CA 95066. Information must be received by 5 p.m. Tuesday for Friday publication.

Angie Anaya Borgedalen/Liberty Tribune

Family Tree plants roots

A new Family Tree Nursery is under construction along West Liberty Drive. The store is expected to open in mid_March.

Angie Anaya Borgedalen/Liberty Tribune

Family Tree plants roots

This will be the entrance to the new Family Tree Nursery under construction along West Liberty Drive. The store is expected to open in mid_March.

Posted: Thursday, February 14, 2013 1:00 pm

Family Tree plants roots in old spot

By Angie Anaya Borgedalen

Liberty Tribune

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If the weather continues to cooperate, Family Tree Nursery is hoping to be ready to start filling orders for its customers in its new 9,000-square-foot store by mid-March.

Construction workers have been on site even in the coldest of winter days, said owner Eric Nelson.

“At least we haven’t had any snow,” Nelson said. “When we’re ready to open will all depend on the weather. I hope it’s no later than April 1, but we’re hoping for mid-March.”

Nelson said the new store — in the same location at 830 W. Liberty Drive — will include a much larger garden center and almost twice as many parking spaces as the old store. The old store, built in 1940, was torn down last fall to make way for the new structure. The plan was to build through the winter months and be ready for spring, he said.

“I’m excited about it. Our customers will now have covered shopping,” he said. “The garden center is going to be fantastic, and we’ll carry a broader line of products. And our expanded parking lot will be a lot easier to get in and out of.”

In the Kansas City zone, the average frost-free date is April 15, Nelson said, but some flowers, plants and vegetables will withstand colder weather. Berry bushes, trees and other nursery stock will be arriving by April.

Family Tree also carries outdoor furniture, trellises, flower pots in all sizes, yard art, gardening tools, supplies and equipment, fish and aquatic plants for water gardens, and almost everything else needed for gardening and landscaping.

The Liberty store is one of three Family Tree nurseries. Nelson said they also have stores in Shawnee and Overland Park, Kan., and grow a lot of their stock on acreage in Kansas City, Kan.

Liberty Editor Angie Anaya Borgedalen can be reached at 389-6636 or aborgedalen@npgco.com

© 2013 LibertyTribune.com . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Thursday, February 14, 2013 1:00 pm.

The Elm Street Cultural Arts Village has taken a key step in its development with the recent completion of grading and landscaping for its future site, at the same time soliciting design ideas from community members as the nonprofit organization readies to launch its capital fundraising campaign.

The idea for the 4-acre property to become an arts and recreation destination in downtown Woodstock began several years ago, but began progressing more rapidly about two years ago with the securing of the land off Elm Street, where the historic century-old home known as the Reeves house resides.

Shawn McLeod, president of the Elm Street Board of Directors, said the organization has found its first lead donor, Walton Communities, which recently opened a 325-unit complex known as Woodstock West, located next door.

“Walton Communities has really been our first major supporter of the property,” McLeod said.

Elm Street Cultural Arts Village currently rents space at the City Center building at 8534 Main St., which is owned by the city of Woodstock. Prior to its move to that site two years ago, it was known as Towne Lake Arts Center and was located off Towne Lake Parkway.

“As a theater that has been going for 10 years now, we’ve had some great support from the community for a long time, but really making those steps toward the development of that property, that’s where we are now,” McLeod explained. “Going out and securing services is where our fundraising committee has been working on.”

She said a total of $700,000 has been raised so far for the project, and she estimated another $500,000 would be sufficient to cover the rest.

Walton, which McLeod said has led the charge in donations with $200,000, cleared and graded the property. That work was completed last month. They’ll also be constructing a rain garden in the future, which she said serves a dual purpose, as it will also serve as a retention pond for their shared properties, which is a requirement of developments.

Other donors who have contributed include Austin Outdoor, which donated landscaping for an event green and Highland Waterworks, which donated labor and the sprinkler system. Melissa Casteel, principal landscape architect from Mondo Land Planning + Design, has and is continuing to donate her services.

“We wanted to have something the public could see to show them it’s really happening, but at the same time, we’re still looking at finding our second lead donor and then launching the full-blown capital campaign,” McLeod said of the recent work to the property. “We knew that there were some things that had to be done — we knew we needed water lines, sewer lines, and we needed everything to be cleared and graded before we could do anything.”

Now in the design and planning phase, Elm Street recently held a “charrette” to solicit feedback and ideas, held Jan. 22 at the Chambers at City Center. Roughly two dozen people attended the two-and-a-half-hour session, which had them break up into three groups, form ideas for different aspects of the project and rank their favorites at the end.

Casteel is now in the process of gathering the suggestions and assembling a list of preferred options.

“Some of the top things that stood out were gallery space and instruction in the Reeves house and education across the board, whether it be visual arts or doing stuff in the garden,” McLeod said.

She said education was the prevailing theme.

“It was education at all three tables — how do we do things for the kids, for the community and serve everyone from children to adults with classes and instruction,” McLeod said, adding that attendees also made suggestions about events that could be held at the venue, such as weddings and possibly installing a stage for outdoor musical and/or theatrical performances.

“They also suggested looking at programming all throughout the week, not just on the weekend, and how to do programming in the winter,” she said. “Having the charrette was like saying, here’s our blank canvas, here are the few things that we know have to be done.”

One aspect the board of directors knows it doesn’t want to change is the century-old farmhouse, which she said is one of the last standing historical homes that Woodstock has that hasn’t been fully renovated and maintained.

“We don’t want to lose that history,” she said.

Another, smaller home on the property, known as the Granger house, will also be in the mix, but its use will likely be more as a support structure than a focal point.

“It doesn’t have the same historical background that the Reeves house has,” McLeod said. “It’s very small in size, so it could be public restrooms or we could look at it for office space.”

The focus of the charrette was on the event green, woodland garden, Reeves House and instructional gardens. McLeod said a large space behind the farmhouse could be the site of an outdoor kitchen.

“There’s multiple ideas on how to use that space,” she said. “Another idea was using the history, bringing in the orchards they originally had on the farm. The Reeves house was one of the very few in-town farms that they had in Woodstock. We have plats and drawings that date back to when it was built in the late 1890s. It had orchards, outbuildings, chicken coops, and there was a full-blown farm that was in what was considered the city limits. So we’re looking at how to incorporate that history back into it and some of that planning and programming.”

McLeod said she felt the design session was a success. She said their goal would be to “cross-pollinate” with others such as the Cherokee Arts Center to offer programming in Canton and Woodstock and other partnerships, like with gardening organization GROW.

McLeod said raising the remaining $500,000 would complete Phase I of the arts center. Phase 2 would consist of building a theater, estimated to cost about $2 million.

The city leases the property to Elm Street with automatic renewals that go before the City Council for approval. Long-term, the organization’s vision would be to purchase the property.

McLeod said the city has been a major supporter of the project, and has been helpful in facilitating the nonprofit in applying for grants that wouldn’t otherwise be applicable to them.

“Long-term, I think it’s Elm Street’s vision to be able to own the property, but there’s no reason for us to do that now because it benefits all of us,” she said.

 

Published:  13 February, 2013

Jewson has released a new Landscaping 2013 brochure, in conjunction with Marshalls. The brochure highlights the wide range of high quality and diverse garden and driveway products available from over 600 Jewson branches nationwide, including over 100 specialist landscaping centres.

With a new design that features large inspirational photography, the comprehensive brochure includes new products from Marshalls including the Fairstone Sawn Linear, Fairstone Flamed and Perfecta paving. New additions to the Jewson range include Gazebos and Pergolas, Lighting and an extended range of garden structures, all of which are available to order online.

The brochure, which provides information in easy to follow sections, includes walling for gardens and drives, block paving, kerbs and edgings for driveways and decorative features.

“The new Landscaping 2013 range from Jewson offers customers a complete overview of our comprehensive collection of landscaping products in one easy to use brochure,” explained Ann Whittle, category manager at Jewson. “Customers can browse the very latest products, colour options and technical information to help ensure the project is a complete success.”

Jewson has a growing landscaping range with a portfolio of products to suit all tastes and budgets. The experienced Jewson team are also on hand to offer step-by-step advice for any hard landscapingproject.

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When we think about planting home gardens, we think of either landscaping with inedible plants or planting a separate vegetable garden. Why not combine them into a beautiful and useful garden you can eat? Edible plants can provide decoration and give us a healthy food source at the same time.

Incorporating edible plants into your existing landscape can provide interesting and varied displays for every season. They can attract butterflies and birds, reduce chemicals compared to store-bought produce and yield food that is fresh and tastes better than store-bought products.

Herbs, vegetables and even fruit grow well in containers. Mixed into your existing garden, they can give spice and visual variety, provide borders for walkways, be used as hedges and walls, provide striking canopies and shade and be used as replacements for high maintenance lawns. They can give brilliant shows of seasonal colors and double as fresh food.

If you let seasonal plants grow to maturity, they will show off wonderful flowers that contrast with your everyday green landscape plants. A few of them are basil, chamomile, chives, and mint. Attractive borders can be achieved with kale, lavender, marjoram, parsley, and shallots.

Instead of grass and other traditional ground covers, think about using creeping mint, Alpine strawberry, thyme, and trailing rosemary. Both nasturtium and mint will cover large areas. Some plants can be started and pruned into hedges, even lemons and limes.

Planting many edible crops is seasonal, so you have to plant warm-season crops (the soil should be between 60 and 80 degrees when planted) in spring, and cool-season crops in fall. Edible plants normally need at least six hours of sunlight a day. Vegetable plants often need plenty of water, so plants that are interspersed with other plants must have compatible water requirements.

To find out more about landscaping with edible plants, the Master Gardeners are giving a free “Advice to Grow By” workshop from 10 a.m. to noon Feb. 16 in the Garden of the Seven Sisters, 2156 Sierra Way, San Luis Obispo.

GOT A GARDENING QUESTION?

Contact the University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners: at 781-5939 from 1 to 5 p.m. on Monday and Thursday; at 473-7190 from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesday in Arroyo Grande; and at 434-4105 from 9 a.m. to noon on Wednesday in Templeton. Visit the UCCE Master Gardeners Web site at http://ucanr.org/sites/mgslo or email mgsanluisobispo@ucdavis.edu  .

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• Riverside landscape contractor wins award

Tuesday, February 12th, 2013 3:50 PM

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By Community Editor

Riverside resident Tom Lupfer has been recognized with a top award from the Illinois Contractor’s Association for his company’s work on the renovated gardens at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

For the fourth year in a row Lupfer Landscaping, which is located in Lyons, has been awarded an ILCA Gold Award for sustainable landscaping. Previously, the company won awards for residential landscapes in Hinsdale and Riverside, which the company installed and maintains.

Shedd Aquarium decided to replace more than 18,000 square feet of bluegrass lawn with low-maintenance perennial plants. The landscape now includes a rain garden where storm runoff is collected and used by plants; a drought-resistant Xeriscape garden; a wetlands garden and demonstration gardens.

Lupfer Landscaping, which specializes in sustainable landscaping practices, maintains the gardens for the Shedd Aquarium, creating a program that eliminated pesticides, uses natural fertilizers, limits the use of emissions-producing machinery and reduces water use.

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