NYBG: Much to Savor, and Worry About, Amid Mild Winter’s Early Blooms

By LISA W. FODERARO
Published: February 26, 2012

At the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, an experimental plot was in full flower on a recent February afternoon, as the thermometer edged toward 60.

“This is the earliest I’ve seen all of these things in flower,” said Todd Forrest, the garden’s vice president for horticulture and living collections. “The ground isn’t even frozen. That’s shocking.”

Telegraph.co.uk: Great Dixter after Christopher Lloyd

After Chrstopher Lloyd died in 2006, "many at that point wondered what would happen to his celebrated garden, Great Dixter." There is a fascinating story here by Tim Richardson about how Fergus Garrett maintain's "Great Dixter's spirit of originality."

What's the secret? "The key to the garden's originality and verve is partly due to the working method laid down by Christo. This consisted of a daily perambulation around the garden which lasted about an hour, during which time Christo and Fergus would make perhaps 60 decisions, small and large. About half of them were to be dealt with immediately, the rest stored up for the right seasonal moment. 'Everything was looked at and carefully considered,' Fergus says. 'We asked: is it worth it? Does it grow well? Does it stand on its own?'"

Telegraph.co.uk: Garden of the Year photography competition

I love English gardens. Check out the stunning photos of these fabulous English gardens here, including: Burton Agnes Hall, Ilford Manor, Borde Hill Gardens, Houghton Hall, Mellerstain House, Athelhampton, Arley Hall, Exbury Gardens, Kiftsgate Court and Parham Park.

Adam Woodruff's visit to Oudolf Nursery & Garden - Hummelo, The Netherlands

Check out this great post (with pictures) of Adam Woodruff's visit to the Oudolf Nursery & Garden over at Gardening Gone Wild:

"On a personal note, I introduced myself to Piet after I had toured the property. He was incredibly open and generous with his time: going so far as to step away from his guests and give me a tour of his studio, where he graciously entertained all my questions, shared some of his current projects and recommended a few other gardens to visit."

British Rose Garden Tour - Summer 2010

This is a tour I would love. From Clair Martin at Great Rosarians Blog: "I signed the contract for the Summer of British Rose Gardens tour for next year. The tour meets up in London on Tuesday, June 15 and we end on June 25, 2010." Montisfont Abbey Gardens, David Austin Rose Garden, and more!
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Clair Martin is the first Shannon Curator of the Rose Garden at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens located in San Marino, California a position he has held since 1983.

A Summer Visit to the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG): the Four Season Border by Piet Oudolf

I was reading The New York Times when a photograph from the New York Botanical Garden caught my eye. It was in an article by Anne Raver about the new Four Season Border designed by Piet Oudolf and it was almost the exact same picture that I took a couple of weeks ago.
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According to the website for the garden (www.seasonwalk.com):
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"In 2008, The New York Botanical Garden invited two international garden design superstars, Piet Oudolf of Hummelo, NL and Jacqueline van der Kloet of Weesp, NL, to create a custom four-season garden installation to delight New Yorkers. Both designers are known for sophisticated plant mixes, an artist’s eye for form and color, and complex naturalized plantings that evolve over the seasons."
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The Seasonwalk website includes photographs of the every-changing border every couple of weeks. Check out The New York Times photograph here.
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Related posts:

A Summer Visit to the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG): Pest Control for the Vegetable Garden

On my recent visit to the New York Botanical Garden, we also made a visit to the Home Gardening Center, where they have home demonstration vegetable gardens. Since last season, they have had to do more pest control around the gardens and I was surprised to some very familiar barriers:

1. Chicken wire around their post and rail fence.

2. Completely fenced in walls around their new raised beds.

This is exactly what I have had to do this year! Maybe they've been reading my blog for ideas (just kidding).

Related posts: Adding Chicken Wire and Gates to an Open Post and Rail Fence; New Eight Foot Tall Screens Around the Raised Beds

A Summer Visit to the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG): Pictures from the Perennial Border, Part III

A Summer Visit to the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG): Pictures from the Perennial Border, Part II

A Summer Visit to the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG): Pictures from the Perennial Border, Part I

Every time I visit the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) in the Bronx, I am sure to visit the Perennial Border. It is my favorite part of NYBG and it is always inspiring.

A Different Garden Tour of Philadelphia Gardens from The New York Times

As a follow-up to my posts about visiting gardens in Philadelphia over Memorial Day weekend, I was intrigued to see Judith Dobrzynski's article in The New York Times about her own Philadelphia garden tour. In her article "Philadelphia's Gardens of Delight" from June 5th, she visited four gardens, including two I recently visited, Chanticleer and Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore. She also visited Jenkins Arboretum (featuring azaleas and rhododendrons that I have not yet visited) and Bartram's Garden (which I have visited, but is unfortunately in a very rough part of town). Ms. Dobrzynski needs to add Morris Arboretum and Linden Hill Nursery to her next visit.

For the full article, including slide show, click here. She concludes: "An overview of gardens open to the public in the Philadelphia area is at http://www.greaterphiladelphiagardens.org/."

Midsummer Garden Party at Fordhook Farm featuring Hydrangeas and guest speaker Michael Dirr

Burpees' Fordhook Farm in Doylestown, PA
Friday and Saturday, July 10-11
Open from 10 am - 4 pm each day

Take a tour of Fordhook Farm and see our featured varieties of beautiful Hydrangea. The Midsummer Garden speaker will be:

Michael Dirr - Hydrangeas and Other Flowering Shrubs: What's New and the Best of Old, from Abelia to Virburnum

For more information, click here. If you're not familiar with Michael Dirr, he is a legend and one of the world's foremost experts on trees, hydrangeas, and viburnum. I highly recommend his books.

Pictures of Piet Oudolf's High Line Gardens

As a follow-up to my prior post (heirloom gardener: Piet Oudolf's High Line Gardens Open in New York City), the blog inhabitat: design will save the world, has great pictures of the gardens here:

http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/06/09/new-yorks-high-line-park-in-the-sky-opens-today/

Piet Oudolf's High Line Gardens Open in New York City

As a follow-up to my prior post (heirloom gardener: Great Blog Posts About Piet Oudolf), the High Line in New York City opened this week. From Nicolai Ouroussoff's architectural review in The New York Times:

"A subtle play between contemporary and historical design, industrial decay and natural beauty sets the tone. The surface of the deck, for example, is made of concrete planks meant to echo the linearity of the old tracks. The path slips left and right as it advances, so that at some points you are right up against the edge of the railing and at others you are enveloped in the gardens.
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And those gardens have a wild, ragged look that echoes the character of the old abandoned track bed when it was covered with weeds, just a few years ago. Wildflowers and prairie grasses mix with Amelanchier bushes, their branches speckled with red berries. Mr. Corner designed planters to hold the taller trees, and the Gansevoort entry is marked by a cluster of birches. On Saturday the gardens were swarming with bees, butterflies and birds. I half expected to see Bambi."

For the full article, click here.

"The Summer Palace" garden sculpture created by Patrick Dougherty for the Morris Arboretum

As a follow-up to my post about my visit to the Morris Arboretum, here is more information about the fabulous garden sculpture that was pictured in my post. It's one of the most creative and awesome (in the true sense of that word) structures I've ever seen in any garden. I wonder if I can get my husband to build something like that for my garden?

Download a Brochure about The Summer Palace

Some Statistics:

*Over 25 feet high
*Built in only 19 days (March 30 - April 17, 2009)
*Over 75 Volunteers helped to construct it
*Made mostly of willow, dogwood, maple and birch
*Materials were gathered locally
*No nails or other hardware were used
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"On display in the Morris Arboretum’s Madeleine K. Butcher Sculpture Garden, the site-specific piece consists of three rounded “layers” with a top that resembles the quintessential onion-dome characteristic of Russian and Byzantine architecture."

Garden Tour in Philadelphia, Part III: pictures from my first visit to the enormous Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania

Related Posts: Garden Tour in Philadelphia, Part I: Chanticleer and Garden Tour in Philadelphia Part II: Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore College

heirloom gardener: The Garden Conservancy's Open Days 2009: Opening America's Best Private Gardens

heirloom gardener: The Garden Conservancy's Open Days 2009: Opening America's Best Private Gardens

As a follow-up to this prior post, I unfortunately had to miss the open days due to a family emergency. Fortunately, Mary from the Little Red House blog posted some lovely pictures of the day:

http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/2009/05/kennelston-cottage.html?showComment=1243562397864#c1218587063196415001

Garden Tour in Philadelphia, Part II: the Scott Arboretum and Dean Bond Rose Garden at Swarthmore College

Related Post: Garden Tour in Philadelphia, Part I: Chanticleer

Garden Tour in Philadelphia, Part I: A Few Pictures from the Always Inspiring Chanticleer in Wayne, Pennsylvania

Related Posts: Visit to Chanticleer (April 2008) and Visit to Chanticleer (June 2007)