If you had to choose one place in the United States that you felt all Americans should visit, one landscape or landmark representative of the “American ethos”, what would it be?
I started pondering that question last week after reading a piece in the great gardening e-mag Garden Drum. The article’s Australian author, Catherine Stewart, writes of her pilgrimage to Uluru (more familiar to us as Ayers Rock), the giant monolith located smack dab in the middle of the Australian continent.
Recently I purchased and read Wildflowers and Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachians and Piedmont.
Now, before you go labeling me as a mega-dweeb, you should know that plant communities are super hot right now. All the coolest middle aged suburban garden bloggers are talking about them and how they can be used as inspirations for design.
Where have you been?
Susan Abraham of Lush Life Landscapes
For this month’s GDRT, I had the the pleasure of interviewing Susan Abraham, instructor of Landscape Design at GWU, and founder of Lush Life Landscapes, a garden design firm based in Northern Virginia that is devoted to native plants and “ecological artistry.” I love that term! I also love her website, which does a better job of presenting a philosophy of sustainable garden design than any other other design site I’ve seen. It’s eloquent, informative, positive, and totally avoids the kind of preachiness that is all too evident in the world of green design. Enjoy getting to know Susan!
MG: Where do you think your interest in ecological garden design originated? Did you have a different career prior to becoming a landscape designer?
SA: My interest in ecological garden design originated in Southern California as I tended my garden. Water shortages began in earnest in the region, and I noticed information available at local nurseries about xeriscaping using Mediterranean plants suitable to the local climate. This piqued my interest in the variety of native plants thriving in open areas, and led to an interest in historic techniques used to capture, store and use rainfall in irrigation.
(Day five of Adobe bootcamp and I’m going a little crazy…..)
(Apologies to Shawn Thorsson, creator of the Combat Garden Gnomes http://www.etsy.com/shop/thorssoli)
Pinus parviflora ‘Goldilocks’ — Could I grow this in a pot on my patio, do you think?
Talk about a foolish new fetish! Since most conifers are sun-lovers, my yard (a haven for plants that love dry shade and poorly drained clay) is an inferior location for indulging my new fascination for these groovy gymnosperms.
So that’s the first problem.
Second, these specimen conifers are very expensive. I really shouldn’t be putting off replacing my broken garbage disposal just so I can drop $79 on a 3-gallon Pinus parviflora.
Should I?
Third, if I acquire too many dwarf and/or variegated conifers, I am afraid my garden will begin to take on the dreaded “Disneyland Effect” much scorned by serious designers. After all, a garden filled with stiff, fussy specimen conifers is basically the outdoor equivalent of your granny’s cabinet of Precious Moments figurines.
I already have a dangerous affection for plants with unnaturally hued leaves. White or gold margins? Yes please! Chartreuse foliage? I’m in love! Gold speckles? Don’t mind if I do! (The exceptions are Golden Euonymus, which scorches my corneas, and ‘Crimson King’ Norway Maple, the World’s Most Depressing Tree.)
Chanticleer, just outside of Philadelphia, bills itself as “A Pleasure Garden” and I think that title pretty much nails it. This garden celebrates plants, design, and craftsmanship more than any other I’ve been to.
Now, there are various kinds of pleasure to be had from various kinds of gardens — kings’ gardens (Versailles), cooks’ gardens (potagers), botanists’ gardens (arboreta), etc. But with stunning plant combinations at every turn and public restrooms that are nicer than the place you got married, Chanticleer is truly a gardener’s garden.
Here are some of the things I’ve decided I must have after visiting this glorious garden:
A few days ago I made my first visit to Chanticleer Garden in Wayne, Pennsylvania. It was a beautiful garden, but did it live up to all the hype that I’ve heard from other gardeners about how awesome it is?
Yes, absolutely!
Tomorrow I am going to post about all the things I saw in the garden that I’ve now decided I MUST have for myself, but in the meantime enjoy these pictures of some of the amazing containers that adorn Chanticleer Gardens. Along with every other kind of gardening, the folks at Chanticleer really raise containers to a whole new level.
At least for my six-year old son.
When he first spied one of the chubby 3-inch long hornworms among the tomato foliage, he recoiled in horror.
Horror gradually turned to cautious fascination as he helped me find several other hornworms that were feasting on my plant.
Charlie provides Last Rites to a Tomato Hornworm
Five minutes later he was plucking them off by hand, studying them, getting to know them as individuals, naming them things like “Mr. Chewie” and “Spike”.
Then he happily ushered them into the Lepidoptera Afterlife by submerging them in tub of soapy water.
Black Walnut Dispatch 