Willie Nelson, on "produce"

" It’s a good thing I had a bag of marijuana. If I had a bag of spinach, I’d be dead by now." -Willie Nelson


The photo is by Mark Seliger photographs.

powered by performancing firefox

The Art of Arborculture

Arborculture is the art and practice of doing unusual things with trees to create living works of art. There are even practitioners who grow trees to only cut them down and create furniture.

The photo on the right is a living sculpture by the father of the movement Axel Erlandson. The 6 Sycamores create a fantastic and unusual sculpture.

The photo was taken at Bonfante Gardens in Gilroy, CA. Which is not where these trees started out. They actually started in the San Joaquin Valley as part of Erlandsons Tree Circus. The story of how they got from one place to another is told here, here, and here. The page for Mark Primack is here.

A pdf from Bonfante Gardens which talks about the large aquascape gardens and later in the file talks about the big move of Erlandson's remaining 29 trees from their original location to their present home. It's quite a story of determination and co-operation, and a man who wanted to see these specimens survive.

The fellow on the left is Arthur Weichula. Art had some interesting idea about arborculture and other uses for living trees. he was very interested in how living joints, or how inosculation worked.

While looking at all this I was reminded of the ancient art of pleaching, which was developed by the Romans. I say Romans because they were the 1st to speak of it in their writings. it's certainly possible pleaching happened before then. But . . . I digress.

Here's a good explanation, the images were missing when I looked at the page. Here you can see a few good examples of pleaching but the writing on the page looked strange for me. The 2 examples will give you a very good idea of what pleaching is all about. let me know if the links are a problem.

In today's World of Arborculture the guru seems to be Richard Reames who has written the book, called ARBORCULTURE, Solutions for a Small Planet. I have not read the book but between his site and his work, and now the book there has been a new growth in interest in this form of living art.

Here is a interview in Cabinet magazine with Richard Reames, and I have a few other links of interest from other place/sites in the world where there is great interest in the art of growing trees to create art:

• pooktre.com where they are creating "people" out of trees. I would think in the dark with just the right mist this place could turn into a horror movie.
• living houses? maybe, I found this on the Kircher Society web site.
• Growing Village, Arborculturist from around the world.
• Archinode goes into the future of arborculture with a look at the Fab Tree Hab. Hey . . . who knows?
• Finally Mr. Wu, chair anyone?
  

Finally, finally . . . a big thanks to Hank over at a Lake County point of View. Thanks a lot, I was just spinning through the day minding my own business and boom! It happened Topiary, more topiary, and after catching another post on topiary on the site (like 3 in 3/4 days) I came across a comment refer to arborculture-that was enough to set me in motion. Now, much later in the day-it's up (the post on arborculture). Thanks Hank.

Sandstone thoughts, continued

The steps from a wider angle:

On 12/7 I posted a close-up of the stone steps, showing some of the detail. I was after a look of strong yet informal steps that led out on to the lawn.

These steps are the only way to get from the parking court and upper terrace to that front lawn. The large barnstone on the left was needed to hold up the planting bed. This bed was designed in to screen the view of the cars from the street. and create a buffer of green between the view and the asphalt.

The bed swirls on the right before working back into another small wall that took advantage of stone found on the property. This wall was built to hold up the planting bed and upper terrace walkway and patio.


The view from here show the upper terrace. This is a flat stone called Maryland chocolate set on a bed of limestone dust and screenings. The steps are at the far end of this patio between the Crabapple trees. If I remember correctly these are "Sugar Tyme' Crabs.

I would like to point out these pictures were taking last summer, the Summer of 2006, and this job was installed in the Spring of 2000. The patio has held up quite well, and most of the plants are still in the same place we planted them 16 years ago.

I had an opportunity to chat with one of the homeowners. She had pulled in when I was shooting these pictures. We talked about several things and she mentioned how happy they had been with everything all these years. I had to tell her they had done a great job with the upkeep and that everything still looked great.


This view shows a better look at the short wall that holds up the small bed and terrace. The beds; after 16 years, look fairly tidy.

Yes, it's about Landscape Design . . . but . . .

Spaz in the wheelbarrow
We have a low spot in a bed where the water will lay for; up to, 24 hours. The soil is clay, and it's a nasty area. I was able to do some mounding in the middle and back part of the bed to raise those areas, however we know beds have to slope down to their edge. What to do, what to do . . .

Well the entire area is low, water collects, I am not going to raise the entire area because a stone walkway is going through next year, and it needs to be at that height to set up a series of steps out of the low lying area. So it's going to stay low.

This means I have to look for plants that will endure this type of culture/micro-climate. I am one of those who would rather find a plant that lives in a certain type of micro-climate than change the area entirely.

What I have learned over my many years is one change leads to another, to another, to another usually affecting another part of the garden in a very negative way. Specifically moving water, drain water, run-off, etc. Water is at the top of the list.

I have also learned there are plants to adapt to almost every climatic, cultural situation. You just have to learn what works where . . .. a good reason to hire the Professional Designer (shameless plug).

But I digress, the plant in the wheelbarrow, along with Spaz, is Acorus gramineus commonly called sweet flag. Acorus is a short grass and does very well in standing water, temporary flooding, and straight clay soils. I have used Acorus in these conditions from zone 4 down to zone 9 with good results.

Spaz had decided to help us out when he jumped in the wheelbarrow and decided to nap instead-typical cat. Anyone on this cold blustery day I thought I would share this photo and talk about plants and drainage.

Sort of kill two birds with one stone. Uh; maybe that's a bad analogy when cats are involved in the story.

Tree selection (follow-up)

I found another article on the trees for the WTC memorial. This article goes into a rather detailed explanation of the trees, selection, holding area, planting, and culture involved to make this work.
A interesting read.

Garden Theivery

Okay, now I understand someone stealing an occasional lawn mower, or barbecue grill. I mean you can sell the mower and you got to eat. But stealing the furniture? Stealing the flagstone? Stealing the Koi? Then stealing the pond . . . . ?!??!?!? What the heck is going on.

It appears there is a major garden crime wave in Great Britain, and the thieves are busy, really busy.

I have not seen anything like this here, in terms of these types of numbers. If anyone has seen some numbers please pass along the link. I would appreciate it.

I do remember back in the mid-90's when I lived in South Carolina there was a brand new upscale neighborhood where there were several installs and that 1st night a gang of crooks would dig up all the newly planted plants, stripping the landscape bare. This went on for several months and no one was ever caught.

Creating a Forest Garden

My forest in the fall
The area you are looking at is the start of my forest garden, luckily for me I have this great canopy to work with. From there I had originally thought it was a matter of adding other vegetative layers to make this a successful garden space. How wrong I was about this. There are actually 5 distinct architectural features according to the folks at Edible Forest Gardens. From their site:

• Soil horizon structure, vegetation patterning, vegetation density, and community diversity are also critical. All five of these elements of community architecture influence yields, plant health, pest and disease dynamics, maintenance requirements, and overall community character.

The ecology of a forest is very complicated and for that reason there is very little recreating of actual forest in Landscape Design. What most of us seem to do is plant a few canopy trees (or borrow those existing on-site), add some shrubs that fit existing soil requirements, and then throw in a few perennial groupings.

I don't even think I have ever referred to my former work as a forest garden. Maybe a vignette of nature, a recreation of nature . . . but never a forest garden. The thought of calling spaces (forest gardens) where the idea would be to develop that ecology just never occurred to me. Add to that this isn't something that comes up everyday in residential Landscape Design.

I was originally peaked on this subject by a article in the Columbian, about the forest garden in the Northwest U.S. and that's lead me on to further exploration.

The 1st site to go is Edible Forest Gardens, this is more than a site hawking a book, there is a lot of good info here to go through. I found a couple of other pdf's worth downloading one is from Cornell, and the other is from The Ohio State University (Go Bucks!); here's the pdf, and here's the fact sheet. which include a plant list that has a lot of info on a wide variety of plants that work in creating a forest garden.

I believe this is an important discussion for us Landscape Designers as we are faced with the continuing struggle of designing on former farmland, field, or forest that has been pillaged to make way for a subdivision. To try and create a sense of space that is warm and inviting with some enclosure. What better way to do that, than with trees.

With trees comes the opportunity to add other varied material, to create diversity, color, opportunity, wildlife, and tranquility . . . the forest garden. The trees are the beginning of the forest garden, a reclamation of former forest, and a gift to future inhabitants.

Nepenthes truncata what a carnivore

So just when you think Nepenthes truncata only eats insects, you learn something new.

Hybridizers keep on hybridizing

 A nice article from the Washington Post on the quest for the perfect plant. Including some of the newest varities and a sneak peek at some of those varieties. The article links to several sites including the Novalis website, which is worth a visit.

By the way if you are looking for a certain plant through a wholesaler this is the web-site to check. It is  a subscriber site, but they do keep an up to date list.

If you are looking for cutting edge on the retail market the on-line Nursery to check with is Tony Avent's; Plant
Delights Nursery. Great information, good photo's, and he's funny!

Another great on-line site full of information on cutting edge plant material comes from another Southern plantsmen,  Don Shadow. He's another of one of those guys who has forgotten more than most of us will ever know. If you ever get a chance to hear Don speak you will not forget it. A great presentation, what knowledge.

Plants; Native vs. Exotic

Another article about the aggressive nature of exotics vs. what was there in the native 
landscape. The reason I post this article from the N.Y. Times is . . . no one is
shouting. The author give some weight to both sides-leaning to native plants, but it
is well-written and presented.

As for my view . . . I am going to hold off on posting this for a few months. I will get 
into this in a much more thought out and deeper discussion. I think it would be a 
great dis-service by me to discuss this in a few lines on one post.

How's that for dodging/fence-straddling/spinning . . . . ???  

Caladiums

 I think most good Landscape Designers love and appreciate the use of foliage . . . this is pretty good evidence why that is true.

Hydrangea Madness

The Hybridizers have been working overtime on creating new and improved cultivars of Hydrangeas and there
are some really nice cultivars out there. In todays NYTimes a nice article on the newest happenings in the world
of Hydrangeas.

Heres a good follow-up article in the trade from the Oregon Nursery Association

As I look around I do not see any slowing down here of the trend to find ways to add more Hydrangeas to the landscape. Spectacular colors and color form, large flowers, great for cutting, a variety of sizes, added fall interest, ease of growing. This is where the hybridizers are going.

A link to the American Hydrangea Society.

Finally this is a site from an amateur grower who really loves Hydrangeas, what makes it great is her obvious enthusiasm.

Summer Snowballs, the Viburnum

 If you like-love Viburnums you gotta love this one. I was driving home from an appointment and ran across this beauty in a real small Ohio town, it looks great doesn't it.

People are always asking me about small trees, I want small trees. Well here you go there are several Viburnums that go over 10.0' feet in height including

1. Viburnum sieboldi 'Seneca'
2. Viburnum x rhytidophylloides 'Allegheny'
3. Viburnum prunifolium
4. Viburnum lentago
5. Viburnum d. 'Autumn Jazz'

So look into this set of woodies you won't be disappointed, as for the professionals we don't use Viburnums enough either and I can't explain why. Spring/summer color, good strong foliage, heavy fruiters, and usually good fall foliage. I just don't get it. I myself am a big culprit and today has reminded me again of the fact that every yard should have some Viburnum.

They are especially useful as a wildlife, bird attractor, screening, or naturalizer also.

Walkways with no Walkers

These are a few images I took a couple of weeks ago at a Job that was installed September-October of 2004. I remember the homeowners being very excited about the whole process as this was to be their last home.

When I pulled up the home was empty, and a for-sale sign was in the front yard. I found out the for-sale sign had been there since at least March. So the homeowners are not maintaining the landscape, I don't know who is, most likely the realtor has hired someone. Whoever it is, is not really good with the plant material, I could tell by the
pruning practices on the shrubs, particularly the hydrangea.

This is what you would see if you had come from around the garage on the right side of the house. This was never meant to be a primary view because the way the drive was placed between the house and 2nd garage visitors would enter the backyard down a set of steps to a landing and then given the option to go off in several directions. Nonetheless this view has turned out okay, even for 2nd year of the garden. I really think it takes 3 years for plants to establish before the root system really takes off and the garden begins to thrive.

This is the view from the top of the stairs looking down onto the garden bed. The small patio space at the upper right was in front of a small garage door where the workshed-potting area was to have been. The walkway continues off to the left, which you can see in the previous photo. The wall on the right was very necessary because we needed to hold up the drive and keep the area level between the house and 2nd garage.

Just a detail of the planting next to the workshed door is, I especially like how the moss as maintained itself and adds character to the scene.

My personal preference is to have the brick field float into any larger stone to help sell the illusion that the stone was there 1st and we had to work around it. You'll notice that the soldier course does come around from the left and finishes off into the boulder. That area was done that way for me to preserve the integrity of the outside arc on that part of the walkway.

A very good Gardening Blog

Yes, yes, I know this Blog, my Blog is about Landscape Design, but no matter how you cut it I am tied to the World of Gardening. Even though I have been highly critical of gardeners when it comes to design because; well . . . . . . even though they are usually lousy designers you got to appreciate their love for what they are doing. Besides there is a good reason for this. A good/great Gardener is really passionate about plants. Usually going beyond passionate, bordering on fanatical.

Don't believe me? Go to a plant sale, or a plant auction, or a charity event where they offer plants and watch the vigor with which the crowd goes after that special herb being offered at $2.99, you wanna see enthusiasm? I'll show you enthusiasm.

So where an I going with this . . . here's where I am going. It is in this fanatical quest to grow the newest, hugest, finest, rarest plant. To grow that which cannot be grown in your zone-to push the envelope in what can or cannot be planted, is exactly where gardeners fail as designers.

Designers should look at how all the overall spaces relate to one another, how people flow from here to there, how the hardscape lays out, how we transition from one level to another, etc., etc. A good Gardener will look for an empty plot of ground, remove the sod, and then amend, amend, amend the soil. To grow the latest and greatest in their collection-more plants, more color, more foliage. More plants!!!

Another way to look at this is Gardeners start with the specifcs (an individual plant) where a good Designer needs to look at the big picture and slowly work down to specifics. I cannot even tell you how many times over the years I've seen beginning Designers, or Gardeners making the transition who get lost in even the simplest design problems because they look small 1st, and get stuck in these small details, unable to move on.

So what does this have to do with Hanna's Blog, well this. Even though it focuses on Gardening-it does it very well, she has a great writing style and like good informational Bloggers she throws a lot of links in her post, and hey! how many people can put Squeaky Fromme and Thomas Jefferson in the same post?

If there were more good landscape Design sites out there I would talk about them and link to them. Are they out there? Let me know if I'm wrong. My friends love to tell me how often I am wrong, you guys might as well join in.

The other reason I am linking to Gardeners is I appreciate their passion for plants and the outdoors, plus I need to look out for all Aesculus glabras out there.

Conifer Land 2

Just some shots from the Conifer area at Hobby Nursery near Loudonville, Ohio
They have a large selection of standards and other "focals" the hard part is to decide how to support these focals in the landscape-what is the best supporting cast???
These were taken last fall-I am going over next week to buy a few things, these shots are a reminder to get going on the project. 

Malus rosseau

Secrest Arboretum in Wooster Ohio has the largest collection of Ornamental Crabapples in the world. This one: Malus rosseau is one of my favorites. Planted in 1954 the color on this tree is just outstanding, and the fragrance will just about knock you over. Truly a gorgeous tree. Secrest is a great place, for research, study, and the ultimate form of how trees and shrubs reach their ultimate sizes and shapes. After a visit here it is easy to see why I shake my head so often at how close plant material is shoved up next to a house. Secrest is definitely worth the visit. 

Pond, waterfall, and Petasites hybrida

This is a look at a 3 year old pond that I shot last summer. I maintained this pond the 1st two years enabling the pond to get off to a good start. My goal is to strive for a naturalistic look and feel to my work where it is hard to figure out where the pond stops and the land begins.
I believe the number one problem with most professionally built ponds is-a lack of "naturalism/realism"; the edges are too hard, the rocks are piled too high or too deep around the edges. A lot of pond-builders have a poor understanding of how plant material works; not only in the water but surrounding the water as well.
I look for opportunities to bring the plant material right down and into the water to create a lush and inviting scene whenever possible. The more varied and larger amount of plant material in the pond also helps the pond become more successful ecologically.
btw, this is in Ohio, near Canton which is zone 5. My thanks to Lake Cable Nursery. 

Man, what a 'Buxus'

China, the oldest boxwood I had ever seen.