Plant Torture? Not Necessarily.

A couple of years ago a client told me she wanted to drive into her driveway to a beautiful garden and asked me to design one for her. Easy enough request. She also wanted to screen off the back yard with some trelliage but didn't want climbers on it. Easy enough request. She wanted a deer resistant cottage style garden in her favorite color combination--blue and yellow. Again, easy enough request.

When the trellis work was installed, there was only one logical place for it so that's where it went. What was left for this garden of easy enough requests was a 30" wide bed between the fence and the blacktop in the blazing sun where the plow would push the snow in the winter months. Not so easy any more. These types of garden problems are what landscape designers excel at and when it really makes sense to consult with a professional.

Heat loving, deer resistant driveway garden

Now three years later, the garden is thriving without irrigation or much care and it looks great. What's the secret? Plant choice. All of the plants chosen for this garden are drought tolerant, heat and sun loving, and tough as nails.

Here's the list:

Agastache x 'Black Adder'
Achillea 'Moonshine'
Baptisia austrailis
Iris germanica
Stachys byzantina
Sorghastrum nutans 'Sioux Blue'

The Romantic Ideal

Those who know me, know that I am not very...well not a girlie girl. They also know that my ultra-romantic and feminine side comes out in other ways. One of those is my love for bold, evocative statements in the garden. As a landscape designer whether I'm working on a contemporary or traditional design, the object is the same...extravagant gestures, layers of texture and dreamy places to slow down and enjoy it.

I think this is the most romantic image in a garden ever. Over exposed? Yes. But Fragonard's 'The Swing', pictured below, is the essence of romantic ideal. The young woman is joyful at being in love and in the garden...she is participating in her environment rather than just giving it a look or a walk through.

Jean-Honore Fragonard 'The Swing'

Has our concept of what is romantic in a garden changed since the 18th century? I don't think so. We still want the same human experience as the girl on the swing. What has changed is the availability of skilled labor to maintain the estate sized model it is based on and the philosophy that all natural resources are inexhaustible.

The romantic ideal might seem old fashioned, but it's a point of departure only limited by lack of imagination. There is the possibility of creating lush and jubilant outdoor spaces without being bound to a planting scheme or a single style. Romantic gardens beg human interaction--the discovery of a secret, a place for intimate conversation, or a solitary escape from the stresses of daily life. They are the sum of their parts...not just the framework for a floral display.

Business as Unusual

These are scary times for landscape designers whose practices overlap both the creative service and construction industries. Anyone in my business who tells you they are thriving is not being entirely truthful. The sad state of the global economy that is a financial disaster for so many is not what I'm writing about here. The media has scared consumers who do have the means and the need for our services into hunkering down, not spending any money and worst of all believing that they 'shouldn't'.

I consider myself to be fairly typical of landscape designers who are out there now. I have work, just not the amount or size of work I've had in the past. I am lucky to have loyal clients who come back again and again as well as some new ones who are willing to spend on new projects.

Creativity is needed in our business so that it isn't business as usual, it is time for business to be unusual. We need to educate our clients about the intrinsic worth of what we provide and make it invaluable to them. We need to enhance their lives in every way possible--drawing them outside into the larger world so that our services become what they are willing to spend money on.

This summer is the 40th anniversary of Woodstock and I am reminded of the lyrics that very wise Joni Mitchell wrote all those years ago:

We are stardust
Billion year old carbon
We are golden
Caught in the devil's baragin
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

A rose by any other name...

I've started to wonder about my blog name. Few, mostly those with kids, know the wonderful book by Barbara Cooney, Miss Rumphius, and the story behind it. Read it if you can.

Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney

About ten years ago I got all paranoid about using my real name as an identifier on the Landscape Design forum at GardenWeb. Miss Rumphius had been my favorite book to read to my son when he was small and I identified with her as a character--hence the screen name. Most people referred to me as Miss R. I stopped posting at Garden Web shortly after it was taken over by iVillage, but that's another story.

I decided to carry the Miss R moniker over to my blog for no real reason other than people already knew me by that name. Now I wonder if it might not be the best name for what I write about. Miss R's third third rule 'Do something to make the world more beautiful' still is, but the name...maybe not so much.

I have no idea what I'd call my blog other than Miss R, but I'd be interested in what everyone who reads here thinks. Leave a comment and let me know.

Mired In Tradition

Last Sunday, in Bucks County, PA, I went on my second Open Days garden crawl of the season. These visits recharge my creative juices and offer me a first hand opportunity to see what other landscape designers and talented amateurs have created. I look carefully, take photographs and experience the gardens in three dimensions. Being in a garden is so much different than looking at pictures of one especially for a designer as interested in creating spatial relationships as I am.

What I already knew, and what three of the gardens I visited confirmed, is that on the east coast, those with the means to build a landscape of substance opt to emulate traditional English gardens. The old stone houses and barns that give Buck's County its lure form the backdrop for the gardens. Although one garden had a beautifully enhanced woodland, there was not one meadow in the acres and acres of mixed borders and mowed turfgrass that I saw. Planting styles differed within these gardens but the traditional garden design paradigm did not.

A rustic twig bridge in the woodland at Hortulus Farm Garden & Nursery

There were some beautiful vignettes and ideas within these classic schemes. One, at Willow Farm, had a grey/blue and burgundy palette juxtaposed with honey hued native stone that I particularly liked.

Blue/grey and burgundy plants with native honey colored stone

Another, at Hortulus, had a bold yellow planting scheme punctuated by a large terra cotta urn that was dramatic and interesting.

Yellow and terra cotta in combination at Hortulus

A third really great idea was again, at Hortulus. The formal fountain at the far end of a double mixed border was actually a swimming pool. It read as a fountain until you noticed the steps. This idea could be adapted for many different situations both grand and intimate.

The swimming pool fountain

This contrast between classic and contemporary design was magnified by the last stop of the day, an interior designer's shop in Lambertville, NJ, Reinboth & Company. I try to check this small shop out each time I'm in the area since it is really well edited. The garden accessories in their courtyard were clean, crisp and modern. It seemed restful and welcome after a day of observing such traditional points of view.

Contemporary garden accessories at Reinboth & Co.

White

I started thinking about this when all of my white shrubs bloomed at once this spring. They are supposed to bloom in a kind of sequence. The absence of color was just as, if not more powerful, than a garden full of color.

Just the spireas--lilacs & fothergilla were blooming too

I know the idea is not new, but white has a symbolic power beyond the absence of color and I think it's appropriate for our times.

The staircase at Chanel for the 2009 Haute Couture collection
photo via Chanel

A puff of dandelion seeds (plenty of those around here)

A lace table cloth

Santorini

Nautical ropes

Weathered Picket Fence

Dodecatheon meadia--native and beautiful
Photo via Vanderbilt.edu

White wicker

The White Garden at Sissinghurst
photo via Meade/flickr.com

Fringe Benefits

I love our native fringe tree, Chionanthus virginicus. Hardy to zone 3, it is delicate, fragrant and underused in the landscape. Sometimes I see it used here as a multi-stemed shrub, but seldom as a mature understory tree.

I've used it in gardens as a shrub, but never as a tree--I will after this week. On a road I have driven down hundreds of times, there it was in full glorious bloom, at a bus stop on Mountain Avenue in Springfield.

The Fringe tree on Mountain Avenue

Blooms

Dreaming of Other Places

I have itchy, gypsy feet. When the weather gets nice my longing to pick up and go gets worse.


I want to go some place exotic--full of color, odd sounds and history.

Bali

I want to go some place I've never been that will inspire me.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

I need to get outside of my comfort zone.

India

Maybe it's just the May-hem of being a landscape designer at this time of year causing me to want to escape.

Yellowstone National Park

Don't get me wrong--I love what I do, but I need to recharge and my creative batteries sometimes need a jump start.

Nikko Temple, Japan

Travel does that for me--it jolts me into a new direction every time.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

I've always had wanderlust and have luckily been able to indulge it on mostly a whim. When I was younger with less responsibility, I'd just pack a bag and go.

Fez, Morocco

Now it's not so easy. I dream of the places I want to see and save and save until I can afford to go. One of the above will be next.

First Year Snapshots

Yesterday on my way to somewhere else, I stopped at a garden I designed and installed last fall. The design mostly followed the footprint of a formal garden that had fallen into ruin--the concrete pond was there as was a crumbling low garden wall. I updated it and designed a scheme of mostly deer resistant plants--the exceptions being roses and daylilies planted at the owner's request.

These are not the best photos I've taken and I usually don't photograph gardens in their first season --they need time to fill in. First year photos are like taking baby pictures--the gardens are going to morph and mature and come into their own as they grow--and really they're just another cute baby. I made an exception yesterday since really liked what I saw.

Upper and lower borders--the wall is very old-and was covered with ivy

Lower border--it has a sequential bloom pattern

Chelsea Flower Show Junkie

Yes, I admit it. I'm a Chelsea Flower Show junkie and this week it's time for my big fix! I follow the Chelsea Flower Show like some guys follow the Jets. I can't get enough.

I find the gardens to be great sources of inspiration. Flower show gardens, regardless of size are places to experiment and often exciting ideas emerge. I know the Chelsea gardens have huge corporate budgets and I know they're theater, impossibly perfect and created to last a week instead of a lifetime. It doesn't matter...I have to have more, more, more.

Here's a video of this year's Best Show Garden designed by Ulf Nordfjell for The Daily Telegraph:

The Fence from 'Trash or Treasure?'

It's almost finished--glad it didn't get damaged on its trip to and from the dump! Here's the fence. It needs paint and the posts need to be trimmed and capped. A simple loop will keep the gate closed.

Garden Visits--Chester and Far Hills

Accompanied by a friend, who is also a landscape designer, a map and our cameras we set off to see three gardens in Morris and Somerset counties for an Open Days garden crawl. With my trusty point and shoot, I took many more photographs than I have here. Some are for inspiration, some are for reference and others will be shared here later illustrating other posts.

This area of New Jersey is known for its history and tradition. Homes dating from late 18th and 19th century sit side by side with those built in the last real estate bubble. The three gardens we visited were traditional, based in European traditions, and on properties with old homes. All three gardens were several acres, the result of years of vision, personal attention and financial commitment. Aliums were in bloom everywhere. Container plantings were significant players at both Hedgerows and Kennelston cottage forming their own small 'gardens' or creating focal points within larger plantings. I think I'd like to explore containers as a contributor and design element later.

A stone pier, containers and gate at Hedgerows

With the morning's fog still creating an atmospheric haze, down Old Chester Road we drove, our first stop was Dan and Jeanne Will's garden, Hedgerows. For me, the most interesting part of this garden was the woodland. Meandering paths wove in and out of plantings that were in places highly edited and in others self seeded. The combination of intent and abandon was charming.

Self seeded Primula japonica were abundant, as were Myosotis sylvatica

Gravel paths weaving in and out of plantings

A small rustic yet elegantly proportioned summerhouse

Our second stop, Hay Honey Farm, was one of two we planned in Far Hills. I first visited this garden 4 or 5 years ago. This time, the owner requested that photos not be published, so I won't share mine here. A series of gardens included hillside woodland with a beautiful Rhododendron walk, a hayfields with remarkable views across the valley and a Laburnum allee. This garden is well worth the visit.

A gravel path through a shady garden room at Kennelston Cottage in Far Hills

After a drive on dirt and gravel roads through some of the most beautiful country in New Jersey we arrived at our final stop--Kennelston Cottage. This was the most traditional garden of the three. Recently featured in New Jersey Life magazine, Kennelston's gardens are a series of interrelated rooms and vignettes.

The Potager with chimney pot planters

A lovely purple and white poolside planting scheme

The view to the house from the pool

Field Trip--Chester and Far Hills

I really do what I say I do.

Find Gardens to visit on Open Days

Even though I design gardens and landscapes every day for a living, I still love to discover other people's gardens. Today, despite the gloomy forecast, I'm going to take advantage of the Garden Conservancy's Open Days in Morris and Somerset counties. I never know what discovery I'll make or if I'll even like the gardens I visit...usually there's some tidbit that I find interesting or worthy of a quick sketch or photo, but sometimes the gardens are absolutely breathtaking.

The remnants of an Ellen Biddle Shipman garden in Lamington from a previous year's visit

Books

I love books. Since I first learned how, I have been a voracious reader.

For me, books have been gateways to the larger world. They have been a source of inspiration, information and escape. I like them as objects as well. I am always fascinated by the mystery between the covers, the tactile discovery of turning a page to see what's next. I have spent hours of my life in libraries and everywhere I've ever lived, both here and abroad, I've had a library card.

I am no longer an indiscriminate book buyer. At several points in my life I had more books than anything else. I am fortunate to have The Chatham Bookseller, a great used bookstore , in the next town over that has three shelves of books on gardens and landscape design and many more on interiors, graphic design, fine art and just about any other subject I might want to explore. With their greatly reduced prices penciled in on the flyleaf, I've bought more than a few books here.

My design library isn't big since I don't have the room for the hundreds of books I would have if I did. It is carefully edited and often culled when new additions need to find a home on the overstuffed shelves. Some of my favorites are out of print, some are new, some are eye candy coffee table books, some are serious reference books. I'm going to share some of my favorites over the next few weeks.

Inspriation and Influence--1st Dibs

I really like 1st Dibs. I don't visit it every day, or even every week, but when I do it sucks me in and when I'm done I've spent more time than I had planned.

1st Dibs is a huge on-line marketplace for antiques and mid-century modern furniture and accessories--Portobello Road or the Paris Flea Market on steroids. 1st Dibs also has a beautifully designed and edited section on people, places and ideas. There are great garden elements to be found--bought or used as inspiration.

The profiles in Style Compass or books in Required Reading get me every time.

Yak, Yak, Yak--My Big Mouth!

Here's a podcast I recorded about my experience as a landscape designer who blogs. The others on the podcast are Rochelle Greayer of Studio G and Chris Heiler of Landscape Leadership. Click here. Listen and enjoy.

Old School Recording Device

By the way...I haven't posted video since that day.

Why Fit In?

I have never fit in. There have been times, like when I was in high school, where fitting in seemed important, so I tried. I still didn't really fit in--there was always the nagging sensation that I wasn't really being authentic.

As I grew and evolved as a designer, I learned to get used to blunt critique and/or praise of my work and view it with my own value meter. Reject what I didn't believe, embrace what I did. This process also made me more secure in who I was as a person. The nagging sensation of not being authentic mostly disappeared. What didn't disappear, however, is the fact that I still don't really fit neatly into any ready categories that people seem to need to organize their thoughts, lives and ideas.

Miss R doesn't really fit in either. It's not a garden blog--although I sometimes write about gardens and post garden pictures. It's not a design blog, although I certainly explore that also. It's not a blog of personal revelation, but that is definitely a component. It's not a blog about process either. It doesn't fit in.

It is a blog about the thoughts, ideas, images, work, people and places that fill my creative life. I'm standing in the middle of my life as individual as ever, as unable to fit neatly into anyone's categories as I ever was. The difference is that I now know that's because I don't need to. I am authentically me.

Trash or Treasure?

19th Century iron fence remnant for a project

I met a welder at a project today to show him how I wanted the reclaimed 19th century ironwork I specified installed. I bought the pieces last fall in Scranton at Olde Good Thing's incredible salvage yard specifically for this project.

They were leaning against a tree outside of the garage and the crew thought they were garbage and hauled them away. I freaked out when I couldn't find them! There's 2 more pieces beyond these and I will post some photos when the installation is done. I called the contractor and he found them--one piece is now bent and a small piece broke off but can be repaired.

The old cliche is true...one person's junk is another person's treasure.

Showhouse Season, Volume V, Issue 13--Party Time!

Last night was the gala opening for the VNA showhouse at 99 Rumson Road in Rumson, NJ. Over 650 people wined, dined and danced after touring the house and gardens. I highly recommend that anyone who can attend this event does. I've participated in many showhouses, and this one is special. No expense has been spared and the house feels like a home instead of a series of individual spaces--it's lovely.

The Garden ready for a Party

Back to last night. The weather was perfect! Michael Deo, my lighting designer, and I donned our party duds and hosted the garden's debut. As a designer, I always try to create a space that will draw people out into it and be interesting enough for them to linger in it. Of all the gardens at the show house, people congregated and lingered in two --the way over the top poolhouse and mine. I don't think it was because of the wine either!

The two photos were taken just before the party and a few minutes after it started. Once things got going I was too busy talking to everyone to snap away! Peter Rymid is going to photograph the garden on Monday and then I should have some great shots.

A Jazz Quartet, Guests & Party Time!