Ornament in the Garden

“Nor am I displeased with the placing of ridiculous Statues in Gardens, provided they have nothing in them obscene.”

– Leon Battista degli Alberti, De Re Aedificatoria (1485)

Simon hanging out in the coreopsis.

In winter, the garden can look lonely. Perennials have been cut to the ground, deciduous shrubs are bare, trees may be leafless. Evergreens take on added importance, as do plants with interesting bark or winter berries. The structure of the garden can be seen more clearly and arresting shapes or patterns can make or break the visual scene before us.

Gardeners who have indulged themselves by adding art or ornaments to their landscapes will reap an added bonus at this time of year. Art in the landscape can be challenging to integrate successfully: a large sculpture may require careful placement and sensitive planting plans to ensure that it shines without competely dominating the scene. Garden ornaments, however – structures for climbing plants, or smaller pieces of statuary, or arbors, or birdbaths –  can find smaller niches more easily and bring a touch of whimsy to the garden in season, while serving as focal points when winter arises.

Take Simon (above), for example. While on a garden tour in south central England in June 2001, I came across him in a small garden store in the Cotswolds, towards the end of my trip, and knew immediately that he belonged somewhere in my garden at home. After dragging him back across the Atlantic in one of my suitcases, I found the perfect spot for him among a small drift of coreopsis, whose airy lightness sets off his small but stony bulk perfectly. He can bring a smile to my face when I’m weeding.

I’ve seen Simon’s relations in many other gardens I’ve visited, both public and private:

— a heron sculpture peeking out unexpectedly from a stand of grasses in a client’s garden;

The "hidden heron" at a former client's garden.

— a plastic T-rex figure nestled in the crotch of a paperbark maple tree at Chanticleer Garden;

T-Rex at Chanticleer, minus part of his tail, looks perfect in the paperbark maple tree.

— a miniature fairy figure carefully placed in a stand of groundcover plantings in the woodlands at Mt. Cuba, which I had the pleasure of touring several summers back (“Oh yes,” said the guide, “you’ll find these treasures hidden in every garden.”)

A fairy hides on the grounds of Mt. Cuba

So between now and spring, as you’re dreaming of next year’s garden, give some thought to adding an ornament or two of your own. You won’t regret it.

Inspiration at the Arboretum

Years ago, when I started studying landscape design, I spent three hours every Friday morning for a year traipsing around the National Arboretum (and other places) learning about trees and shrubs. One chilly winter morning, my class was following our teacher down a winding road headed to a destination that now escapes me when we rounded a corner and there, in front of us, was a plant that stopped me in my tracks.  It was Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena,’ a hybrid witchhazel that sports fantastic orange, strap-like flowers in winter.

Hamamelis x intermedia 'Jelena' at the National Arboretum stopped me in my tracks.

When I took this photo, I was still shooting film and using a point-and-shoot camera. It’s not a great photo (too dark, even though I’ve worked on it in Photoshop), but when I got it back from Moto Photo, it entranced me and took me back to that overcast Friday morning. Later, when I scanned it, it became one of the very first images in the plant photo database that I now use in my design work, showing clients the plants I propose to include in their gardens. Since then, I’ve photographed witchhazels (‘Arnold’s Promise’ is another favorite) in other gardens, but ‘Jelena’ remains first in my heart and the photographer it helped to inspire is very grateful.

Witchhazel's strap-like blossoms appear in the winter when there is otherwise little color in the landscape.

Last Stop: Stonecrop

Stonecrop Gardens was another of my destinations in the Great Garden Quest vacation in 2004 in the general area of the Hudson River Valley. August proved a good time to visit the gardens, which are located at an elevation of 1100 feet in the Hudson Highlands; it was cool and sunny, with crisp air. Stonecrop is open to the public except during late fall and winter, and at the time I visited you had to make an appointment to see it, although that is not the case any more.

STONECROP GARDENS
(To see a larger version of any photo, simply click on the image.)

Created by Frank and Ann Cabot, Stonecrop Gardens is the “home garden” (formerly that of the Cabots themselves) of The Garden Conservancy and a fascinating public garden in its own right. Its 63 acres include over 500 species of Alpine plants; a 2000 square foot Conservatory, whose visually arresting appearance is the first sight to greet visitors who find their way there (not an easy task, as Stonecrop is somewhat off the beaten track); an English-style cottage garden with a central vegetable garden parterre; a large woodland garden; a Pond Garden complete with an enormous stand of Gunnera manicata (native to Brazil) which the garden staff takes great care to protect by mulching heavily each year before the onset of winter; and a collection of perennials as diverse as in any other public garden in the state. Don’t miss the Lake and Hillside Gardens, with cascading water leading down to a large man-made pool flanked by a grove of dawn redwood trees and weeping Katsura, and the Wisteria Pavilion.

Stonecrop Gardens is located in Cold Spring, NY and is open to the public Monday through Friday and the first and third Saturday of the month, from April to December. Internships are available at Stonecrop each year for individuals interested in a career in horticulture.

See the other Hudson River Valley posts:
Wave Hill
Opus 40
Innisfree

Going to Innisfree

The Hudson River Valley gardens saga continues . . . (if you’re bored, please let me know. On second thought, better not. I still have one post to go.)

As a child of the 60’s, one of my favorite songs was “Innisfree,” as sung by Judy Collins. It still is. So when I became a gardener, and learned that there was a famous garden in Millbrook, New York, by that name I had to add it to my Hudson River Vally garden itinerary.

The 40-acre lake at Innisfree is glacial. The views, however, are anything but.

From 1930 to 1960, Innisfree was the private garden of Walter and Marion Beck. With the help of landscape architect Lester Collins, the Becks used Chinese garden design techniques to guide the development of the garden. Drawing on the history of Chinese paintings and gardens dating back a thousand years, Walter Beck devised the term “cup garden” to describe the concept behind Innisfree: that of a garden area or vignette that draws attention to something rare or beautiful by setting it within an enclosed or discrete space, to enable to viewer to enjoy it without distraction. A cup garden can be a meadow framed by trees, a lotus pool, or a single rock covered with lichens and sedums. Thus, there has been no attempt to relate any of the planting design, for example, to the stone remnants of the foundation of the original house which are still on site.

Berberis 'Helmond Pillar' and sedums provide dark red contrasts to the chartreuse and green plantings in this terrace area at Innisfree.

One of the many garden terraces at Innisfree

A mist fountain on an upper terrace, near fastigiate Gingkos

At Innisfree, I strolled through a series of carefully framed views, seeing terrace gardens, a meadow stream, carefully placed massive stones (most of which came from the forested areas on the site), and a series of waterfalls, mist fountains, water sculptures, and pools. The garden is 150 acres in all, including a 40-acre glacial lake. Most of the plantings, however, are native.

Innisfree, located in Millbrook, NY, is open from May 7 to October 20 Wednesdays through Sundays and on legal holidays. For more information, visit its website.

See the other Hudson River Valley posts:

Wave Hill
Opus 40
Stonecrop Gardens