joene's garden

Spring promises – GB Bloom Day

joenesgarden — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:13:45 +0000

A few bulbs are showing off in my Connecticut gardens. A small bunch of iris reticulata are my current show stoppers.

A single white crocus stands nearby.

But these narcissi, along with so many others, hold the promise of spring.

It's always interesting to look back at what was blooming in my gardens for previous Garden Bloggers' Bloom Days … iris reticulata and crocus were also in bloom in my yard for 2009's March GBBD. And it's even more fun to visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens for a glimpse of other gardens in bloom and showing off for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

Categories: Bloom Day, Bulbs, Gardening.
Tags: Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, gardening in Connecticut, spring bulbs.

Implements of Gardening

joenesgarden — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 02:54:26 +0000

A week until it's officially spring, when a gardener's fancy turns not to love but to tools … which handy old standby to replace and which enticing new gadget to try. Every gardener needs a basic spade or two, a garden fork, loppers, pruners, limb saw, and a couple of rakes … and every gardener has their own list of must-haves. On top of my must have list is the invaluable Hori Hori knife … the nasty looking weapon leaning against my garden bag. It has a heavy steel blade that cuts through roots, acts as a trowel, pries up rocks, digs out weeds, and generally becomes an extension of my hand during gardening season … at least it has for about the last 20 years. When not in hand it's either in the back pocket of my jeans or sitting ready in it's own pocket of my garden bag.

For garden bags – I've had two. The first was canvas and similar to the suede version I've used for the last 5 years or so. Suede is definitely superior to canvas, but the canvas version served well for many years before it developed holes in the bottom of the pockets where sharp tools wore away the material. The bag shown here came from Brookstone – it was a great gift – came with the green handled tools. All good quality and comfortable to use, but apparently only available in their retail stores – I could not find them listed online. The suede bag has three matching pockets on the long sides with elastic cords to hold handled tools in place. The pockets on each end are great for plant tags, seed packets, and smaller items like twist ties and bandaids. The interior section is large enough to hold a couple of folding pruning saws, a ball of garden twine, and multiple pairs gloves.

For gloves I get one pair of good quality suede palm and breathable backed work gloves like those from West County Gloves. And if last year's pair is still usable, I relegate them to hauling wood or moving rock until they finally succumb. This system insures there is always one pair of heavy work gloves ready to protect my hands. For everyday weeding, planting, etc, I purchase at least four pairs of latex coated work gloves – two are always with me in case one set becomes too wet or dirty, or I accidentally brush against or grab poison ivy. Again, any latex gloves that remain from the previous season come out early on when I'm likely to encounter mud. I also have one pair of long, arm protecting, heavy gloves designed to protect from thorny jobs.

Some of my other tool faves are the scuffle hoe – simple back and forth motions glide the sharp hoe edges just under the soil to slice off pesky weeds – and a four-prong cultivator which is great for incorporating compost or other amendments into the top few inches of soil and stirring up compacted shredded wood mulch. I also protect the sharp edge of my long handled edger so it's ready whenever I need to neaten up borders between grass and planting beds.

I currently have a good selection of digging tools, but I plan to add a narrow digging spade and another digging fork to my collection and these will both have round, ergonomic, padded handles. I'm not above pampering my aging body a little with well designed digging implements. Besides these, I want to try a hand tool that's supposed to scrape the annoying small weeds that love to sprout between the pavers in our front walkway. The Lee Valley Garden Tools catalog calls it a crack weeder. Interesting name that conjures up all kinds of disturbing visions, but I won't go there.

I'd love to hear reviews from anyone who has either the ergonomic round handled tools or the, ahem, crack weeder. Also, come back soon to learn how I like the latest addition to my collection of garden implements. Here's a hint … it's the smaller cousin of the Bagz-It I purchased a couple of years ago. Now that our snow is gone, I just need the rain to stop so I can roll the new Bagz-It out for its maiden run.

Categories: Gardening, Tools.
Tags: Bagz-It, garden bags, gardening gloves, gardening in Connecticut, hoes, Hori Hori knife, spades.

Home to signs of spring

joenesgarden — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:49:23 +0000

A few days in Lake Placid, New York shows ice still covers many streams,

And snow still covers much ground, particularly really high ground like a distant mountain peak.

Up north, spring snow sports like downhill and cross country skiing, snowshoeing, and ice skating are in full swing, but warming temperatures will soon push these winter activities into memory. There's no doubt that Lake Placid is in a beautiful region, but my heart welled with springtime when I came home to these …

My little batch of iris reticulata had just started to poke their tiny green shoots out of the ground when I left, and just 4 days later they were in full bloom. Great to come home to.

Categories: Bulbs, Gardening, Seasons.
Tags: gardening in Connecticut, iris reticulata, Lake Placid, spring.

Gardens to See: The Mount

joenesgarden — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:00:00 +0000

If traveling through eastern Massachusetts be sure to allow time for a visit to The Mount, the former home of author Edith Wharton. Wharton created the estate and surrounding gardens to suit the classically formal designs of her book, The Decoration of Houses. Wharton also wrote many other books on gardens and landscapes including, Italian Villas and their Gardens.

Wharton traveled extensively throughout France, Italy, and Spain with her family as a child and into her adulthood. In 1901, she began construction of The Mount. She used what she learned about European gardens to create The Mount's Italian walled garden, a formal flower garden, a tree-lined allee with a fountain and reflecting pool at one end and steps leading down to a 'hidden' garden at the other. Wharton's landscape also includes the oft photographed grass steps. The expansive rear terrace of the house overlooks most of the gardens, which she set at formal angles from the house. Wharton's niece, at the time Beatrix Jones (later Beatrix Farrand, a master in her own right – many gardens in Maine and those at Harkness Memorial State Park right here in CT) was embarking on her notable career as a landscape gardener and played a role designing some parts of the estate. Both the house and the gardens reflect many European influences, but the gardens, particularly the 'hidden' garden, highlight Wharton's love of Italian design.

You enter the house through the Italian walled garden - structure accented by a few plants.

The house is filled with beautiful furnishings, but I focused my photos on the gardens. From all the rear windows of the house, and especially from the rear terrace, the gardens draw you outside for a stroll. Here are views of the flower garden, the central path, and the 'hidden' garden from the terrace.

Stunning from above but much more so once you descend down to garden level. Upon reaching the central path you can choose to turn left for a stroll along the sugar maple lined allee that leads to the fountain and what is described as the flower garden. I think, however, that some of the original structure of the flower garden was lost to time.

A right turn upon descending the stairs from the terrace leads to the 'hidden garden' described more thoroughly after our brief tour of the fountain end of the allee.

Below is the view from the fountain looking back down the allee. The pool is surrounded by annuals that were still small during my late May visit in 2004.

From the fountain, the house sits atop a rise to the right. If you walk across the lawn you'll reach the grass steps, created by shaping the underlying soil into risers and treads, then overplanting the soil with grass. Following either the grass steps or a path from the fountain area brings you to another less formal garden (not shown here). I think this was the location of a kitchen garden in the original plan.

A relaxing stroll back down the allee leads passed the central stairway and path from the house, and into the lower level 'hidden' garden.

You need to be in the hidden garden to really appreciate its design, structure, and peacefulness.

Built into the massive stone wall at the back edge of this garden are arched 'windows' that give you a peek at the space beyond and entices you to investigate the other side of the wall. I did a quick visual survey of the outside area to see if I could find the deer fencing I knew had to surround the gardens. You cannot plant arborvitae, hostas, ivy, and juicy annuals in the midst of surrounding woodlands in New England without suffering major deer damage. It took some time, but I noticed extensive deer fencing near the edge of the woods.

Once you again enter the hidden garden you are greeted with views of the house and all connected areas above.

Walk back up the steps above to again reach the allee and head back up towards the house.

Like many former estates, The Mount is maintained by a non-profit group, therefore it is not perfect. But a visit there gives you a chance to view a classic example of design symmetry so familiar in formal European gardens. Check the website for the group's list of summer 2010 events. I hope to visit here again this summer to check out progress on the gardens since my last visit. This time I hope to have better light for taking photos, and I will definitely figure out where deer fencing is.

The Mount can be visited along with Naumkeag, the topic of my previous Gardens to See post, but make sure you wear comfy shoes and allow ample time to thoroughly enjoy the unique qualities of the gardens at each estate.

Related posts:
Must do's versus wanna do's
Hitchhiking Weeds

Categories: Sites to see.
Tags: allee, Edith Wharton, formal gardens, Italian walled garden, The Mount.

Gardens to See: Naumkeag

joenesgarden — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:15:41 +0000

Gardeners and others seeking to witness ways to optimize the particulars of a landscape with simple, striking design should add a visit to Naumkeag to their list of gardens to see. Naumkeag, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, was the summer retreat of Joseph Choate and family. The 44-room 'cottage' and surrounding gardens sit high on a hill overlooking Monument Mountain. The gardens were designed by famed landscape architect, Fletcher Steele, though history hints that Choate's daughter, Mabel, helped.

My last visit there was in 2004, when I grabbed the photos shown here. If memory serves me correctly, the view from the road does no justice to the sights you'll find upon entering the gate. To the right sits the knot garden patio adjacent to the house.

Straight ahead and to the left, you are greeted with a view of the steps that lead farther down and below to the vista beyond.

The grass filled steps lead visitors downward toward a series of other gardens and a gradual set of brick steps and a walkway on either side of a water-filled rill.

Here's a view of the rill and steps from below.

To the right of the steps, when walking downward, you'll find a row of tree peonies. They were not in full bloom when I visited, but they are supposed to be spectacular if you happen to catch the short bloom period. I did manage to capture two shots of the few flowers that remained during my late May visit.

Beyond the tree peonies rests the rose garden and views of the 'cottage' above.

From the rose garden, steps lead upward to the other side of the house where the Chinese garden rests. I'm partial to blues and purples and I adore the lavender rails and chains of the fence and support posts and their echoed hue in surrounding blue and purple perennials.

Upon reaching the top of these curved steps you'll see the brick and stone wall that hides the Chinese garden. Wildflowers and ferns highlight the porthole from this vantage point.

The Chinese garden needed a fair amount of work when I was there - the plantings were sparse – so I took few photos. But there is a link at the end of my post where you can see Fletcher Steele's drawing and other Naumkeag photos, including a shot of the Chinese pavilion.

My favorite parts of Naumkeag are the rill steps that guide you down to Steele's famous blue steps. You can traverse down either side of the blue steps. At each landing you'll be greeted with a pool of water filled from a fountain spouting out of a blue-painted half-circle wall.

The steps are edged with flowing white railings that guide your eye upward while other half-circle rails mirror the shape of the half-circle fountains. The white rails blend the steps to white of the birch tree trunks that flank either side of the series of steps. The rails also highlight reflections against the blue from the water below.

Even on the hottest of days, the woodland setting provides a cool place to stop and enjoy the expansive view below.

After reaching the fourth pool and fountain you must, must, must walk down the sloped lawn to get a sight of the blue steps from below. From there the true genius of Steele's design becomes obvious – the symmetry, the simplicity, the contrast, the unity.

The steps and just below become an oasis – there is no view of the house and gardens above. Look away from the steps and you're delighted with views of fields below and tree-covered hills beyond. Go to Fletcher Steele's design drawing of the Naumkeag site for more photos.

I hope to visit Naumkeag again this spring or summer … this time in the company of my favorite photographer. Finally ... wondering why the name Naumkeag? Find out while perusing Naumkeag visitor information. Let me know in a comment below whether you figure it out.

Related posts:
Must do's versus wanna do's
Hitchhiking Weeds

Categories: Sites to see.
Tags: blue steps, Fletcher Steele, gardens to see, Naumkeag.