As a budding garden writer, I must share with you one of my favorite authors - Edith Wharton.

Edith Wharton was a famous woman of letters in the 19th century when she went to Italy and wrote her seminal, turn of the century  Italian Villas and Gardens. The writing is classic garden literature.

First serialized in the popular 'The Century Magazine' and then released in book form in 1904, Italian Villas and Their Gardens is Wharton's description of her visits to 75 different villas. It combines Wharton's flowing prose, her keen intellect and eye and Maxfield Parrish's striking and nuanced color  illustrations.

What a combination for such a wonderful topic!

All the Parrish illustrations shown here are from a fabulous website called 100 years of Illustration and Design by Paul Giambarba (click here).

The book was a genuine collaborative effort between the two. Each traveled to Italy to gather material for the project and then they met later in The Mount, Wharton's home in Lenox, Massachusetts, to compare notes and to discuss the themes of the book. 

The Parrish illustrations of these legendary Italian villa gardens are typically dreamy and  look the stuff of fairy tales.

The book is a jewel of garden writing and design analysis. It is, as a reviewer wrote in the Amazon book review, "a coffee table book, a piece of art and a conversation piece all in one."

Here is an excerpt from the book that exemplifies Wharton's skillful prose and eye:

“The inherent beauty of the garden lies in the grouping of its parts - in the converging lines of its long ilex-walks, the alteration of sunny open spaces with cool woodland shade, the proportion between terrace and bowling green, or between the height of a wall and width of a path.

None of these details was negligible to the landscape architect of the Renaissance: he considered the distribution of shade and sunlight, of straight lines of masonry and rippled lines of foliage, as carefully as he weighed the relation of his whole composition to the scene about it.”

(Edith Wharton, Italian Villas and Their Gardens, 1904

Wow - I couldn't have it better myself....(smile)...The Original 1904 edition has been reprinted by Rizzoli Publishers (May, 2008). John Dixon Hunt (Introduction) ....It is a must for any garden writer/designer/aficionado...

Jupiter Artland and its Life Mounds by Charles Jencks

Jupiter Artland Logo by Iain Mckintosh, illustrator

Edinburgh has a unbelievable private sculpture garden called Jupiter Artland, a private (no public funding!) sculptural park featuring a magical collection of outdoor land art and more. Nicky and Robert Wilson created Jupiter Artland on the grounds of their 80 acre home, Bonnington House in West Lothian. It is what they call, "their life's work."

Jupiter Artland is open on weekends, during the summer, for a modest entrance fee.

Photo from Times On Line of Life Mounds at Jupiter Artland

The marvels they feature include a Charles Jencks earth sculpture called Life Mounds which is bisected by the driveway up to the house.  See above photo.

Jupiter Artland Map by Iain McIntosh, illustrator

Robert Wilson, in an interview with Anna Burnside of the Sunday Times said, "“I dislike private collections that are not open to the public,"  He wants to share his wonder with others. “Otherwise it’s like King Midas, sitting on his own, counting his money.”

Amen to that!!!  Wilson explained their initial vision, “We wanted to find sculptors we really like...We wanted to start at the very top, to create signature pieces that would give the park status.”

Jupiter Artland is indeed a fabulous legacy for Robert and Nicky Wilson to leave to the world.

The story of Jupter Artland is even more poignant because Wilson's family owns Nelson’s, a homeopathic medicine firm behind Rescue Remedy (tag line: Yoga in a Bottle). I love the idea that homeopathy paid for this landscape art extravaganza.

And Nicky Wilson spearheaded this amazing park:

She studied at Camberwell and Chelsea art colleges, then found Bonnington House, then  relocated the family, and then looked up Jencks in the phone book and persuaded him to build Life Mounds, his largest piece to date, on their land! (this info courtesy of Anna Burnside article)

Jencks'  vision for his Life Mounds required Robert Wilson  to beg a neighboring farmer to sell him an adjoining field  Wilson told Anna Burnside, “Did he think we were bonkers? Of course, absolutely. But he came to the opening and seemed very impressed.”

from onmakingtheatre blog

The Jencks piece took “five bloody years” from the first digger full of earth to the final lawn seeding. But it was well worth the effort. 

Here is the statement by Charles Jencks on his Life Mounds:

Taken by George Gastin

"Eight landforms and a connecting causeway surround four lakes and a flat parterre for sculpture exhibits.

The theme is the life of the cell, cells as the basic units of life, and the way one cell divides into two in stages called mitosis (presented in a red sandstone rill).

Curving concrete seats have cell models surrounded by Liesegang rocks.

Their red iron concentric circles bear an uncanny relationship to the many organelles inside the units of life.

From above, the layout presents their early division into membranes and nuclei, a landform celebration of the cell as the basis of life."

from Pathlost in Flikr

There are other amazing pieces here such as Andy Goldsworthy's Stone Coppice — 54 boulders inserted into coppiced sycamore trees — and  Peter Liversidge's signpost pointing to the planet Jupiter. Wilson ultimately says that his Jupiter Artland. “....gives the woods a reason for being. It becomes so much more than a pretty landscape.” 

...and then some.

This is a Great short video on The Wilsons and their Jupiter Artland - phenomenal!

A Great Blog - Toronto Gardens Blog

When I started this blog I wasn't very savvy about photos and linking and all that.

But now I am so I hope to rectify a few omissions.  My first priority is to make up for my use of a great photo from Toronto Gardens blog  - I did not ask them or even worse,  link back to them...

I just wrote Toronto Gardens blog under the photo...

from Toronto Gardens Blog

Well, to make up for that, I am here to tell you how great the Toronto Gardens Blog is. (click here or on the title of this post)...

The bloggers write about themselves : "Brought to you by the muddy hands of Helen Battersby and Sarah Battersby, sisters and neighbours who come from long lines of English gardeners...".

Their blog is both beautiful and informative. And they have high ratings to prove it.

They have been at this garden blog business a while...they started their blog in 2006!

from Toronto Gardens Blog

So please add Toronto Gardens Blog to your garden blog 'must read' list....

Of course - Toronto is the home of the Toronto Music Garden:

Grassy and Strappy Plants for Warm Weather Climes - OZBREED

Cassa Blue Flax Lily

Do you live in a place where it is Zone 7? Are you an avid plantaholic?

If so, please look at this wonderful website and its great catalog...it breeds strappy leaved and grassy plants and has a US outlet too...

OZ BREED (click on the name for the site)

It describes the new varieties of certain sub tropical plants beautifully, shows them in the Chelsea garden displays and makes me dream of living in a warmer clime...Florida, perhaps?


For example, it features the improved varieities of Dianella caerulea—an evergreen perennial herb commonly known as Blue Flax Lily.  This strappy leaved plant flowers throughout the spring and summer. The species, which requires little maintenance, is hardy both to drought and to frost.

courtesy of J.G. Flikr stream

BECCA (see below)  is an improved selection of blue flax lily.

It is a medium textured "strappy-leafed" plant with arching sprays of tough, green foilage that slowly spreads by rhizomes. Plants are accented in the spring by beautiful masses of soft blue flowers with yellow anthers followed by purplish berries. 2 ft tall and wide.

courtesy of Monrovia

Ozbreed - Purple Lea

 Ozbreed - Nafray

And make sure to check out their videos...they have some great ones!

Valentine's Day and Musings on the Color Red

Photo by Angie Harms

Valentines’ Day is synonymous with RED - red roses, red hearts and red carnations.

Red, the hottest of the warm colors, is the color of love, romance, passion and energy.... (and of Target dept.store). Brides wear red in China, India and the Islamic countries. Audrey Hepburn wore it in Funny Face.

Red arouses, excites and evokes strong emotions. In fact, studies show that seeing red can stimulate your body to pump out more adrenaline and increases blood pressure, respiration and pulse rate.

I remember the first time I saw how powerful red could be - it was in the movie GiGi by Vincente Minelli. I was very young and I sat in the movie theater looking at the magnifent red salon in Paris, thinking how dull our little rooms in my Queens, NY apartment were.  

Minelli, a film director, was a master of color, saying, 

 "I use colors to bring fine points of story and character. " - Vincente Minnelli

I think Minelli got the red room idea from the French artist, Henri Matisse, another master of color. Here is why:

The Red Room by Matisse

The Red Studio by Matisse

Red dining rooms are popular - maybe because red is emblematic of vitality and hgh spirits:

I painted one dining room red and I must say, the conversation became very heated in that room.

Amanda Pays

And then there is the most amazing book I ever saw, 'The Red Book' by Carl Jung:

And so if there one idea for using RED in the garden, then, to paraphrase Derek Jarman, use it like spice:

Painters use red like spice. - Derek Jarman

Here are some ways to spice up a garden with red:

Red Fence by Viking Fence

Red New Guinea Impatiens in one of my gardens

Poppies at Jim's  by Jan Johnsen

A great book for Kids on RED

Persicaria amplexicaulis 'Firetail' - Red Fleeceflower or Knotweed

photo by Chris Ghyselen

Want to know what plant is 'all the rage' in Europe? and a 2010 Royal Horticultural Society Plant of Merit?

The 3' - 4 ft tall 'Firetail' Knotweed or Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Firetail’

photo courtesy of Big Dipper Farm

Beloved by James Van Sweden and Piet Oudolf, this non-invasive Himalayan perennial adds a “nice red spark” to the late summer garden (from July through Frost). It forms a bushy mound of foliage topped by brightly colored “tails” of tiny crimson flowers.

It looks great in a mass planting and wonderful as a background for Asters, mums, short grasses, geranium 'rozanne'. Contrasts well with purple salvia, echinops, helianthus, nepeta or perovskia. Also effective in moist areas along streams or ponds. Underplant it with early-spring-blooming bulbs for color in the spring .

avalon perennials

Persicaria amplexicaulis prefers moist soils and partial sun to full sun conditions. It has no serious disease or insect problems.  Hardiness USDA zones 5 to 9

Persicaria Pink Elephant from Chris Ghyselen

There area many varieities of Persicaria amplexicaulis available from white, pink to dark red.  For great photos of this beautiful and useful go to the website of Persicaria breeder Chris Ghyselen from Belgium. He lists over 30 cultivars of P. amplexicaulis!  Some varieties flop over and are best supported or surrounded by dense neighbors.

 

Garden Design - photo by Jason Dewey

Have You Seen Houzz?

Johnsen Landscapes & Pools Project

Have you seen Houzz?

It is a must for all designers, students, home and garden lovers...

I have just started uploading photos and I am suggesting all professionals do the same. I have a lot more to share...

You will love all the various designer images here.

Click here to see my page on Houzz.

Have a Good Time!

Planting with the Pull of the Moon

"With the waxing of the moon, the earth exhales."

~ Ute York

A few days ago we had the New Moon (or No Moon as I say). At that time, there is no visible moon in the sky ( it is there but just not illuminated by the sun).

 Photo above is from the SpaceFellowship, Rob Goldsmith.

So with that I felt it was a good time to tell you about lunar gardening...it is fun and makes so much sense!

The gravitational pull of the moon on the earth affects water on our planet. The moon's pull is stronger than the sun because, even though the sun is larger, the moon is closer to the earth.

As the moon gets full or waxes, its gravitational pull on the earth gets stronger. And it is felt the most when the moon is full (the moon and sun pull from the opposite sides of the earth at this time). This is when the tides are at their height and lunar people such as a person born in the sign of Cancer, go a little wild.

 

But not only does the moon’s gravity affect tides, it also affects underground water tables. So if you plant when the moon is waxing or growing toward being full, remember the water table is rising as well.

This means water is more easily available to a plant. The increased moisture content of the soil encourages seeds to sprout and grow.

Dr. Frank Brown of Northwestern University researched this over a ten-year period of time and found that plants absorbed more water at the time of the full moon. Tests by Frau Dr. Kolisko in Germany and by Maria Thun also found maximum seed germination on the days right before the Full moon.

So as the new moon grows, seeds swell with water and burst into life more quickly. This 2 week period in a month is considered the best time to plant leaf crops. 

And this period is great for harvesting leaf crops because as the moon moves towards full the plant is putting everything it has into growing and is full of nutrients.

photos from Gardening by the Moon website

Similarly, when the moon goes from full back to being a sliver the opposite is true.

Ute York, in her book "Living by the Moon" says

" With the waning of the moon, the earth inhales. Then, the sap primarily goes down toward the roots. Thus, the waning moon is a good time for pruning, multiplying, fertilizing, watering, harvesting, and controlling parasites and weeds” 

Now is the time when the water table drops, and it is a good time to plant root crops, such as turnips, carrots, onions, and bulbs etc.

How to know? Get a MOON PHASE widget and put on your homepage.