Cottage Garden Primer

Cottage Garden - Jan Johnsen  

  I once worked with a lovely client ( now a dear friend!) who wanted a cottage-style flower garden.

Now there are cottage gardens and then there are cottage gardens...know what I mean?


In Great Britain, it seems everyone has the most magnificent flower garden, each more spectacular than the next...

their lushness sets a standard of perfection for cottage gardens that makes me want to say to someone here in the Northeast U.S., 'Would you like to consider an ornamental grass garden instead?"

Designed and installed by Johnsen Landscapes & Pools

But of course, the call of a cottage garden, filled with a profusion of  flowers and smelling of roses, peonies and lilacs, makes one dizzy with anticipation.

All you need in my part of the world is a deer fence, deep fertile soil, constant watering and someone to tend it lovingly... a tall order indeed.  

But it can be done.  And that is what we did - installed a deer fence, brought in great topsoil and carefully amended it and added irrigation. My client followed through and tended it with a loving hand and added wonderful flowers whenever she saw the need.

The result?  A sumptuous garden filled with a riot of colors, lurid with intoxicating scents.

I planned the garden to be a 10 foot wide curved plant bed bordering a level lawn. The only problem - there was no level lawn.

The rear property sloped steeply downhill and in order to make it level I needed to bring in soil and retain it with a wall. This is a big proposition in any situation but here it was especially dicey because I didn't want to disturb the roots of the native hemlock trees growing near where the wall was to be located.

To accomplish this, I used the stacking, concrete units that are part of a wall system called Alpenstein. This is a great solution because no footings are required and Alpenstein allows you to plant within each unit!

 It is a versatile, plantable wall system. Once planted with vines and spreading groundcovers, an Alpenstein wall blends with the natural setting.

Designed and installed by Johnsen Landscapes & Pools

After the site was perfect, I set about planting perennial and annual flowers. Perennials come back every year and form the backbone of the cottage garden. For that I set out large drifts or groups of medium tall, durable flowers in the mid-zone of the bed  to add height and variety. 

These included 'Sunny Border Blue' Speedwell (Veronica 'Sunny Border Blue'), the PPA Plant of the Year 1993, and 'Caesar's Brother' Siberian Iris (Iris sibirica 'Caesar's Brother'), a reliable and graceful flower with pansy blue coloring....

Veronica photo from Bluestone Perennials 

Additionally, I planted the graceful Maiden Grass (Miscanthus sinensis gracillimus) and other 'foolproof'' perennials like dwarf Gayfeather, (Liatris spicata 'Kobold'), the tall 'Magnus' Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus'). 

Below is the list of the dependable flower varieities I used for this garden. No unusual cultivars here - just a cottage garden full of faithful staples that work together in cozy harmony..

My Flower List for This Cottage Garden
Jan Johnsen

Perennials

Botanical Name                                       Common Name

Artemesia 'Silver King'                             'Silver King' Wormwood

Astilbe chinensis pumila                            Dwarf Chinese Astilbe

Coreopsis vert. 'Moonbeam'                    'Moonbeam' Coreopsis

Dianthus 'Bath's Pink'                               'Bath's Pink' Dianthus

Echinacea purp. 'Magnus'                         Magnus Coneflower

Heuchera  'Palace Purple'                         'Palace Purple' Coralbells

Iris sibirica 'Caesar's Brother'                    'Caesar's Brother' Siberian Iris

Liatris spicata 'Kobold'                              Dwarf Gayfeather

Lilium orientale 'Stargazer'                         'Stargazer' Oriental Lily

Peonies                                                      Peonies

Persicaria 'Donald Lowndes'                   Don. Lowndes Fleeceflower

Phlox pan. 'Bright Eyes'                           'Bright Eyes' Garden Phlox

Sedum 'Autumn Joy'                                   'Autumn Joy' Sedum

Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm'                     Dwarf Black eyed Susan

Veronica 'Sunny Border Blue'                     'Sunny Border Blue' Speedwell

Annuals

Botanical Name                                          Common Name

Senecio cineraria                                          Dusty Miller

Cosmos sulphureus                                      Cosmos 'Klondyke mix'

Ageratum 'Blue Hawaii'                                Blue Hawaii Ageratum

Catharanthus roseus                                     Annual Vinca

Heliotropium arb..Marine'                           'Marine' Heliotrope

Salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue'                      Salvia 'Victoria Blue'

Salvia 'Sparkler Purple'                                'Sparkler Purple' annual Salvia

Toyota ranks highest in overall service satisfaction in Malaysia

According to the latest J.D. Power 2016 Malaysia Customer Service Index (CSI) Study released today. This is the 14th annual survey and based on the findings Toyota ranks highest in overall service satisfaction (score of 763). They are followed by Mazda which ranks second (760) and Mitsubishi which ranks third (758).

The survey measures overall service satisfaction among car owners who took their vehicle to an authorized service center and is based on responses from 3,257 new-vehicle owners who purchased their mass market brand vehicle between February 2014 and May 2015. It examines dealership performance in five factors (in order of importance),viz., 1. service quality (32%); 2. service initiation (22%); 3. vehicle pick-up (18%); 4. service advisor (15%); and 5. service facility (13%). Brand service performance is measured on a 1,000-point scale.

 Click the link to read the press release.

Launch of the Perodua Bezza

Live coverage of the launch on the 21st of July 2016 was provided by Paul Tan on their You Tube page:

 

Besides Perodua's good reputation among Malaysians, the Bezza also has achieved five stars in the ASEAN NCAP safety assessment for the 1.3L Advance variant (first Perodua car to get 5 stars) and four stars for the other variants.

 No wonder Perodua has reportedly received more than 4000 orders in first five days.

Win a free issue of Garden Design Magazine right here!

As you may know, I love Garden Design magazine. It is gorgeous, each issue is 148 pages thick and packed with fascinating gardening info and landscaping ideas and, best of all, it has no ads!  It is published quarterly, one issue per season.

How can they make it work? Well, it is a subscriber-supported magazine. Jim Peterson is the publisher and Thad Orr is the editor. I think they have made it the best garden magazine out there....

Would you like an issue? I am giving out the current issue to 3 lucky winners...see below for my random drawing.

 And I am thrilled to say that Garden Design chose to feature my ideas on Creating a Relaxing Retreat in their current issue which features Serene Spaces. I am honored and so happy that it is being shared by such a prestigious and elevated magazine!

The 6 page article, 'Serenity and the Sweet Spot', offers my tips for creating relaxing outdoor spaces that I have refined over the years. I look to ancient sources and have used them in my landscapes. They took my photos and had a brilliant illustrator from Spain, David Despau, interpret them in colored pen an dink drawings. Wow.

Also they have a 16-page spread on David Austin roses.

And an article on hydrangeas that made me swoon. I am planting so many of the new varieties these days for clients. And then there is the article on the Thomas Jefferson garden at Monticello with Peter Hatch. It is called 'Jefferson's Legacy, at last' That is the best!  TJ is my hero and I went to see Monticello on my honeymoon. (I have been back since). 

(Photo credit: GardenDesign/Ngoc Minh Ngo — used by permission.).

And lastly, they have a great piece on Disneyland's horticultural magic. What a fascinating article! Am I gushing? Well that is because it really is a great magazine.

For a chance to win an issue of Serene Spaces issue of Garden Design (U.S. and Canada residents only) post a comment below.
I use the number generator at Random.org to select 3 winners.

Winners will be announced both here and on my Facebook page on Saturday, July 23, 2016, so check back!

If you want to buy your own subscription to Garden Design, and receive your first issue for free? Click here: Garden Design.

Loren Eiseley's Prescriptive for Our Times

"Let it be admitted that the world’s problems are many and wearing, and that the whirlpool runs fast. 

If we are to build a stable cultural structure above that which threatens to engulf us by changing our lives more rapidly than we can adjust our habits, it will only be by flinging over the torrent a structure as taut and flexible as a spider’s web, a human society deeply self-conscious and undeceived by the waters that race beneath it, a society more literate, more appreciative of human worth than any society that has previously existed. 

That is the sole prescription, not for survival — which is meaningless — but for a society worthy to survive."

Loren Eiseley,  Firmament of Time

For more excerpts from Loren Eiseley go here: 

http://alexsheremet.com/8-great-passages-loren-eiseleys-firmament-time/

Garden Design Magazine - My Tips and Interview

Garden Design Magazine interviewed me for tips for blending ancient and modern ways to create gardens that simply make you feel good.  

They also had the fabulous illustrator from Spain, David Despau, illustrate photos of some of my landscapes.

 I am honored.  It is in the summer issue of Garden Design:

It is such a great magazine. 

You can use this link to subscribe to garden Design and get your first issue free

www/gardendesign.com/janjohnsen

You can also order just this one issue here

https://subscribe.gardendesign.com/store/#

“Learning the Trees” - Howard Nemerov

I used to teach Tree Identification at a community college decades ago.

 I also wrote the book, 'Ortho's's All About Trees' which introduces trees to the reader. 

This poem reveals the beginner mind.   Watch for samaras and drupes.... 

 

Jan Johnsen

Learning the Trees

Related Poem Content Details

BY HOWARD NEMEROV

Before you can learn the trees, you have to learn 

The language of the trees. That’s done indoors, 

Out of a book, which now you think of it 

Is one of the transformations of a tree. 

The words themselves are a delight to learn, 

You might be in a foreign land of terms 

Like samara, capsule, drupe, legume and pome, 

Where bark is papery, plated, warty or smooth. 

But best of all are the words that shape the leaves— 

Orbicular, cordate, cleft and reniform— 

And their venation—palmate and parallel— 

And tips—acute, truncate, auriculate. 

Sufficiently provided, you may now 

Go forth to the forests and the shady streets 

To see how the chaos of experience 

Answers to catalogue and category. 

Confusedly. The leaves of a single tree 

May differ among themselves more than they do 

From other species, so you have to find, 

All blandly says the book, “an average leaf.” 

Example, the catalpa in the book 

Sprays out its leaves in whorls of three 

Around the stem; the one in front of you 

But rarely does, or somewhat, or almost; 

Maybe it’s not catalpa? Dreadful doubt. 

It may be weeks before you see an elm 

Fanlike in form, a spruce that pyramids, 

A sweetgum spiring up in steeple shape. 

Still, pedetemtim as Lucretius says, 

Little by little, you do start to learn; 

And learn as well, maybe, what language does 

And how it does it, cutting across the world 

Not always at the joints, competing with 

Experience while cooperating with 

Experience, and keeping an obstinate 

Intransigence, uncanny, of its own. 

Think finally about the secret will 

Pretending obedience to Nature, but 

Invidiously distinguishing everywhere, 

Dividing up the world to conquer it, 

And think also how funny knowledge is: 

You may succeed in learning many trees 

And calling off their names as you go by, 

But their comprehensive silence stays the same.

Howard Nemerov, “Learning the Trees” from The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1977). Copyright © 1977