Garden Heaven
Summer’s end is just not as buoyant as its beginning , but this stunning autumn has had many joys:
Like this Acidanthera (or call it Gladioli callianthus Murielae if
you must) hovering over the new-for-me Cochicum ‘Zephyr’
a sensitive bicolor from the center out
(from Odyssey Bulbs)
And don’t forget, you can cut Colchicum for a vase and they last forever – well, for a week anyway
or you can just let them flop, that’s nice too
Among the dried and crinkled leftovers of the garden –
amazing it survived without sacred rainwater
for almost FIVE weeks --
there was/is some beautiful
variegation, now at its most distinctive:
Caladium ‘Moonlight’ under Abutilon ‘Savitsky’s Beauty’
and the Abutilon under the Aralia
The third flush of Pulmonaria ‘Samurai’
(cut back hard after flowering in spring and again in July)
The surprise of the late-summer flowerers:
Caryopteris...
this one with nice lime-green foliage that keeps its color
and this white leafed one reaching across a path to the Chinese dogwood
And then there's this graceful spathe of Colocasia
the blues and greens of end-summer:
Great Euphorbias in their glory:
(Fen’s Ruby, the ferny and myrsinites, the layered)
over the chartreusiness of gets-better-and-better
Sedum ‘Angelina'
the moss greening up again and the
Farfugium argenta bluer than ever
(Boxtree Farms - TEN! years its been in that pot)
the outstanding thick green leaves
of the giant Mayapple (podophbyllum pleianthium, I think) against the
painted ferns and lamium
and even though I usually disdain PINK, the autumn PINKS are more than welcome when they look like this:
Can't deny Hydrangea Pinky Winky,
even with its terrible name
WOW! Allium pulchellum and an
undeniably pink Calla
The pulchellums take a few years to get going – like sun – and bloom in August
Great, aren't they?
And an even bigger WOW
The Aralia elata ‘Silver Umbrellas’
To me, that's a heavenly garden dream come true...
puffier, more billowing clouds than ever
(I think because
it was courageously cut back
in early spring)
Bob Wilson said it made his trip from The Watermill Center
to see my garden worthwhile -
mind you, we are talking summer traffic here
So, one can more easily take the little ups and downs, i.e.
Can you believe a gorgeous tall Golden
Deodar Cedar died?
Here is one last bough ...
I brought it out of the shade of the old garden and
into the sun of Davids Lane ten years ago..
I thought it would last forever
Our great Hampton tree expert Ray Smith
told me - for sure - that I had overplanted the area.
Too many tress, too little space.
So my, I thought, perfectly coordinated small trees
next to the pool grew and grew
However...
Suddenly the place it stood all those years became a
new little nook and had some light,
so see a surprise that appeared,
lots of cyclamen too
and the stump/trunk turned out to be a perfect pedestal
STUMPERIE
Is this one?
I read that they are on the increase and inspired by the Prince of
Wales at Highgrove, but there were no images and so, I am imagining
that this is, albeit the beginning, of a Stumperie
The LongHouse Landscape Award Weekend
What can I say: it was just divine
from dinner on Friday evening at
Alexandra Munroe’s ocean front estate
to
Dan Hinkley's funny and wonderful talk at Hoie Hall,
which happens to be the Parrish House of our
beautiful St. Luke's
Landscape Award Photos by Paul Aizaga
Martha and our Father Denis
Lys Marigold and Dan Hinkley
through
the fabulous luncheon at
LongHouse on the lawn with
the Buckminster Fuller dome,
where we honored
Dan Hinkley and Elizabeth Scholtz
(you know who he is, she was the
driving force of the great Brooklyn Botanic Garden)
The tables are set at LongHouse
Jamaica Kinkaid
Matko Tomicic
Our Jack Larsen speaking just the right words
Dan Hinckley and Martha Stewart
to the closing event on Sunday at Bill Smith and
Dennis Schrader’s Great Garden.
Because they are LandCraft,
they have the hottest plants in the coolest place
and that is no exageration.
Their garden is magic.
Dan Hinkley plants in Dennis & Bill's garden
It is unnecessary for me to show you continuing reams
of photos, but I'll share a few:
Me with Dennis Schrader under his newly constructed “Ruin”, which, is of course, filled with fabulous old finds
Me giving welcome at the Awards Luncheon
Me and my godson Jordan
in Alexandra’s Kitchen garden--
If you are panting to see more, it's easy.
Martha Stewart took a million good pictures of
every segment of every event
and they are all on her blog
which you can see right HERE
Small Miracles of Summer PAST:
well, this is a big one:
April Gornick’s great photos of the eclipse:
April Gornick Photos
She really took these, they are not some internet trick
my concrete ball in the moss garden is no competition for that, but it reminds me how indebted we are to nature
A Surprising Plant Buy:
DAYLILIES
In my decades of gardening – these are the first –
and I swear the first – I have ever bought;
but somehow I had
an urge for them.
Seeing some purple-hued beauties in other gardens (hardly like daylilies at all) and knowing they fill a gap
and get better with time,
I thought I’d give them a try – we'll see if they are still around this time next year
(or will I pull them out like I invaribly do with perennials
I think I have to have: this summer it was Platycodon
that had to go.
Anyway – I ordered some purple ones and a few with that always great combo of white/cream and a burgundy center from Oakes Daylilies,
after some research they seemed the
best, and was shocked to receive huge gnarls of roots,
especially since all the ones I ordered were in the
Under $10 category,
plus a handwritten note which always gets me,
as well as three bonuses
so a big kudo to Oakes
So much for daylilies,
These are REAL Zantedeschia aethiopica
and they survived "that winter"
..they must be deep down in the ground by now – maybe 4th or 5th
year – and appreciative of the several layers of burlap blanket that
allowed them to withstand a bitter winter
A magnificent Pineapple lily
'Sparkling Burgundy'
Another one
...from LandCraft, of course
REAL LILIUM
In the last issue of Dirtier, a few months ago I admit,
I promised you lilies and here are a few of the best:
At least the best of those left after the rabbits chomped many of
them to the ground (but it has been nice having the rabbits back this
season, though the foxes are nice too)
Casablancas hidden in just the right spot
an Orienpet, cross between an Oriental and a Trumpet,
I like these better than either
and my favorite double Tiger lily blooming in quite
severe shade...
they proliferate like crazy in the sun
But then...one’s attention is
diverted by the ever-divine, long-present Angelica --- I said to my
young, and at 17 hopefully impressionable, godson ...
this is the sexiest flower
Probably inappropriate because he looked at me
like I was crazy.
I always thought Angelica gigas a biennial that spread
good seed; but have recently learned they may be three-year biennials
(then why don’t they call it a triennnial???)
Anyway...this doesn’t come from Hortus,
but I like the way it sounds
“Angelica archangelica
The floriferous namesake of St. Michael the Archangel, who is
supposed to have revealed its power to battle the plague, Angelica
archangelica’s luxuriant, tropical-looking foliage makes a dramatic
entrance each spring as leaves unfurl to a length of 2 to 3 ft. Flower
buds of mauve, strikingly set against its deeply divided bright green
verdure, herald the imposing lime-tinted white flowers surmounting
thick, erect stalks. This Angelica’s aromatic young shoots have long
been used as a flavoring in sweet confections.
Blooms August–September.
Size: 5' high x 4'–5' wide; hardy to zone 4."
And this magnicicent jack-in-the-pulpit
with the 'drip tips' was
amazing at about 4'
the Black Mondo Grass among the chartreuse Lysimachia nummularia is just perfect
while these blacks among the Sedum ‘Angelina’
are splendid
This is obviously my color combination of choice,
but one can get hung up on the subtler of things:
like this bi-colored Arum leaf given to me by Ken Druse that has taken 3 years to produce ...
and so I really appreciate it
and this funny little thing – that
little red knot is all it actually does...for the longest time I thought
it was the plant called Paris, so I was enchanted...
but now i've found it is actually
Hydrastis canadense
still cute, though
and the painted ferns that are literally the abiding thread of this garden
some are whiter ('Ghost'), some are redder
They're all beautiful
know i like them so much because they shower me with blessings:
this profusion around my work corner
(heavily shaded under Lys’ grape arbor)
have appeared by magic.
I have never planted even one of them.
You can never have enough
HELLO SPRINGTIME
So put a little burlap scarf around your favorite prone-to-tenderness plants...I find it makes an amazing difference
this is just the first layer
Will it be a freezing winter again? Who knows...
ORDER BULBS right away if you haven't
...the crickets have not stopped chirping, but I have started planting anyway
The very best bulbs do come from Brent and Becky,
but many have sold out already, so I would get right on your computer while some beauties are still in stock.
And I don’t only herald them because they have the best bulbs, but they are very generous to boot with both
St. Luke’s Church and with LongHouse.
So – hurry up and order
I hope you didn’t miss Susan Wood's
intimate and beautiful images of John and Yoko
as exhibited on the walls of the centuries-old main barn at Mulford Farm in East Hampton.
The pairing of place and people is really tender.
LongHouse is still open on Saturday afternoon until the Saturday following Thanksgiving
and the dogs, after a few scares, are fine
Flora with her favorite Do you Love Me monkey
Lys’ fig tree is bountiful in October!
Life is beautiful
All is well
and we are off to Paris......
Joyeux automne to all
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