DIRTIER Volume 28 Mid Autumn 2011

OH  TO  BE  SUCH  A  TREE

This evanescent work of art is not any ersatz tree, but a cast resin life-size approximation of a tree from one of my favorite artists, Ugo Rondinone.  In his words, this piece becomes a “memoriam of condensed time.”  The title of the piece, Everything Gets Lighter Everyone is Light, is taken from a poem by John Giorno.

 Everyone

gets

lighter

everyone

gets  lighter

everyone  gets

lighter

everyone  gets  lighter

everyone  is  light

This  is my small homage to Steve Jobs.  Did you know he studied calligraphy and 

that is why the digital world is filled with fonts?

  Just a few months ago  I told you what a wonderful difference it makes for me  propping  my Ipad  around the garden, listening to music while  doing (or dancing through) chores or identifying a leaf …..just one of the myriad diversities he has provided for us. Thanks Steve.  I especially like this snippet from Ross Douthat in last Sunday’s NY Times, “ ....the Apple founder’s eye for grace and style, and his recognition of the deep connection between beauty and civilization.”

ANOTHER  GORGEOUS  TREE

This  is  the  Japanese maple that you, my dear readers, helped me identify last autumn when I was at an absolute loss, and so was the owner, of the the divine tree at the height of its burnished fall brilliance.  Well, I made such a fuss over said tree, that my estimable gardening friend Karrie Wright, who was obviously  following DIRTIER and knew I was longing for an Acer  japonicum, especially an aconitifolium, gifted this dazzling one to me for my birthday.  Marders, its source,  planted it here in the garden last month and will tell me nothing more than ‘Rising Sun’.  Now, Vertrees, the absolute authority on Japanese maples, doesn’t list ‘Rising Sun’ at all , nor does it show a picture that looks anything like this gigantic many-fingered leaf….the autumn colors are just beginning to show…I am not sure if we will have the full spectrum this year because of our crazy weather and because it is new to my garden, but watch this space for all beautiful developments.  

And need I say….oh thank you Karrie & Trevor.

WHAT   IS   EXCITING  TO  ME….

May not be so exciting to you but this protruding hair from a Tacca chantrieri has me in a utopian deliria of happiness…. 

 I have talked about this plant before, so there are those of you who may recognize its significance, both romantic and horticultural; but I have always either bought it in flower (when lucky enough to find it) or grew it in a pot, where I have had luck maybe 1 time in 10…but this is a tuber from van Bourgondien that I put in the ground at the beginning 
of summer and sort of forgot about, though I did give it a highly prized not-too shady, 

not-too-sunny protected spot.

Well, right now we are in the midst of some heady Indian Summer days (October 8,9,10) and whether or not it will unfurl before some excruciating frost comes is anybody’s guess, but the sight of that one jutting projectile is enough to keep me euphoric for days…….

DIANNE  B  YARD  BAG  EXPOSED

You probably think…what…is she crazy to show us this beat-up old bag?

Absolutely not….this is truth in e-commerce, and yes I am extremely hard on my products.  This bag is one of the prototypes and has been in solid use…day and night, snow, sleet and blazing sun for three or four years.  I suppose I will have to retire it soon, but nothing makes me happier than to have my Yard Bags near me when I am knee deep in planting bulbs, dividing groundcovers (a boring but rewarding job) and  endlessly thinning 

and weeding.

But do look closely at the handles, they are as sturdy as can be…not like these crappy ones on the more-expensive English Bosbags…they break every time.

AND  OH — TO  BE  KISSED  by a real PLANT MAN

Twas the occasion of the Biennial LongHouse Horticultural Award, this year

presented to the venerable firm of Oehme Van Sweden who introduced the New American Landscape (as it has been so aptly named) with their use of swathes of grasses and masses of billowing perennials.

That charming man with me is Wolfgang van Oehme, to whom we all owe a big debt for opening our garden eyes to new vistas.

I OWE HIM AN ESPECIALLY BIG DEBT FOR PROVIDING ME WITH 

MY DATISCA CANNABINA.

LongHouse was graced with a charming autumnal day and it was
great to share it with our botanic frinds from far and wide.

Mulch Mania

It is not just an obsession or a fad and though it does make everything it touches look a million times better, mulch is SOOOO useful.  It is not often you find both of these traits in one fixation.  I bet this tree has had the advantage of some very good mulch.

No matter how good is your mixture of

air+water+minerals+organic matter  =  SOIL

or dirt as I like to call it.   It only gets better with mulch and the better 

the mulch, the better it gets.

All soil is not the same, of course.  There is Clay Soil with not much air in it and 

fine particles, there is SILT (or  LOAM) which is in-between, and then, there is 

SAND with large particles and lots of air.

Sandy soil is dryer and needs to be irrigated.

Clay soil is wetter and heavier – most plants like it

Silt, as I said, is in-between and probably the best.

How do you know what kind you have?  Well, it is quite easy unless you want to 

get overly technical and scientific…but more or less — just take a nice big handful 

of your very own soil and squeeze it – if it holds together in a solid mass then it is 

clay, if it drifts through your fingers it is sandy and if it crumbles…then it is in-between.

Anyway – good old brown Hamptons mulch is great as 

an addition to ANY soil:

It conserves moisture

It keeps the soil cooler

+

Invaluably, it reduces your antagonizing and never-ending war with weeds..

The very best mulch, to be sure, is from Ray Smith.  Alexandra Monroe 

credits the 

fecundity of her gorgeous garden to it and coined

 the charming cognomen  ‘Holy Shit’ to describe the miracle.

Here are some garden treasures that have greatly benefitted from Ray’s handhewn mulch…and  for you readers who are not in or close enough to the Hamptons to get Ray Smith’s mulch…I bet you have a really good Tree Man like our Ray Smith that also has the best mulch in town.  This is where quality counts.

The epitome of variegation…the green and white Abies koreana against the 
startling green and gold of the Tiger's Eye pine.

The dust from the Cimicifuga racemes settles lovingly on the upturned 

leaf of the Colocasia ‘Mojito’.

IT’S   TIME

Speaking of Colocasia and the other ‘tropical’ bulbs and tubers worth saving…

As well as any other favorites that can’t stand our Northeastern winters, like my beloved Farfugium varieatum (absolutely my favorite "house plant", though I find that a very 

non-glamorous term)

And the elegant Fatsia  (this is one where I bring the best example indoors for the winter, but have had luck leaving others to survive outside).

It IsTime for the gruesome job of digging and storing, or 

bringing those heavy pots in for the winter.  As this is one of 

my least favorite jobs, last year I let it go until the end of 

October and that, my friends, was a big fat mistake.  

So, it is time.

SUGGESTIONS  ANYONE?

This thriving Nepenthes is too good to lose.  I don’t have perfect 

greenhouse conditions, but if I keep it on a pedestal in the 

heated part of the house with just enough light — will it survive?

GIFT  PROBLEMS  FOREVER  SOLVED

We have come up with a delightful Gift Certificate so that you don’t have to make the gruelingly hard choice of What to Give Your Gardening SweetHeart/Friend/Old Aunt or anyone who loves gardening that you really want to please.

Once you go to the web site and click on an amount

(available from $25 to $250.00), follow the simple instructions to 

have your inscriptrion charmingly written by hand

and your adored one can redeem it on-line for any of our wonderful

products at The Best @ Dianne B.

If you want to be high-tech about it, we will electronically send on the gift certificate.  If you wish to be more charmingly old-fashioned, we will send it by snail mail — very nicely wrapped and presented.

FAVORITE  FALL  FLOWER

Surely, Tricyrtis — more commonly called Toad Lilies though I don’t like that name 

but think this delicate plant got labelled so uncharmingly because the gorgeous 

little-orchid like flowers are spotted?  

But surely, it is the dreamiest of the last-to-flower perennials.

If you are not totally entranced by this plant perhaps it is because
you haven’t got the best species, which is Tricyrtis hirta — the
weeping one.  All Tricyrta have abundant orchid-like flowers,
but most have ramrod-stiff stalks and never looks at home in the garden....so 

eschew the species chinensis and latifolia, macropoda too isn't very nice...but get 

that Tricyrtis hirta for sure…

There is one with a variegated leaf that is especially nice.  Look closely at this 

picture and see the bee. 

NIGHT  TO  REMEMBER  

Robert Wilson’s 70th Birthday was a Super Gala held in the
Magic Room --- a glass penthouse, no less ---
on top of the Dior Building on 57th Street and sponsored by LVMH
Delicious champagne, of course.

Bob Wilson and Kathy Rayner cutting the magnificent cake
which was an exact replica of The Watermill Center.

Bob thinking deep thoughts surrounded by me, Elka, Lys,
Shaikha Paula and Abdullah.

Me and my gal with Charles Fabius.

The party followed the thrilling performance of The Threepenny Opera
which Bob created for the Berliner Ensemble and
had its American Premiere that same night at BAM.

We even stayed out till 3AM...
how delightful.

This is a blond Mac the Knife...fantastic.

AUTUMN  IS  HEAVEN

You can look at a garden in a book, you can look and you can look and you can look, even in a lushly pictorial book like Dan Pearson's or a splendid vintage magazine like BLOOM ,  you still can’t really feel it — and rarely
can you even see it…

This is the time to really get down and look at what makes up a garden and of course, to get ready for spring…oh smell that earth as you plant those bulbs…

In the next issue of DIRTIER we will introduce our 

TWO NEW FABULOUS COUTURE GARDEN TOOLS  just in time for Christmas…

But until then…you have never needed good gardening accoutrements more…

The Quintessential Plant Marker to identify the plants you are cutting 

back and the new ones you are planting.

The Luxury Hand Made Pure Steel Shovel nothing digs 

in that dirt better.

The Dianne B Tool Belt is indispensable at this time of year.

The English Garden Twine is just what you need for aligning your specimen trees, tying up your fastgiates to achieve that columnar shape you so desire and the perfect thing for securing the burlap around the tender plants.  It is terrific.

October Days in the Garden

"Another day, after much rain and grayness, the ground is pliable and rife for "digging up."  My enterprise is to dig up all my exotic heat-loving, big leaved tropical beauties not able to withstand the winter onslaught of Zone 7.  Of course, you can just leave them in the ground to rot if you have no interest in perpetuity or can afford to think of them as annuals and go out each season and repurchase the same over and over again. Granted, in the early years I did just that, because the idea of digging and storing was as alien to me as the old seed-starting technique.  Eventually digging-and-storing became a rhythm I've come to trust and suggest it as a practice all should embrace.It's not difficult, not outrageously time-consuming, and extremely rewarding. Not only because you don't have to spend the same money time and again, but more importantly because the bulbs/corms/tubers increase each year in size and with the next planting you have bigger, bolder, even more excessive versions." 

Excerpted from DIRT: The Lowdown on Gardening with Style by Dianne Benson.

If you have been out doing the annual fall clean up in your garden, 

you must need a sturdy bag worthy of this job. 

Why not order The Yard Bag from The Best @ Dianne B? 

You will not be disappointed!

And if you have had the kind of rain we have had in the Northeast,
then you might consider our Chic French Garden Boots.
They are the fashionable and sturdy and are now at greatly reduced prices!

Fabulous Boot Sale.....

Just a reminder that we are having a closeout sale on our Fabulous Gardening Boots.

You have the Rare and Precious Opportunity to buy the rest of the stock of the

French Boots and Shoes at really beautiful prices!

The great Black Rubber Slip-on Loafers, The Chic Khaki Green Boots and 

The Garden Perk-up Panther Boots. 

All on sale at great low prices!
We will advise you if we cannot fill your order — but first come first serve.

Get them while you can!

If you would like to catch up on all the news from Dianne B, 

read the latest issue of DIRTIER: The Must Read Garden Journal.

If you would like to subscribe to DIRTIER, you can do that HERE!

DIRTIER: The Must Read Garden Journal

The French supplier of our ever popular Panther Boots and Black Rubber Gardening Slip-ons  has become completely uncooperative.  

But never fear…This accomplishes two good things:

It makes room in The Twelve Garden Greats for

SMASHING  NEW  COUTURE  TOOLS from HOLLAND,

to which you will be introduced next month.  You may begin holding your 

breath right now…you will be thrilled with these two highly specialized, 

handmade beauties. They will solve all of your special Christmas gift 

needs…imagine a Poetic Potting Trowel under your tree.

PLUS

To make room for the fabulous new tools --- You have the Rare and Precious Opportunity to buy the rest of the stock of the

French Boots and Shoes at really beautiful prices. 

(And though I love all of my female readers, I am especially happy not to have to worry about your shoe sizes anymore).

The great Black Rubber Slip-on Loafers (these run very true to size and

come in full sizes only)

Were $48.00    Now  Only $30.
(As of now, no size 40 or 41)

The demure version of the boot in always Chic Camouflage Khaki Green

Were $64    Now a Mere $40.
(no 37s, 38s or 39s)

And the much sought-after Garden Perk-up Panther Boots with the 1½” high Lucite heel  (the boots run smaller than the shoes, order one size larger than 

you normally wear).

Were $74 and Now, Once in a lifetime Opportunity, Only $48
(a few in every size still available)

We will advise you if we cannot fill your order — but first come first serve.

Get them while you can!

If you would like to catch up on all the news from Dianne B, read the latest issue of DIRTIER: The Must Read Garden Journal.

If you would like to subscribe to DIRTIER, you can do that HERE!

News Items

Did you see our Japanese Clippers in the October issue of Fine Gardening?

This really is the best little tool of its kind....

Other news in the press:

The Marigold/Benson Family made the pages of the Style Section in the New York Times!

Summer is coming to an end....as we move into Fall,
visit our website for all of your garden clean-up needs!

DIRTIER Volume 26

This lovely lily study is by the attractive young son of Sibyl Heijnen.
The garden is filled with lilies.  My fondness for the
species and Turk's cap type increases
while my enthusiasm for the
big blowsy Orientals wanes.
 (I am deeply considering digging up all the Casablanca types - too big - too white)

Or this gorgeous Formosa lily just blooming now.

BELL  JAR  PARADISO

I thank Hope Sandrow for the Bell Jar metaphor.  She is a wonderful artist who raises chickens in a perfect habitat with her husband Ulf and they are all about seeing the beauty and what is good in the world.

                And so it goes that the world might be falling to pieces around us, but from my vantage point on the East End of Long Island  my world often appears to be just heavenly.  As if I live under a Bell Jar where everything is peaceful, beautiful and under control (much like the Victorians kept their ferns in perfectly moisturized tact under curvaceous glass jars) and nothing really bad encroaches.  I've even made friends with the garden snake.

No deer
No voles
No beetles
Nothing bad, really

 Errors and blunders are often indecipherable from the best laid schemes.  For example, look at this gorgeous combination of what some others might call plants too aggressive for the garden or thugs (my friend Geoffrey Ross calls it Jardin d'Invasives).  Here is a happy comingling of Angelica gigas, Ostrich ferns, Fallopia, Carex and the indomitable Houttuynia  --- an invasive if there ever was one.  I am just letting them duke it out at the bottom of The Dell.



Or the Drancunculus, which came back on its own accord this year - harsh winter and all -that suddenly doesn't look so vulgar against the
softness of the Indigofera.



                But then again, look at this mess which I schemed and plotted   to make a white melange .



                These mixed white variegates just did not want to be coaxed into a
mellifluous white melange.

And then there is the sad tale of the two dead Albizia (Mimosa 'Summer Chocolate') to consider;
this came as a horrible blow but Ray Smith explained that it was a graft
and the winter was hard and then, I had to admit,  maybe they were getting
too leggy anyway.






…so good bye Albizia.
At least the luscious burgundy one in my dear client Gloria Appel's is
thriving...even flowering.

Once in a while in our Garden Utopia there is a little Bad Luck
But though the harsh winter killed the mimosa…my Voodoo lilies
are thriving...

I like to believe that things always happen for the best.

You can read the entire Newsletter from Dianne B Best here.

You can sign up for our newsletter here.

Visit our website--The Best @ Dianne B.

For the month of July only ---

To celebrate the 4th of July & MY BIRTHDAY

It is my pleasure to give you a gift of 25% Off
@ DianneBBest.com

Use Code Happy Birthday