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Saturday, August 04, 2012

Garden Diary: Flexible Trees, Slow Decisions

In the Brooklyn garden not much change is apparent since the last post, I think. I've finally dug the back planting area, removed several hundred pounds of excess soil and stone to Federal Twist. Now it's ready to plant, but you can't really see all that work.

This takes time, just to see what will happen. The unexpected. Effects of weather, for example. How the heavy rains and wind three weeks back bent over the four suddenly top-heavy Gleditsia, prompting me to prune and stake them, anticipating more rain and wind and snow and ice in winter ...


... bent over to the ground. Thank god the trees are flexible and didn't break. Here is one crown after removal of about a foot on each side and cutting to encourage growth up and out.


The shade bed is growing well, but I can't know what to do until winter passes and I see which plants like this place, which are long-term keepers, and which should go. You design, plan, select, plant, but chance and accident really determine what the garden will be in a few years. You just have to go with that throw of the dice, the thrill of the unknown, unforeseen, make of it what you will.


The austere pool is a powerful balance to the fulsome planting, which I can now see needs to be pared, refined. The fence needs flatter vines, perhaps the dwarf Boston ivy I found this weekend. The climbing hydrangea is too bulky, visually too busy. It's chatter conflicts with the more serene, sculptural shapes. Probably better at the back.


Most ground covers have yet to close up the exposed soil ...


... though the Selaginella is doing unexpectedly well considering the intense heat over the last few weeks. I especially like the Carex muskingumensis 'Oehme' above and am likely to bring more from Federal Twist. Those wet, slightly rotted epimediums and the little blue hosta haven't won my admiration.


The side opposite, the sunny side, is thriving. Here are two Pennisetum 'Hamlen', Pycnanthemum muticum in its white-flowering, ultra fragrant loveliness, an almost black ajuga, thyme, and at each end a small box wood (yes, they need to grow larger for impact), suggested by Rob. The box have to grow but I do think their geometry and dark green will help unify this exuberance and control the colors.


The large grass at back is much bluer than I expected. It was sold as Panicum 'Cloud Nine'. I've begun to suspect it may be Dallas Blues or Northwind. Won't know until the flowers open. I've thought of replacing it with an evergreen, perhaps a large Ilex 'Sky Pencil'. Of course, the ones I had my eye on have been sold, so I have more opportunity to engage with search and compromise.


Bronze fennel and Pycnanthemum muticum transplanted from Federal Twist are successful in the heat and all day sun. At right (above and below) is Ceratostigma plumbaginoides ...


... their intense blue flowers can stand up to the bright light that floods the garden throughout the day. (Their blue really pops; these photos can't show that.) And it makes a good ground cover alongside the Sedum 'Herbstfreude'.


The Tetrapanax 'Steroidal Giant' I read will grow to eight feet. This one may be a game changer--if it survives the winter. It's settled in and is growing vigorously.


At back, I decided to go with dark colors to complement other dark plants in the garden (a purple Cotinus, Persicaria 'Red Dragon', bronze fennel, brown and purple sedums). I planted a weeping fastigiate purple beech (Fagus sylvatica 'Purple Fountain') in one corner, which will eventually help disguise an unsightly telephone pole.


And in the opposite corner, a Sambucus nigra 'Black Lace' (suggested by Ross, in another context). I want to prune it high to get a dark purple canopy (reflecting the beech in different form) carrying the darkness of the fence upward. Rather scrawny now, but let's hope it grows quickly into something like a small umbellifer-shaped tree form.


I think I'll not spoil this clean facade with vines though I do want vines covering much of the dark walls. Look closely and you can see fish near the center of the pool.


The pool, the walls, the field of gravel, the four Gleditsia triacanthos 'Sunburst', the "random" box diagonal, these are garden Number 1. The other plants are garden Number 2, and I don't see an end to changes in the foreseeable future.


Who knows?

24 comments:

  1. You've created a beautiful landscape to garden... and although your gardens are very different from mine, I have enjoyed my visit. We do have one plant in common... plumbago... which I have in abundance,. Love the cobalt blue blossoms.

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    1. Thanks for commenting, Carolyn. Plumbago is such a beautiful and versatile plant, with wonderful color in the fall. I'm adding more.

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  2. Hi James!

    I am so glad to see more progress pictures of the Brooklyn garden! it is really growing up. I like the strength of the composition looking back towards your home--something about the full sides and simple (but strong) middle really appeals to me.

    Have a nice weekend!

    Emily

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    1. Thanks, Emily. I've mentioned before--and I think this is what you mean by simple but strong middle--that I could keep just the basics (garden no. 1), and almost eliminate (really minimize) the side plantings. Ivy perhaps, making a unified field of dark green. But if I go there, it will be a circuitous path through other plantings first.

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  3. For a newly planted garden (yes I know you want the trees to GROW) I'm awed. It looks inviting and quite distinctive.

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    1. Thanks. I'm stuck somewhere between wanting immediate gratification (perfection, actually) and knowing a garden is never finished until the gardener dies. Yes, I suffer from conflicting emotions.

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  4. James the Tetrapanax will be a game changer if successful. In a sultry New York summer, I bet it'll give an almost tropical feel.

    Isn't p. Northwind the most 'vertical' of the panicums?

    Three cheers for bronze fennel. They'll be tall next year. Every reference I read is dismissive of the flowers heads and focused on the foliage. Fine, but I love the mustardy umbels every bit as much the emerging bronze foliage.

    You need a mini weather station in the garden - see what micro climate you operate in.

    I can see it a year or two down the line - tranquility in the city.

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    1. Rob, yes, I believe Nothwind is the most vertical panicum. I'm coming to the conclusion that mine probably is Cloud 9, but it just looks bluer in the city environment, against the slate wall. By the way, we are having a hot, sultry summer in NYC and the tetrapanax is responding accordingly. If it grows very large next year AND spreads, as tetrapanax is knows to do, I will be making some major changes.

      As to bronze fennel, I love the flower heads. I love umbelliferous flowers in general. And the flowers attract many pollinating insects. It's one of the liveliest things in the garden right now.

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  5. Nice progress, and just imagine the roots starting to grow on those honeylocusts! To me, it is taking nice shape.

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    1. David, thanks for imagining my roots growing. I just clipped the tops again this morning to force them to put out new upward growth.

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  6. I am enjoying seeing your Gleditsia doing so well. Mine had a fright. It's winter here of course, no leaves, but our Gleditsia are of similar age and size. The local orchardist came around to prune our orchard. He's 80 years old and carries loppers he has carried for 60 years. Looked at the crab apple. "What's that" "neither use nor ornament" was his comment.
    Looked at one Gleditsia. "Whats that" and immediately reached up and clipped off the leader. aaaagh.
    regards Kerry

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  7. Do I take it Gleditsia is an unusual tree in New Zealand? I'd keep that guy away from mine. Fortunately, they seem well adapted to develop new leaders. Do yours put on a massive spurt of growth in mid-summer? (I realize you may have to answer that several months from now.)

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  8. Your garden is extremely restful to the eye, even though there are many elements of contrast. My favorites are the small boulders in the foreground and how their natural appearance plays with the line and material of your reflecting pool. Also how the shaped shrubs take the place of stone--a very contemporary karesan-sui. I super love it.

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  9. Calvin, I'm glad to have your confirmation that the garden retains a tranquil feeling even though a lot is going on. It's hard to know where to draw the line, where to find the balance. I particularly appreciate your attention to the stones in the foreground.

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  10. It looks as if everything has settled in well, maybe too well if you are already at the paring and refining stage. My Steroidal Giant is every bit of 11' this summer, but the trunk has not died back in several years and it takes up where it left off the previous season. If I were you I would mulch the hell out of it after the cold takes the foliage, and it could be root-hardy for you.

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  11. Eleven feet!? I imagine Brooklyn's a warm zone 7 now. So my hope is that it will only be root hardy, and start from the ground each year. I got mine at Gowanus Nursery in Brooklyn. The owner told me it had come through last winter in a container on her deck. Of course, we had a very mild winter. If everything else survives the winter, I'm sure I'll be paring back in spring. Time will tell.

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  12. Hello James,

    Your garden is beautiful. I especially appreciate the interplay between the very large and the very small. You don't I suppose have space for a gunnera (to replace the climbing hydrangea, perhaps)?

    Your garden has such an intricate mixture of unusual plants that I not only learn a lot, but shift my way of seeing. (As I looked critically at my long border yesterday, I realized that a weedy bank by the carpark, covered in wild parsley and milkweed, was far more attractive!) Perhaps I am a flower addict in slow recovery. Ross

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  13. Hi, Ross - Thank you for the compliment. You've got my number--or one of them. I do like to mix the very large with the small. It's harder than it looks and I find that as the season progresses, the changes in size and form and condition of foliage dramatically change the visual effects of a planting. So I'm not so pleased with the shade planting now. Rather than plunge in to make changes, I'll wait ... for winter to pass and to see what I'm offered next spring. I also need to finish planting the rest of the garden. I did finally find the golden Boston ivy (Parthenocisus tricuspidata 'Fenway Park') I've been looking for and expect it to arrive in the mail tomorrow. With luck, I'll have some bit of coverage on the walls before fall. I expect the vines to change the visual relationships rather dramatically, and that likely will affect what I do in spring.

    I've suspected you might be a flower addict and I'm happy to hear you're beginning to appreciate your weeds. Have you been for a walk on the High Line yet? It may be the start of a new way of seeing. - James

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  14. Your garden is totally different from mine, and I love it--love all the greens, and the weeping beech. And the satin smooth pond in the bed of bubbling stone. Enjoyed seeing it, thanks!

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  15. Thanks for the description of the "satin smooth" pond. I'm removing the small fountain I installed just because I like satin smooth (with the ripples of the wind, and the occasional leaping of the fish).

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  16. Looking great. Of course, next year, the garden will be entirely different. I'm quite fond of most of your plant selections. They are all incredibly vigourous, voluminous plants. I think it will be fantastic!

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  17. Thanks. The grand shakeout, winter to spring. I wonder what will return, and how. No predicting. Hoping the Boston ivy 'Fenway Park' gets going before the fall slow down.

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  18. Oh yes, the ilex instead of switchgrass. Love the weeping beech, and of course I adore that elderberry--I tried to trim mine into a small tree but it died back and so I'm starting over with its training (but it sure grows fast, I think 4' this dry summer). I'm still so in love with the dark rectangular pool, the gravel, and the clean facade of the new part of the house. It will be nice to watch the garden grow up, and perhaps, reflect the pool and house a bit more.

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  19. I'd have thought you'd prefer the switchgrass. I'm liking it now that it's in blousy in bloom. Have to be patient and wait until next spring, I tell myself. Glad to hear the elderberry is a fast grower; it doesn't show that characteristic yet.

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