The gardener's eye

The Gardener's Eye

Thursday, November 15, 2012

New "Layered" Plantings at Teixeira Park


The Ruin Garden at Teixeira Park has had five years to settle down and fill in. The dozen Malus 'Prariefire' trees along the sidewalk have gotten larger and fruited well. The theme has always been to be a wild garden, attracting birds and butterflies. A common complaint was that the garden felt isolated in the park and the suggestion was to add plantings on the outside of the granite walls of the Ruin Garden to soften them. My thought has always been that as the granite ages and the plants spill out, the garden will mature and its hidden nature will beckon visitors to enter and explore the garden; that being partially concealed was part of the allure. 

But after careful consideration, we decided to plant the two triangular areas formed by the pathways at each end of the park. The East end is full sun and the West end is partial shade. I wanted to continue the wild theme and the paths, like the granite walls in the Ruin garden, made the boundaries very clear, which from a maintenance perspective is a good thing. We would now have three related gardens with overlapping plant lists that would talk to each other and create a repetition of gardens over the entire park as seen from the road. Hopefully the Ruin Garden wouldn't feel isolated, but rather, integrated into the landscape.


The Ruin Garden at Teixeira Park


Waking toward the West Garden from the Ruin Garden


The Part-Shade West Garden at Teixeira Park


The Sidewalk Looking toward the East Garden--Malus 'Prariefire' to the right


The East Garden at Teixeira Park

I have spent many hours studying Piet Oudolf's work in books and have seen three of his designs in person: the Glasshouse Borders at Wisley in England, The High Line and the Gardens of Remembrance in Manhattan. I was particularly  interested in his "layered" approach to planting that Noel Kingsbury describes in the book Landscapes in Landscapes. The first layer is the "martix planting of ground-covering, relatively low growing plants. The next layer is the "island plants where irregularly shaped beds are planted with a mixture of grasses (and in my case, also perennials) for a late-summer-to-winter period of interest." The final layer is "the scatter plants, taller species, often colorful or with distinct structure." We also added trees and shrubs with colorful fruit and bulbs for interest in the early spring. Below is the plant list. Time will tell if our planting will be successful.

The East Garden Plant List

Trees/Shrubs
Viburnum dentatum 'Blue Muffin'

Matrix Planting
Sesleria autumnalis
Heuchera villosa 'Autumn Bride'
Aster macrophyllus

Island Plants
Helianthus occidentalis
Liatris ligulistylis
Monarda fistulosa
Solidago speciosa
Sporobolus heterolepsis
Solidago rigida

Scatter Plants
Eupatorium purpureum
Helianthus salicifolius
Sorghastrum nutans
Silphium perfoliatum

Bulbs
Camassia leichtlinii 'Blue Danube'
Chionodoxa sardensis
Tulipa sylvestris

The West Garden Plant List

Trees/Shrubs
Cornus mas


Matrix Planting
Sesleria autumnalis
Heuchera villosa 'Autumn Bride'
Aster macrophyllus

Island Plants
Helianthus stromusus
Aster divaricatus
Sporobolus heterolepsis

Scatter plants
Eupatorium purpureum
Aruncus aethusifolia
Aralia racemosa


Bulbs
Camassia leichtlinii 'Blue Danube'
Chionodoxa sardensis
Hyacinthoides non-scripta
Tulipa sylvestris




6 comments:

  1. oh I love that you gave us a list!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad to hear that I didn't overestimate by blogging friends intereest in this project by providing the plant list!

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  2. Michael - I enjoyed seeing the bones of this garden in late autumn. If we had a country property, I'd want a similar garden....one with less structure and more naturalistic. I am very fond of those large boulders. And, I'm beginning to appreciate these kinds of gardens more. Thanks for the plant list.
    Loi

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Loi! I like all kinds of gardens from very wild to very formal. This garden at Teixeira Park is a new type of garden fro me and I am having fun playing/working on it, learning and experimenting.

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  3. Erin,
    That is a good reminder about viburnums. We already have Viburnum dentatum planted in Teixeira Park. It is not the 'Blue Muffin' cultivar so I am hoping they will cross to produce fruit. I am glad you liked the Ruin Garden and am reassured to hear that you like to see the granite unencumbered by plantings on the out side. Thanks very much for commenting!

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  4. You were very fortunate to have your son and his roommate to help you with all the mulch and to finish before it was too hard to handle.
    Thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete

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