Bill Noble's Mixed Border in Norwich, VT

Last week, I took some time out from my garden to visit several gardens that I have been wanting to see again. I had visited Bill Noble's garden in Norwich, VT several years ago and returned for a visit last week. Bill was the former Director of Preservation at the Garden Conservancy and has been involved in numerous preservation projects throughout the country including the Garden Conservancy's first project, The Fells Estate and Gardens in Newbury, NH. One of Bill's signature plants is a Himalayan rhubarb called Rheum australe which can be seen in the foreground of the photo above. Behind is his mixed border which looked sumptuous in the late afternoon cloudy lighting. The border includes hydrangeas, phlox, Joe Pye weed, red barberries and the ever-reliable 'Autumn Joy' sedum. I kept asking myself "Why doesn't my garden look this wonderful?"

Wednesdays

This year, there has been a major shift in my mid-week activities as I have retired from designing and maintaining the gardens in the public parks in Peterborough, NH. My goal was to use a public/partnership funded by grants, private funding, and taxpayers' money to create public spaces that were maintained by volunteers, collaborating with Public Works personnel, that had the intimacy of a private garden. With the support of our former Town Administrator, Pam Brenner, and a cadre of gifted and devoted volunteers, most notably, my good gardening buddy, Maude Odgers, I have achieved my goal. After 18 years of working most Wednesdays from April to November, I have decided that it was time to try something new, oil painting. My first painting is Mount Monadnock as can seen from the top of Pack Mondanock, a mountain I have frequently hiked and know intimately. I have seen this view in almost every weather condition imaginable every month of the year so it seemed like the perfect place to begin painting.

I inherited my maternal grandfather's painting supplies and many of the paints were still usable 40 years after his death. It has been a great joy to use his paints, brushes, linseed oil and pallet to create art. Leaving my work in the public sphere has been bittersweet but I am thrilled to give oil painting a try. Don't worry that I will stop gardening in my private garden, I expect to be gardening there for decades to come. Another new goal I have is host more tours of gardens in Europe. I have trip planned for September, 2017 which I will be posting about in the near future.

What is It and Where Did You Get It?

Last week during the Garden Conservancy Open Day, there were a number of questions about the garden. Here are the most commons inquiries:

The large plant is Solanum quitoense from seed brought from South America by the folks at Walker Farm in Dummerston, VT. The metal pot is from India and I got it at Michael Trapp's shop in West Cornwall, CT. The ground cover is Bergenia cordifolia from the late Joanna Reed's garden in Malvern, PA.

This tree is Acer griseum x 'Gingerbread' from Twombly Nursery in Monroe, CT.

The hydrangea behind the Acer griseum x 'Gingerbread' is Hydrangea quercifolia 'Snowqueen'. I got this plant many years ago from the now defunct Heronswood Nursery but I got a second one at Broken Arrow Nursery in Hamden, CT.

I planted this Stewartia pseudocamellia (crossed with another unidentified stewartia) from seed collected at the Arnold Arboretum in 1996. If you take the propagation class at the Arnold Arboretum, you can have your own stewartia for your garden.

These are seedpods of Clematis tangutica 'Bill MacKenzie', a vine I got from another sadly defunct nursery, Loomis Creek Nursery. It should be fairly easy to find on-line.

Amaranthus hypochondriacs is progeny from seed from Wave Hill in the Bronx. If you come to my garden in autumn, I'd be happy to share some seeds.

This relatively new tender salvia is a new favorite of mine. It is called Salvia 'Amistad'. I got it at Edgewater Farm in Plainfield, NH.

My favorite rose is Rosa villosa, is again, from Heronswood Nursery.

This shrub in the woodland garden is Rhus coppalina 'Lanham's Purple' from Broken Arrow Nursery.

The three shrubs with interesting foliage in the Woodland Garden are right-to-left: Lindera glauca var. angustifolia from another closed mail-order nursery, Fairweather Gardens; Sorbaria kirilowii from Forestfarm in Williams, OR: Hydrangea quercifolia 'Snowqueen', again from Broken Arrow Nursery.

The plant scrambling over the arch is the easy-to-find vine called Actinidia kolomikta. I can't remember where I sourced it.

The grey-foliaged plant is Lavatera x clementii 'Barnsley' from Edgewater Farm. The spiky plant is Agave americana 'Mediopicta Alba'. A plant I got from one of my all-time favorite  nurseries, Blue Meadow Farm, Brian and Alice McGowan's former nursery in Montague, MA.

The graceful shrub cascading down the Woodland garden is Stephanandra incisa 'Crispa'. I don't remember where I got it but it is readily available at many nurseries.

The pair of benches on the Blue Bench Terrace are vintage hospital benches form the '40s. I found  them at the Brimfield Antique Flea Market a dozen years ago.

The groundcover beneath the box balls is a spreading epimedium called Epimedium pinnatum ssp. colchicum from Garden Vision Epimediums in Templeton, MA.

This Morning After the Tour

Monadnock Area Open Days August 20-21, 2016

I have finally whipped the garden in shape in order to prepare for the Monadnock Area Open Days for the Garden Conservancy. I took a few photos of my garden this evening as a preview. We have had a drought this summer but thankfully last weekend we had several inches of rain which has perked the garden up considerably. Ed Bowen, of Opus Plants will be on site selling plants at my garden from 10 am to 4 pm. on Saturday, August 20th. Garden writer, Page Dickey, will giving a talk on Friday night in Peterborough. On Sunday, several more gardens are open in western New Hampshire and Westminster West, Vermont.  Check the Garden Conservancy website for details for what promises to be a great weekend.

Nannau Cottage and Garden

Last month, I visited Bar Harbor, Maine for the Garden Club of Mount Desert Open Garden Day. My favorite garden was Nannau Cottage overlooking Compass Harbor, an inlet off Frenchman Bay. The handsome shingle style house was built in 1904. It was originally owned by a New York City lawyer named David R. Ogden. For many years, it was hotel and is a private residence again. I liked the simplicity of the main walk to the front of the house and the use of huge slabs of granite which are in scale with the grand house.

There was a pair of small gardens in the back of the house which framed a view of Compass Bay.

Here is the view of Frenchman Bay from a simple seating area of 4 Adirondack chairs at the water's edge.

The walk up to the house had lots of rough grass and natural plantings which enhanced the natural beauty of the site, the garden's best feature.