Tovah's Indoor Tropical Treasures On Summer Vacation

Anne Raver recently wrote an article for the New York Times about Tovah Martin's houseplants called Inviting the Garden Inside and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to show you where all those indoor gems go to summer camp. 

This is the three-tiered bench outside the 18th century dairy barn that Raver mentions where plants showcased for the summer. It reminds me of the display of potted plants at the entrance to Great Dixter in England--full of color and textures-- all artfully combined.

The front porch of Tovah's house, a former 1790s cobbler shop

An inviting view of the house and garden from the street

A bench in the garden. The garden radiates charm, beauty and whimsy, just like the owner. 

The summer gardens in the front yard. Don't think for a minute that she is not equally knowledgeable of both indoor and cold hardy plants

A vignette of succulents on the door step

Chanticleer in October

When we arrived at Chanticleer, the day after the Perennial Plant Conference, I suggested that Tovah and Maude use the facilities and asked them produce evidence (Tovah's photo above) that Chanticleer's  ladies lavatory was just as impressive (marble counter tops, lovely tile work and, of course, a vase of fresh flowers from the garden) as the men's room. I was happy to learn that Chanticleer did not discriminate on the basis of gender. 

We had a wonderful tour of the gardens on a perfect October morning led by Bill Thomas, Executive Director and Head Gardener of Chanticleer. Like New Hampshire, Pennsylvania had a hard frost about  a week earlier. The staff had a done miraculous job covering the tender plants and you would have never known that the thermometer dropped below freezing.

A stand of Musa ‘Thai Black’ at the Teacup Garden

Hand made iron stairway railing 

The stairway at the Chanticleer House

A planter  of Agave attenuata, Calathea roseopicta, Melanthus major and Pelargonium sidoides overflowing with Senecio radicans

Tovah is curious about this plant

Maude took this shot of Tovah conferring with Bill Thomas about the plant ID

The Rill Garden with pots of Aechmea ‘Dean’ and Dichondra argentea

 

Another beautiful shot by Maude through the limbed up branches of Lagerstroemia 'Tonto' in the Rill Garden

The bright orange flowers of Leonotis leonurus

Vitex trifolia 'Purpurea' in the West Bed at Chanticleer House

Soft clouds of pink Muhlenbergia capillaris at the Gravel Garden

A bench in the Minder Woods

The Ruin Garden

Quercus alba trained up a pillar at the Ruin Garden

 

Oak Leaf Water Fountain

Red Dwarf Grain Sorghum winds its way through the Serpentine Garden

Close up of Sorghum

The New Bell's Wood Bridge to the American Woodland looked like a giant submarine...

...was actually a fallen beech tree.

Gardeners come in all sizes.

Thanks to Maude Odgers and Tovah Martin for some of the photographs for this post.

My View From Federal Twist

The garden bogging world is a small one and you never know who you might bump into at a symposium or conference. I went to the Perennial Plant Conference at Swarthmore College last week with some gardening friends and spotted a familiar name on a tag: James Golden. James, if you don't already know, has an excellent blog called View From Federal Twist chronicling his "New American" prairie garden, called Federal Twist, in Stockton, NJ as well as his contemporary urban garden in Brooklyn, NY. He has developed a beautiful, what he refers to as wet prairie garden, influenced by gardeners such as Piet Oudolf, Noel Kingsbury (who also visited Federal Twist that day) Dan Pearson, Henk Gerritsen, and Oehme and Van Sweden.

James invited me and my friends, Maude and Tovah, to visit Federal Twist on the way home to New England and we all agreed to take him up on the invitation immediately. We had a full agenda that day because Tovah had a book signing for her new book, The Unexpected Houseplant in the morning so we didn't make it to Federal Twist until after 4 PM. As luck would have it, the light was magical, as was the garden.

Thanks, Jim, for a wonderful garden tour. It was such a pleasure to visit in autumn when the seed-heads and fall foliage were in their full glory. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend View From Federal Twist. James is a thoughtful and erudite writer who has a real pulse on what is currently happening in gardening.