Ready...Set...Grow....

The Upper Garden

The Hall With Balls

The Lower Garden

The snow is gone. The gardens are tidied up. Now it is time for the plants to do their thing!

Visiting an Old Friend at the Arnold Arboretum

Cornus officinalis in bud along Meadow Road at the Arnold Arboretum

Am I the only one who feels a deep kinship to certain trees? I was in Jamaica Plain yesterday for an art class and visited the Arnold Arboretum primarily to see if the Cornus officinalis was in bloom. I first met this tree about 15 years ago and it has had a lasting imprint on my gardening life.

Two decades ago, the only shrub I knew with very early yellow flowers was the ubiquitous forsythia. I had no idea a plant like Cornus officinalis existed. Like its Asian sibling, Cornus mas, it has clusters of golden yellow flowers in April, long before the more flamboyant blossoms of crab apples and magnolias come onto the scene. Later in autumn, it will have bright red fruit and striking exfoliating bark as its winter asset.

I had read about this small tree and finally got to see it in person at the Arnold Arboretum. This particular plant originated from seed collected in Japan in 1919, the year my father was born. I fell in love with its subtle charms and located a small plant for my own garden. As much as I love my tree, which finally making a presence in my garden, the Arnold tree is my favorite. It reminds me of the excitement of discovery and wonders of plants and places I had never dreamed of.

The Best of English Gardens 2011

Great Dixter

Sissinghurst Castle Garden

Hidcote Manor Garden

Oudolf's Glasshouse Borders at Wisley

I am pleased to report that I will be assisting my good friend, Mick Induni, on a tour of English gardens from May 17-26. I helped Mick out in 2007 and am delighted to return to Britain to visit some of my favorite gardens including Great Dixter, Hidcote, Sissinghurst, Stourhead and Wilsey to name a few. My role will be, as Mick puts it, a sort of “horticultural expert'' to compliment the exceptional British tour guides who will be leading the tours. For a complete itinerary, see Mick's website at The Best of English Gardens.

We will also be in London for the Chelsea Flower Show. With exhibits designed by cutting-edge gardeners like Cleve West and Luciano Giubbilei, Chelsea will be a nice contrast to the historic gardens we will be visiting. You can follow their exhibit construction and design process on the Chelsea Flower Show Blog.

Mick's has a wide range of extraordinary tours on the other side of the pond. For more information, check out his website, Discover Europe.

HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S DAY 2011

Pedestals and Table on the Terrace

The Lower Garden

I woke up to these scenes this morning. Expecting snow all day. Happy April Fool's Day!!!

Lovely for December. Sad for April.

Lanford Wilson's Sag Harbor Garden

The Main Garden Room. The Adirondack Chairs were painted to compliment and contrast the colors of the plantings. Notice a glimpse of the spiny leaves of the Monkey Puzzle Tree, Araucaria araucana.

Grandmother's Tiger Lilies

A small pool on axis with three garden rooms.

The garden house with pergola. Kirengeshoma palmata in bud.

A quite, elegant square lawn that was the first garden behind the House. Aralia elata 'Variegata' at the far edge.

Lanford Wilson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, died on Thursday. Several years ago, I had the opportunity to visit his garden in Sag Harbor, Long Island. The garden, probably about a third of an acre, was divided into rooms and was designed to be an extension of the house, a two-story wood-frame house built in 1845. The house had essentially no garden that could be seen from the street. There was a walkway along the house that lead to the gardens behind the house.

Although there were countless unusual plants, many from the original Heronswood catalogue, Wilson had included many old fashioned nostalgic plants. In particular, he recalled how the tiger lilies reminded him of his grandmother. My favorite tree in the garden was the monkey puzzle tree, Araucaria araucana, an unusual evergreen tree from Chile. It has a stiff growth habit with ominous spiny stiff leaves which added an exciting texture to the garden.

The garden was quite shady with numerous inviting seating areas. Having a small garden myself, I really appreciated how the formally laid out rooms made this small in-town garden appear larger. Wilson originally divided the plot into rooms using string. He made the paths two feet wide and they were aligned on axis with one another but something wasn't quite right. Later, a garden designer friend insisted on four-foot-wide paths but he resisted and made the paths three feet wide. Finally, he conceded and made the paths four feet wide and "pop" the proportions were right.

Like all the best private garden's I have visited, Lanford Wilson's garden was a very personal and idiosyncratic creation. I was very lucky to have had a chance to visit it.

Creole Cottage Garden in Haiti

The Proud Gardener at Rest

The Chartreuse-edged coleus looks like a Choice Cultivar from Landcraft Environments

Wonderful Textures and Contrasts

I have just returned from a week-long eye mission to Cap Haitien, Haiti. On Wednesday, we visited a small village on the outskirts of town. We did our work in a church, but I couldn't help noticing this garden next door.

The modest house without plumbing had a tidy, well-kept mixed hedge that intrigued me so I asked the woman at the gate if I might enter. She was a bit shy at first but was pleased to invite me into her garden. Inside the hedge, there was a small seating area where her family gathered to sit and talk. I immediately saw the usefulness of a hedge to create privacy in the center of this bustling village. The hedge included a plant that looked very much like boxwood. I wondered if it was a relative of Lonicera nitida because earlier in the year it had white fragrant flowers.

I was surprised to find the diversity of plants and the skillfulness in which they were combined in her humble garden. It reminded me of a Gertrude Jekyll quote which I paraphrase: it is not the size of the gardener's pocketbook but the size of her heart that makes a beautiful garden.

And It's Not Even Mud Season Yet!!

The Lower Garden

The Upper Garden

Even Oudolf would say the Calamagrostis brachytricha has got to go!

Having a gardening blog during March in New Hampshire is depressing. While everyone in Europe and most of the United States are showing off their hellebores, we are still waiting for the grey snow to melt. Next up is mud season. A New England phenomenon that occurs when the top layers of soil begin to melt while the lower levels are still frozen. It is NOT a pretty thing.

I am leaving for a week in Haiti for an eye mission. When I return I expect all the ice dams flooding the streets to be melted and the hellebores to be blooming.......well maybe not.