Rosa villosa: Apple of my Eye

The star of the woodland garden right now is the fruit of Rosa villosa, also known as the Apple Rose. Rosa villosa is a shrub rose that grows about 6-7 feet tall with arching branches. The bue-green foliage reminds me of Rosa glauca but isn't quite as blue or bothered by Japanese beetles.

The glossy hips are as long as my thumb and a brilliant red with minute pin-sized spines.

 Rosa villosa is reliably loaded with hips every August through October until the birds devour the fruit. Fortunately, the seeds tend to spatter about while the birds are feasting and I have plenty of seedlings to share with gardening friends.

Rosa villosa can handle some shade and has done well in the sandy loam in the woodland garden. The flowers, which bloom in June, are large, simple and pink. There are subtle but lovely.

Glamour in the Garden

I've read that the late Katherine S. White, author of the book of gardening essays called Onward and Upward in the Garden, gardened in "a spotless cotton dress or a handsome tweed skirt and jacket" while wearing her best Ferragamo shoes. Lately, Mollie, a very active septuagenarian volunteer, has been showing up for duty on our Wednesday morning work days looking like she borrowed a few items from Mrs. White's closet. She claims the chilly mornings require a scarf. I suspect she has an elegant luncheon planned for later in the day.

Turtle Pond Again

Three years ago, I did a post about Turtle Pond at my wife's family's cabin in Wells, Maine. I never tire of observing the plants and wildlife here and it seemed time for another post. Every year, I do some subtle editing of the plants along the edge of the pond to reveal and frame the views from the house and deck. Theses three photographs are in order looking left to right from the deck. There is much to learn about textures of foliage and the tapestry of how plants mingle in nature. This is a pond that expands when beavers periodically dam the brook that drains the pond. Many of the trees, mostly red maples, that where around the pond were drowned and died leaving skeletons that are bird magnets. Many mornings we wake up to find a Great Blue Heron sailing off the pond.

I have been studying the work of Peit Oudolf in his most recent book, Planting: A New Perspective, and his work in the ground at The High Line in Manhattan and I am struck at how his most recent gardens replicate how plants intertwine in nature. I am seeing it here at Turtle Pond and in many of the fields and wetlands I am noticing on bike rides in the southern coast of Maine.

The challenge for me is how to make this naturalistic style work in my own garden, especially the woodland garden. Several of the public gardens in Peterborough that would benefit from this style: the new garden at Putnam Park and the three gardens at Teixeira Park. This method of planting doesn't use blocks of plants, like a Gertrude Jekyll style or even Oudolf's earlier work, which is fairly easy to imagine creating. Plants in nature have drifts, singles, intermingling and every combination in between. It is constantly fluctuating and evolving depending on light, water, soil conditions, weather  and perhaps most importantly, survival of the fittest.

Views of Peterborough Parks From Your Automobile

 The Toadstool Beds

 Nubanusit Terrace

 Putnam Park Entrance

 Putnam Park II

 The Pavilion Entrance to Depot Park

 Peter's Gate Planter

The Boccelli Garden

The Ruin Garden at Teixeira Park in Mid-July

Mid-Atlantic Group Hardy Plant Society Arrives

The Mid-Atlantic Group of the Hardy Plant Society visited my garden today for about an hour. They were touring gardens in NewHampshire. The leader of the group, Janice Thomas, was scouting for gardens to visit last year when I was on The Garden Conservancy Open Days. I was thrilled to be included because I am originally from Malvern, PA and several of the garden mentors I have learned from, Joanna Reed, Charles Cresson and David Culp, are located outside Philadelphia where most of the gardeners on the tour hailed from. It was particularly fun to point out plants that I gotten from these three generous gardeners in my own garden.

I spent most of the last week preparing the garden for their arrival. Earlier in the season when I had just returned from England and the garden looked rather weedy and tattered, my son, Teddy, pointed out to my wife that when she felt things needed some sprucing up, she should invite people to see the garden and it would be whipped into shape (by me) in no time. He sure was right! The first group of photographs were taken this morning during my final cleanup.

The Upper Garden

The granite steps in the Hall with Balls

 The granite pillar focal point in the woodland garden as seen from the Lower Garden

 The Lower Garden

The Blue Bench Terrace

The Woodland Garden

Forty-three gardeners arrive by motor coach.

 

Gardeners everywhere in the garden

The most asked about plants were....

Gleditsia triacanthos 'Ruby Lace' 

Centaurea atropurpurea 

Boehmeria platanifolia 

Trachystemon orientalis

Filipendula palmata 'Variegata'

The coach leaves and is off to yet another garden. It is hard to believe that it was only about six weeks ago and I was helping lead a tour of English Gardens to North American gardeners. It was very interesting to see it from the opposite perspective.  Lots of work for such a short time of visiting. It is a great exercise in seeing what needs to be developed and improved in the garden.

New steps in the Woodland Garden

The plan was that rustic stone steps would be installed in the new woodland path this summer. Turned out it wasn't in the budget. What to do? Get creative. I went to my wife's family's cabin in Maine to mow the field and went into the woods and found a couple maple trees and  made myself some wooden steps. They made a difference immediately. The stone steps can wait.