Thursday, March 12, 2015

Creating Garden Border Beds - in Ecuador - at Hacienda Cusin

Hacienda Cusin allele walk- just beyond the blue door

Today was a good day to be a gardener – at Hacienda Cusin, in Ecuador. 
The day started with the scintillating walk to breakfast from the El Monasterio where me -- and the Landscape Design Alumni group (LDSA) garden designers are living.  Here, there is carved wooden doors, antiques, “a baroque altar,” hand-painted murals and a secret door…
The spicy, sweet scents of jasmine and eucalyptus “blows me kisses” as I step through the gates to cross the bridge where I’m “handed off” to the beguiling honeysuckle – who it seems also reminds me to look up to the cloud-kissed Andean mountains standing sentry in the near distance.

The walk through the cobblestone allee was already like “moving meditation” accompanied by all manner of whizzing insects and buzzing birds, (oh those streaking emerald and sapphire hummingbirds!) to serenade the walk.

I always say, every great garden tells a story – and our goal here is to better tell the story of Hacienda Cusin through its ornamental gardens.  And what a story it has to tell.

But like all beauty queens, the garden beds were ready for their makeover.

We begin the day fueling up with coffee by the fire in the Casa Cusin’s well-appointed sitting area, before enjoying a full, delicious breakfast of local yogurt and omelets made with local cheese – the area bordering Hacienda Cusin is known for its dairies and its rose nurseries.  

Then it was out to the gardens to work.  The team of women worked on the allee border garden again today.  The men worked in another area, preparing the garden beds for the agapanthus that will soon be planted there. Gus also found a tarantella there!  He killed it inadvertently while working the beds (thank goodness, too.)

The allee walk leads from the main areas of Hacienda Cusin including the restaurant, biblioteca/library, and reception to the El Monasterio.  It also bifurcates the wider expanses of lawns there where receptions can be held. There is a big wedding this weekend!
 
From a garden design standpoint the borders are rather unique in this way because they are seen from both sides, not just the front, as is the case with most garden beds.  Therefor the design needs to be determined from both sides.  This means tall in the middle  - and leveling the plant heights down accordingly on each side of the bed. 
The allee has an overarching canopy of trees filled with bromeliads and orchids.  

In turn, the tree cathedral “ceiling” affects the amount of sunlight on each border bed that affects the amount of water and soil composition.  Taking all this under consideration was necessary to determine the beauty makeover of the border beds.

We garden mujeres designed the borders to feature more swaths or groupings of plants.  We did this to create drama, to draw the eye to a more calming sensation vs. a more unconscious jarring sensation created by different plant types laid out staccato-like.

We removed the big ferns that were hiding the lovely stone, Asian-inspired lantern at the end of an allee artery; pruning the tall aloe that stand at attention on either side. 
Before the makeover














The jade plants that were there seemed to cry out for more of a presence; therefore we created a semi-circle out from the lantern with more jade plants – repurposed from other garden spots. 
After makeover - clean view of sculpture - more jade plant grouping
Linda clearing out the lantern garden
Linda also planted Forget-Me-Not behind the lantern in a pretty, clean exposure. 




I removed five St. John's Wort plants that were misplaced and really just didn’t look like they belonged amidst all the other more tropical and semi tropical plants.  Out they came, roots and all.
Me, & my St. John Wort "trophy"


Gus and his St. John Wort "trophy!"



Becca – our “bold border guru,” was superb at envisioning the mass plantings that needed to be created and at locating plants from other parts of the garden to be transplanted. Thus we pruned and cleaned one area – such as opening up the specimen windmill palm that was being crowded with aloe – all while designing and filling in another area.  Smart gardening design - -and smart horticulture, too.



I wanted to add some stones to a new fern and aloe composition and it worked so much that it looked like it had always been there.  Nice.  

We also massed aloe in another opposite part of the border allee to create an ornamental sweep as well as to place plants that didn’t need much water on the “hot” side of the bed.


Peg pruned up a giant Euryops chrysanthemoides species – a yellow daisy-like tall shrub. 
Further down, Linda cleaned up the low-growing sedum, taking out the vinca that threated to clutter the look (and worse to take over) and then cleaned up the plants hanging over the cobble border edge.  She was sitting on the path doing this.  
Before sedum bed


Linda cleaning sedum border


After - Sedum border
Not so long after, we saw a scorpion there!  We have learned from Gus, that the scorpions like the walls and stone borders because it’s cool; the minerals there bring the insects and food they eat.  But Yikes! 
So we also learned – no sitting on the ground to weed and prune.  One must have agility to move quickly in case danger rears it’s lobster-like claws!

Becca moved some Kniphofia – Red Hot Pokers - to add color and height. Don’t you just love their impressive color and sassy look?   Those fluted bottlebrush tops remind me of a Beefeater hat – but maybe a Beefeater from Jamaica!  


We are almost finished with this allee border. The day before the team worked the first part – exposing the beautifully crafted stone wall by pruning plants and removing some plants altogether and creating low-growing plant compositions.  I cleaned and pruned the Crocosmia bed – but I pushed my health too far.  I had yet recovered enough from the altitude illness aka “Soroche.”  

But not before seeing the gigantic beetle Amy discovered in her garden bed area!  Wowsy.  We’re not in Kansas any more!  
Mel and the Beetle!

I love, love, love the panko – blue agave bed composition Amy created there. 
Amy and the Blue Agave composition

 Mel cleaned up the geraniums and impatiens beds.  The impatiens here grows taller than me!
I also received a tour of the incredible vegetable garden at Hacienda Cusin that helps to contribute to the menu’s delicious homegrown dishes.  (More on this garden coming up. It deserves its own feature – trust me.)  
Teaser image from the Edible Garden at Casa Cusin


We enjoyed a fabulous comida and later – a fiesta at the gorgeous home of one of the Hacienda Cusin’s management family.   












Today, more garden bed work in preparation for the wedding this weekend. 

Monday, March 9, 2015

Artful Garden Design in Ecuador





Just after stepping out of the airport terminal at Quito, Ecuador, the majestic mountains greeted me, thus rendering the horror of travel due to the ineptitude of two, supposedly top-tier US airlines – a passing memory that will be dealt with another time.

Now, it was the time to be awestruck.

After our driver from Hacienda Cusin, Angel, had us swept up - baggage in the car in no time – he pointed out our first Q-Tip-topped volcano in the distance: Cotopaxi. 
Angel was the unofficial tour guide for the approximately one-hour drive through the Pichincha Province to the breathtaking sierra of Imbabura Province where the hotel cum Garden of Eden is located. Angel really earned his wings, though, driving like something out of “The French Connection” – passing groups of cars, taking on the hairpin turns that course the highway – all while playing a sophisticated guide. 
We – our driving companion was a delightful woman, Lorna Traube from San Francisco, who came to enjoy the gardens and horse-back riding here for the first time while visiting her son who is teaching English in nearby Quito. 

The drive up to Hacienda Cusin was precarious given all the switchbacks and steep mountain roads (and passing).  Think Alps – but green.
Angel pointed out another volcano in the distance – and the surrounding area’s landscapes that drive their unique enterprises: growing roses, dairy, and so on while I hopped from window to window.
The highway is a feat of engineering – with this strip just eight month’s old – the road is cut onto/into the mountain as part of the Pan American Highway – the one traversed by Che Guevara’s transforming adventure. So too, it is for me and other visitors to Ecuador. 

This is my first to Ecuador’s sierra but already I can say that it will not be my last.  Here it’s an explosion of things to do. Or not do.
Poised at the crossroads of the Equator and 8,500 feet nearer to the sky, the hacienda resort and hotel is an artful retreat.

It’s a sensory immersion at Hacienda Cusin and its 30 acres of bliss. 
What do I mean?
For starters, there is the boundary-less flow of indoors and out that is indulgent and calming at the same time.  You are part of the silky-smooth air and cinema-worthy landscapes – inside and out.

It’s the details here that whisper to you… Taken together it’s an experience that needs to be savored...
A faint fragrance that conjures licorice wafts the rooms and salons, punctuated by the spicy incense of the wood-burning fireplaces that are in every room, including the bedroom casitas.  Forget or never knew how comforting it is to fall asleep with nothing but a crackling fire and a hot water bottle as a lullaby?  (And no TV in the rooms :). This is the place to rejuvenate your sleeping circadian rhythms.  Take notice, Arianna Huffington  ("Thrive" better ways to sleeping to success)    

Here at Hacienda Cusin, the sounds of the wind rustling, sweeping --almost assertively roaring -- through the trees is a symphony of sounds. Speaking of music -- joyful,
classical music plays throughout the hacienda and grounds, lending an element of heightened sensory happiness.  




The décor and furnishings could be a movie set design.  They could also serve as a living museum of the decorative arts’ furnishing and design – where Spanish colonialism, religious artifact, and Ralph Lauren got tumbled together and created this intriguing elixir. 
More on the incredibly sculpted wood doors,

(and keys!)
wood banisters and railings that hug the steps, stairs, and balconies.



I’ll also be sharing the glorious fountains, vistas, and did I mention there are llamas on the grounds!  Calling Dr. Doolittle to this patch of sylvan folly!

And of course, the most beautiful sensory experience is the garden art that embraces the visitor with dazzling color, fragrance, and texture while playing the good host to all sorts of buzzing, creeping, whizzing, and flying creatures.  Oh, the birds!  

Nothing, nothing – can replace the sensation of having sparrow-sized, emerald-green, glamorous hummingbirds greet you while sitting; chirp-chirping as they zig and zag.  So flirty and fast. 
Why are they so shy?
Then I looked up and saw the green beauty had landed in her equally chic abode/hacienda, perched on the side of a wrought iron lantern, looking for all the world like a Victorian hat ornament of the most fanciful style.
Guess I know where I’ll be writing from over the course of this garden adventure – right under the hummingbird nest filled with two thimble sized heads and their tiny as a sewing needle beaks, awaiting their next feeding.  All while being serenaded by songbirds.  What a show.  

Look closely - you can see the baby birds in the nest - beaks aloft


Welcome to Paradise.

Nik, the owner and our host, reminds me we are right on the equator – despite the mild 77-degree temperatures. The sun is hot. 
He has offered some sound advice helping me to overcome my first-day altitude issues, which he assures me, is a very rare occurrence.   
Having gone to school in Switzerland and being in good garden or “fighting” shape, I am dismayed my body is betraying me. 
He kindly explained that at 8,500 feet, the air is thinner.  And learning I’d just come from sea level Aruba  (and the Garden State’s shore for a mere few hours before hopping back on an airplane)  – compounded by the foul, artificial air of all that plane travel, too little sleep – the body is stressed.  The blood needs to thin.  He recommended lots of water, no alcohol, staying warm, and rest.  Eat modestly.  The brain should not be in competition with the body so avoid the need for heavy digestion.  Interesting…
So my running will have to wait, as does my garden work with the team today. They are so understanding.

See, I’m here to work on garden design and plant care with my fellow gardeners from The New York Botanical Gardens’ (NYBG) Landscape Design Alumni (LDSA) group. 
LDSA is a terrific group of landscape design professionals.  During the winter months, we have monthly meetings, followed by lectures – all geared to improve our work and to support one another, in the same way. 

Mel Bellar, owner Zone 4 Landscapes and fellow LDSA garden designer, has been working and visiting Hacienda Cusin, along with his talented and beautiful wife (and blogger), Peggy. 

This is the first year that he is leading a team of us working together in Paradise, er, Hacienda Cusin. 
It’s a terrific group.  I’ll provide more background on these talented artists but for now, let me introduce these irrepressible gardeners: Amy, Linda, Becca, and Agustin aka Gus – who is Mel's business partner  at Zone 4 Landscapes, and Peggy.  
Becca works her pruning mojo on the wild honeysuckle!

Peggy - deadheading a canna composition she & Mel created last year

Left to Right - Linda, Amy & Becca

Left to Right: Amy, Becca, Nik - owner of Hacienda Cusin - me, Mel, Peggy & Gus


I am so looking forward to sharing our glamorous garden adventure with you. It’s so breathtakingly beautiful here. I think I’ve already taken a bazillion images…








Saturday, February 28, 2015

Look Up - Living Chandeliers Dazzle & Bejewel The New York Botanical Garden’s Orchid Show Opens February 28th




There is no getting away from it – the juxtaposition of two worlds colliding makes a special magic.  And so it was at the New York Botanical Garden’s Thursday press preview for the spectacular 2015 Orchid Show.  Snowflakes pirouetted outside – just beyond the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory’s windows. 
Inside the tropical, exotic, mysterious world of plants smiled their hothouse.











It is the 13th annual NYBG Orchids Show – and this is the Super Bowl of plant exhibitions.  It is easy to see why this show is a much-anticipated favorite  -- Attendance is expected to top the 150,000 visitors who came last year. Orchids are eye candy. Their brilliant colors are better than opening your own box of new Crayola’s.  
Plus orchids seem to beckon us in ways that are unlike other plants.  Perhaps its because orchids seem to have faces – their eyes and smiles seductively peering at the legions of admirers. 





This year’s Orchid Show theme is Living Chandeliers. It’s a brilliant choice of design inspiration.  


Made all the more so by the fact that this year’s show is curated not by an outside designer but for the first time by none other than the Garden’s very own Fran Coelho, Vice President for Glasshouses and Exhibitions.  
Fran Coelho, Living Chandelier Designer & NYBG VP


A graduate from the Garden’s School of Professional Horticulture, Coelho “was deeply involved in the major restoration” of the landmarked Enid A. Haupt Conservatory and its Living Collections.  
Fran Coelho & her Living Chandelier orchid design 

Why‘d they wait so long? 
Fran’s intimate relationship with the glasshouses reveals her unprecedented talent of the “greenhouse-as-palette.”  Her ability to create such a unique atmosphere in the crystal palace will make fine art curators pea-green with envy.  She knows where the light peeks in here or where the shadows cast a bit of drama there.   These subtle, garden art design elements all add up to a magical rare experience.

Entering the Haupt Conservatory is like stepping through the Alice in Wonderland looking glass.  The black pool of water is high drama in any show or display – but seeing the orchid orbs floating in the glistening, black pool of water beneath the 90-foot soaring cathedral-like ceiling, attended by soaring palm trees, is stunning. 

Talk about a Pinterest/Facebook/Instagram/Twitter moment! 
Free up the Cloud; bring a camera or two– you’ll want to share these images on all your social media “plantforms” – er platforms.
Utter “Eye Candy” hedonism. The world slips away and you are in a suspended state of awe.
You will have to tear yourself away.

But then, the doors to the main show open up like a portal to a Technicolor Never, Never Land.  You can’t help but blink back in astonishment and feel a heart-stopping moment.   What glamour.  What romance…
This is better than the any walk on a “Yellow Brick Road!” 
The plant compositions here on either side of the walk are studded with a variety of tropical companions including bromeliads, ferns, colecasia, palms, and ficus.

On each side are artful, hanging garden pendants, dripping with jewel-like, sexy orchids that wink at you with that come-hither look.  The Living Chandeliers here are suspended over pools of water, reflecting their glamorous beauty in a mirror image that even Dorian Gray would be jealous of.






You can’t help but notice there are orchids – everywhere!  Like stars in the heavens, there are exuberant displays of Phalaenopsis, Cattleya, Cymbidium, Oncidium and Epiphytes.
Yes, you are reminded to “Look Up” to capture the flower constellations.  And be sure to “Look In” – up inside the chandeliers.  It’s seeing plants from an entirely new, intimate, and exciting perspective.   
View Looking Up inside the Chandelier

At the same time, the Orchids have been accessorized with the tropical plants that provide form, structure, frilly greens, languid Spanish Moss, and regal tropicals.    

One of my favorite looks were the “Tree Warmers.”  This was my on-the-spot moniker for the small Moth Orchids: Phalaenopsis hybrids and Dendrobiums that Fran and her team have artfully wrapped on the Ficus trees standing happy sentinels on either side of the long axis walkway leading to the center, 45 -foot dome of the Conservatory.
Before I get to this show-stopper of the Living Chandeliers, I have to share the wonderful story Fran told me about those ficus.  They once belong to Enid Haupt – and she sent them along to the Botanical Garden with her collections.
Sweet.

While it’s true that every great garden tells a story; it’s also seems it’s true that every great seasonal exhibition has a backstory. 
Fran shared how the Living Chandeliers theme came about. 
While on a plant trip to Florida with NYBG’s president, Gregory Long, he noted the hanging Staghorn Ferns; Fran observed epiphyte hanging baskets nearby and it got her to thinking … Epiphytes grow on trees – many orchids are canopy-dwelling - so there’s that vertical look – and just like that – a show-stopping star design was conceived. 
Visitors can look up – to enjoy the orchid art from an entirely new perspective.

“The space for the show is the same every year, but we look to make the conceptualization of the display different each year,” Fran explained.  And speaking of space – this year’s Orchid Show was designed so that there is more open areas, allowing for better vistas – and accommodations for the robust visitors who come from all over the world to view this stunning orchid display.
I especially liked the diminutive bromeliads that adorn the moldings on both sides of the dome-area’s gateway.  Inspired garden glamour for home design, too. 
The plants are mounted and then attached with wire; covered with Spanish Moss.  Green moss would work too.

Fran noted it takes a about a year to bring the show from concept to putting the plants in place for the Orchid Show.  Which was what was happening Thursday as the press preview was trying to take it all in.

So back to that genormously huge central Chandelier in the center of the show.  In true “Hort-Art” fashion, I can’t take my eyes off this glamorous globe. 
I dream it could be a floral fairy from the planet Avatar where plants rule.
The Living Chandelier here is framed on the ground by two crescent pools on either side where the mirrored chandelier images radiate the orchids’ beauty. 
The water element is like breaking the third wall of a design dimension. 
The lighting effect that Fran so skillfully employs is yet another design dimension.

The size of this garden pendant is unprecedented: it’s three tiers – the top tier is 11 feet around  -- “And with the orchid flowers reaching out – it’s really more like 15 feet wide,“ noted Coelho.  The middle tier is nine feet and the bottom tier is seven feet around.

How did she come up with the royal chandelier color and design, I asked Fran.  And how did she choose the more than 500 white, yellow and puffs of pink/purple Phalaenopsis and Oncidiums, accessorized with lush ferns and moss that adorn the Living Chandelier? 
In a curious twist (no pun intended) Fran tells me she was inspired by the show graphic she produced for the marketing and advertising campaign.
She took me to see the poster and pointed out how she arranged the hanging basket for Dana Meilijson to photograph. 
When I pointed out that the graphic usually follows the real-life art, she smiled.  After all, she created both the hanging basket ready for its close-up and the Living Chandelier now ready for its starring role.
Fran finds the yellow, white and pinkish orchids in the chandelier, “Calming.”

There are more than 100 chandeliers, orbs, and hanging baskets, featured in the show! 
I asked Fran how many orchids are in the show.  “Approximately 4,500 and with the 2,500 orchids that will be used to replenish and refresh the show orchids, the total will be about 7,000 orchids by the time the show ends,” (April 17th)

Where do all the orchids come from?  I couldn’t help but think the NYBG Orchid Show must be a bonanza for orchid growers across the country.  Indeed.  According to Fran, while the Garden has a world-class orchid collection – managed and supervised by the Garden’s “resident orchid expert, Marc Hachadourian, Director of the Nolen Greenhouses for Living Collection, most of the orchids originate in California, Hawaii, and Florida. 
Hachadourian is the go-to orchid expert for garden notables across the country, including Martha Stewart who frequently hosts Marc on her television show and in her print media. 
At the show’s conclusion, some of the orchids will be selected to help build the Garden’s Collection.  Other orchids are donated to area hospitals, schools, and nursing homes.  How lucky are they?

Hachadourian noted, “Orchids are a charismatic group of plants – they draw visitors.” Almost like no other plant, I will add.  It’s that “eye candy” allure.  
He says that for the Garden this is an ideal “teaching moment” to demonstrate the Garden’s mission of Research, Education, and Display   “Here we can help teach the appreciation of beauty – visitors will not only see the diversity of the orchid world but also learn about the companion plants featured in the displays,” he said pointing out the red-hot bromeliads, for example.
The Garden has strategically placed Orchid Care signage throughout the show’s display too – in order to help us visitors understand about the living plant art.
I asked about the Darwin Orchid (Angraecum sesquipedale) - he told me they will bring out this very rare specimen for the show.  Don’t miss this conversation piece and star of its own horticultural historical adventure tale.
Marc added that Fran’s design for the Living Chandelier show this year demonstrates her perspective, her amazing eye for color -- and her passion. 

How will the gorgeous plants keep their “cover girl” looks?  Fran explained they water the plants very carefully! “It’s a challenge,” she said.  “Each plant may be in a different planting medium, different sized pot, with differing watering needs.”  This year there lots and lots of miniature orchids too (Good things come in small packages.)
For the giant Living Chandeliers, the Garden staff mounts a 10-foot ladder and a sprinkler with a special nozzle to get the precious water to the orchids’ roots.

Orchids are Romantic

Do not miss this show.  Go for the gorgeous, inspired orchid garden display designs. 
For the first time, the show runs throughout the Conservatory – so there’s more to see – plus walking through the show adds that jolt of oxygen we all need - especially in this “frozen” winter of extreme cold.  
The Living Chandelier Orchid Show is for everyone.  Kids will love it too.

And it’s so romantic – Orchid Evenings are perfect for a special date. Swoon with your lover(s) amid the magic and mystery of the Conservatory, stir in a few cocktails “inspired by Guerlain’s Orchidée Impériele line” -- or Champagne on select nights -- sprinkle in the sounds of live music, and even the orchids will be dancing and whispering sweet love songs for you and your sweetie.

There’s a smart-phone tour for the show, along with a companion guide you can use while shopping to learn more about orchid care.   The Shop in the Garden offers a variety of rare and easy-to-grow orchids.

Before you go:
Try to purchase your tickets ahead of time.  The show is understandably well attended so waiting in line shouldn’t be part of the plan. 
You can become a member and dispense with waiting on line! 
Here to all things Living Chandeliers Orchid Show 2015 – from transportation to hours to about.

A Few Facts about Orchids from NYBG:

Orchids represent the height of evolutionary success in the plant kingdom. With more than 30,000 naturally occurring species, they are the largest family of flowering plants.  Orchids are adaptable, diverse, and grow in almost every habitat – from semi-desert to Arctic tundra – on every continent except Antarctica.  They come in a dazzling range of sizes, from miniatures with tiny flowers less than 1/16 of an inch in diameter to giants more than 25 feet tall with flower spikes up to 10 feet long.  Orchids also come in an amazing array of colors and shapes. 
Some mimic bees, wasps, butterflies, and moths.  They are the entertainers and performers of the plant world.