Home Renovation Diary

The color composition was finally coming together:  

We’d tried close to a dozen different color chips/swatches on the walls.  

And re-tried a few more -- and still more.  

I adore that Dorothy Draper at the Greenbriar look. 

  

The decorating diva recommended thinking about the way a room looks from within – as well as from adjoining spaces.

So I did.

I viewed the passages as frames that make each successive wall area pop – especially when viewed as a whole composition.

Getting there with the Draper inspiration

We changed the color of the dining room and sitting room area to a Martha Stewart paint.  Martha Stewart  

Truth was I was trying to match the view from our perch overlooking the water in the Highlands.  

We are blessed to see the sun rise on the northeast, right side windows and the sunsets, often looking like a low hanging, giant orange, on the left side. 

The gorgeous sunrise was the image I shared a few blog posts back.

I was also inspired by a Tiffany bracelet– you know – the new Rubedo Tiffany & Co. line the storied jewelry maker introduced this spring that touted the sunrise, saying it is a “Tiffany metal that captures the rose luminescence of a sunrise.”  Ahhh, be still my heart.

It’s a blend of gold and rose.  Sounded divine. 

While Home Depot couldn’t match the bracelet on the spectrograph, I did find the Martha Stewart Precious Metals line there. The color Sherbet is perfect I thought – goldish with spice/orange smiling through.  Very nuanced. Very rich. 

We loved the way the sample punched up and complemented the other colors and the heroic mirror I purchased from the Cosa Nostra, Genovese family estate sale.  

This paint decision would prove to “controversial.”

Troubles started with the color finishes! 

Most of the painters we interviewed wouldn’t go with anything other than a flat Benjamin Moore. Don’t get me wrong, I am enchanted by their Benjamin Moore Color Stories  and will attend the BJ Colour webinar this week.

I just wish the painters would embrace the full palette of colors and finishes as opposed to the oh-so-common flat, safe colors. 

Repeatedly, I kept hearing the house painter’s admonishment, “You have to have this or you won’t be able to wash the walls.”

This seemed so odd and jangled with my lifestyle but couldn’t put my finger on it.

Finally when I repeated this Painterly Commandment to my girlfriends, the one exclaimed, “Who the F--- washes their walls?!!”

Enough said.

I was back to asking for a paint with a higher sheen – around 7% or so.

I am in love with Farrow & Ball – their high depth paint colors and quality because they use natural pigments and low or minimal VOC.

The super, sensitive painter Roy, Royal Painters, was initially cool to the idea of working with paint sheen like this – but did agree.

And so we agreed to work with him.  (For other reasons too, of course, but this was key.)

He also agreed, reluctantly but adventurously, to working with the Martha Precious Metals paint.

He also eyed me somewhat suspiciously (or was that malice in his eye?!) when I told him I was going to be putting up a swath of skeletal leaves on the wall.

Under the paint.

To give the wall the illusion that leaves had just blown in. scattered-like effect.

The thing is the paint is so thick (later I learned there is a kind of “glue” in it, according to the artist who is doing an original, artful wall color transition).

The garden dining room and sitting area and loft were first up.

The BJ blue-green of the loft turned out perfect right out of the gate. The color seemed to pull in the see and the sky just beyond.  

The Martha Precious Metals paint, on the other hand, had a rather difficult birth.  

It was thick, yes, but dried quickly and the small, special roller that was recommended didn’t allow Roy to move fast enough to get the paint on without long roadway lines up and down the architecturally soaring walls.

Further, after the first coat, the color was Bright orange: pumpkin!  Yikes.

This wasn't even the same family as the Pantone color of the year!  Where was our princess?

Later, while discussing the issue with Roy, we determined the color was “puddling” due to the concentration of color ¾ the angled ceilings were painted the Sherbet color too, you see, probably causing the intense color correction. 

Soooo, I thought and thought about this while looking up.  I suggested we paint those angled walls/ceilings with the same Gypsy Moth, light, light salmon color – looks whitish in some light.

We’d been “told” to paint only the flat-topped areas as ceilings so the angles were considered walls, not ceilings.

So, the primer went back on, the Gypsy Moth ceiling color went on. 

Then we tried two of our earlier paint choices on the wall to see if the change in paint would in fact be better - especially in a room with so much natural light.  

Yuck.  The terra-cotta and gold I initially liked looked so lifeless and drab compared to the Sherbet Precious Metals - even in its comprised state.  

It Glows! Precious Metals Sherbet on Wall & chip

"Roller Roy" has the advantage!

Further, Roy determined it was time to make an educated, professional decision and change the roller.  I agreed. We had to try.  Roy secured an 18” roller that had similar longish lamb’s wool threading that help make the fauxish finish. 

I was upstairs writing and working while Roy and Herman worked downstairs.  On the day when we expected that room to be finished, it was like waiting for the birth announcement.  Nerve-wracking.

When Roy called me to come down, I was nervous. This was almost our last ditch effort to make it work.  My husband had thrown up his hands long ago on this issue saying, “Just paint it all blue.” 

But I had faith – there had been those glimmers on the shorter wall and I believed we could overcome the problems.  Sort of…

When I walked into the room, Roy was looking at me for the reaction, much like the TV show Home Improvement where the host yells, “Move that truck!”

I looked.  I held my breath and my heart.  It was glorious!  The light was streaming in from all sides, rendering the walls a burnished gold, spice color! 

There was depth, nuance, and a richness.  It reflects and refracts, and changes throughout the day and evening. 

Oh happy day. 

Good things come to those who wait….

And to those who have a good, patient and fellow home décor explorer as a partner. 

Roy was justifiably proud. 

And now, he recognized that he could add to his portfolio of color and texture treatments for other clients…

Win, win, win.

I love it.

The other colors went on with no battle scars. 

The creamy yellow looks classic and happy next to the dark wood of the kitchen cabinets.  

And I can’t wait to see it next to the reupholstered living room furniture fabric. 

The Farrow & Ball Organery next to the fireplace stone is stunning and so spot on.  

The Dix Blue in the hallow captures the filtered light of the front door, offering a sky-like backdrop for the sparkling stars that dance on the walls there.  

It’s very special…

Stephen Orr's First Book: "Tomorrow's Garden" Book Launch in New York City

“Tomorrow’s Garden” Book Launch in New York City

February 17, 2011

I can’t think of another, more anticipated garden book than Stephen Orr’s first tome, “Tomorrow’s Garden.”  

Hailed as a design and inspiration for a new age of sustainable gardening, the book is a spot-on, sensual, inspirational tour of what Stephen’s visionary eye sees as “…the gardens of the future.” 

He describes his idea of pleasure gardens as an aesthetic that cannot deny the urbanization of our world and the “green movement.”

The book joyfully and respectfully illuminates amateur gardeners and their work.

That alone is a refreshing nod to his at-the-gate-position in the e-volution of home gardens. How Stephen is that?! 

He says, “These gardens not only concern themselves with reaching their own best level of sustainability in water usage, plant choices, local ecology, and preservation of resources, but they are also aesthetically delightful.” 

I’ll say. And then some…

First scheduled to premiere in the fall of 2010, garden enthusiasts packed the Wave Hill-sponsored lecture in the spring of last year to hear Stephen tell the story of the making of his first book.  

His funny, self-effacing, and very intimate, personal introduction to the motivation and making of book was equal parts garden tour, horticultural tutorial, how-to guide and pure magic.

Not unlike the man himself. 

If you don’t already know Stephen, you must get the book.  Trust me. 

If you know Stephen, you will be like me, buying multiple copies for family and friends.

Whether new garden friend or me-gusto admirer, when reading the book you will have the sense of taking garden tours with your dearest friend; talking garden design and sharing homegrown tips over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, while discussing that day’s garden exploration. 

He is the kind of gardening guru you want to spend time with.  

You find yourself smiling or nodding your head as he describes a garden narrative.  

He can be provocative, but he won’t go all fancy pants on you.  

The book is rather a pure, unadulterated ode to the emerging garden of tomorrow (that is today!) as a cultivated space that is beauty, utility, and creativity that also respects a sustainable, local aesthetic. 

Don’t be surprised when every other garden lecturer references “Tomorrow’s Garden” and Stephen’s seemingly prescient garden spaces. 

He is a pioneer.  

A reluctant one I imagine but nevertheless...
Stephen has energetically and thoughtfully curated a collection of exciting, cutting-edge gardens for us to explore.

We shouldn’t all want an English country garden.  Or an Italian or Chinese garden --any more than our meal preparation should mimic some overzealous desire to import an ill-conceived attempt at recreating something that doesn’t celebrate the very essence of what makes each and every place unique and special…

His book seeks out gardens that teach us how to be sustainable and glamorous… 

Stephen captures this feeling and wraps it up in a garden opus that you won’t put down.
Likewise, you will use the book as a working reference: there are plant lists, hardscaping ideas and soil amendment tips.

I’ll review the book in more detail later.  I couldn’t help showcase a bit here to give a context for the book launch. 

Stephen is garden friend from um, I can’t remember J  I do know I was thrilled when he not only attended botanic garden events at the two amazing NYC Gardens when I worked there but also agreed to be a judge for the community gardening program when I was the director of communications.

It was a loooong day, visiting neighborhood gardens, judging streetscapes and container gardens and he was as enthusiastic and eager and encouraging to the citizens at 4 pm as he was at 10 am. 

He loves this garden stuff and it shows!
In Chapter 12's Gardening the Street, you can see some of the judging day's green-garden streetscape images and learn about the urban gardeners' successes and challenges.

From that time to now, Stephen has delightfully and deservedly explored the world of gardens on every level.  Recently he was named the Gardening Editorial Director at Martha Stewart Living magazine. http://www.marthastewart.com

The March issue – with the in-your-face, Crayola-colored basket of vegetables cover shot, features a review of his book.  

At the same time, this issue marks Stephen and his team’s first garden guide editorial. The premiere garden feature is not unlike the book’s classy, practical no-nonsense, inspirational style. 

It is a gob-smacked wonder.

You find yourself devouring the exciting segment and yet breathlessly asking, ”Why haven’t garden stories been like this before?”

He and Andrea Mason, Gardening Editor, The Martha Stewart Show (TV), who I worked with on more than a few gardening segments, along with Shaun Kass, Martha’s head gardener, Bedford are the garden experts who have contributed to the pulse-quickening “Vegetable Garden Primer.” 

Wowsy!

Tomorrow's Garden Book Party

It was a perfect evening for the book event. Nice, clear weather.  For a change. No snow. There were a lot of parties on the block, so there was an overall festive appeal and spark on the street.

Tomorrow’s Garden party was an overfilled, living room-styled party whose happy guests hailed from the worlds of horticulture, publishing, design, edible landscaping and garden design, TV and photography. 

All have touched Stephen in a supportive, dynamic way in all the star-filled points of his life.  

Take that Facebook! 

Martha attended the book launch event.  What a boss…

As did Andrea:

    

And Melissa Ozawa, a former colleague of Stephen’s at House & Garden, a noted manuscript reader who Stephen acknowledges in the book was a co-host of the event. 

I have to add that I have also worked with Melissa and she is a delight: an unassuming talent with a marked aesthetic. I admire her. 

Melissa wore happy Dorothy-like, Wizard of Oz shoes on the night of the book launch J
How transporting!

Here is Stephen and Melissa – what a dynamic duo.  

The books were for sale, ready for Stephen to autograph.  

No signing table; and I thought that was nice.  He was mingling with the swelling guest crowd.  

The party food hit just the right note.  

As I was tasting a treat or two, I was surprised to see my garden friend Tom Christopher at the food table. He joked he does take the hay seeds out sometimes to visit the big city.  

Tom  has just released his latest book, “The Artful Garden: Creative Inspiration for Landscape Design” co-authored with James van Sweden. I told him I Tweeted (@gardenglamour) news of his book after reading in Architectural Digest. http://www.architecturaldigest.com

I also chatted it up with New York Botanic Garden's Marc Hachadourian, Manager of the Nolan Greenhouses for Living Collections who runs the much-idolized Orchid Collection.  He was deservedly a bit breathless, as he was busy preparing for the annual Orchid Show at NYBG, scheduled for March 5-April 25 http://tiny.cc/sy93k
http://www.nybg.org/tos11/the-orchid-show.php

I did ask an admiring guest to take a picture of Stephen and me. But sadly, she was no Annie Leibovitz.  In fact, there is no image at all of the two of us. L  sigh…

But look what Stephen wrote in my book! 

“It’s so nice to have garden friends like you.”

How sweet.  Right back ‘atcha. 

Gardens are about beauty and sharing.  And every great garden tells a story. Stephen has curated the most fascinating and gorgeous garden stories to share...

"Tomorrow's Gardens" illuminates and celebrates the designed garden's sensual and spiritual elements in an exciting and refreshing way.

Cheers, darling.

Holiday Decor That Won't Make You See Red!

Save some "green" on your holiday budget and make your home, office or apartment a bit more garden-like by doing it yourself (DIY)
Most of our holiday traditions grew out of or stem from (love the garden puns!) an environmental need or solution.
For example, pre-winter pruning helps the shrubs or trees.
It makes them happy.
Bringing in the armloads of cut holly or red-twigged dogwood or box or andromeda will fill your rooms with joy. It will make you happy.
It will look beautiful matched with your vases, candles, and bows.
And it will save you money - which is especially important this year when everyone is making their list and checking it  -- not twice but maybe like 12 times...

I've always relied on mother nature to decorate for the winter and Christmas Holidays.  (see last year's holiday decorating post: http://tiny.cc/9bio4)

There is so much beauty all around if we just dream - and use our imaginations.

Of course Martha Stewart can always be counted on to tickle our creative juices.
And my friend Stephen Orr is now the Garden Editor for Martha Stewart Living Magazine (yeah!) and blogs too, so don't miss Stephen's magical writing.

as can my friend Suzy Bales.  Especially inspiring is her latest book, "Garden Bouquets and Beyond: Creating Wreaths, Garlands, and More in Every Garden Season."















Every year I take my poinsettias outside to the garden and then bring them back inside to the garden room just before Thanksgiving.  They soon turned their brilliant red.
I attended Spanish school in Cuernavaca, Mexico some years ago.
I promise I was paying attention ^:^ but at the same time, I couldn't help be seduced by the enchanting poinsettia plants that dotted the surrounding hills like brooches on a festive outfit.

I since learned somewhere along my horticultural studies that this most definitive of holiday plants was named for our first ambassador to Mexico: Joel Robert Poinsett - who first brought the plants to the United States.

Celebrate the poinsettia's very own national holiday, December 12th!
The idea behind this act of Congress (bipartisan support, I hope!) is to give someone a poinsettia plant.

If the thought of giving this ubiquitous plant or the now similarly seen everywhere paperwhites makes you break out in a rash, then think about decorating with cut evergreens, birch, berries, steed hollies, herbs, and conifer cones.
I did.

If you are in town and can't walk out the door to borrow from Mother Nature, head to the Greenmarket and/or the corner bodega.
Green pin cushion cut flowers, eucalyptus, or hypericum berries are all good choices to decorate with. I also used  with water resistant LED lights I order from http://www.acolyte.com


I used silver serving pieces filled with steed holly to accent the Advent wreath.
Then I took small cut twigs to fill a ball that nestles into two garden urn candleholders. (The greens replace the candle.)

 

For one of my most favorite garden aficionado, Maria, I used small conifers, wrapped with "icicle" garland and silver balls for the urns and finished with an icy blue and white and silver bow.
The coolly elegant colors highlight Maria's love of all things white in her garden.

Full view with myrtle topiaries in iron planters line with burlap - a great juxtaposition of design elements.  I placed a few gold balls and green-glitter pine cones in the planters too.

I did red holly and red ribbons and balls for another container garden.  Photos to follow.

At my place, I kept the tuteur in the front of the Garden State house and cut holly leaves to fill the planter.

I wrapped sparkly white lights on the mini boxwood in its planter.
I added pine cones and cut birch to a red planter, white twigs and red holly to the corner planter.

And the piece de resistance - is the whimsical, evergreen-filled skate I hung from the front door.
I did this for the Gotham apartment door too.

Both door decorations have garnered unsolicited and most welcome feedback.
It's so nice to make people happy!

The skate was a very old pair that belonged to my husband.  He hasn't skated since the last ice age (ha!) so when I spotted them earlier this year when tidying up the garage I made a mental note that I could do something with them.

So have some fun.  Save some money.  Bring nature inside.  Enjoy the beauty of the season.

Bees in the Morning and Fine Gardening and Vegetables

I am still waking up bees in the morning.

Here in the metropolitan Northeast, we’re enjoying a return to warmer weather after nearly two weeks of dreary, but much-needed rain.  I don’t think it’s Indian summer yet, but it feels a little bit like it.

The warm mornings find dozens of snoozing carpenter bees that’ve settled on the sedum and even the chaise lounge.  Given their unwieldy flying aerodynamics I hate to rustle them awake, thinking they need more power sleep.  But we all must get on with the day’s work.  I am gentle…

Yesterday we were able to do outdoor fine gardening, after a series of cancelled Monday’s, “called on account of rain.”  

I picked up Hal, the Edward Scissorhands student from the New York Botanical Garden’s School of Professional Horticulture who came to the Garden State by ferry.  We met Sarah, professional horticulturist and graduate from Ontario Canada school of horticulture. 

We had lots to do.  Remove “squatter” plants from the pool beds.  I refer to the plants who take up residence in beds and places they don’t belong as squatters. I don’t blame them though.  The designed beds are too seductive.  Whether they arrived on the wind or from what has been called the bird’s “poo factor” it was time to rid the beds of these unwelcome guests.

We also had to weed, trim, and prune.  Especially the espalier.  In addition, two of the lines had come undone a bit and the top line had to be established.  Hal worked all day snipping and cutting and tying.  We still have the last quadrant to get right, but the look is vastly improved and almost back to textbook perfect.

I don’t know why espalier isn’t employed more often, especially in urban and tight sub-suburban gardens.  In the European and Asian tradition, one learned how to grow fruit is small spaces.  Who needed a grove when you could put an apple tree on the side of the building? 

Perhaps few people practice espalier when they saw the elaborate, twisted espalier from the Japanese and French culture where they seemingly love to torture their plants into intense designs -- finding the whole affair too “fancy.” 

And espalier is a lot of work, even if the lines are rather straightforward. 

But it’s worth it.

This espalier I designed is pyracantha or firethorn, so it has four-season interest: spring with the bridal veil of white flowers, late summer and autumn with its pumpkin orange berries, (which contrasts so Mediterranean-like with the purple of the caryopteris and the blue lyme grass in front of that.).  Often later, there are reddish berries. And it’s evergreen.  This provides beauty and the ideal real estate for bird’s nests, it seems!  We love checking out who’s taken up residence every spring.

We also had a very special on-site insect visitor checking out Hal Scissorhands.  It is the curious, prehistoric-looking praying mantis!  Sarah tells me she sees him (or her) with some frequency. 

As he runs for his fancy digital camera, Hall tells me that praying mantis eat themselves!  

Huh?!

Why do they do that?  This provokes some spirited lunchtime conversation.  I’ve heard of the black widow spider that eats her partner after mating.  Hal says praying mantis will do that too.  (Talk about loving and leaving them!)  And he says they will also do that if they are hungry enough.   This seems too sad to me. That seems like powerful hunger that could readily be ameliorated with all the plenty found in a garden…

I tell them I remember my father admonishing us never to harm a praying mantis or a dogwood tree.  They were both protected and it was against the law in the Garden State to kill them.  I honestly don’t know if that was really true, but it worked for me.

I potted up the containers with seasonal mums – here it is orange and yellow, with matching colored pumpkins of contorted shapes, stripes, and bumps.  This color combination set off the orange and yellow lantana that thrive right up till frost in the front western-facing borders on either side of the entrance.

I left the ornamental wine-colored pepper plants and the chartreuse potato vines in the pots. 

We also planted white mums, Shasta daisies and white ornamental pepper plants in another garden.  As the ferns were still luxuriant in the urns, I just removed the limp-looking caladiums and inserted the pepper plants for height and color.  The white mums were dropped into the smallish box garden to the left of the entrance, making for a happy, eye-catching seasonal garden spot to enjoy coming and going.

I was also able to get those elegant looking silvery pumpkins that look for all the world to me like Cinderella’s carriage pumpkin!  I put these at the feet of the urns for a pretty entrance composition.

The whimsical “ghost pumpkins” are huddled at the feet of the cast iron containers, keeping watch for the topiaries there.  Who has the most curious shape I’m guessing they are giggling.

The great white pumpkin sites directly opposite the door in the liriope garden to be seen upon leaving the house or driving in from either side of the circular driveway. 

A few years ago, I did a series of white pumpkins, positioned at various heights in the liriope grass garden.  I punched out the holes a la Martha Stewart design.  They looked like white lace with the twinkling lights from inside peeping out at night.

Very glamorous.

And while it remains warm, and the season extended, we are necessarily looking back…

This year’s gardens in the northeast were marked by extreme, record-breaking heat and lack of rain.  Very stressful for the plants and gardeners.

Great for the vineyards of Long Island though.  When I visited for the photo shoot for my book, Long Island Homegrown, the growers there told me how great this year was.

Thanks to my husband’s diligent research and best-gardening practices, our home garden was a banner year for tomatoes, potatoes, and shisito peppers, and yellow cucumbers in particular.  

We enjoyed a variety of tomatoes; cherry and full size right up to beefsteak. I Love the shishito peppers in place of almonds with a martini at cocktail time.  Munching the peppers grilled or pan roasted with fresh sea salt is a true luxury.

And Hot Peppers!

Could Mulch Be Any Sexier? Or Nuttier?

There are few if any things more elegant and distinctive than a hazelnut.

And perhaps none more mysterious.

Sure, if prompted, most of us can identify the flavor hazelnut when paired with oh, let’s say, chocolate. 

Then there is the European-influenced spread, Nutella

And I’ve always put them out with mixed nuts at Thanksgiving.  Nothing solo.

But how many can identify a hazelnut as a biennial with their frilly, gorgeous caramel-coat clusters that look like a fancy collar Tilda Swinton could regally pull off wearing? 

Not me.  Not until I was walking in Chef Keith Luce’s brand new potager kitchen garden behind his newly restored and reopened, Jedediah Hawkins Inn in Jamesport, Long Island.  (www.jedediahhawkinsinn.com)

Chef Keith is a celebrated master chef in my upcoming book, “Long Island Homegrown.”  (www.celebritychefsandtheirgardens.blogspot.com)

Recently, we were photographing this amazing farmer/chef in his beautiful and well-kept garden where he grows herbs and vegetables for the food served in the restaurant.

I was keen to learn about Chef Keith’s story about how the garden came to be -- he comes from a North Fork family whose farming roots go back generations.

Chef Keith is a former White House sous chef by the way

I was charmed by the garden layout and his choice of herbs and vegetables.   Increasingly I found myself being wooed by what was underfoot. 

I couldn’t help but notice the fascinating gems that were scrunch, scrunch, scrunching with a decided syncopation along with my every step.    It was a musical "hello-Look at me."

The mulch had my attention.  

I scooped a handful of this most curious bounty.

“What is this? “I ask turning the collection of light brown shells in my palm.

Without breaking stride or stopping to see what I was holding, Chef Keith explains it is hazel nuts.  

He goes on to explain they are the sweeter, French hazelnut variety, DuChilly. 

As I scramble to write it down while juggling an umbrella, I ask again, “What is that you say?”

Chef Keith explains the mulch is spent hazelnuts from Holmquist Orchards in Washington State.
http://www.holmquisthazelnuts.com/aboutus.asp

I furiously jot down the name.

Chef explains that at the time he worked at the acclaimed Herbfarm Restaurant in Washington State, he partnered with the Holmquist owners and hazelnut growers extraordinaire to purchase the hazelnuts to use in his creative recipes. 

After moving back to his home in the heart of wine country in Long Island’s North Fork, the siren song of the hazelnut must have wooed Chef too, as he not only continues to use the hazelnuts in his menu offerings, but he asked Holmquist to send him the spent shells they have left over after harvesting and shelling the hazelnuts, before they are gently roasted to use as his garden mulch. 

The family story: this is the 5th generation to grow DuChilly nuts at Holmquist Orchards, the hazelnut growing and processing was all so fascinating. Especially as I just hadn’t ever thought about hazelnuts all that much. 

To learn of this glamorous use of this charming little nut was a delightful discovery.  I felt I had uncovered a treasure tale.

Imagine my surprise when I opened the October issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine – the one with the pretty, lacy pumpkin on the front cover. Included in the issue is a feature article titled, “A Harvest of Hazelnuts” that showcases an outstanding photo essay on the proud heritage of the Foulke family from start-up through success -- and especially the hazelnut harvest. (www.marthastewart.com)

Holmquist Orchards I later learn after research, was featured in a 2008 Martha Stewart story. You can buy the hazelnuts directly from their web site too.

The recent article details how the rains shake the nuts from the trees, harvester vacuums up the nuts and blows about debris leaving clean nuts to bobble into a bin. 

The nuts ride a conveyor belt into the cracker. The bins that hold the nuts drops them one by one into the cracker for shelling. 

This is the mulch: the spent shells!

The nuts go on to the roasting line and then to quality control…

Chef repurposes the DuChilly hazelnut shells from Holmquist Orchards in the Jedediah Hawkins garden with great purpose and success. 

It is too-perfect compost and mulch.

Spread along the garden paths and in the beds it is beautiful to look at! 

It  seemed a bit fragrant, too. 

And they make that lovely crunching come-hither sound when you walk on them.

What a curiously brilliant addition to the garden.

I looked up hazelnuts to learn more and found out they are grown in Mediterranean countries including Turkey (the largest producer) and Italy and here in the United States in Oregon and Washington State. 

The nuts are used in confectionary to make praline. I also learned they are rich in protein and unsaturated fat and are a good source of Vitamin B. 

I’ve always been fascinated with the quick-change, chameleon artist almond, and how it can sweetly romance almost anything from beauty products like cream or oil to food like cakes and candy and beans to candles and oh so many things.

Now, it seems the flirty little hazelnut just might steal the spotlight. 

I learned from Martha’s feature story that hazelnuts can also be used to create not only delicious desserts, but also pizza dough, oil, and pesto.

This is crazy good!

Or just plain nutty J

Two Garden Book Reviews: Vizcaya and Hidcote

In a recent issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine, I read the story on Vizcaya, the amazing garden estate that is now a must-see garden museum.  The article reminded me that I had reviewed a book about Vizcaya a few years ago for my local Garden State newspaper, "The Two River Times." 

http://www.tworivertimes.com

I thought I'd dust off that book review and "revisit" Vizcaya since it seems so topical :)   Plus my garden review also includes the book "Garden at Hidcote"  so you'll enjoy two gardens!

Garden Book Reviews:

Whether you think of snow flurries as winter reality or fantasy, cold temperatures help the plant kingdom hibernate till the glory of spring adjusts our color contrast screen!  In the meantime, let’s use our garden passport: books -- and head out for this month’s garden tour.  Like many a snowbird, it seems appropriate to make the first stop tropical Florida.  We’ll visit the palatial Miami estate, Vizcaya.  Then we’ll head to Cotswold, England to tour what is arguably, the most influential garden of the last century.

Vizacaya: An American Villa and Its Makers

Named for a Spanish Baroque province – Vizcaya was the winter home of Chicago industrialist James Deering.  Today it is a museum.  As told in Vizcaya: An American Villa and Its Makers by Witold Rybczynski, professor of Urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania and Laurie Olin, Practice Professor of Landscape Architecture there, as well as a principal in the Olin Partnership, his landscape architecture firm, these two experts masterfully document the making of this extraordinary home and its garden.  Architectural Digest’s Steven Brooks lends the book the intimate view of the garden today that balances the images, blueprints, maps, plant lists, and correspondence included from the Vizcaya Museum and Garden Archive.  Reproduced for the first time in the book – and not surprisingly, on the book’s cover --are the rich watercolors rendered by the famed portrait artist, John Singer Sargent, who was a guest at Vizcaya throughout much of 1917. It is said that the glory days at Vizcaya were from that year through 1923.

The story of this Gilded Age mansion is a unique collaboration among Deering, Paul Chalfin, artist, F. Burrall Hoffman, Jr., architect, and garden designer, Diego Suarez—all neophytes in their fields.  Other country house mansions like San Simeon, the “cottages” in Newport, or the Biltmore, were all designed by leading experts, such as Carrere & Hastings.   Vizcaya is also unique as it was the first grand estate located on the water’s edge. In contrast, contemporary mansions were located perhaps with a water view, but featured great expanse of lawn separating house from water, whereas Vizcaya’s frontage sat right on Biscayne Bay.

Located on 180 acres on Brickell Point in Coconut Grove, Vizcaya was artistically researched and painstakingly compiled: “a lens through which readers learn about architecture, landscape and garden design, interior decorating and art” threaded through the personal story of the design team and the times in which they lived. The book notes the influence on the design team of Sir George Sitwell’s On the Making of Gardens: “To make a great garden, one must have a great idea or a great opportunity…” and in this book, the reader learns that there is indeed an abundance of both those elements.

Chalfin had been an assistant to the socialite interior decorator Elise de Wolfe but saw the opportunity when Deering asked him to act as his artistic director. Deering’s immense wealth from the merger of McCormick and Deering to create the International Harvester Company, allowed him to indulge in collecting art. Chalfin helped him to build a collection that included Tiepolos and Manet. This was the time of Edith Wharton. And the wealthy of the period were obsessed with Europe.  The first part of the book narrates the touring and research trips Deering and Chalfin took there to determine first, what style of house they would find most inspiring, and then later to collect many items for the house and garden as was the custom of the day.   The building of the house and the interior design is also included in this part of the book. 

According to the authors, the two selected an odd choice of house style; finding their inspiration in the 17^th Century Villa Rezzonico in the mountains of Italy, rather than a seaside or lake house – which, considering Vizcaya was to be located on the water, would have been a more apparent or logical choice. 

The second part of the book details the design and construction of the gardens at Vizcaya.  James Deering and his brother were both naturalists and ecologists, which helped to make the garden unique.  Botanist David Fairchild worked with Charles on his nearby estate, Buena Vista and later that of the gardens at Cutler, whose work anticipates the work of noted Brazilian landscape architect, Roberto Burle Marx.   A frequent guest at Vizcaya, Fairchild was later instrumental in establishing a botanic garden there, and today, the Fairchild Botanic Garden is named for him.  James embraced the outdoor living environment and respected the frailty of the environment, and according to the book, sought to preserve the surrounding “hammocks” – what we call ridges, as well as the lagoons and water, in addition to producing the manicured, European-influenced gardens surrounding the house and dock areas. 

The book literally takes the reader on a tour of the garden today.  http://www.vizcayamuseum.org/

There is a map detailing the 29 garden rooms, including the Garden Theater, Barge, Rose Garden and Fountain, and the Maze.  The reader can’t help but ooh and ahh at the artistic design of runnels, statues, obelisks, and loggias with fireplaces fronting the lagoon. It is noted that Deering’s lagoon designs were influenced by the Duke Estate in Somerville, NJ, having consulted with James (Buck) Duke.  There are also delightful, whimsical touches, such as the rococo garden swing that can only come from the passionate, hands-on care of Chalfin’s artistic oversight.  The thoughtful presentation of the layout sets a mood and makes this an enduring garden classic.  The authors note that by1920 Deering had already spent more than $334,000 on Vizcaya’s garden and more than $3 million on the house. 

The Garden at Hidcote

The Garden at Hidcote, authored by Fred Whitsey tells the garden story of the creation of one of the world’s most admired and imitated gardens. The book is 150 pages, with lavishly appointed photographs of the American owner, designer, and gardener, Lawrence Waterbury Johnston.  The book offers a garden tour that is also an analysis of garden design.  The author readily demonstrates how the disparate elements of this expansive garden offer inspiration and guidance, no matter how humble a garden space may be.  Gardens tell a story, and the fact that the more than 21 garden rooms at Hidcote are arranged as unique cottage gardens, they appear more like “episodes” or “chapters” in this brilliantly-told garden story.  There is a sense of exploration as the reader is taken from one garden room enclosure to the next. There is a theatrical quality to how the views and perspective are presented at Hidcote.  Reading the book offers a garden enthusiast a model of what an exquisite garden can be: given a love of plants, patience, and a keen artistic aesthetic that is both inherent and learned.

The exuberant perennial plant borders Johnston designed were those that wealthy Edwardians favored over the fussy, clipped carpet bedding of the Victorian era.  Described as a reclusive, well-heeled bachelor, Johnston was widely admired.  Russell Page said Hidcote influenced him more than any other and the director at Kew Gardens called Johnston a “genius.” 

The book documents how he came to influence the use of hardy, herbaceous groups of plants that feature dense companion plants.  Today, this is a most admired and sought-after garden look that to many, defines the English garden look, and is a mainstay of many Two River gardens.

Hidcote was the first garden to be named a National Trust Garden in the UK. The irony is that Johnston was a Yankee transplant!

He possessed an innate style that promoted the artistic use of plants arranged by color: more blends than contrasts, size, texture.  Also, for the first time, the garden beds were designed using plants with varying bloom times so that there is a succession or near-constant display of bloom – as one group’s seasonal luster fades, there is another to capture your heart.  Besides the aesthetic, it is noted that Johnston believed this intense planting scheme reduced the need for water and eliminated a lot of weeds, as there wasn’t room for them to grow in the beds.

The reader can see Johnston's shrewd use of surprise throughout the gardens at Hidcote.  Whitsey shows how Johnston was an illusionist: concealing the art of the garden, referred to as a “Gallery of Plants.”  At the same time, Johnston weaves the relational threads to make a seamless whole from the independence of the various cottage gardens.

The book also tells the story of Johnston, although there are some unavoidable lapses due to his reclusiveness and extreme reticence.  He never wrote or kept records. Even those who worked for him rarely recall conversations. He was an only child, born in Paris in 1871 to wealthy Americans.  His father died when he was a young teenager and he and his mother moved to New York.  His mother soon remarried – to Charles Winthrop, a successful lawyer. All too soon, she was a widow again.  After graduating from Trinity College in Cambridge, Johnston became a British citizen.  His mother was able to fund his purchase of more than 280 acres in Cotswold and by 1907 he was an English country gentlemen. His mother lived with him until she died.  And except for two stints in the military and the occasional plant exploration, he only left Hidcote for his home in Menton on the Mediterranean. His garden there, Serre de la Madone was the first garden in France to receive a monument historique designation from the Ministry of Culture.

My husband and I visited this garden on a trip to Monaco.  It is truly magical.

For the next 50 years Johnston’s total preoccupation were the gardens.

The author speculates that his inspiration was possibly the many travel books he read and the burgeoning Arts & Crafts movement he studied.  Also inspiring were his neighbors and visiting guests.  It seems Johnston hosted a "plant salon” of sorts.  From his neighbors Norah Lindsay and Heather Muir, plants women and acclaimed garden designers, to Edith Wharton, a frequent guest, Johnston hosted compelling get-togethers of like-minded garden aficionados.  Wharton described Hidcote as “tormentingly perfect”. 

Some of the planting hallmarks at Hidcote are the tapestry hedges—which are green and copper beech or yew and holly -- grown together.  And a peacock topiary – both of which are beautifully illustrated in full color photographs.

The book offer planning tips, too. The rich, colorful photographs are stunning, personal views of the garden’s planting schemes so that the dripping purple wisteria, yellow tulips or Red Borders and Fuchsia and White Gardens jump off the page.

Johnston was 86 years old when he died in 1958.  But the gardens at Hidcote – and Serre de la Madone live on.  And if your schedule prevents you from visiting on-site, enjoy this book about a master garden artist and his passion. Next best thing.