Don Rakow Explains the World of Public Gardens at the 92 St Y

The 92^nd Street Y has earned an unparelleled reputation for presenting impeccable and compelling news lectures.

Their ability to identify an issue and the expert that embodies the nascent topic seems almost uncanny. 

Yet, decades of having their finger firmly on the pulse of what everyone will be talking about at dinner parties or NPR or effecting cultural news trend reporters and well, bloggers, is a well-defined skill set.

And so it was recently when the 92St Y – brought about my friend, Helen Conover, hosted Donald Rakow, PhD, the Elizabeth Newman Wilds Director of Cornell Plantations, as well as Director of the Cornell Graduate Program in Public Garden Leadership and co-author of Public Garden Management A Complete Guide to the Planning and Administration of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta.

(I am so honored to have been asked to contribute to this seminal resource book. 

I provided chapter 19, Public Relations and Marketing Communications.)

The lecture at the 92^nd St Y was a well-attended event with the audience seeming to consist of equal parts eager, tell-me-more-public garden enthusiasts and loyal Big Red, Cornell alumni and supporters  -- of which I am a card-carrying member because my beloved father is/was a Cornell graduate: class of ’47, engineer – who worked diligently for the alumni and volunteered for years as the Garden State’s first line of recruitment for would-be students.  I possess many fond family memories of his Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity house and Triphammer Road and the beautiful gorges and …

It’s a spectacular campus, to say the least – of which the audience and Rakow are duly proud. 

Hint: Take a visit.

Dr. Rakow is an authoritative, engaging speaker.  Dr. Rakow makes his points clearly and with distinction. 

He takes you down the garden path with a soft-spoken Mr. Chips kind of class and style – illuminating a world of which most are only aware of peripherally – or to extend the metaphor – most people’s knowledge of public gardens is what they see at the garden’s border. 

The magical, special, pragmatic world Dr. Rakow showcases is that of the overwhelming, unabashed dedication and embrace of the world of public gardens.

To most green garden lovers it’s a “you say tomato/I say tomato kind of issue.”

 

But that notion or thesis is, in fact, the starting line of the topic and the book, Public Garden Management.

He knows how to cultivate a topic many are not aware of and at the same time, demystify that same subject they just learned about.  He is an artful explorer – tacking and jibing where needed.

He is a sensitive teacher.

His talk, supported by salient PowerPoint images and appropriate text  - a presentation that he is clearly comfortable with – nay – eager to deliver – consists of a broad overview of what a Public Garden is and what it is not.  

The more intriguing element is why this distinction is important…

But first up is “setting the stage.”

“Virtually all Public Gardens work from a mission statement” said Dr. Rakow.  Their intent is just the same as fine art museum.” 

From my years working at the cultural institutions that are New York’s botanic gardens, the distinction is that a public garden is a living museum.

I’d often say to the press eager to learn about a public garden – “while the beauty and mystery of say, a Picasso or a Monet, is undeniable -- here at the botanical garden, the art is not only beautiful and compelling and rigorous, but it changes. Every day.”

Put that in your cultural swag bag!

Dr. Rakow went on to describe and explain the unique categories of public gardens, including:

·      Botanic garden

·      Aboreta

·      Pleasure garden

·      Historic garden

·      Zoo

See, and you thought you knew all about “gardens.”

Here is another world of exciting garden adventures to be explored.

Public Garden Criteria

There exist some clearly defined criteria for public gardens, according to Dr. Rakow.

A public garden and an arboretum need to be curated – this is a clear difference from a park. 

“Some people think of gardens as parks where they go to play Frisbee,” noted Dr. Rakow. “At Cornell, we changed that situation and turned the lawn into a meadow” he said smiling to the chuckling audience.

Further, “We worked with the athletic department to carve out a space for the Frisbee enthusiasts; so it was a win – win” he added.  

No brainer – or not – but a public garden must be open to the public – not just open on garden days or for benefits.

Public Gardens must have professionally trained staff.

It is most important for the Public Garden garden to show what role plants play in our lives. 

Dr. Rakow pointed out the role of botanical gardens and their key services of science and education, in addition to horticulture and public programs.  Public gardens serve their communities very many like plant-based universities.

Moving on to other key criteria defining public gardens is the issue of Social Justice! 

Be still my heart.

Finally.

I attend more lectures than most people have shoes in their closets and rare is the speaker who talks about social justice, much less one that provides a ready solution.

Dr. Rakow talked about public gardens’ ability to respond to the needs of the people and the community.

“Too often a garden doesn’t serve local demographics.”

There is a white middle class or top 1% that supports a botanic garden but a local community might get overlooked- for a variety of not so good reasons.

Dr. Rakow cited Chicago Botanic Garden as public garden that serves its local community: http://www.chicagobotanic.org/

The Green Youth Farm and Windy City Harvest and Cook County Boot Camp programs teach youth about urban farming and harvesting that can lead to their College First Program: a paid internship, college level initiative that follows students after college.

“They stay with them,” said Dr. Rakow, citing a success rate of 90%.

Public Gardens also need to welcome the public to the public gardens in their own language, noted Dr. Rakow.

Queens Botanic Garden in New York City is an example he cited as having the most ethnically diverse garden audience of any in US -- so they interpret the garden in many languages; not just English.

The First Nations Garden in Montreal is a good example of a garden that caters to their Native Quebec Americans to build understanding for them and their culture.  http://www2.ville.montreal.qc.ca/jardin/en/premieres_nations/premieres_nations.htm

Public gardens also offer celebrations events for their particular populations.  These programs can also create opportunities for tourist attractions and can further raise the garden’s profile.

To counteract what is now referred to as Nature Deficit Disorder – a “Last Child in the Woods” affliction affecting far too many children simply because they are separated from the natural world, public gardens offer a bridge to the natural world – even in urban environments where most of increasingly live.

“Let’s Move” type of programs are now in place at museums and gardens he noted.  These programs emphasize both physical activity and the beauty of living museums, aka public gardens.  

Further, most kids have no idea where food comes from, noted Dr. Rakow.  Public gardens are the best vehicles to address this issue and many have developed programs that get kids to understand the life cycle and lessons of plant-based foods.

Public gardens are also leading the way in yet another emerging category: Horticultural Therapy.  Dr. Rakow cited Denver Botanical Gardens and their just-created new Horticultural Therapy program and garden as an excellent example. http://www.botanicgardens.org/

 

Arboreta, on the other hand, focus on woody plants trees, & shrubs.  “The Morton Arboretum is an excellent example,” he said. http://www.morrisarboretum.org/

In terms of Pleasure Gardens, Rakow cited Chanticleer as a premier example.  “Their primary focus is to show how we can be involved with plants in a display garden–by the creative impulse of beauty.”

This is indeed one wowsy beautiful garden.  I’ve been there twice – and could do the tour endlessly. 

Chanticleer was the site of the 2009 Garden Writers of America Awards that I attended.  My second visit was after a family wedding at nearby Villanova and I’d arranged with the incomparable Director Bill Noble to provide a family tour.  Little did I know we’d get to experience the tour with Bill as our guide! It was a most memorable and magical garden experience,  http://www.chanticleergarden.org/

Because Chanticleer was once a family home, the grounds are scaled to our sense of the romance of a garden.  There is a lifetime of gardening to learn and appreciate and inculcate here.  Enjoy.

Next up to be explored was the category of Historic Sites – those gardens than have been restored to another period or era.

Dr. Rakow cited FiLoLi Gardens near San Francisco as a good example of this category of public gardens.

I took a garden design class at FiLoLi and can testify to the beauty and character and the loving maintenance and care of the gardens there.

It’s very name; FiLoLi is an anagram of sorts – from the words Fidelity, Love and Life.

http://www.filoli.org/

Historic garden sites must be curated, Dr. Rakow reminded the listeners. 

And if the mission statement or focus is more on the home or mansion, then it cannot be considered a Public Garden.

According to Dr. Rakow, a revolution is taking place in zoos as they embrace the world of a public garden. 

Here, Dr. Rakow cited Tulsa and their effort to create a naturalistic habitat that best relates to the animals.  http://www.tulsazoo.org/

Significant Trends in Public Gardens

Following up on the success of the groundbreaking book (pun kinda’ intended...) for Public Garden Management, Dr. Rakow said he and co-author Sharon Lee are currently working on their next book about how public gardens are the center of art, research, plant conservation and outreach and healing.

Now we’re getting someplace! 

This is going to be one honey of a book and a topic that is loooonggg overdue, in my opinion.  Applause, Applause.

Another significant trend or issue cited by Dr. Rakow is Plant Conservation. 

There is no more pressing issue of our time, he said, citing Dr. Peter Raven, Missouri Botanical Garden http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/  Dr. Raven forecasts that one third of plants could be extinct by 2030.

Yikes.

Here’s to hoping people care enough to be stewards of our plant world –– the lungs of our world – to make certain we take up our shovels and rakes and well – you get the idea – but take up our arms-as-garden-tools enough to make certain we safeguard our plants and our relationship to them as we do with other cuddly, endangered species.

Another trend is Environmental Sustainability. 

According to Dr. Rakow, a key question or issue should be: does it meet the needs of the present without compromising future generations and their needs?

A good example of best building practices are the structures at the Pittsburgh Phipps Conservatory and botanical garden that uses the most progressive, sustainable buildings now  -- way beyond anything seen heretofore.  The building is scheduled to open this spring as a net zero building  - a living building – that creates all of its own energy – with a net positive energy flow. http://phipps.conservatory.org/visit-phipps/index.aspx

A Q&A followed the talk, further providing some very interesting subjects. 

We learned the Cornell Plantations’ outdoor collections contribute to the student body and academics and are integrated into more than 60 courses, including landscape architecture, environmental ecology, and art.

It was curious to learn that our perception of public gardens goes back to 16^th century Europe when gardens were created as adjuncts to medical universities and not meat for the public.  In Europe today, many of the gardens still don’t have dedicated public outreach and no social outreach or social justice programs, he noted.

And finally, Dr. Rakow shared how the name “plantations” came to be the official moniker of the University’s outdoor collection.  “The name plantation came from Liberty Hyde Bailey,” he said.  “The name has seemed controversial, yes, but the antebellum south environment was not the reference point for the affirmed abolitionist.”  Rather, Bailey thought that the diversity and complexity of an enterprise engaged in horticulture and botany wasn’t served by the term botanical garden.  Bailey wanted the name plantation, in order to suggest the variety of enterprise taken up by the land from an agricultural pursuit.  http://www.cornellplantations.org/

After the lecture, I traveled back home downtown with a woman who is keen to develop public programs that engage children in food and garden projects and came to the event to discover how to best go about this.  “How did she learn about the talk? I asked.  From Twitter, she replied. I hoped it was my Tweet, perhaps, that was the sweet call of nature, brining her to the garden world of public gardens.

http://www.92y.org/

The landmark book, Public Garden Management is available at Amazon:

http://tiny.cc/6ilccw

About the Authors:

Donald A. Rakow, PhD, serves as the Elizabeth Newman Wilds Director of Cornell Plantations, as well as Director of the Cornell Graduate Program in Public Garden Leadership. Actively involved in horticultural associations and education initiatives at many levels, Rakow is a frequent speaker at conferences and has been honored with the APGA Service Award, for his service on American Public Gardens Association's board of directors and many of its committees.

Sharon A. Lee is the principal of Sharon Lee & Associates, a communications consulting firm, and is the former deputy director of the American Public Gardens Association and the founding editor of the Public Garden, the journal of the American Public Gardens Association.

Why Do We Need Green Spaces? Find Out at 92Y

Always at the intersection of the zeitgeist, The 92Y consistently produces compelling and topical issues and tonight offers a particularly "colorful" area of interest: the greening of our lives.  (And no, not just because it's pre St. Patrick's Day!) 

We viscerally know we need Green in our communities.  Find out why and how we need to preserve and protect and grow the Green Spaces -- the botanical gardens, the urban farms, the parks -- and in so doing -- the quality of our lives.   

The speaker, Don Rakow serves as the Elizabeth Newman Wilds Director of Cornell Plantations as well as the director of the Cornell Graduate Program in Public Garden Management and is a professor of horticulture. 

He is also the co-author -- along with Sharon A. Lee -- of the book: Public Garden Management - A Complete Guide to the Planning and Administration of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta. (to order call, 800-355-1751 or www.wiley.com/buy/9780470532133

I remain honored and humbled to have been chosen to provide the chapter, Public Relations and Marketing Communications for the book's Part I: Programmatic Functions.  The entire book is a must-have reference for anyone interested in horticulture and managing public gardens.  Recently, the New York Botanical Garden's School of Professional Horticulture secured copies for their top-flight, rigorous curricula.  Follow the leader!

Metro Hort’s Chelsea Cove Garden Tour with Lynden Miller and Peter Kelly

It was a blistering hot day in Gotham, the thermostat pushing triple digits. 

But garden lovers are intrepid. Besides, Chelsea Cove in Hudson River Park hugs the waterway, offering cooling breezes that kiss the sinuous walkways and magnificent gardens.  

Perfect for a tour with fellow garden enthusiasts despite the equatorial inferno just beyond 23^rd Street and the West Side Highway.  

Wearing sun-shielding hats and tank tops, wielding parasols and umbrellas, nearly 50 Metro Hort members gathered like exotic birds gliding back to the flock, in pairs or solo, pockets of conversation floating like languid bubbles until eventually, a large group formed where Lynden and Metro Hort’s super-organized Sabine Stezenbach and her associate the pretty as a rare orchid and gardening presence, Hanna Packer, were seated under one of several umbrellas.  

There, members signed in, drank some much needed water, shared garden chat while eagerly waiting for the start of the discussion prior to the tour.  So many said they’d never been to the Park; it was such a nice surprise.  All agreed an added benefit of Metro Hort is it gets one out into new, undiscovered neighborhoods!  

Chelsea Cove is Pier 62 and along with Piers 63 and 64, forms the largest contiguous green space in Hudson River Park.  The piers here extend out into the water. The public gardens are located adjacent to the popular Chelsea Piers Sports and Entertainment complex to the south.  

The gardens were constructed in 2009, given a year-long soft opening allowing the plants and grounds to be monitored, officially opening in 2010.  The display gardens are still so new and our hosts generously shared the tribulations experienced by all gardens exposed to extreme weather, high visitation and lack of resources for horticultural maintenance.

Before too long, Sabine welcomed Metro Hort members as “true gardeners,” introduced Lynden Miller, landscape designer extraordinaire commenting, “New York horticulture without Lynden is unthinkable” and Peter Kelly, Project Manager in Design and Construction for the Hudson River Park Trust before handing the portable microphone over to the Peter.   

(I must add that Lynden has long been my landscape design idol. She is a cultural icon and a garden treasure.  There should be a park and a Lynden Miller award added to the Mayor’s annual Cultural Awards.)

Me & my idol, Lynden

Lynden (L) introducing Madeline

Metro Hort attendees benefited from an extended overview and discussion while “waiting” for Madeline Wils, president of the Hudson River Park Trust 

and Mark Boddewyn, landscape architect and vice president of design and construction at his own firm, who first worked with Lynden at Wagner Park in Battery Park City.

We learned so many interesting factoids, historical notes, and inside horticulture scoops! 

Did you know Pier 62 has the biggest piles along the Hudson?  The piles are 300 feet deep to reach bedrock vs. “just” 100 feet in TriBeCa?  Or now that Riverkeeper has cleaned up the Hudson, wildlife has returned, of course, but that means the worms have come back making the case for concrete piers?   At great expense. 

photo rendering of styrofoam base

Most curious is construction of the berms and the skateboard park.  They were carved into different shapes from a Styrofoam base – to aid in strength and drainage -- and then covered with a very sandy, lightweight soil depth of merely two and half feet.  

The Park practices Green Watering – the irrigation and storm water recycles and drains to the Hudson River.

Lynden explained she designed section 5, which extends from 26^th Street to Gansevoort, Pier 54, from where the Lusitania sailed.  They plan to keep the heritage ironwork and historical significance there.  Thoughtful design.

Lynden and Peter shared a key design element at Chelsea Cove was the concept of gardens as “pass through” – a gateway to the water and great lawns that punctuate the park.   

Lynden worked with award-winning landscape architect, Michael Van Valkenburgh, www.mvvainc.com hoping to “bleed” some of the design bed plantings into his native, Capability Brown-styled landscape.  Van Valkenburgh’s firm used Kentucky Coffee, black locust, crabapple and cherry trees, and green grass to achieve a woody, natural look.  

Lynden noted several challenges: at present, there is no shade, so she requested the patio umbrellas. 

And in developing the color scheme, she had to recognize Chelsea Piers’ imposing influence of red, white and blue looming over the gardens.  (The Good To Go Organics red, red food truck is a welcome treat though J Jordon offered summertime lemonade that hit the spot.  www.goodtogoorganics.com  and @gtorganics) 

But she used it. 

Red Knockout Roses; 

Nepeta, backed by Knockout Roses with Natchez Crape Myrtle 

red Japanese Barberry Berberis thunbergii and box that appear to go over and under each other in ribbons of color,            

Ribbons of Color

Hibiscus 'Aphrodite' Deep Purple blossoms

Japanese Blood grasses Imperata cylindrica, white Natchez crepe myrtles, Lagerstroemia indica, deep purple Hibiscus ‘Aphrodite’  and waves of Amsonia hubrichtii Blue Star used as hedge; sedums, Nepeta/Catmint, “Walkers Low” and Salvia ‘Blue Hill’ she refers to as College because it blooms blue in time for graduation, and following a summer haircut, it blooms again in time for student orientation in the fall.  Lovely bright Coreopsis ‘Moonbeam’ smiles throughout the beds. 

Lynden positively rhapsodizes about her use of Oakleaf Hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia.  “I wouldn’t do a garden without them,” Lynden states with utmost fidelity.  “They make other plants look good” she adds.  

Oakleaf Hydrangea is a signature plant used in all her designs. 

As is Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding.’ She adores dark purple. But alas, the Heuchera is not doing well in this garden much to her distress due to a weevil. She is quick to point out the heuchera is doing marvelous up in Fort Tyron Park!

Not to be undone, Lynden solicited the hort group for replacement suggestions and there ensued a lively exchange of plant design ideas, with Lynden asking, “Is someone writing all this down?”

She also adores Euphorbia.  “As soon as you get to a good euphorbia – especially Euphorbia robbiae in a garden, you know that’s me,” she jokingly claims.

Known for her exuberant plantings and luscious garden beds that delight the senses with color, texture, movement and a keen eye for winter beauty. 

Her attention to decorative tree bark, winter color, evergreens in all colors especially the Montgomery Blue Spruce, picea pungens ‘Montgomery’ along with plant forms that hold the snow or form winter patterns all make her gardens a work of art that beckon and delight even in what I refer to as the ‘other” garden season.  There is so much beauty in the garden in winter if we just know what to look for and take the time to see.  (The beautiful book, “A Garden In Winter,” by author and gardener Suzy Bales, is a good place to start.)  

Lynden designed raised concrete beds, providing lots and lots of seating, allowing people to feel engaged with the garden and plants.  An added benefit of the raised beds prevents park goers from walking or trampling through the garden beds. 

The stone walkways – that need to be 40’ wide to allow for fire trucks -- are concrete pavers made by Hannover Designs. The Honey Locust trees are already providing a good screening between the beds and the skateboard area and fencing.

Lynden enthusiastically admits she always over-plants a garden, citing Russell Paige’s admonishment to “always plant a little too close, otherwise the plants will sulk.” 

How adorable is that?  Good advice too. I follow this rule but will now quote Lynden and Paige.  Good company to be in…

Some problems cited by both have been the Sky Pencils—dead after two plantings (replaced by guarantee), spider mite on the persacaris, but they are coming back after thinning out in some spots and dodgy watering, most likely caused by a combination of the height of the sprinkler heads and the size of the berms. 

We broke up into three groups to tour the garden beds.  Peter, Lynden and Mimi, a special gardener with the Hudson River Park Trust– who also was recruiting for Gardening help Volunteers.  If you are interested, please contact The Hudson River Park Trust.)

The three led the Metro Hort members throughout the gardens, pointing out the variety of plants, telling their stories.  Gardeners love to learn why the plant was included, how it is faring, and to see the plant combinations. 

It's Official! Photo captures Lynden's divine, enlightened garden magic!  Here she is pointing out great spot for the Lady's Mantle.

Indefatigable Sabine Stezenbach helping garden tour

The garden tour was a sensory delight.  

Don’t miss these gardens.  The combination of landscape design, water views and historical interest makes the exploration and discovery a fascinating experience that will change with every visit.  

Small group of friends working out to music in a "hidden" glen

To see the Park being enjoyed by so many citizens is sheer joy. 

Plants are transporting.  

Many of the Metro Hort members retreated to the nearby Frying Pan boat cum restaurant for refreshments and what else? More garden talk!

Want to learn more about joining Metro Hort?  It is a professional association.  Contact our wonderful organization: http://metrohort.org/

Me thanking Sabine before the group heads off for cool cocktails

 Be sure to have Lynden Miller's book on your book shelf or coffee table!

A Double Feature -- In The Garden

The New York Botanical Garden’s Landscape Design Alumni enjoyed a very enriching and pleasant day recently, marked by two lectures.

It was a double feature! 

The morning’s talk was provided by photographer Betsy Pinover Schiff  http://www.betsysphotos.com/index.html talking about her newest book, “New York City Gardens“  

And with that as the gold standard, she offered her tips and techniques about how best to photograph gardens- particularly our own garden designs. 

I brought my “Homegrown Long Island” book photographer, Jennifer Calais Smith, to the talk.  While Jennifer is a professional photographer – not like the rest of us who are garden designers first, I thought she’d enjoy the photography discussion and maybe even learn something J especially because Betsy is so good with such a body of garden work to share, having produced a library shelf’s worth of breathtaking garden books.

Instructor and author, Magda Salvesen, whose latest book is “Exploring Gardens and Green Spaces From Connecticut to the Delaware Valley,” hosted the afternoon garden talk. 

Betsy Pinover Schiff is a soft-spoken, dedicated and confident artist. 

She and I know each other from the year-long botanic garden project to produce the annual photographic wall calendar.  Every month featured an iconic seasonal image that helped tell the story of the garden. 

Her many visits to the garden to capture just the right mood and photo attest to the disciplined approach to her art that helps make it so special – and personal.

Betsy had copies of her books on display for the group to peruse. 

Accompanied by the PowerPoint presentation that was naturally chock a block with garden photos,

Betsy launched her talk with a bit of her background, saying photography is in fact, her third career. 

Previously, she worked as head of a school’s foreign language department and doing the public relations at Sotheby’s and the New York Public Library – which is where she first met Gregory Long, president of NYBG, where he then worked as the Director of Development

She explained it was at Sotheby’s where she learned invaluable and enduring art lessons, including composition and light.

“Looking, looking, looking” is how she remembers learning the art of good garden photography.

“Composition is a question of one’s eye. What to include or not.” 

She suggested we do a lot of looking and training of the eye by going to the library or bookstore to view fine art and photographs. “Ask why you like the photo.” She said.

The combination of her French language skills and art history, along with the chance to discover the art all around her, provided a trajectory art lesson that was not lost on her for a second. She told how she’d make certain to take advantage of Sotheby’s lunchtime talks with the experts about how to buy and sell at auction. She recounted how lucky she was to see what was on exhibit to be auctioned.  The next day, with the catalog firmly in hand, she could study the art.  It was her way of learning.  “There were art opportunities everywhere,” she recalled.

The latest NYC Garden book is a follow up of sorts, to her 1999 book "Garden in the City: New York in Bloom" which was the first book about public and private New York gardens, according to Betsy.  Text by Mary Jane Pool and Foreword by David Rockefeller it featured 120 gardens. She worked with Paul Gottleib, former editor with House & Gardens for 25 years and he excitedly provided entrée to gardeners for the Gardens in the City: NY in Bloom book.   “I knew gardens were hot and I could had total confidence I could market the book.  I had less confidence then about my emerging photography!” she confided.

Success was hers in the end. In fact, Hirmer Verlag, the German publishers of her new book, were captivated by her first foray and approached her for the NYC Gardens book.  The publisher even secured the Austrian-based text author, Veronika Hofer.

Was she interested? 

You bet. 

She explained how she “did it all” for this book – from identifying the gardeners and their gardens to securing permission and schedule access to photograph the gardens. No small feat.

Needing spring and summer images in the gardens, she had a mere three months to go from ‘what gardens?” to finished photos. 

Click, Click, Click. 

Time was of the essence.

Define Your Goal

Advice like this could be applied to most anything worth having. 

Here, Betsy repeated how critical it is in photography to confront the question constantly: “What’s your goal?”

She went on to describe her three key goals for this book.

She knew she had to set her guidelines for this book, particularly as the publisher wasn’t local. And the audience was primarily European.  “I wanted the book to scream, New York!”

The book had to have a “sense of place” so that even if a reader has never been to Gotham, the photo narrative will tell him where he is.  That means composing photos that would showcase the gardens with New York landmarks. The trick was to do it ever so artfully so that it didn’t end up as NY City postcards ‘cut and pasted’ next to the garden and parks! 

She said there is not a shot in the entire book that didn’t have purpose.  So there.

For example, one homeowner (The Lauders) love roses.  Their 4,000 square foot terrace includes several garden “rooms” but the artist in Betsy was compelled to showcase a photo narrative that spoke to the homeowner’s passion.  She wanted to evoke that personal, unique characteristic – to share the homeowner’s sensibility and the thing they cared about. Betsy showed us images of the roses reflected in the window of the “rose garden.” 

In much the same way, she made a great effort to capture the magic that characterizes Lynden Miller’s public garden perennial borders. Lynden is my idol, by the way J

Those who’ve had the pleasure and privilege to bask in the glory of Lynden’s sensual garden designs, you know the challenges Betsy faced in attempting to capture the these gardens.  Lynden was originally a painter.  Not surprisingly, she possesses an otherworldly ability to weave color, hue, shadow, texture – and yes – utility and art – into a garden tapestry that’s always astonishing – just like any fine art rendering.

Visit Lynden’s garden designs – NYBG, Battery Park City, Red Hook, Central Park – in any season – and you will experience a seminal connection to nature and art.  Later Magda cited Lynden’s “codes of seclusion” (sense of mystery walking through the garden designs) and strong palette in every season.”  

Is it obvious we LOVE Lynden?!

To better capture the essence of this garden design pallet, Betsy said she took “close-ups” to show depth and plant variety highlighted in the “Magic Miller” beds. 

There were plenty of oohs and ahhs and also lots of questions about these familiar-to-the-members garden.

When asked how she got the angle for the photo, Betsy revealed she usually has a stepladder with her to get the perfect perspective.

“Planting designs convey a lot,” said Betsy.  “That’s why I take shots from above to show what it’s like for homeowners.”  She takes high and low shots to show Bluestone paving, for instance, or statues – to show how they inform the garden paths and the garden beds.

She said she spends time walking the gardens to best determine if she should do more close ups or longer shots to best capture the angle or perspective in order to fulfill her stated goal or objective.

It all about Light, Perspective, Composition. (It’s that pesky, pertinent “goal thing.”)

“So much of composition has to do with ‘exclusion’ she explained.

And further, “Light and quality of light is so much of what photography is all about…”

Light is what allows for garden “mood.”

Saturation of color says one thing. Shadow says another that can communicate other garden “ideas.” 

Sometimes it’s best to combine light and lack of light.

Clouds can create “ceilings.”

And night says something else entirely. (Not as part of this talk but another author/photographer I worked with in the garden was Linda Rutenberg, “The Garden at Night: Private Views of Public Edens” produces the rare experience of a night in the botanical or public garden.  

Light variances were perhaps shown best by a Topher Delaney garden design to appreciative gasps. http://www.tdelaney.com/

It is indeed very special. There is a wall of mirrors with vines growing up on the lattice fronting the mirrors. Betsy had the challenge to photograph this “hall of mirrors” and not seeing herself reflected 20x! 

She also pointed out the inspiring Braille circles of poems imbedded in the sparse, clean patio garden.  (She also offered a funny aside about photographing them.)

Be sure to check out the Metropolitan Museum of Art roof garden photos – made all the more astonishing when you learn she had the “luxury of moments” to shoot the seven images that reflect the dynamic energy of Jeff Koons’ art and Central Park.  “I wanted to take the shot at an angle to show the art and the context of the Park as background.”

The Rockefeller Center and the Ken Smith-designed MoMA roof garden photos are worth the price of the book alone.  No one is allowed on the gardens and Betsy used her plucky New York artistic charm to capture a peak and a view of these inspiring gardens.  The gardens may be located in the heavens but you and me can’t beg the key from St. Peter – or the gardener.  Betsy did it for us. 

Betsy added a few of her tips:

She never “crops” photos. 

She uses film.

She uses digital for some landscape architecture for web sites or marketing work.

After Lunch

Magda Salvesen is too perfect in so many ways.  The online chatter among the alumni is that she is hands-down one of the most favorite and influential instructors at NYBG. 

She was a stimulating speaker with great content and advice. And that is always welcome after a longish morning – and lunch.

And her British accent is so charming and her sense of humor so acute, you don’t want to miss a nuance.

Magda skibbled through existing public parks and spent good time talking about the possibility of new parks. 

“There is much contaminated land in New York,” she said, and given the present administration’s (Bloomberg) advocacy of green space of all kinds – from median spaces to pocket parks, and community gardens -- she believes we could see a renaissance in producing new parks. Maybe not as sexy as the High Line Park.  But much-needed, new parks, nestling nicely in heretofore blighted urban areas.

“The Parks Department needs to encourage landscape designers to part of the process.” Magda said.  “Parks is not about just picking up litter.” The Parks staff should and needs to be about the Horticulture.”

Too many botanic and public gardens are too much about the public program (i.e. entertainment) according to Magda.  “Ornamentation becomes the lesser of priorities.”

She likes the public/private scenario as bested by New York’s Central Park success. 

She also recommends the Parks Departments work more closely, embracing landscape designers as part of the process.

Magda cited the city of Newark, New Jersey’s Branchburg Park Foundation example of how horticulture is a priority. http://www.branchbrookpark.org/about1.htm

The mayor of Newark recognized the longstanding and inherent value of the city’s Cherry Blossom Festival in Branchburg Park. 

The Park was originally designed by the firm of John Bogart and Nathan F. Barrett in a romantic style.  Barrett is my favorite.  I have written about him frequently and will post a blog dedicated to him, I think.  He designed so many of the train stations in New Jersey, by and large due to not only his talent, but his relationship to George Pullman, inventor of the railroad sleeping car: The Pullman.  Pullman’s favorite estate, Castle Rest, was located in Elberon, NJ.  He also designed many residential gardens. I was elated to learn of one his extant gardens in Rumson, in the Garden State, while on a recent garden tour in the Two Rivers area. I was further gobsmacked to learn one of my most favorite garden design clients once lived there, and helped bring the garden back to its full grandeur, not surprisingly, as she loves all things beautiful and artful…

I shared my researched Barrett content and photo material with Arthur Melville Pearson who in turn, was helping the Barrett chapter contributors.  The request went out for information to be used as part of the first book to document the biographies and work of American landscape designers and architects: “Pioneers of American Landscape Design.”  

The Pioneer book chapter on Barrett documents his work for the planned town of Pullman, Ohio.

Interestingly, remember too, that research done at that time was pre-internet and pre-Google! Somehow, through passion and networking, contacts and links were made.  I was honored to send my painstaking research work to Mr. Pearson. 

The Pioneers project has been expanded – http://tclf.org/pioneer/about. 

By the way, the work of Charles A. Birnbaum is nothing short of extraordinary.  Check out the fascinating initiative driven by the Cultural Landscape Foundation.

The Branchburg park design was completed five years after Barrett’s design, by the Olmstead design firm.

The post-industrial Ruhr Valley garden and park design has infused the High Line Park landscape design, as well as other European and American parks, Magda explained. 

When describing the contaminated landscapes, “It used to be ‘Take it away’” said Magda.  But increasingly, she is hearing, “Splendid sites.  And “what have we done to nature?”

Regardless, she says it is our responsibility to clearly use and refurbish precious open spaces.  She showcased a number of very successful and artfully designed public spaces – particularly waterfronts.

The Hudson River Waterfront 18-miles of public walks run from Newport, NJ, Hoboken,  - and provide unparalled views of the New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty. 

There is a continuous, thematic line connecting the parks, yet each has their own style using industrial artifacts and local style.

She joked that she sees use of rocks and berms here, there and everywhere!  However, she noted that berms do block urban noise, as they have successfully demonstrated in Chelsea as part of the Hudson River Park in NYC.

Magda concluded the garden talk with her list of top trends, followed by a lively Q&A.

Trends:

Public/Private Alliances - cooperatives to build and maintain parks and public spaces

Sensible Tree Management

Car Parking – Magda cited Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morris Township and their brilliant parking solution that serves as a green introduction to the arboretum. 

Memorial Gardens – Discussed the annual outpouring of these special gardens… “Every era has its wars, disasters and we must have a public display and place to mourn,” Magda said.  Citing Princeton’s September 11^th tastefully designed garden memorial, British Memorial Garden in Manhattan, Union City Memorial for victims of September 11^th.  “These gardens tranquility leads to rumination and thoughts.“ 

Pier or Waterfront Gardens

Healing Gardens

Lighting of public parks – “We have extended ideas about hours of access and lights are an extremely urban concept that allows us to enjoy our parks anytime – for sports, walking and enjoyment. Even if it’s night – lighting makes it possible.”

Green Roofs – everywhere from Chicago leadership to Queens, NY to Lincoln Center

Native plants – showed Mt. Cuba garden as a “most spectacular” example use of native plants 

Interest in Cemetery Landscapes (landscapes of remembrances) Cedar Hill Cemetery, Hartford, Connecticut (1864) http://www.cedarhillcemetery.org/

and Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia (1836) http://tiny.cc/era4a

were shown as models.  Cedar Hill was designed by Joseph Weidenmann who turned the wet areas at the Cemetery’s entrance into a park, leading visitors through its more than 250 acres. I would add the 400 acres of Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx (1863) http://www.thewoodlawncemetery.org/

and Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY (1838) as other amazing examples of a cultural destination and horticultural wonder place to visit. http://www.green-wood.com/ According to Green-Wood’s website, by 1860 it rivaled Niagara Falls as America’s premiere tourist attraction!

Magda pointed out the older, 19^th Century Cemeteries most often have very good trees for us to admire.  These special places have sculpture, artwork, lawns, wildlife and rural landscape designs – one of the first to utilize the graveyard design that today rivals arboretums. Here families loved ones and garden lovers can enjoy picnics, moonlight walks, bird watching.  Many cemeteries offer guided tours as the two models do, offering history, art, culture and horticultural natural beauty.  Laurel Hill’s nearly 80 acres is one of the few cemetery’s to have been designated a National Historic Landmark.  Magda suggests that as a society we will come to appreciate and use graveyards even more due to lack of space issues.  I can add that in my travels – to Paris and Cuba, in particular, the cemeteries are indeed a place to meet family and friends. In Havana, we had a memorable bicycle tour throughout the cemetery.  We were amazed at the spectacular statuary, use of plants, and the sense of loving care of this place as a garden destination to be enjoyed.  I couldn’t help but think there was such a sense of life that permeated what many Americans only think of as a final resting place, only visited after the funeral.

Garden History and Historic Gardens interest

Environmental Education

New Lawn Technologies

Food and the Garden – organic, food is more a part of gardening. Food safety.

Plant Introductions

Artists in the Designed Landscape

Children and Gardens

Broader interpretations of House and Garden and Estates

Vertical gardens – she doesn’t think they work. “Too much maintenance. The ones outside of buildings ‘don’t work’ according to Magda.