NYBG Kicks Off 2010 Landscape Design Portfolio Lecture Series

New York Botanical Garden Landscape Design Portfolios 2010

For the first time, the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) located its popular Landscape Design lecture series at the “newly renovated space in a historic landmark building” in the Midtown Education Center in New York City.

I like the locale ever so much better.

Previously, they were held in the Urban Center that was a martini away, across the courtyard, from Le Cirque restaurant in the Palace Hotel.
While I adored the swanky location and the twinkling lights in the romantic café/courtyard there, the lecture facility was less than ideal.  Too crowded, too hot …

I attended a talk at the Midtown Education Center in the late spring (see previous blog post about xxx and Lyndon Miller and urban gardens.) Very informative and inspirational talk, by the way.  Xxx has subsequently led the city’s urban garden community to retain its gardens.) That talk took place in a school-like classroom upstairs.  Very nice.  But not nearly as nice as the expansive, library like setting for the Landscape Design Portfolio lectures.

Snuggled between wise and approving bookshelves, below balconies stocked with more books who seemed to be watchful, monitoring this new audience, and under what seemed to be a Beaux Arts skylight (it was dark, as this is October in the Northeast).
It was all so roomy and chairs were beckoned seating – without the airlines’ saddle-style of scrunching in.

To me, the annual autumn lecture series is also the official kick-off for the horticultural world’s "social" calendar.
All growing season, us gardeners and garden designers are scurrying from nursery to gardens in order to design, plant, nurture, and maintain within our all-to-narrow window of opportunity.  We pretty much do that all year round, given seasonal container gardening, but that’s another story.
The Talks and Lectures from NYBG, MetroHort, Wave Hill et al, also provide a sort of mini reunion for those of us in the gardening community who are too busy to see each other during the go-go season.

I signal hello to Susan Cohen as I enter. Susan is the Coordinator of the Landscape Design Program series.  Later, as part of her introduction, Jeff Downing, Vice President for Education, noted Susan had been recently recognized and has been named to the Council of Fellows of the American Landscape Design Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) for her work in producing the Design Portfolio Series - now in it's Lucky 13th year.
http://tiny.cc/zm2ps
Applause, Applause.
I first met Susan when I worked at NYBG.  Susan is an amazing, award-winning residential garden designer and the Coordinator for the Garden's Landscape Design certificate program.

I got my seat after registering – thank goodness NYBG sent that day-off reminder email! I was delighted when I looked up to see Lynn Torgerson.  See earlier blog post about her amazing garden design at the Gramercy Hotel  http://tiny.cc/97fvh.  
She is pixie-ish adorable and funky as always.  Intelligent beyond all get out. She is teaching for NYBG too at the Midtown Center. Be sure to check out the catalog for her not to be missed classes.
“Can I sit here?” she asks amusingly, pointing to the chair next to me.  (See how great it is to foster camaraderie just by having ample room?!)
Mais, bien sure. Of course!
We are on our way to catching up since our last sojourn at the Standard Hotel overtop the High Line garden park back in July (I must write about this. Promise.  We drank Lavender martinis!!)

When Phyllis Odessey comes up.

http://blog.phyllisodessey.com

Phyllis is the horticulture manager at Randall’s Island, a 450-acre island park in the East River of New York.  This summer, Phyllis took a sabbatical of sorts to study with two gardening workshop in-garden classes in England. She was able to secure a Royal Oak Foundation Fellowship in Sustainable Gardening.


(That left the horticulture work in the very capable hand of Eun Young Sebaszco, who I’ve had the honor of working with over the years as part of my Duchess Designs’ Fine Gardening and garden design team. www.silverflowerdesign.com)
Eun Young is an amazing talent! (as is her artist husband Tom)

I had so many questions for Phyllis as she started to tell us about her English garden experience this summer.
But too soon the lights were indicating the lecture was to begin.  We all agree to meet soon - at the Standard Hotel!

The featured speaker was Bridget Baines, principle from Gross Max.
www.grossmax.com


Baines’ Scottish accent is both charming and challenging...

Her company’s eclectic and contemporary landscape design portfolio was visually stimulating.  Some of the images prompted me to whisper to Lynn that it reminded me of Avatar:  rich, Caribbean hues and phantasmagorical dioramas or scrims of landscape design.



I liked that Ms. Baines showed not only the contracts or commissions they were awarded but also those they submitted that didn’t get the nod. There is much to learn from the designs despite the political or financial contretemps that seal any deal.
Thank you, Bridget.  (At this point, I’m trying not to think of Renee Zellwinger in the movie “Bridget Jones,” but it’s hard not too with the accent and all…)

NYBG touted Bridget and her firm for their work on two parks at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin.  (I worked for Sony and had been to Berlin not long after we opened our facility there).
I love this image of the Sony head in the garden. (was it that I identified it with my time there where too many of the executives had half their head in the ground?! ha)

Bridget’s Gross Max also produced a civic garden in Rottenrow Hospital in Glasgow.



And work with the acclaimed architect Zahid Hadid with her design for the BMW factory in Germany.

Bridget shared a lot of images and design work – pushing the envelope on time.  A few times she noted, “this will be the last one; ok?” only to be answered by an audience who verbally responded for her to continue.
When it was really time to stop, anyone with questions were advised to come up after the talk had concluded. I did, as did a few others.

Next lecture is Monday, October 25.

Speaker is Carol Franklin. She will talk about High Performance Landscapes: The Work of Andropogon (psst: Andropogon is her company I learned. It is noted for its work in sustainable design.)
To register: go to: www.nyby.org/edu

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

Gotham Gardens in the Clouds

Herbal Heights

The New York City Chapter of the Garden Writers (GWA) held a meeting last night in Manhattan in one of those glorious rooftop gardens that inspire movies and poetry among artists and envy in gardeners – especially the urban gardener.  

Ellen Spector Platt hosted the meeting cum dinner party at her building’s rooftop on the Upper East Side. 

What's better than sitting in a garden in the sky, eating and drinking and talking about gardens?

Ellen explained she nurtures this garden solo.  

I remarked how lucky her neighbors are that she takes care of the entire garden.

Without hesitation she asserted, “How lucky am I that I get to work in this garden every day?!”

The world of gardening took on a decidedly selfless and inclusive perspective from this height…

The rooftop garden with the view

Just like any proud gardener, Ellen couldn’t wait to take us on a garden tour – showing off her herbal and vegetable garden. 

Ellen Spector with her herbs 

Ellen and me (and the basil)

She told us about a quaint tradition she started a few years ago, encouraging neighbors to come to the garden and “Pinch an Inch” of the herbs to use in their cooking. 

It’s like having your own private garden estate a mile up!

For those of you not in the neighborhood, enjoy the garden from the blog, “Garden Bytes From The Big Apple” http://www.gardenbytes.com

that is written and maintained by “The Two Ellens” as I heard them referred to.

That would be Ellen Spector and Ellen Zachos. 

Zachos is an energized talent that is in constant motion. She is a singer, writer, gardener and also is the Garden Coordinator for The New York Botanical Garden’s Continuing Education program in Gardening. 

Not to mention a wonderful supportive garden goddess. Whew!

                                          Pictured is Ellen Zachos, Left talking it up with author Cindy Krezel

It was a Pot Luck Dinner. The buffet table laid out with fabulous food fare. 

I brought the spicy wild arugula and mache from Satur Farms. 

Eberhard Muller and his spectacular wife, Paulette Satur, own and manage Satur Farms.

Chef  Eberhard is a legendary master chef and he will be featured in my book:

“The Long Island Homegrown Cookbook” about Master Chefs and the gardens that inspire them.

Satur Farms is an amazing operation.  Beautiful, flavorful, clean vegetables and herbs picked and delivered fresh every day.

You can find Satur produce in all the best restaurants and in Whole Foods and Fairway.

Eberhard showing how the produce is cleaned and admiring a fresh-picked leek below

To top off the greens, I brought the edible flowers from Windfall Farms, from their stand at the Union Square Greenmarket. Pretty and colorful confetti of nasturtiums, violets, chamomile and johnny jump ups.

Just saw the talented and dreamy farmer, Kevin Caplicki there at Windfall Farms today. 

We first met farmer Kevin and owner Morris Pitts last fall when we visited Windfall Farms for Savoy Restaurant’s Chef Peter Hoffman’s location of choice photo shoot for the book.  It was the garden/farm that helps inspire his culinary art. 

One look at their luscious vegetables and herbs and there is not doubt how the colors and textures seduce chefs and cooks…

HSNY Penthouse Perch

Great Rosarians of the World Lecture Series

Tomorrow, be sure to attend The Horticultural Society of New York event featuring Sarah Owens, Curator of the Cranford Rose Garden at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. 

A horticulturist and ceramic artist, Sarah will speak about the beloved Rose and its ability to inspire artists. 

I worked with Sarah at BBG and she contributed to the Fine Gardening team for Duchess Designs, LLC, my landscape design firm.  She possesses an artist’s soul – and a Hollywood style that she makes her own!  (People often say she looks like Julia Roberts) 

But whether discussing roses with Martha Stewart on air or explaining best hort practices with a client, she is utterly charming. 

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see and hear Sarah.

Thursday, June 17^th

Celebrating Forgotten Treasures: The Use of Uncommon Roses in Today’s Landscape with Sarah Owens

http://tinyurl.com/22ktvma

Register Online or call 212-757-0915 x 100