How To Design a Garden & Nature-Inspired Spring Tablescape with Marchesa by Lenox Collection

Spring tablescape design featuring Marchesa "Sapphire Plume" Collection for Lenox 

Happy Easter / Happy Spring. It was a happy holiday weekend filled with the promise of the season: beginnings. It was indeed also a first of a very special kind -- the first of an inspired tablescape design: the budding of a what I know will be an enduring love affair with my new, Marchesa fine bone china collection for Lenox.

I first heard the siren song of this Peacock, rather Peafowl, (more on this in a bit) Lenox, “Sapphire Plume” tabletop collection at the recently-concluded, exceptionally-inspiring Architectural Digest Design Show 2016 that brimmed with craft, bespoke, quality creations for the discriminating homeowner and his or her distinctive home. The Lenox Sapphire Plume collection is a poster child for this aestheticHappy Easter, Happy Spring. It was a bright, happy weekend, filled with “spring fever” and with the prom, marrying the acclaimed fashion designer georginachapmanmarchesa - that’s Georgina Chapman (three cheers for me; I have two of her dress designs, as well) - whose refined glamour pairs with the exceptional quality of America’s only maker of bone china: Lenox.

How did this star-crossed pair - meaning me and the peafowl -- come to “mate?” Destiny is the short answer. The tad longer version makes the story… By way of background -- after falling hard for this beauty, I did a bit more research on the peacock to learn more about why I am so passionate about it. I discovered that “peacock” is the male and “peahen” is the female, together they are peafowl. Have to get it right and respect these symbols of love, refinement, resurrection, and renewal. So it was kind of perfect that their association with resurrection landed on my table for Easter, given this holy day’s promise of redemption and resurrection. Coincidence? I’m too spiritual and superstitious not to consider the karma of this plumed peafowl landing in my home.

I have long been enchanted by this noble bird; their glamorous and iridescent blue hues, their history, and inspiration to artists throughout the ages. It’s said if one is feeling “blah,” the colors alone can put us in a mood to embrace our own nobility - encouraging us to show off our inner proud-as-a-peafowl! (AKA “proud as a peacock.”)

And just when I think the connections of color, season, symbols and renewal couldn’t get more cosmic, I found the collective for the peafowl is: a “party!”  A group of heretofore "peacocks" is a party.     How perfect is that for a table-top collection tailor-made made for dining celebrations?! Just this side of nirvana when you consider what that sage Robin Williams said: “Spring is nature’s way of saying, "Let’s party!"

So, The Party Was On
After the press tour of the nearly 50 “stunning table vignettes by top designers” for the show’s annual Dining by Design, I rather uncharacteristically stopped to peruse the items on display for DIFFA’s silent auction. But I thought to myself, ‘Let me see what’s here and I can report on it. After all it’s a fundraiser with all monies supporting the organization’s efforts to fight HIV/AIDS.’ That’s when the soft blue and white Lenox - and the pattern of gentle, elegant peafowl and exotic feathers seduced me. I know I shouldn’t have but later that night I thought, why not bid? I cringed. Not only do I love our Royal Doulton wedding china and its classic design; I had just recently added to our everyday collection with the vibrant, colorful, wild animal Palace Thai Dinnerware Collection from Williams-Sonoma. In the end, I was powerless to the pull of the peafowl. I bid more than I should have -- but it was meant to be.

Things came together quickly in a good way not long after it was confirmed I had the winning bid for the Sapphire Plume china. I was keen to use the new collection for Easter, and there was only a few days to go before the holiday weekend. Nevertheless, DIFFA and ultimately, the Lenox team, rose to the occasion in splendid fashion and managed the process with elan. Thank you, Steven, Joanne, Sherri, and Karen, Nancy, Yolanda, Daryl, Effie, Stephanie- (It takes a village!). While I was hoping for a Friday delivery - (pushing it to Saturday if need be as a nail-biter hard stop), the Lenox team had the entire 8-piece tableware collection delivered on Thursday: one or two days after setting the process in motion. How impressive!

In no time, my husband Bill and I had the individually boxed 8-piece servings out of their travel nests -

and into their bath (dishwasher) and that night I began musing the tablescape composition.

I couldn’t wait to use the new peafowl Sapphire Plume  - so before launching full steam into the presentation concepts the next morning, I enjoyed a mid-morning coffee break with some fresh-from-the-bakery, Good Friday Hot Cross Buns. A truly sweet confection, combination…

Entertaining Design Elements: First Steps 

Entertaining design is very much top of mind for me, especially now - both when I'm awake and working what seems like 24/7 and in my dreams - as I’m in the throes of writing a cocktail and garnish book with tips on presentations, in addition to working on an artful entertaining book, “The Eyes Eat First.” As you know, I am also a garden designer - therefore it stands to reason that nature -- and her keen eye for color, texture, form, shape, and composition - informs how I approach the beauty and imagery of creating a seasonal and themed tablescape. Details matter. So does perspective. Whimsy and elegance are critical to layering a tableau that is captivating. The special world you create within a tablescape should draw your guests in - and delight them with an aura of discovery. Tablescapes, like menus and gardens, should be composed and designed with the seasons…

You’re conjuring a mood and a memory with lighting: natural and added - such as candles, votives, sparklers and more - along with other sensual items including, objects (fine art and found nature art such as stones or pebbles or driftwood), music, flowers and plants, as well as fragrance. Table art is compelling, original, and personal. The possibilities are endless. 

Think about the tablescape not just as a static thing; rather as theater, unfolding in a series of acts or chapters. The table shouldn’t be “set” just for a special event, either. We should accessorize the table for everyday use. It’s important to cherish the tablescape -- after all, it’s where friends and family come together - to share not just food and drink but each other. Good tablescape design fosters convivial conversation and no small amount of joy.

Just as we add various courses throughout the entire meal; so too, check out your menu and think how the elements of the table will change or unfold throughout the entire meal or dining experience. Consider the intermissions for drink and serving presentations; as well as gift-giving, not to mention the  changing time of day and lighting…

At the same time, the design elements shouldn’t get in the way. I’ve long been an advocate for the low vases and packed floral design look. At our home, we are lucky to possess a dramatic view of the New York skyline - so besides keeping the airspace above the table free of towering urns or floral displays in order to see table mates, I want to keep those views of the glorious blue of the bay and the twinkling lights at night open and accessible. In addition, flowers are de rigueur; however the blooms and candles should not possess such a heady fragrance that interferes with the meal and its ingredients’ natural aromas.  Most often I have lilies - Casablanca, as there are here, or Star Gazer, in the floor-standing vase away from the table -- just so its rich fragrance can waft and discreetly perfume the air.

Premiere Peafowl Table Art
I put one leaf into the dining table, then set out a service for eight. I decided to use tulips as the flower of choice because it’s spring and they’re a classic rite of the season. I wanted it to be all about soft colors - not the jelly-bean bright blooms - rather sigh-worthy white tulips and bouquets of white with a stripe of a “Broken Tulip,” featuring a lavender color to complement the china.

Plus I was thinking we’d be serving a kind of French 75 champagne cocktail with a lavender, violet liqueur. So there was a nice pairing there, too.

I looked through my inventory of home decor accessories that I store in an antique “pie safe” or cupboard, located in our Laundry Room. There's beauty everywhere if you know where to look… There I saw what would work. I figured two glass bowl vases with some blue glass stones in the bottom to anchor the white tulips, and three aqua blue-ish forcing vessels I could use for the Broken Tulips.

How much do we love these tulips?  Tabletop jewelry! 

The blue and white ginger jars from our bedroom could anchor the floral centerpieces at three points; a classic element that tipped its hat to the collection's visual narrative. I set small glass bunnies and one mini bunny snow globe around the center vase and the bigger glass bunnies at table ends. All the glass was reflecting the natural light - creating gleaming, light prisms. So far so good!

I used two, mini, green-heart topiaries from my writing desk / secretary that added a kind of “earring charm” - meaning just enough subtle bedazzle.

The place holders for the name tags are garden ornaments and topiaries with a greenish patina. I also used the handmade, blown-out and dyed eggs with their etched on names as the seating place holders - perched in pretty egg cups.  (Egg cups come in a variety of creations that can be used in many tabletop designs - and not just for eggs.)  
Lastly, I had a few dozen robin egg blue decorative “eggs” that I scattered, er, placed, throughout the tablescape. The blue linen napkins with painted light-blue butterfly napkin holders and beaded, azalea pink/purple dragonfly for the host and hostess settings retained the glamorous, nature mood. And the cocktail napkins repeat the blue and white ginger jar motif; with birds - as seen in the photo with Chandon Carol Lim designed champagne bottle.

 (more on this in related post; for now please note it's so very pretty and festive, yes?!)  

Overall, the blue hues and green shades with a whisper of lavender are redolent of a peafowl’s glorious tail feathers. Nice… At each course, the Lenox Sapphire Plume revealed itself: a layered nuanced tablescape fashion show.

All agreed the collection's sculptured coffee cup is the sophisticated way to drink the end of meal coffee (or tea) rather than the HUGE mugs that all too often accompany a service setting. Too often, I feel like I slipped down a rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass with those too-big to manage vessels. Thank goodness our Easter, signature coconut cake (from the local James Beard Award winner, The Flaky Tart didn’t come with any “Eat Me” instruction. Ha.  But we did enjoy our version of “wonderland” - with a truly wonderful meal, family and friends, and a sophisticated, elegant tabletop design featuring our new Sapphire Plume collection.

Our guests delightfully oohed and ahhed about the tablescape, with one vowing to own a Marchesa by Lenox design for herself. Let’s see which one it will be.

I hope you agree that Table Art design is a wonderful way to express your entertaining style.

Be sure to experiment and have fun. Remember, the authentic ingredient that makes it all special and artful - whether it’s the tabletop design or creating the menu -- is love.

So glamorous…

Happy Spring 

New York Botanical Garden Winter Series final lecture 3/24 with Luciano Giubbilei

The 16th Annual Winter Lecture Series: Chelsea Gold presented by the New York Botanical Garden is coming to its springtime final lecture. Tomorrow, Thursday, March 24, will feature a highly anticipated talk by Luciano Giubbilei.

It might well be a sell out so be sure to get to the Garden early, if you didn’t purchase the series tickets.

The Chelsea Gold featured in the series highlights the fact that all three speakers are winners - winning multiple times, in fact - at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show - that Olympics/Super Bowl/WorldCup annual garden design event -- but bigger. I for one vote they trade in the moniker, though. It should be the RHS Chelsea Garden Show. Yes, there are acres of flowers but all those petals, blooms, and leafy greens need to be shown in context -- in a design. And that’s where these garden compositions and the landscape architects and designers work their magic. For those lucky folks who have made the Chelsea pilgrimage, the NYBG series is a terrific peek behind the scenes of this flower blockbuster show. For the more plebian among us, the talks are a revelation into the process of designing a garden period. And designing for the Chelsea Flower Show. The speakers reveal their inspiration, their plant palette selections and the construction. We learn so much.


The first two speakers in the Chelsea Gold lecture series were Ulf Nordfjell, the Swedish landscape architect who interpreted his Swedish design aesthetic and his passion for ecology and the environment to his projects. He won his first Gold Medal in 2007 for his tribute to another famous Swedish plantsman: Linnaeus. He said the aim of the Linnaeus exhibit was to encourage the younger generation to pursue careers and interest in the sciences and to foster a curiosity about nature and research. “Linnaeus was the world’s first ecologist. In his pre internet world Linnaeus used a flower to distinguish all his photos…” Nordfjell won Gold again in 2009 for his Daily Telegraph and 2013 for his Laurent-Perrier gardens. He noted how he approaches his garden design as storytelling. Me too!
He said in Sweden, “We are about connecting people to nature.” This resonates with all who encounter his gardens.

He couldn’t ignore the issue of Climate Change, noting that while Sweden possesses a variety of micro-climates, it is indeed getting warmer there. “We have warmer summers and flooding.”

At Chelsea he chooses to produce modern garden with timber, steel and granite. There was a red wall -- brownish red - common to timber resin. He planted in layers: Maples, lilies, and so on. He used four thousand plants! He used pruned trees and shrubs noting it was quite common for 18th century rich people in Linnaeus’ time to have gardeners to maintain the necessary pruning.

For the 2009 Gold Medal & Best in Show with The Daily Telegraph Garden his initially reaction when they asked him, a Swede, to do the garden that they were “thinking suicide!” However, he researched the 19th century Hidcote Garden - transforming a very British garden tradition. Except that here, “Everything is fake,” he joked With 19 days to do the garden - in the rain and cold - he just wanted to survive. A trick he consider for judging days sunday night & monday morning was to use the compost to make the plants warm. “The plants are then happy and open up their blooms and blossoms - in time for the judges. The real devils of the show,” he added. He uses lots of bulbs with ornamental grasses, too - -helps cover the decaying, seasonal leaves...

He - and his team of more than 150 did the Perrier Jouet garden in a week! It was a haute couture garden inspired by two women: a French who started modern gardens in Sweden in the 50’s and 60’s used simple plants and soft, pale colors; the other is a LA designer who used breakout designs. Modern, minimalist with romantic touches.

Nordjfell also showed some of his private client gardens and public parks. He pointed out we need to safeguard the parks. “Margaret Thatcher took away all the greenhouses,” and many countries cut back funding to maintain the green spaces. He also noted that Food is most important in Europe plant trend. That and romance and more personal styling. “The young are looking back to history; they’re more aware of materials we’re using.” He added that the water issue - it is increasingly a very scarce resource is also a very major concern in Europe - and globally. “

The second speaker in the series was Sarah Price, a British garden designer, a co-designer of London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and a 2012 Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal Winner for her Daily Telegraph Garden (those newspaper folks at the Daily Telegraph sure know how to pick a winner!)

Sarah’s talk was “Gardening in the Round.” She was/is a fine artist and a painter. She showed airy, ethereal images of nature that are near her home in Wales that inspire her. Oh, those heather hillsides. She also gets a lot of her inspiration from the ornamental, native grasses of the US that she first saw in Piet Oudolf’s gardens. She sees the beauty and mystery in the environment and translates that narrative to her gardens. And she’s funny.

Sarah showed insights into her background that are the critical, basic elements of her compositions.

She uses color gradations and likes gardens without defined borders. She sketches plant forms and gets height balance out the plant shapes. She said that Chelsea launched her career.

She uses lots of nine centimeters plants so little to no deadheading. The dense planting and compatible, “no soil” reduces the need for watering.


Don’t miss “The Art of Making Gardens” Luciano Giubbilei talk at the Garden tomorrow. I learned yesterday that my garden and fellow landscape design group friend, Linda Tejpaul, of Magnolia Design, LLC, that her son had Luciano do their gardens! How lucky they have their own Chelsea Gold!    

Oh, be mindful - there is construction work at the Mosholu Gate at NYBG - and if you're arriving by train - you will have to walk the .5 mile to the next gate.  And security is not courteous about this inconvenience.  (Couldn't have made a side pathway for visitors who arrive on foot?)

Architectural Digest Design Show 2016 Preview

If anyone doubts how artful design infuses aesthetic, lifestyle -- and the economy - look no further than the Architectural Digest Design Show. Thursday was "frothy/buzzy" press preview (and trade day); we were given an impressive overview of trends and technologies that are influencing home decor, cooking, lighting and refrigeration, and more. There are incredibly exciting products and processes that bring professional techniques and practices to the home -- and to add precision and pleasure to food prep, dining, barbecuing, and of course, sleeping, sitting, wall art, storage, bathroom vanities, garden containers, tables, and food and wine “preservation systems.” Whew!

The DIFFA: Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS Dining In Design showcased more than 40 tablescapes produced to integrate the DIFFA hope theme with entertaining glamour and style. These dining tableaus are a visual sensation inspired by flowers, plants, and organic elements including wood, metal, marble, water, and light. The designers create magic by blending the organics with texture, color, and -- love. You need to not only see the tablescapes but be sure to bid on the products - -all the monies go to fighting HIV/AIDS - http://www.501auctions.com/dbdny to buy.


The show is now open to the public, running through Sunday.  Design enthusiasts, home cooks, and artisans will be inspired by the talent and brands at the Architectural Show, located at Piers 92 and 94 in New York City. Where else can you experience a range of more than 400 brands and dealers encompassing food, drink, gardens, home design, and tablescapes for just $40. Consumer Tickets are available.

I’ll do a few reports/posts on the show but for now, here are more than a few images to highlight the show-stoppers and trends.

The main areas to visit are:

MADE: handcrafted, one-of-a-kind furnishings, art, and accessories

reFresh: Luxury brands, including Sub-Zero and Wolf, and Jenn-Air and Gaggenenau (they've been in business since 1683!), and Baldwin, that share their space with up and coming kitchen, bath, and hardware brands.

Furnish: international furniture brands, including DwellStudio, Boca do Lobo, and The Future Perfect

Shops: Curated retail section of decor, gifts, tabletop accessories - don’t miss Golden Door - loved their marmalade and cookies, and Rifle Paper Co. - had to buy their iPhone cover -- I’m sooo into peacocks at the moment. I find these birds mysterious and elegant -- and perfect decor accessory.

The DIFFA Dining In Design:

  

Captivating tableau! Plant ceiling, Scully & Scully accessories, 1930 Murano chandelier 

A "wall" of vapor (water) by The Rockwell Group water theme is stunning

Designer Darrin Vardin created this thoughtful tablescape for the NY Times & Lladro starting with, "What's black & white and read/"red" all over?" adage; brilliant & creative. Love the Lladro black equine pieces

Kate Spade's design for Kravet was fitted dress chairs, preppy colors & a fun series of garden party table settings & umbrellas

Benjamin & Moore's tablescape celebrated their more than 200 shades of  white.  Cool elegance. Crate & Barrel did white too.

Spellbinding Atlantis-theme tables cape with seashells, black table, shimmery wall coverings,  & squid-looking lights

Trends and New Products:

Thermador under-counter refrigerators, dishwasher with timed - 23 entertainment washes - steam cooking - the fastest growing cooking category






Koket Love Happens, designer, Janet Morais shows her acid-stain leather chairs, new line of bedding, wall treatments (don’t miss the feathers), textiles - the hides and the incredibly soft, luxe velvets.



And chairs and seating Koket provided for the set of the fabulous and favorite, hit TV show: Empire. Love this!

Sexy Koket chairs used on the Empire TV show set. The color screams glamour - and the legs whisper "Jimmy Choo!"

Zephyr - kitchen ventilation hoods wowed with sleek angles, LED lights and quiet …




Ronbow - bathroom vanities - featuring double-sided mirrors, floating corners, LED lights, drawers with USB ports

Dacor - luxury kitchen appliances from a family-owned company, with lots of innovation technology: first 30” wall oven, first in wine preservation, and others. Dacor featured an IQ Range Dacor Discovery with a built-in tablet that can be operated from a smart phone -- think about pre-heating before you get home.

Pennoyer Newman - lightweight, architectural, custom, garden containers cast from estate originals. I’ve added these wonderful, durable, beautiful pots to my Duchess Designs clients’ gardens. Love the look and pedigree. Today I met Dinny Pennoyer, daughter of the founder. Dinny shared the delightful story about how the planters came about: the story started with her grandmother who was JP Morgan’s daughter, and her husband’s friend: Clay Frick. With such friends and family pedigree, it’s not a surprise she had great interest in many of the garden structures: containers, and fountains and other objects of art. She then developed the “through and through” crushed marble and stone and color that made the pots so unique.



At the show, Pennoyer &Newman are introducing four new Grecian-inspired urns with wide openings, and a fabulous, clean-looking container that was inspired by a 20th century industrial concrete mixer! So creative.

Dinny Pennoyer (L) & Virginia Newman at their garden-fresh booth, dripping with spring flowers & serene fountain

RangeCraft - custom range hoods, and a first - some with sparkling, dazzling Swarovski crystals! This is my kind of kitchen design.

Rangecraft's dazzling Swarovski crystal hood - adds glamour to the kitchen! 

Ovando - an incredible floral design, environmental decor, and with Elan Vital, a wallpaper murals inspired by flowers.



Flat Vernacular - the most curious, compelling wallpaper designs from artist Payton Turner.

Wallpaper designer: Payton Turner

The fiver-year old company creates custom wall coverings. There is one entire wall at the show booth with coloring book wallpaper. Scaffolds supported painters in pink Converse - coloring in the details. Fun - and arresting. There’s a companion coloring book, too.

You won't get in trouble coloring on this wall! Coloring-bookWallpaper from Flat Vernacular

dagmara weinberg - creates the most intriguing collection of nature photographs designed in a kind of kaleidoscope way - using cherry blossoms, branches and seashells. I am completely smitten by the sexy, suggestive cherry blossoms. Loved the interpretations for her textiles and side tables, too.

Dagmara Weinberg shows her art - on photographs & on metal. Beautiful & suggestive images… 

Ben Langford - Designs canvas photography flowers wall “sculptures.” The flowers are big - maybe two-feet across. They are colorful and vibrant - and some have what designer Ben describes as “decay.” Using velcro to adhere to a space, I can see these making walls and ceilings very happy.

More floral-inspired designs from Emilio Robba where color exploded with orchids, tropical leaves in vases, on pillows. Dripping with garden glamour.








Brown Jordan showed new six-foot rolling barbeque carts with new Dripped color panels and an outdoor TV cart.

Nice addition to outdoor entertainment lifestyle -- just add your own TV to  piece. Television drops down inside

Echo's Tablescape for DIFFA Dining in Design is a change your spots safari kind of theme.

Lynn Roberts, daughter of Echo's founding couple: Edgar & Dorothy.  You can say that Love gave rise to the company. Lynn shared how her parents went from getting their marriage license to a business license - it was their wedding day! Sweet. And I've always loved their scarves. ..

Register for 4th Annual Green Industry Intern "Hortie Hoopla" at The New York Botanical Garden

THE 4th ANNUAL NYC-AREA GREEN INDUSTRY INTERN FIELD DAY IS JULY 20


The annual Green Industry event designed exclusively for interns has proven to be an overwhelming success. Largely the brainchild of Charles Yurgalevitch, Director, School of Professional Horticulture (SoPH), this year marks the fourth time The New York Botanical Garden’s SoPH will host a day brimming with talks, networking, and fun -- to celebrate and educate the interns about the myriad career options available within the noble field of horticulture.

WHO: For Tri-State area horticulture interns working in the Green industries. The annual “Hortie Hoopla” event provides attendees the opportunity to network and increase awareness of the many professional career opportunities in the diverse field of horticulture.


WHAT: A FREE, fun-filled, inspiring day hosted by New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) School of Professional Horticulture


WHEN: Wednesday, July 20, 2016. Registration: 11 am; Talks: 12:30 pm; Activities till dusk.


WHERE: New York Botanical Garden, 2900 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY


SPEAKERS:

Keynote Speaker Kelly D. Norris, Director of Horticulture, Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden,, nurseryman and award-winning author


Karen Washington,, community activist called “urban farming’s de facto godmother” by The New York Times


Quill Teal-Sullivan, Garden Manager at Meadowburn Farm, a 130-year-old designed landscape in Vernon, NJ - the Garden State.


ACTIVITIES:
Self-Guided Exploration

Garden Tours

Plant ID Contest

Evening BBQ with games and prizes

Tour of NYBG Library 

To register: Contact Eric Lieberman at NYBG: elieberman@nybg.org

Food and drink generously provided by:

Bartlett Tree Experts

Mario Bulfamante & Sons

Floral Landscape Services

Landcraft Environments, Ltd.

NY State Arborists Association

Riverside Park Conservancy

Trees New York

The Bronx Brewery

The New York Botanical Garden 2016 Orchid Show Exhibit Orchidelirium celebrates the enduring spell of orchids.

Let’s just stop pretending that anything other than beauty matters when it comes to orchids.... Just like any of us who have ever been hopelessly in love, we all swoon when seeing a truly irresistible romantic. Here, at The New York Botanical Garden's orchid show extravangza, there are rainbows of colors, the (good) fragrances, and the incredibly, intricate forms or shapes of an orchid to capture our hearts desire. Plus there is something so inextricably intimate about the orchid blossoms. They are seductive. They draw you in - not unlike their unwitting pollinators. (More on that later - but according to Marc Hachadourian,  Director of the Nolen Greenhouses and Curator of the Orchid Collection, on a pre-event tour of the Orchid Show,

"Most, if not all of the orchid's pollinators, prefer the flower to the female."  Sexy...

We “lean in” to see and smell and admire these exotic plants. They captivate us like no other plant for any number of reasons. So, I’ll let their elegant beauty tell the story.

I was honored to again have an invitation from New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) - (and disclosure, I once worked at the Garden) to attend the 14th Annual Orchid Show. I remember the initial thinking and strategy behind the Orchid Show exhibit. What a blockbuster the Orchid Show has become. This year all exhibits will be, in some way, an homage to the Garden’s 125th Anniversary.

First up: the beauty. As NYBG noted in their background material: “The 19th-century craze sparked by a single orchid bloom, which came to be known as Orchidelirium, is the inspiration for The New York Botanical Garden’s 14th annual Orchid Show, which opens on February 27 and runs through April 17, 2016. Visitors to the landmark Enid A. Haupt Conservatory will be transported on an epic journey that engages all of the senses and underscores the allure and intrigue of these exquisite beauties.

Thousands of orchids in a stunning array of colors, sizes, shapes, and textures will be showcased, highlighting the far-flung adventures of daring explorers who risked life and limb to secure these captivating and exotic flowers from danger-laden jungles around the world for determined collectors. From its origins in England as a symbol of power, wealth, and opulence, the frenzied fascination with orchids underpins the exhibition, which illustrates their transition from the wild to their display and cultivation as well as the Garden’s important role in their conservation today.

And seeing the displays today and with regard to the background information on the Garden’s impressive work to conserve and preserve orchids, I feel there must have been an interloper of sorts listening to a conversation about the upcoming orchid show on a return train trip from the Garden not that long ago with fellow horticulturists. I was detailing how I wished the Garden could could showcase the orchids they’ve respectfully taken care of all these many years - as part of the their abundant role as a designated Plant Rescue Center. So I was thrilled to read this paragraph from NYBG. Maybe in future years we can all view these rescue orchid plants and learn their stories as told from the “bad” plant hunters. There’s a lesson here for all…

"Orchid exploration today is inextricably tied to conservation efforts to preserve species in the wild. Since 1990, The New York Botanical Garden has been a designated Plant Rescue Center, charged with nurturing and bringing back to health orchids that have been collected illegally in the wild and seized at international borders through the Convention on Illegal Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). NYBG’s orchid experts, Matthew Pace, Assistant Curator of the Herbarium, and Marc Hachadourian, Director of the Nolen Greenhouses and Curator of the Orchid Collection, are at the forefront of modern orchidology and conservation. "  Yeah!!

Marc Hachadourian, Director of the Nolen Greenhouses and Curator of the Orchid Collection

Did you know?  

NYBG will tell you, "Orchids belong to the largest family of flowering plants, with more than 30,000 naturally occurring species. NYBG’s celebrated permanent orchid collection represents all of the floristic regions of the world, including Australia, Africa, South America, and Madagascar, and this exhibition will showcase some unusual and rarely seen gems. Specimens of the spectacular Psychopsis papilio, which inspired the Duke of Devonshire’s obsession with orchids that contributed to Orchidelirium in London, will be on view along with Paphiopedilum sanderianum, named for nurseryman Frederick Sander, the self-proclaimed “Orchid King,” renowned for the remarkable length of its petals."

Aesthetic delights in the Haupt Conservatory begin in the Palms of the World Gallery’s Reflecting Pool, which will be festooned with a plethora of bold orchids in pots and delicate orchids perched in trees. Proceeding through the exhibition, visitors will be treated to displays of thousands orchids as they grow in the wild, in much the same way the Victorian-era explorers first encountered them in their travels through tropical habitats around the world— cascading from branches, nestled in crevices, reaching up from under rain forest trees. To create this irresistible world of fragrance and color, NYBG horticulturists assemble thousands of flowers from the Garden’s research collections as well as the finest growers across the country. From the rare and oldest to the unusual and iconic, orchids of seemingly every conceivable color, shape, and provenance will be on display.

Moving on through the Conservatory galleries, you’ll learn about the transition of orchids from growing in the wild to cultivation in the greenhouse. The trendsetting Duke of Devonshire began collecting orchids in 1833 at his Chatsworth House estate. His head gardener, Joseph Paxton, revolutionized the way orchids were cultivated in England by innovating larger and more effective glasshouses, beginning with the Great Conservatory there and culminating in his masterpiece, the Crystal Palace of Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition in London in 1851.

A series of vignettes will evoke the dazzling glasshouse displays that the Duke and other obsessed collectors went to great lengths to create with their newly acquired prized specimens brought back by hired hunters, who often endured shipwrecks, animal attacks, and even fatal competition among other hunters.

Antiqued, staged potting benches with specimen orchids of strange and rare species will be featured. Hanging pots, baskets, and Victorian walls containing a diverse selection of orchids from around the world combine formal features with less formal plantings to achieve a lush and enveloping glasshouse environment. A small stone patio will accommodate a stunning Wardian Cases (an early type of protective terrarium for plants that was used as a method of transporting and displaying the orchids) housing a selection of miniature orchids.

Also highlighted throughout the exhibition will be fellow British horticulturists and collectors such as James Bateman, whose beautifully illustrated manuscripts contained detailed renderings of orchids and vignettes depicting New World Spanish colonies. Oakes Ames, the great American botanist and NYBG Patron, traveled the globe with his wife, Blanche, who illustrated their finds. Ames donated his important collection to NYBG in 1906, and several rare plants will be on display.

The Orchid Show: Orchidelirium is designed by Christian Primeau, who oversees the extensive tropical/subtropical plant collections housed in 11 unique environments in the Conservatory. Marc Hachadourian curates the exhibition’s orchid selection and NYBG’s extensive groupings of living plants from around the world housed in the Nolen Greenhouses, the behind-the- scenes glasshouses where plants for the Garden’s indoor and outdoor displays and science program are grown and maintained.

Don't miss this enchanting orchid display.  In the meantime, enjoy this magical orchid hillock display in the video I shot at the preview:

Event Details:
The Orchid Show: Orchidelirium will be on display as NYBG marks its 125th Anniversary from February 27 to March 17th.

Plus: 

§ Orchid Evenings on Saturdays (March 5, 12, 19, 26, April 2, 9,16), Friday (April 15), and Thursday (March 24, LGBT night) bring a nighttime cocktail experience to The Orchid Show: Orchidelirium.

One of New York City’s most romantic date night activities, Orchid Evenings start at 6:30 pm and include a complimentary cocktail. On select evenings, visitors can also upgrade to V.I.P. status and enjoy an Orchid Lounge.

Non-Member $35/Member $25 (Adults 21 and over) Advance tickets recommended.

§ In partnership with the Poetry Society of America, Poetry for Every Season: Ada Limon features poems in the landscape celebrating spring, flowers, and beauty.

§ World Beat: Music and Dance Around the World of Orchids brings live performances from cultures around the world on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the exhibition.

§ On weekends during the exhibition, orchid care demonstrations with topics such as “Easy Orchid Care,” “Fantastically Fragrant Orchids,” and “Orchid Tips for Amateurs” show visitors how to care for their own orchids.

§ Cell phone/Mobile or Smart Phone tour stops at NYBG Shop will be available to provide answers to frequently asked orchid questions and allow visitors to dial up care tips on watering and feeding, reblooming, and repotting for several specific types of orchids. Thousands of top-quality orchids, from exotic, hard-to-find specimens for connoisseurs to elegant yet easy-to-grow varieties for beginners, are available for purchase at NYBG Shop, along with orchid products and books.

The Next Renaissance of Horticulture - Planting in a Post-Wild World lecture at NYBG

Anticipation was amped-up for the Thomas Rainer talk at The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG). He and co-author, Claudia West recently headlined at Metro Hort’s annual trade show and symposium: Plant-O-Rama. And frankly, I hadn’t heard this kind of frothy excitement for a speaker in I can’t remember when. Well, really I can. It was when Tracy DiSabato Aust launched her series of planting guide books, including or especially, The Well-Tended Perennial Garden

Rainer, landscape architect, teacher, and writer didn’t disappoint. He is authentic, experienced - as in he’s done this - not just come up with some ideas. And he is, understandably, more than inspiring. In a soft-spoken way. Not like the image of a firebrand "revolutionary." But make no mistake - Rainer is at the vanguard of a revolution: a "renaissance of horticulture."

I was lucky to have ridden the train back to Manhattan with Thomas so we got to chat a bit about the business vagaries of today’s horticulture, gardens, deer - they are destroying our understory and our gardens.. and why do we need to import New Zealand lamb when we are being overrun with bloody deer?! And tax credits for maintaining edible gardens (those last two, I confess, are my hot topics!)  Not a surprise Thomas is just as delightfully professional one-on-one as he is in the lecture hall. I can more readily appreciate how he is a leading voice in ecological landscape design. And boy do we need this now.

Rainer and West’s book, Planting in a Post-Wild World has aroused garden designers and landscape professionals to a reverential state. The book claims no less than to be the “future of planting design.” By the end of the lecture, it was with a respectful awe that I rather came round to agree with this assertion. Like a force of nature, it took some time to understand it all. And while I haven’t read the entire book yet, my notes from the lecture and looking through my autographed Post-Wild book (lucky me!), I’ll share the top-line revelations as to why you must get this book and become a Wild advocate.

First, there is the concept of Plant Communities and their “relationships with the environment” not as types or categories but as a series of layers that are sequentially added to the site.” The book notes, “Understanding the distinction between design and functional layers is crucial to balancing beauty with function.”

Like any disciple of fashion knows, it’s all about the layering.

So too, Post-Wild’s planting model utilizes the concept of vertical layering with planting designs. The First Layer or Structural Layer  “describes the tallest, most visually dominant species within a (plant) community.” These are the glamour plants that the book says, “draw your attention with their distinct architecture, tall height, and bold colors and textures.”

Think trees, shrubs, tall perennials and grasses. This layer, the authors assert, is the “design layer because its goal is to create visually pleasing horticultural effects.”

The next layer is the Functional Layer.  Hey, not all plants are divas. This layer, the authors describe, as “the mix of low, ground-covering species.” They claim that “almost no one sees it.” I may not be totally on-board with this suggestion as I’m a meticulous, ie. obsessive garden designer and enthusiast. For me and my clients. But I understand the concept. Which is, according to Wild, “to hold the ground and fill any gaps to prevent weed invasion.” I Love this layer “nook and cranny” planting design.  Plus, let’s not continue to think of mulch as the filler, Rainer suggests.

There is one more element to fostering the true plant community and that is the “Seasonal Theme Layer.” These are the companion plants or "friends" to the Structural Plants. This plant category represents from 25 to 40 percent of the planting and is dominated by the plants’ “filler” performances in terms of structure, and color balance.

What kind of Plants are in the Look-Book Layers?

As the backbone of the planting, Layer 1 or the Structural plants include: Andropogon gerardii, Sorghastrum nutans, or Miscanthus sinensis, as well as perennials such as Asclepias incarnata, in addition to the trees and shrubs. Key notes Wild is the structural frame species must be “long-lived.”

Layer 2 or the Seasonal Theme Plants include : Salvia nemorosa, Calamintha nepeta nepeta, or Mertensia virginica.

Layer 3 or the Ground-Covering Plants include those with “aggressive, clonal-spreading behavior (yikes!) such as ferns, sedges, (ahhh) and woody plants such as Vaccinium or Heath, Calluna vulgaris, or Origanum, Tiarella or Geum.

Rainer lamented the decline of natural wild spaces. There is no doubt that increasingly we live in urban-esque environments. He cites the “enchanting power” of wildness.

Planting is a Post-Wild World is truly a doable, revolutionary approach to landscape design.

Later, in line for the book signing, I overheard the woman two after me gush, “You changed my life." This kind of worship is most often reserved for spiritual leaders or life coaches. But then, hearing Rainer’s garden landscape manifesto, there is no doubt that surely, he is indeed a kind of spiritual leader.

Please get this book and come to a new place of garden design…

Plants naturally interact. Wild offers a place and mind-set to reflect on the marriage or intersection of horticulture and ecology. Oh, and one more design and fashion point here, Rainer admonishes a point so close to my garden design ethos: “Abandon the lawn.” Not entirely, mind you. He explains, it’s better as an “area rug vs. a carpet - a terrace when surrounded by plants.”

Published by Timber Press - every plant lover’s favorite - Post-Wild’s blurbs capture the celebrities of the horticulture world, including the cover page’s quote from Doug Tallamy and back-of-book quote from landscape architect, Larry Weaner.  High praise from the best. We can all learn and enjoy the journey. 

Post-Wild suggests that wild is no longer “nature lost” as in we could just leave the city or move to a less-developed area.  Now, the “front lines of the battle for nature are in our own backyard” … parking lots, and public spaces….

Let’s embrace this garden design “revolution.” No need to barricade the gates. After all, they are happy, garden gates - the entry to understanding a sustainable, ecological, landscape.

Rainer’s blog, grounded design by Thomas Rainer offers a potent credo. One of the more salient points is: "Nature should be interpreted not imitated in designed landscapes." Furthermore, the feedback from readers on Amazon delivers plenty of four-star accolades you’ll find inspiring, thought-provoking and well, revolutionary. A glamorous - and sustainable - road map to the future of garden design.