The perfect potting bench with hand crafted pottery at the Terrain in Westport, CT

A couple of weeks ago we stopped in at the Westport location of Terrain (URBN, of Urban Outfitters and Anthropoloie’s retail and mail order store for plant lovers and gardeners), here are a few photos to spark ideas and to inspire you this early, July day.

So hard to choose, but if you could only choose one gift item, what would it be? I hate this about Terrain!

Jess waits for me to catch up – at this amazing retail store which once was an auto dealer. For many more images of our visit, click below.

This salmon frosted edge is the perfect color for our terrace.

Fifty shades of green – a color palette worth stealing.

Just when I thought that vertical gardening was over, I saw this and realized, it just may be finding it’s niche. Beautifully curated and displayed plants are really what makes a vertical garden work.

Even small wall baskets were creatively curated.

Speaking of curation – the merchandise displays at Terrain are so beautiful, that the entire experience can be overwhelming.

A plant-geek friend of mine teased me on Twitter after I posted that we were still at Terrain 2 hours later -he said, snarky-like “I suppose you are buying all the rare pelargoinium species?”/ So, um…yeah Glen – maybe I was. Proof that there are interesting plants as well as mossy-tinted napkins.

Lovely mossy colored napkins.

I just could not choose. I wanted everything.

No mens size 13, but check out the dog.

The cafe is not only upscale, it had garden themed dishes and drinks. What a way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Clearly, not your average garden center.

Since we were day tripping it to New York City, we could not stay for lunch, so cool drinks were in order. Chili-rhubarb juice anyone?

One of a kind antiques and garden tools mix nicely with new objects.

Oh YES!

Outside, the garden center portion of Terrain was equally impressive. Our truck was full by the time we left.

Items like these bleached branch screens make me wish that I had a contemporary house and garden.

The packaging on this olive oil is so inspiring.

Straws….Right?  I know.

This say’s ‘flower shack’ to me. Love it.

Symetry and order in the shady lathe house. Terrain is not just about good design and great displays, it’s also about super plant material.

Hexagon themed glassware turn a simple shelf into a hip statement.

Forth of July decor can be both –  patriotic and stylish.

It’s the details one sees in photos later that makes this place so interesting, and that brings one back. Check out the bird houses on the light pole.

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Kizuna-West Meets East, is the current exhibition at the Denver Botanic Gardens, featuring two installation artists who work in bamboo, yet in very different ways. This work, by Tetsunori Kawana is one of many which undulate and flow through the open spaces at the Gardens. Check out my post from two years about his work at the NYBG.

There is something very human about the DBG. Long walks, attractive plantings that are interesting, and many events – enough to attract a crowd even on a 96 degree hot August weekday. Be sure to ‘Like” the Denver Botanic Garden on Facbook, they would like that.

Even the gift shop at the Denver Botanic Gardens is stylish. Here are a few images of pottery, and some photos from inside the pavilion.

FLOATING WORLD (2012) – A site-specific installation by contemporary artist Stephen Talasnik, in a lily pool  at the Denver Botanic Garden (until November 3, 2012).

If you love design, either in art, garden design or architecture, the DBG will not disappoint.

Another massive work by Japanese bamboo artist Tetsunori Kawana

The garden appeals to most every level of gardener. If you are a beginner, of course, inspiration abounds. If you love garden design, each area of the garden offers different, unique and often creative solutions for both new plant material, or how to use more familiar plant material. This is a garden where I think I never used the work cliche once. I can’t think of a botanic garden where I could actually say that! If you find yourself in the Denver area, be sure to visit ( I suggest more than once, for just like a major art museum, you can become over-stimulated in just one visit).

 The staff here is large, very professional and as I sat outside of the main horticultural offices in the new Marnie’s Pavillion, where bromeliads, orchids and ferns grow amidst a two story high waterfall, I watched interns come and go ( this was their last week before returning to school), and even they were melancholy about leaving such a wonderful institution. Even these main offices are thoughtfull designed, if only for the staff to see – complete with glass-sided pond where I could watch a giant Victoria waterlily grow underwater!) – it made one feel like this was THE place to be, if you are ‘into’ plants. Shortly after,  Panayoti Keladis met me in the lobby for a meeting ( Senior Curator and Director of Outreach), he said to me quietly “I know…I’m kind of lucky to work here, right?).  He said with a smirk. I think he could tell that I was a little in a ‘pinch-me’ mode.

THE EL POMAR WATER WAY, FEATURING GRASSES AND FOUNTAINS, AND AN EVENING LIGHT SHOW

WATER IS AN IMPORTANT AND PRECIOUS ELEMENT IN THE DENVER BOTANIC GARDEN,  THIS CONTEMPORARY STEPPED STREAM REMINDS ME OF A TROUT STREAM HIGH IN THE ROCKIES.

A MONET INSPIRED LILY PONY TOO LUSCIOUS TO NOT PHOTOGRAPH ON THIS HOT DAY

TOPICAL PLANTS ARE NOT OVER-LOOKED – THE LARGE BOETTCHER MEMORIAL CONSERVATORY

THE HERB GARDEN, TRANSPORTS YOU TO EUROPE WITH SCENTS AND THE DRONE OF INSECTS

THERE ARE MANY ROMANTIC AREAS OF THE GARDEN, WHICH FEELS VERY ENGLISH, AND THAT ARE POPULAR FOR WEDDING PHOTOS OR FOR QUIET STROLLS WITH SOMEONE SPECIAL. EVEN ON A HOT AUGUST DAY, SEED PODS MAKE A PERENNIAL BORDER INTERESTING.

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AN OPUNTIA AT SUNRISE, IN DENVER THE GARDEN OF PANAYOTI KELAIDIS, WHERE I AM STAYING AS A GUEST THIS WEEK.

PANAYOTI KELAIDIS, STANDING IN ONE OF THE MANY BEAUTIFULLY BACKYARD GARDENS IN DENVER

A FAVORITE OF MINE, WHICH I MUST GROW AGAIN, THE COTTONY WHITE STEMS OF Verbascum bombyciferum. THEY  TOWER HIGH ABOVE MY HEAD  AS I STROLL THROUGH THE GARDEN  BEFORE BREAKFAST.

MY TALK FOR THE RMCNARGS WAS HELD AT THE NEWLY RENOVATED DENVER BOTANIC GARDENS

PANAYOTI WAS KIND ENOUGH TO ALLOW ME FULL ACCESS TO THIS AMAZING GARDEN AND FACILITY IN DENVER, A REAL GEM FOR THIS COMMUNITY, AND FOR THE GARDENING WORLD. I WILL HAVE MANY IMAGES TO SHARE WITH YOU OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS.

Fibigia clypeata, or Roman Shields is a member of the Mustard Family, but it’s the seed pods that make this plant so valuable in the late summer garden.

The MOON CARROT, Seseli gummiferum, is a 2005 introduction that features strongly in many Denver area gardens

HORNED POPPY (GLAUCIUM) IN THE ROCK GARDEN OF PANAYOTI KELADIS

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A PAIR OF VINTAGE FRENCH BISTRO CHAIRS INVITE GUESTS TO REST UNDER TOWERING AMERICAN ELMS AT THE HOME OF GIOIA BROWNE AND JIM MARSH IN LITTLE COMPTON, RHODE ISLAND.

It’s always a treat to see a mature landscape. You know the type – century old trees ( or even older), with massive trunks and deep, dark cool shade. A nineteenth century barn, ancient stone walls, towering American Elms and elegantly long and breezy drives – such is the garden of our good friend Gioia Browne and Jim Marsh, located in the peaceful and understated New England town called Little Compton, in Rhode Island. This was our second stop on this past weekends’ Garden Conservancy Open Garden Days in Little Compton, which featured two amazing gardens, each offered a unique view into some of America’s most special and important private gardens and homes.

JESS ADMIRES GIOIA AND JIM’S GRAVEL DRIVE, PERFECTLY RAKED AND EDGED. WE IMAGINED THAT THEY HAVE DOZENS OF GARDENERS, AND NOT JUST ONE!

BOXWOOD PROVIDES STRUCTURE AND AN APPROPRIATELY PERIOD TOUCH ALONG WITH SOME ARCHITECTURAL CARDOONS. WE COULD SPY SEEDLING VERBENA BONARIENSIS EMERGING.

GIOIA (right) DISCUSSES HER COLLECTION WITH A GUEST

 We met Gioia three years ago when she attended a planning meeting for the American Primrose Society at our house. She helped me make a huge baked Alaska that day with me. We never imagined that she had help create such an amazing garden, but once we got to know her, it’s no surprise. Gioia is a passionate plant collector, so given her knowledge about plant species, this garden makes sense. Gioia is not what one might expect in Little Compton. She is not the ‘garden club’ type of gardener – she is a get your knees muddy, start your own primula species from Tibet sort of gal. Sure, she can still work her Lilly Pulitzer as fine as her posh neighbors, but what impressed us was her collection of rare plants. Many planted in drifts. Clearly, she knows what she is doing out in the garden. Gioia and her gardener have created one of the finest American gardens, and surely, they are not done yet.

A VIBURNUM BLOOMS IN A HEDGEROW, IN GIOIA’S AMAZING GARDEN

A RED LOUISIANA IRIS BRIGHTENED A STREAM AND WATER FEATURE

AN ALPINE BED IN FULL, JUNE SPLENDOR

A STUNNING BLUE ANCHUSA AZUREA ‘DROPMORE’ IN BLOOM IN THE CUTTING GARDEN. ON THE LEFT, A PRACTICAL COMPOST PILE WITH ENGLISH SWEET PEAS ALMOST IN BLOOM.

ANCHUSA AZUREA ‘DROPMORE’

The post New England Idyls – the Garden of Gioia Browne and Jim Marsh appeared first on Growing With Plants.

Herbaceous  single white Peonies and clipped box and holly hedges demonstrate great a thoughtfullness ( not restraint) in a part of the world where blue hydrangreas and pink roses are amnipresent, if not iconic.

I was first introduced to the private garden known as Sakonnet Garden in pages Ken Druse’s book The Collector’s Garden (Clarkson Potter, 1996). I remembered every photo – the Crytomeria lined walk, the room of pink Rhododendrons, the little red chairs, the boxwood hedges and the wood paved walks. This weekend I finally visited this very secret garden, hidden behind a tall stone wall in posh yet rural Little Compton, Rhode Island. The garden was open for the past two weekends only, as part of the Garden Conservancy Garden Open Days, and I was delighted to be invited to attend.

A PAIR OF SUCCULENT DOMES TOP OFF TWO STONE WALLS AT THE MAIN GATE. THESE ARE BUILT FROM MOSS-LINED WIRE BASKETS TURNED UPSIDE DOWN, MAKING THE ENTIRE OBJECT EFFECTIVELY GEOMETRIC YET  IMPRESSIVELY MYSTERIOUS.

 This year there were two gardens in Rhode Island participating in the Garden Conservancy Open Garden Days, check the Garden Conservancy schedule here, to find out about Open Days near you.

When I saw this, I looked for my mother, for every evening this was a ritual in our garden. At Sakonnet Garden, nothing was too perfect, rather, it demonstrated countless ways one  could be perfectly imperfect. Life is that way, nature follows the same rule of perfect imperfection too. John and Mikel neither celebrated not hid parts of a garden where they live, instead, everything is there for a reason. A compost pile can be beautiful in the middle of a lawn, if it abuts a vegetable garden, A bucket of dumped refuse from a breakfast from the past sits upon clippings from a lawn, artichoke leaves from a plate, and weeds. It;s not only OK, it’s just life. (or at least it should be).

 We rounded back to the parking area near the garage, and Mikel then said “so, are you ready to see the garden?” He lead us down a mowed strip in the meadow along side of the property, to a steel gate that was taller than all of us. Beyond this portal, lay a labyrinth of garden rooms – I heard voices in nearby rooms saying things like “Can you beleive this? It’s is like a Disneyland for plant lovers”. As a designer who worked on some Disney Theme park activations myself, I had to admit, that many of the principles of theme park design have been employed here – for example, “the big weenie – which is what Disney Imagineering insists in added to every project, from a theme park ride to a restaurant – it means, add one thing that is so awesome that everyone will look at it and go “ahhhhh”. At Disney, it would be a giant castle, or a huge globe that lights up at night at EPCOT.  A giant sculted tree of life smack in the middle of Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  At Skonnet Gardens? I might be a rare blue Meconopsis, or a an exotic temple rising above a pool of huge, floppy Petasites leaves, it might simply be a color theme, a long vista giving one a view through four rooms, a returning path through the same garden, but at a different level.

A SITTING AREA IN VERMILION, IT APPEARS TO BRILLIANTLY FLOAT ABOVE A SEA OF PETASITES JAPONICA SSP. GIGANTEUM ( AND, A GUNNERA). BY NOW, ONE FORGETS ONE IS IN RHODE ISLAND, LAND OF THE BLUE HYDRANGEA AND WHITE PICKET FENCE. Living and gardening incorporating simplicity isn’t easy, especially for plant collectors, but John and Mikel found a way to do it. I’m sure there are arguments and bouts of eye-rolling between he two of them ( as Joe and I do) about where a plant should be planted, or about a garden space that one may feel needs refreshing, but in the end, it all must be resolved. Do I dare call it ‘purposful restraint’?  Maybe, but as a designer myself who works on large, global projects, few things happen alone, there are teams to execute, and even more who can make reality happen. Often, this is the phase when a project can drift off from a singular vision. One gardener, or rarely two, will eventually need to dominate, to stand their ground. I never had time to ask wither John or Mikel ( nor Ed Bowen!) where the struggle ends, or starts, for a garden this complex is very much like a business – and new product lines are on a continual cycle of evaluation, elimination and germination. There is a a process – a concept, visualization, and then, reality. Such things rarely happen without fire.

THE FLOWERS OF PODOPHYLLUM DELAVYI ARE A SURPRISE TO ANYONE WHO SNEAKS A PEEK UNDERNEATH THE MOTTLED UMBRELLA SHAPED LEAF – A SHREDDED RED TASSLE AWAITS.

MIKEL CALLED THIS RED FOLIAGE GARDEN, A HOMAGE TO THE RHODE ISLAND RED, A WORK IN PROGRESS THAT HAS SOME SHRUBS TRIMMED TO LOOK LIKE THE FAMOUS RHODE ISLAND CHICKEN.

RODGERSIA PINNATA, MY FAVORITE PLANT, GROWN THE WAY IT SHOULD BE, AS A CARPET.

THIS HIMALAYAN BEAUTY WAS SPOTTED NEAR A POOL. THE RARE TIBETAN BLUE POPPY, MECONOPSIS BETONICIFOLIA.

A LOG GATE!

THE YELLOW GARDEN, LEADS TO OTHER ROOMS BEYOND, EACH WITH DIFFERENT COLOR THEME.

And then, of course, there is the plant material. Arisaema of most every species, rare trees, rare shrubs, rare, rare, rare everyrare one looked. A tall forest of rhododendron trunks, a canopy of red beech trees, a garden composed completely with a palette of yellow tinted foliage.

A RARE MEADOW IN NEW ENGLAND, NESTING BOBOLINKS WERE SIGHTED!

We returned from our “theme park” ride back to the meadow. John’s other passion is the preservation and stewardship of the few remaining grasslands in this part of coastal Rhode Island. These grasslands are essential breeding habitats for many migratory song birds, most notably the Bobolink, which breeds only in open grassy meadows and grasslands in the north eastern US and Canada. These natural habitats of swaying timothy, Milkweed and blue stem are becoming scarcer each year across North America as farm land becomes inhabited with McMansions and outdoor shopping malls. Ground nesting species such as the Bobolink and Meadow Lark require special attention since they need quiet open spaces to raise their young.Stewardship means more than just “saving the land”, it means maintaining it the right way – such as haying later in the season – after August 15th, so that broods are allowed to mature without being disturbed. Early haying in July will destroy nests, along with young and food sources).

John Gwynne and Mikel are dedicated to preserving the grasslands of coastal Rhode Island and New England. To learn more about their project WILDMEADOWS, visit their site here.

Later this week, photos from the other garden we visited.

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Today we visited the Lyman Estate, which is one of the properties today managed by Historic New England, and it is open to the public year round. One of the best times to visit is in late winter, when their famous Camellia collection is blooming. Historically important for many other reasons, for people like us who keep home greenhouses, the estate holds a noteworth record of having perhaps the oldest greenhouse in America.

The entire greenhouse complex was built over the span of the nineteenth Century, far before electricity and furnaces. In the UK and Europe, early greenhouses were still being perfected, with primitive glazing systems, complex heating systems using everything from manure to heated air which came from coal and wood fired stoves ( early greenhouses were even called Stove houses).

On the Lyman estate, there is a well known older pit house, which most likely is the oldest greenhouse structure in the United States. It was featured in a rather unsuccessful yet collectable book from the early 20th Century entitled Winter Flowers in Greenhouse and Sun Heated Pits by Katheryn S. Taylor, which is one of my favorite books on keeping a cold greenhouse ( you must track one down if you are ever to grow such plants in the north!).

Images from Kathryn S. Taylor’s books on Sun Heated Pit’s showing the old pit house at the Lyman Estate when it was still in use.

Today, you can see the same pit house in the back, covered with plastic while it is being repaired. It most likely is the oldest greenhouse in America.

The Grapery with 200 year old vines of Muscat grapes.

Cast iron heating pipes keep the Grapery just warm enough for the fancy grape varieties to winter over.

In 1804, the Lymans began building a new greenhouse system, starting with a ‘Grapery’, which was heated by a boiler in the new ‘English style” popular at Kew, with pipes, glass and brick walls that could hold in the radiant heat from the sun where they could grow fancy Muscat grapes which required protection from New England’s harsh winters.

Grape vines are trained on wires that lead the vines along the panes of glass. This greenhouse must be cozy in the summer with the canopy of leaves.

Mr. Lyman also collected grape varieties from his business trips to England, bringing back via ship Black Hamburg grape cuttings  from the Royal Greenhouses at Hampton Court, to grow on trellises that elevated the vines near to the glass, these vines are still alive today. Green Muscat of Alexandria grapes were a popular table grape in the late 1800’s, and they are golden colored, with a brownish bloom, and extremely sweet.

The grape vines are just starting to come out of their dormancy.

By 1820, another glasshouse was completed, a  lean-to solar room which became the ‘Camellia House” and in 1840 a larger wood span greenhouse with a multi-level floor was added which connected the Grapery and the Camellia House. These classic glass and wood greenhouses continued to be used reaching a peak in 1930 when they housed cut flowering plants for the estate, and they remained private until 1952 when the entire estate became a museum.

The idea of a hot wall, is still relevant today.

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 Sunday we visited a local farm just over the border in West Suffield, CT called Pleasant Valley Glad’s and Dahlia’s. A family owned business in it’s second generation of business, they are one of the countries few last growers and breeders of Gladiolus. I have an affinity for these most underused and under-appreciated of all summer bulbs, and I don’t know quite why. It might simply be by association, for the remind me of late summer gardens, and the gardens that my mom maintained. Regardless, anyone looking for late summer color should think about planting some exhibition glads, for the colors and varieties are endless, and as I found out on this visit, some new varieties might be perfect for large clumps in perennial borders, which is how they look best. So if your idea of gladiolus is limited to the handful of commercial varieties used by florists for funeral baskets, think again. Go Google Gladiola grower, and see what fancy varieties you will try next year in your garden. You might be pleasantly surprised!

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Image from the Snug Harbor Farm blog

It’s Sunday morning in the near-coastal town of Kennebunk Maine, in a section known as ‘ Lower Village’ . Kennebunk, once the town of wealthy sea captains, sea merchants, and known more for it’s Wedding Cake house than it’s garden centers, it is now the lesser sister to Kennebunkport ( where I spent summers as a kid). Before you hit the crowds, lobster rolls and traffic of Kennebunkport, why not stop and visit the peaceful and retreat-like garden and virtual escape of Sung Harbor Farm. Pick up some rare gourds, or perhaps a hand made garden pot.

This is a such a special place. The sort we plant lovers crave, and only rarely find. Walk amongst Pleached Hedges, the Topiary, the heirloom vegetables, the peafowl the collector fuchsia, hand-thrown pottery for the garden- all of this carefully created and curated by owner and garden designer  Tony Elliott, clearly a talented and well-informed plant person. If Linnaeus shopped here,  it wouldn’t be long before there was an Antonius magnifageekii  ssp. curatoriata.

All PHOTO BY SUSAN COSTELLO UNLESS NOTED

 Thanks to fellow blog reader, and photographer Susan Costello who shared with me most of these images (except two from their blog), I now have discovered Snug Harbor Farm, in Lower Kennebunk Village, in Maine.  Only rarely does one find the perfect recipe of style, botanical geekness and quality design- clearly the owners know much, much more than just how to shove gallon pots of mums around on black weed-block cloth. The American Garden Center is changing, ( not fast), but the few who have the vision, guts and knowledge will rise quickly to the top.

 A new consumer demands more, and sometime less. They want more style, more personality, more instant planting, or they are more knowledgable and expect hellebores in spring, and some at Christmas too. To sum it up, todays garden center customer is much more complex. Sure, there will always be the need for fast, instant disposable material like the most common of annuals and seasonal display material like bushel basket mums, but those are now easily found at the big box stores. Even my local super market has dwarf purple fall asters and white pumpkins. If you want heirloom speckled hungarian pumpkins and brilliant violet or white berried Callicarpa shrubs, you will still need to go to the specialist nursery.


Snug Harbor Farm is privately owned, and open most every day of the year. It caters to the more informed customer, the one who wants hand trained topiary, the one who appreciates rare cultivars and perfectly curated objet’s for the garden. This is a place where it is not uncommon to see pleached hornbeam hedges like those seen at Versailles, or rare breeds of poultry and Peafowl, and greenhouses packed with meticulously tide rows of hand-trimmed topiary myrtles in hand-thrown terra cotta pots. You can almost imagine Alan Haskel swerving by in a gold cart, scotch in hand. If only he could have lived to see the new future of garden centers the likes of Terrain and Snug Harbor Farm.

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