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Leaf Magazine Autumn 2012

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Celebrate a year of design outside!

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Page 1: Leaf Magazine Autumn 2012
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AVAILABLE FROM:

HAND FORGED GARDEN TOOLS FROM HOLLAND - SINCE 1913

Garden Tool Co.WWW.GARDENTOOLCOMPANY.COM | FORT COLLINS, CO - USA

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lettersFrom the Editors

I n this issue, each story intersects

with others to cre-ate a reflection of our society as a manifestation of how we live today.

Outdoor style is influenced by these vi-sual and cultural shifts just like any other design discipline.

Young designers (all under 40) who are coming up through the ranks and shaking things up are profiled in Fresh Take: Young Designers. In Features, the new classic gardens of the north and south reflect a growing interest in purely American design traditions. In furniture and fashion, grey is an emerging color trend, and Mood dem-onstrates how it can be interpreted for high style in any outdoor living space.

It’s our one-year anniversary, and the excitement of sharing great design outside with you in Leaf hasn’t dimin-ished. I hope you savor the issue, as well as the season.

SUSAN COHAN ROCHELLE GREAYER

ON THE COVER Photography and garden design by Brendan Moar

H appy Anni-versary! This

month is big for me and anniversa-ries. Leaf turns one, my own Studio ‘g’ blog turned four, and (somewhat unfathomably), I will be married for 15 years! In all honesty, I‘ve never seriously considered what it would feel like to make it to these mile-stones.

But now that they are all here, I’m pleased to be able to look back with pride and pleasure. These adventures, with their twists and turns, have been the best I could have hoped for.

Leaf continues to enjoy the excite-ment of newness (and experimenta-tion), whereas Studio ‘g’ has reached that semi-mature phase where a complete makeover recently seemed in order. I’m hoping that they both get to 15, where everything feels a little more settled, yet solid enough to upend once in a while—just for the fun of it.

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Brendan Moarworks as TV host, landscape architect, author, photogra-pher, and sometime actor/performer. He is the star of Dry Spell Gardening, Moar Gardening, and The Renova-tors in Australia. He loves creating gardens that push boundaries, buttons, and heartstrings.

P. Allen Smith is an award-winning designer, gardening, and lifestyle expert. He is the host of two public television programs, P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home, P. Allen Smith’s Garden to Table and the syndicated 30-minute show, P. Allen Smith Gardens.

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Elizabeth Licata is the editor of Buffalo Spree magazine and the author of Garden Walk Buffalo. She blogs at gardenrant.com. She spends snowy winters in Buffalo forcing almost as many bulbs inside as she has plants in her garden outside!

Kelly Fitzsimmonshas been photo-graphing children and families for nearly 20 years. She currently has photos on exhibit entitled “Hall of Hope” in the New-born Intensive Care Unit in Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where she also works.

Christine Best has spent many years in product de-velopment, buying, and management for Martha Stewart Living, Blooming-dale’s, Barnes and Noble Home, Nook accessories, and OpenSky. Outside of work, she pur-sues her passion in product, interior, and garden design.

contributors

Jen Sundeen Founder of The Durga Yoga Studio, The Harvard Farmers’ Market, Clara’s Canning Club, 108Gifts, and The Scott Road Commune. Smoky red wine is her perfect complement to camping, tree climbing, all manner of rituals, festivals, fabulous local food, live music, bonfires,

Naomi Slade is a horticultural journalist, graduate biologist, and occasional photographer. Her interests include plants, people, botany, environment, and design. She is a regular contributor to many national horticultural and lifestyle magazines in the UK and the RHS online.

James Yoch teaches Shake-speare at the Uni-versity of Okla-homa, writes about Renaissance land-scape and litera-ture, and consults on historical gar-dens. His Land-scaping the Ameri-can Dream won the Merit Award for Communication from the American Society of Land-scape Architects.

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H idden in a valley in west Wales, Shipton Bulbs is a very un-usual nursery—a stone cottage

caught between hanging woodland, tumbling water, and a lackadaisical veg-etable patch. It features stock beds filled

with thriving native and unusual pe-rennials. In spring, the bank above the cottage is brilliant with bluebells. It is as if John Shipton and his daughters, As-tra and Aelfwyn, have carved the place from wilderness.

dirt

TRAVELING LIGHT Cultivation is Key to Conservation in Plant Hunter’s Welsh NurseryBY NAOMI SLADE

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As nurseries go, Shipton Bulbs is the ultimate low-impact system. The plants are simply settled in their pre-ferred conditions and, with relaxed seasonality, left to grow freely until they are ready for sale. The native bluebells, Hyacinthoides non-scripta, grow as cul-tivated stock; the larger bulbs are hand-graded for sale and the smaller bulbs are carefully replanted.

Cultivating desirable plants helps to protect wild stock depletion by un-restricted collection (as has happened with bulbs and cyclamen in Continental Europe). In contrast to seeds—which are usually produced, and wasted, in liberal quantities—bulbs take a long time to reach flowering size. This makes them vulnerable to overexploitation. In a complete ecosystem, species are interlinked, depending on one another for survival. If an element is removed, or the symbioses disrupted, the entire system can suffer.

“All plants rely on soil organisms to a huge extent,” explains John. “You can put NPK fertilizer on a plant and just let it rip, but it is more complex than that. I’m not into fertilizing bulbs and other plants. I don’t need to; the ground does it anyway. Plus, the cost of producing nitrogen and phosphorous for fertilizer

Left: Aelfwyn Shipton harvesting bluebell bulbs. Above: Bulbs ready for dispatch.

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dirtis not very sustainable.”

Wherever they originate, garden plants will do best in situations that resemble their natural habitat. Indeed, John feels that native species are underrated as ornamentals. “I think gardening has been changed hugely by Beth Chat-to and her maxim of ‘right plant, right place’. Aware-ness has increased, yet many people still buy plants that are totally unsuitable for their climate. Native plants are per-fectly adapted to the local area. Some, like bluebells, snow-drops, and colchicums, are very showy but are often overlooked in favour of exotica. Gardening traditions vary in different countries but wherever people live, they should look around and see what there is. Northwest America, for example, has Trilliums, Camassias and Erythroniums that make great garden plants.”

John’s father, Eric Shipton, was an explorer and Everest mountaineer. In the 1920s and 1930s, most explorers had a huge entourage, but Eric Shipton preferred to set out with just one or two companions, travel light, and live off the land.

John has inherited his father’s wan-

derlust and, following in his footsteps to remote corners of the world, he leads plant-hunting expeditions to China, the Himalayas, and South America.

“If you know where a plant comes from, you get a feel for how it grows in your garden. Look at an alpine plant and you will know that it will thrive in well-drained rocky scree. In mountain-ous China you can see a huge range of Primulas, Rhododendrons, and Asiatic lilies growing wild as they were origi-nally found.

I love wandering about the planet and when there is a connection between travel and plants, it’s brilliant that I can do both!”

Bluebells, Hyacinthoides non-scripta, in a Welsh hedgerow

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flavor

CORN WHISKEY AMERICA’S POLITICAL COCKTAILS TO R Y A N D P H OTO G R A P H S B Y S U S A N C O H A N

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sustainable variet-ies (like Wapsie Val-ley Corn) yield only 60% of genetically modified, chemically dependent corn. For farmers, growing corn is a bulk busi-ness, and there isn’t enough profit or predictability in small-batch organic growing. Genetically modified corn is plentiful, cheap, and profitable for farmers large and small. And the mak-ers of GMO seed and chemicals have a powerful voice in a federal government intent on maintaining the status quo.

Some distillers are beginning to grow their own open-pollinated corn, and others are paying a premium to have local farmers grow organic corn for them. We asked some of the country’s artisanal distillers to create recipes for Leaf readers using un-aged corn whis-key. Perhaps our love of a good cocktail will inspire open-pollination among large, traditional corn producers.

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Corn whiskey holds a special place in American folklore

and economic and political history. The spirit conjures up images of tax avoiding, gun-toting distillers mak-ing moonshine deep in the woods, or cars careening down dark, country roads filled with contraband dur-ing Prohibition. As early as 1791, during the Whiskey Rebellion, small distillers throughout the country rose up and violently protested a tax on their products.

That politics, economics, and whis-key are strange bedfellows is no differ-ent today. White whiskey made from corn is now fashionable. It is made legally and with care and imagination in artisanal distilleries north and south of the Mason-Dixon line, and east and west of the Mississippi.

Corn is the top cash crop in the Unit-ed States, and according to the Center for Food Safety, more than 85% of it is genetically engineered. Specialty, small-batch distillers who are trying to create full-flavored, complex whiskies as well as bourbon—corn whiskey’s aged sib-ling—have tried to convince farmers to grow organic, heirloom, open-polli-nated corn. According to Brian Lee of Tuthilltown Spirits, organic, heirloom corn creates more complex flavors.

Heirloom varieties (non-GMO and

Test bottles of whiskey and bourbon at Kings County Distillery in Brooklyn, NY

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1 ½ oz corn whiskey½ oz simple syrup or agave syrup (more if you like it sweeter)1 cup fruit-infused ice tea (we used peaches, but anything will work)Fruit for garnish More-

Corn Whiskey Recipes

Margarita

Manhattan

Appletini

LEAF’S MOONSHINE ICED TEA

flavor

Combine whiskey, simple syrup, and tea in a mixing glass. Stir well. Alternate fruit and ice cubes in a highball glass, pour cocktail. Strain and pour mixed ingredients over ice and fruit.

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style WILD BEAUTYNature’s Tinctures, Tonics, and Creams BY ROCHELLE GREAYER

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KELLY FITZSIMMONS

EVENING PRIMROSEEvening primrose seed oil contains significant amounts of gamma-linoleic acid (GLA). GLA is used to treat a wide variety of topical and internal illnesses, and specifically to treat eczema and psoriasis.

EUCALYPTUSThe distinctive aroma of eucalyptus is useful in clearing sinus con-gestion (and associ-ated puffiness). Boil in water and inhale the vapors. Additionally, the warming qualities of the oil help treat muscle aches.

ROSESBoth Romans and 16th-century monks steeped roses in wine for a hangover cure, and throughout his-tory women have rubbed petals on their faces to reduce wrinkles and pre-serve youth.

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LAVENDERLavender is both an antiseptic and an anti-inflammatory. Infusions can soothe insect bites, burns, and headaches. For a topical acne treatment, mix lavender extract with rose water and witchhazel and dilute 1:10 with water.

WILD BLUEBERRYThe high levels of Vitamin C, E, and antioxidants in blueberries make an excellent exfoliating and nourishing facial mask.

YARROWYarrow oil is useful for hair and skin care. It is an astringent that is helpful in balancing oily skin and scalps, and it stimulates new hair growth. Add yarrow to shampoo to promote a healthy scalp, strengthen your hair shaft, and treat split ends.

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styleL et’s face it—being able

to identify plants is more than plant-nerd

cool. It’s real world cool be-cause it means that you can forage. And isn’t foraging just about the trendiest thing a nature lover can do these days? With wild, gathered food featured on the menus of the finest restaurants in the world, foraging has moved past its pauper roots and into the realm of real-world consideration, and not only for sustenance, but for beauty products, as well.

There is a special kind of joy that comes from foraging that gets right to the heart of what makes it a wonderful pastime. It is a treasure hunt; it is beautiful way to get in touch with your surround-ings and the cycles of the seasons; and it nurtures your soul to move through the landscape and see it with a different set of eyes.

Is putting something in your body all that dif-ferent that putting it on your body? The skin is the body’s largest organ, so perhaps it is worth con-sidering the ingredients in our beauty products as much as we consider those in our food.

It is said that beauty is a state of mind (we agree!), but certainly products help, too. Some of the most attainable (and common) plants around have a wonderful way of making our skin and hair look their best. So why not enjoy the purity of na-ture, and start foraging for beauty?

PLANTAINSoothe skin, particularly from bee stings and other insect bites, with plantain. These strappy-leafed weeds grow everywhere, and the tannins from a macerated leaf will take the sting away and calm the skin.

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MoreRecipes for tonics, tinctures, creams and masks

DISCLAIMER: When foraging, be sure that you follow foragers’ guidelines. Know what you are picking, do not pick an area clean (leave plants to grow for the next person and the next season), and use with caution. Many plants have powerful medicinal qualities, and should be treated with care when ingesting or using on your body. Be sure to consider allergies.

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GOLDEN ROD Golden rod is a prolific plant that can be harvested while in bloom (look for fields of yellow in late summer and autumn). Infuse the flowers with water for use as a facial tonic to control oily skin, or add them to a bath to firm skin and muscles.

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CLOUD PRUNING

In Western cultures, we plant with abandon;

we cultivate abundance and work from a more-is-better mantra. Japanese gardens,

conversely, embrace a limited palette and strive to create

atmosphere and mood through careful and extreme manipulation of a

small set of resources.Niwaki is the art of training trees into inter-

esting forms and unique structures that grace Japanese gardens. Modern, eclectic garden

styles provide beautiful spaces for these works of art, and learning to create your own is getting

easier. Jake Hobson’s new book, The Art of Creative Pruning (Timber Press, 2011), an increase in aesthetic

pruning courses throughout the United States, and the sale of beautiful Niwaki tools support this growing trend.

Join us in the gallery for beautiful examples of Niwaki. More

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GARDEN SNIPSSmall garden snips are often disposable and not very good-looking. Beautiful, handmade tools feel special when you have them in your hands. These tradition-al, hand-forged Ikeba-na scissors (Okatsune Ikenobo) from Niwaki are beautiful, perfectly weighted, and have blades strong enough to cut small branches. They will last a lifetime.

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TREND ALERT! Zip lines are popping up everywhere. In addition to backyards and adventure travel companies, we saw

zip lines during the last year at the Indy 500, the Super Bowl, and the Summer Olympics. Zip lines are

increasingly being installed as a form of landscape entertainment, where riders enjoy a thrill, a bit of

exercise, a great view, and interesting transportation. The trend appears to be expanding, as numerous local governments are considering zip lines in public parks,

to increase revenue and tourism, and even for mass transportation. P

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HOSEWARESIt’s not easy to take something that is usually hidden from view and showcase it in a way that suggests a new use. Chase DeFor-est Furniture creates witty and functional furniture and objects using everyday items. Her Hosewares series transforms utilitarian garden hoses into colorful baskets and garden chairs.

found

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GREEN FINGERS, FREE FINGERSIs there any truth to the ad-age, cold hands and warm heart? Having cold hands just makes me grumpy. How-ever, I still hate to don gloves in autumn. They feel like too much clothing, and with a lack of snow and other cold-magnifying elements, they are simply cumbersome.

I like to keep my fingers free, so I love free-fingered gloves. I’m enthusiastic about Wristies, an inexpensive line of fingerless fleece gloves that are 100% American-made from 98% recycled products. I like the idea of combining them with Won-der Warmers. Unlike throw-away hand-warmers, Wonder Warmers can be used hun-dreds of times; they are re-charged by popping them in boiling water.

GRILL-TO-GOBodum’s new Fyrkat grill is good–to-go on any picnic or outdoor adventure. The mini-picnic, nearly 12-inch-diameter grill, is small enough to fit on a bike, yet big enough to cook for two. Choose from traditional black or several fun colors. It also comes in a gas version.

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found

KISS MY ASTER . . . THE BOOK!Amanda Thomsen’s new book, Kiss My Aster: A Graphic Guide to Creat-ing a Fantastic Yard Totally Tailored to You (Storey Publishing, January 2013) shakes up traditional garden book pub-lishing. Steeped in rock and roll irrev-erence and sound horticultural knowl-edge, Amanda takes us on a journey that is practical, active, and full of en-ergy.

“I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m a bit of an aged punk rocker,” Amanda says. “I still want a little anarchy in the back yard, and I want other people to know that they can have that too. Land-scaping is just as much fun and a pain in the ass as any other home renovation project, except you get a tan out of it.”

When asked for her top five choices of albums to garden by, Amanda picked Loco Live by The Ramones, Paul's Bou-tique from the Beastie Boys, the Coc-teau Twins’ Treasure Hiding, She & Him Volume 1, and The Roches.

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mood

Gardens and exterior spaces de-signed with unified hues create a timeless environment for year-

round consistency. Simple, unified tones enable an eclectic mixing of form, sur-face, and heritage and period pieces that contrast against severe and organic mod-ern designs. All finish with a flavorful configuration that is perfectly balanced and appeals to many tastes. A singular palette also provides at-whim opportuni-ties for playful injections of color, pro-viding instant variation.

Monochrome gardens take their cues from nature. Grey foliage combines with faux bois furniture and accent pieces with a weathered patinas. Rusted iron, oil-rubbed bronze, concrete, natural wood, and rustic glazes blend seamlessly. The overall styling speaks primarily to a modern craft with a few traditional piec-es pulled in to complete the look.

MonochroMe DesignOutdoor rooms with a focused paletteby christine best

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The Council Garden blends imported and native trees, shrubs, grasses, and often dogs

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FLORENCE YOCH

The Pleasures of Small GardensBY JAMES J. YOCH

At the end of her more than fifty-year career designing gardens and movie sets in

California, Florence Yoch (1890-1972) typed quotations that con-firmed her long experience, includ-ing the philosophical hope that a garden should be “appealing always to the imagination without ever fail-ing to satisfy reason.” Combining the

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A complex parterre of harmonic yet unmatched pieces and varied plantings shows “what may be accomplished on a narrow city lot,” as Yoch wrote.

Her grandest gardens invited owners to enjoy the small-scale convenience of shaded benches and arbors.

root

romantic and the practical, her land-scapes for America’s merchant princes and movie moguls oscillated between these poles. Her most widely seen set, Tara in Gone With The Wind, com-bines dramatic oppositions, including elegant noisette roses (Maréchal de Niel) and dogwoods overlooking a rug-ged farm drive.

Her smallest projects featured a stat-ue, pond, or other artifact with echoes from a distant epoch. Her grandest gar-dens invited owners to enjoy the small-scale convenience of shaded benches,

arbors, accessible potting sheds, and tool houses. She saw these as fulfilling real human needs.

When Florence Yoch spoke to the California chapter of the American Institute of Architecture (AIA) in 1931, she discounted the repetitive style of fancy gardens, and praised instead the individual character that peasants in England, Spain, Italy, and France brought into their outdoor spaces.

Reserved in habits, she lived mostly in cottages and often designed gardens for small-scale courtyards and

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the enclaves of women’s clubs. Inspired as a child by her family’s visit to Ar-den—the forested estate of the famous Polish émigré Shakespearean actress Madame Modjeska and her practical agriculturalist husband Count Chlapow-ski—Florence Yoch came to appreciate the pleasures of a country outpost with a large library and a garden rich in native and imported flora. For even the small-est sites throughout her career, she com-bined designs, ornaments, and plants laden with historical associations and personal memories.

Her grandest gardens invited owners to enjoy the small-scale convenience of shaded benches and arbors.

Travelling, sketching, photography, and reading made her adept in interpret-ing aristocratic European gardens to suit her sophisticated American clients who wanted waterfalls, fountains, allées, for-ests, and parterres of flowers. For her, affection dominated display. At a South Pasadena bungalow—her first home together with life-long partner Lucile Council and her parents—Yoch trans-lated onto a small suburban lot Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll’s published design for a fashionable Chelsea town-house garden (1911). Yoch and Council

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eliminated the classical colonnade and statues, doubled the flower border, and welcomed guests to informal teas with dogs on a bench placed on a relaxed an-gle. Later in their 1940s semi-retirement, the couple built on a Pasadena hillside a midwestern farmhouse alongside a Monterey-style apartment and garage. When they retired again and moved books and plants north to Lazycroft Cot-tage on two wooded lots overlooking the ocean in Carmel, Yoch and Council cre-ated comfortable spots for reading and dining amongst giant lilies and treasured antiques. Here they reveled in a place in the sun, another in the shade, for daily rituals and playful musings.

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Dramatizing the foreground of views to the mountains, the long-blooming

border maximized a colorful display

on a narrow lot

Copyright © James J. Yoch 2012. All Rights Reserved. Used by permis-sion. An ex-cerpt from the forthcoming revision of Landscaping the American Dream, no part of this text or its images may be reproduced without James J. Yoch’s written consent.

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What’s Out There WEEKEND

OCTOBER 6-7 · NEW YORK CITY

Explore and Discover NYC’s landscape marvels with FREE tours in all five boroughs, featuring some of the nation’s most innovative landscapes spanning two centuries of design. Experience the great civic spaces of Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza and Prospect Park; Bob Zion’s original “vest pocket park” at Manhattan’s Paley Park; Wave Hill’s majestic views of the Hudson River from the Bronx, and the unique urban design of Sunnyside Gardens in Queens. Many are places people pass daily, but do we know their background stories?

Register today tclf.org/WOTW

Sponsored by

Photo: Paley Park

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flowerBRINGING NATURE INVacation Snapshots

BY ROANNE ROBBINS

Stone cairn landscapes in the hallway, apothecary jars filled with ferns on the din-

ing table, a bowl of duckweed and water hyacinth in the kitchen. These are the relics from our vacation—snapshots of the places we visited, reminders of discoveries we made,

Photography by Roanne Robbins

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A bowl of duckweed and water hyacinth

memories of our summer.With summer over, these mini-land-

scapes transport us back to vacation—to the high trails where my daughter hiked her first mountain, or to the morning at the pond where we gazed at water flower

blooms, and left with wet sneakers and stories of frogs that got away.

These arrangements give our imagi-nations a place to play. And even though it’s autumn and our family is back in the school routine, summer lingers on.

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plantDiospyros virginiana

Botanical Name Diospyros virginiana

Common Name American persimmon, Possumwood

Plant Family Ebenacae

Native Habitat/Origin Eastern United States, west to Texas

Seasonal Interest Fragrant blooms in spring yield yellow-orange fruit in autumn that may persist after leaf drop, giving it a festive appearance. Mature trees have beautiful, dark grey “alligator skin” bark.

Height and Width 35-60’ H x 20-35’ W

Soil and Moisture Fertile, well-drained, loamy soil. PH-tolerant.

Aspect Full sun. Shelter from cold, drying winds and late frosts.

Maintenance Prune every 1 to 2 years. Remove damaged or diseased branches and any rapidly growing upright branches in the center of the tree. Difficult to transplant..

Problems and Diseases Relatively disease-free

Hardiness USDA 4-9

Notes Fruit is highly attractive to wildlife, which often get to it before harvest. Hard and close-grained wood from the plant is used to make billiard cues and golf club heads. Fruits are used as a dye.

Design Uses A large landscape tree that is adaptable to urban sites and poor conditions. Can be naturalized and will form thickets.

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Photography by Saxon Holt

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shopTO MARKET, TO MARKETMust-Have Items for Shopping at an Outdoor Market BY JEN SUNDEEN

I adore everything about a farmers’ market —the magnificent array of earth’s

colors, scents, textures, flavors and sounds. I’ll admit, my first visit to a farmers’ market a decade ago left me sunburned and parched. Tired, sticky children clung to my legs, and I was overloaded with heavy paper bags full of wilting pro-duce. When I got home, the milk had curdled from the heat, the chocolate cookies had melted, and one of the kids left half a strawberry popsicle at the bottom of a soggy gro-cery bag. Still, I loved it.

Fortunately, a decade of shopping farmers’ markets has taught me well. These are perfect Must-Haves for maneuvering a local outdoor market.  

Produce “Feed Bags”. Buy several; they are worth it in more ways than one. This great company helps to feed hungry communities all over the world.

A cooler with class

for the glass milk jug, the homemade cheese, the

hand-cut pasta, and

the pheasant eggs. 

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A wagon to carry the pumpkin, the mums, the cooler, the bags of pro-duce, the kids.  If you want to be guaranteed a photograph in the local paper, put the dog in it too.

Watch out for that sun! I’m partial to cowboy hats.  They make me feel kind of farmer-ish, a bit like I might have grown all that corn myself.

You just never know. The market can al-ways be greeted by unexpected thunder-storms and you can easily find yourself in a dusty parking lot or a muddy field.

Have a plan! Buy at least one dinner that is 100% local. Half the fun is researching what is in season and experimenting with new recipes. 

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ARTFUL FORCINGEasy as One, Two, BloomBY ELIZABETH LICATA

Forced hyacinths and Narcissus tazettas—in vintage or contem-porary glass—provide elegant

décor while growing, as well as delicate blooms in January and February. Time it properly, and you can have flowering bulbs through April. All that is needed are bulbs, containers, stones, water, and confidence.

The custom of forcing hyacinths was popular from at least the seventeenth century through the Victorian era, but over the twentieth century, the practice declined, especially in the United States. Forcing is now mainly conducted by

shop

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the flower trade for cut flowers and gift plants. Oddly enough, home gardeners who work wonders in their outdoor gar-dens are often afraid to experiment in-side. But the learning curve is not as high as one may think. A refrigerator now stands in for the cold basements, attics, and root cellars of the past.

Place a bag of hyacinths in the fridge in late September, take them out in late December, and set them in a forcing vase over water. Flowers will arrive in February or March, depending on the variety. Old House Gardens provides detailed instructions on forcing, as well as a beautiful selection of heirloom

bulbs—many of which cannot be found anywhere else. Brent and Becky’s and John Scheepers are also reliable bulb providers.

Tazettas belong to Division 8 of the Narcissus genus; they include the com-mon paperwhites sold in chains, but there are many other interesting variet-ies to try. It is possible to find tazettas that lack the sharp paperwhite scent and that feature a softer fragrance instead. Old House Gardens offers the double ‘Erlicheer’ variety, as well as pretty single varieties, while Brent and Becky’s has a gorgeous yellow and orange ‘Grand Soleil d’Or’ and several others.

Vintage hyacinth vases can be found on eBay. Set search parameters to “worldwide,” as most come from UK sellers. Contemporary vases can sometimes be found in garden centers.

Thrift stores have inter-esting glass vases that work well for tazettas, while chain stores have fairly inexpensive con-temporary vases. Tall vases will provide support for often-lanky narcissus.

Tazettas are easy. Pile stones in the bottom third of a glass container (at least 12” high; taller is better), place bulbs, and fill with water to just un-der the bulbs. Leave in a chilly, dimly lit room for a week or so, then move them into a sunny room. Blooms can take three to five weeks.

HOW TO DO IT YOURSELF

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BRENDAN MOAR’S CONTEMPORARY DESIGN WITH SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS

W hen Australian garden de-signer Brendan Moar was charged with designing a

contemporary and sustainable garden on a steep slope, the materials he chose became just as important as the plants in the overall scheme. Moar describes below how he used gabions, composite railroad ties (sleepers), and corten steel to achieve a modern look.

GABIONS Gabions are traditionally constructed from galvanised mesh cages that are filled with rocks or stones. They are

used frequently along freeways to retain embankments. Gabions make very ef-fective and relatively inexpensive retain-ing walls, as they allow water to pass through them freely.

Our gabions are a variation on the traditional approach. They were con-

buildCorten trellis

Corten steppers

Brendan Moar’s book, Green, is based on his popular Australian television show, Dry Spell Gardening

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Gabions

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buildstructed from a treated pine timber frame that was clad with perforated stainless steel panels. The panels are in fact a waste product— leftovers from the manufacture of metal tiles. Once the timber frame was clad with metal pan-els, the gabions were partly filled with large river stones. Gabions don’t naturally hold soil, so in order to plant in ours, a geo-textile fab-ric ‘sack’ was laid in the centre of the gabions and filled with soil. The remaining stones were pressed between the sack and the metal panels, giving the impression that the gabions are full of stone.

PLASTIC SLEEPERS (Railroad Ties)The very thought of plastic sleepers might be enough to send a shiver down your spine. It certainly did mine. I was envisaging faux timber grain, but when they turned up I could not have more delighted or surprised. These sleek black sleepers are made from 98% recycled plastic, including milk and juice con-tainers, cling wrap, plastic bags, and old plastic rainwater tanks. They will outlast regular timber sleepers, and won’t warp, split, or crack.

CORTEN STEPPERSCorten is an exciting material to work with in the garden. Its beautiful, rusty patina can be enjoyed knowing that it is not going to rust away in a few years. I had never seen corten used as a pav-ing material, but I cannot see any reason why it wouldn’t work. The shapes here were cut with an oxy torch from a large sheet of 6mm-thick corten. The steppers were set onto pads of mortar. Some of the steppers have had to be re-adhered to the mortar pads with liquid nails. The sheets from which the steppers were cut were fixed to timber posts and became a trellis to support climbers.

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pick

The Café Bird Feeder has an urban apartment feel, and is designed by Teddy Luong and Dennis Cheng for Umbra.

Attic—a con-temporary twist on a traditional birdhouse—is designed and handmade by San Francisco designer Chad Wright.

OPTIONS FOR THE

MODERN BIRDStreamlined and updated, functional and contemporary, designers are creating stylish options for birds just in time for cool weather roosting and feeding.

The Eco Egg from Rosso’s International is a sustainable option made from bamboo, and will decompose in four to five years.

The Sunscreen Sunflower Bird Feeder is crafted by sculptor, Joe Papendick. His feeders are featured in his Etsy store.

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YOUNG DESIGNERS F R E S H TA K E

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YOUNG DESIGNERS THESE SIX DESIGNERS HAVE FRESH IDEAS FOR DESIGN OUTSIDE. CLICK MORE -> TO READ THEIR ANSWERS TO LEAF’S QUESTIONS ABOUT THEIR WORK.

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MORE

We think there is no better teacher than nature. Nature has

perfected balancing textures and color palettes and showcasing what plant combinations work well together in masses and as specimens.”

Mike Coraggio & Ryan Burrows

ECOWALLS

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An oversized ce-dar hot tub was added as a place to soak on sum-mer days, and it doubles as an emergency water source.

Eva Zeisel is my design icon—for her fluid and

sensual design sensibility . . . for her amazing life story of triumph . . . for blazing the way for female industrial designers . . . and for continuing to work well into her 90s.”

Kathryn Prideaux

LAND + ROOM

MORE

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SAND & FIBERGLASS FURNITURE

I like the juxtaposition of

something that looks old but is modern, things that look so heavy but are light. I guess I like surprising people with the unexpected.”

“Zachary A. Bitner

MORE

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My studio is inside a woodshop in London.

One wall is completely covered in experimental swatches and images. I usually start my day looking it over with a cup of coffee in my hand.”

Jessica Carnevale

“MORE

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Jessica Carnevale

STRETCH-WOVEN DINING CHAIRS

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The “Modern Zen” spaces I’ve

been creating lately have been inspired by nothing but texture, forcing me to limit my color selections in order to give the space the rhythm that I feel it needs.”

“Jay Bearfield

LIQUID LANDSCAPE DESIGNS

MORE

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The auto industry inspires me. Their vast budgets

allow for incredible and opulent solutions. I feel some of the best designers have gone that route.”

Brad Reed Nelson

WINDSORRONDACK ROCKERS

MORE

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Classic Cape p h oto g r a p h y by E r i c a D E z i t t E r a n D J oyc E K . W i l l i a m s

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Classic Cape Designer

Joyce K. Williams uses

clean lines anD classic

Details to create an aWarD -Winning

garDen on cape coD

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Some gardens have an innate sense of place. Landscape designer Joyce K. Williams

created a residential garden that is so much about time and place that it won a 2012 Merit Award for Residential Design from the Asso-ciation of Professional Landscape Designers.

Williams’s clients wanted an outdoor space for their two-acre property with timeless appeal that reminded them of gardens they had seen in England. They also wanted their garden to function as a place to entertain and invite discovery and contemplative re-flection. Additionally, it was im-portant to protect the property’s mature trees with their moss-filled collars. The end design achieves that through a series of terraces and winding paths that fuse natu-ralistic areas with those that are more formal.

by s u s a n c o h a n

Grey stone walls echo

New England’s landscape traditions

Williams’s cliENts WaNtEd aN outdoor spacE With timElEss appEal that rEmiNdEd thEm of GardENs thEy had sEEN iN ENGlaNd.

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the foursquare garden is on an axis from the front door to a large boulder in the distance

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By combining plants and gar-den elements commonly associ-ated with gardens on Cape Cod (as well as on neighboring Mar-tha’s Vineyard and Nantucket) with contemporary sculpture and stonework, the garden avoids be-ing enslaved by tradition. The focal point of the foursquare garden is a contemporary bronze sculpture by Sara Jane Porter named “Buiten-verwachting” after a favorite res-taurant of the clients. It translates to “Beyond Expectations.” The soaring bronze piece adds winter interest when little else is hap-

pening in the garden, yet in other seasons is an equal visual partner with the exuberant plantings that surround it.

Down a series of turf and stone steps from the garden is a pond that was built as part of the cli-ent’s brief. “I designed a pond that supports a micro-ecosystem and is client-friendly and interactive. Around the pond I created a beach and a bog, one sunny and one shady patio, a summerhouse, and included loads of plants that are native, sustainable, beautiful, and of benefit to wildlife,” Williams

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a built in stone

seat in the lowest wall

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paths and steps throughout the garden create a sense of discovery

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it looks as if it’s bEEN thErE a huNdrEd yEars.

it’s likEly that it Will still bE thErE a huNdrEd

yEars from NoW!

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explains.At the rear of the property, the

neglected woodland became a new destination when Williams created a meandering path with a con-cealed space that was a counter-point to the bold cottage plantings adjacent to it.

Stone walls and gray, weathered shingles are quintessential ele-ments of any garden in New Eng-land, not just those on Cape Cod. The walls in this garden are used in a graphic way, yet have their roots in the grayed granite of the rest of New England. The clean lines of the summerhouse echo those of the main residence, and add to the timeless yet contemporary feel of the gardens. Williams says of the finished project: “The best part, for me as a designer, is that it looks as if it’s been there a hundred years, and it’s likely that it will still be there a hundred years from now!”

“i dEsiGNEd a poNd that supports a micro-EcosystEm aNd is cliENt-friENdly aNd iNtEractivE.”

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broad stone and turf steps create

a transition between formal

and natural areas

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Southern ComfortJUST WHAT IS SOUTHERN REGIONAL GARDEN STYLE?

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Southern ComfortJUST WHAT IS SOUTHERN REGIONAL GARDEN STYLE?

A long double mixed border

at Moss Mountain Farm

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BY P. A L L E N S M I T H

A Southern regional gar-dening style is really an approach to life and a state of mind. It is ro-

mantic and beautiful, yet simple and traditional. Southern garden-ing leans toward the cool and the calm. It incorporates architectural elements that enhance the effects of cooling breezes.

Southerners can’t talk about the outdoors without considering the indoors, since our climates are temperate to sub-tropical, allowing for in and outdoor activities nearly year-round. Every design element encourages large gatherings and entertaining. There are always a lot of sitting areas, keeping hospital-ity and comfort in mind. Features like wide breezeways, expansive and deep wrap-around porches with traditional sky-blue-painted ceil-ings, and ceiling fans held up by Neo-Classical columns.

DESIGNED IN THE FERME ORNEE (ORNAMENTAL FARM) STYLE, THE GARDENS ARE BOTH BEAUTIFUL AND USEFUL

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A view of the house at dusk, with

deep, columned screened-in

porches and two garden

outbuildings

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Large front doors adorned with a welcoming wreath, wrought iron fences and balcony railings, and wide windows define the southern design approach. Wooden swings, wicker rocking chairs, metal gliders, and chairs in the grass are common, though they may seem strange until the evening breeze begins to cool things off. Linens and cotton fabrics, shade awnings, and screened-in sleeping porches with huge, cast-iron claw foot tubs are part of southern heri-tage, too.

Southern landscapes include broad green lawns dotted with sprawling shade trees such as oaks dripping with Spanish moss, fragrant magno-lias, flowering dogwoods, and crape myrtles. Big rose gardens and flowering shrubs like camellias, heady gardenias, and colorful hydrangeas accentuate the aroma of boxwoods and Leyland cypress. Drifts of aspidistra, cannas, daylilies, colorful annuals laid out in symmetrical landscapes, and meadows of daffodils are all very typical of the southern gardening tradition. Veg-etables are also an integral part of any southern garden. Many old southern homes had canning kitchens to store the garden’s bounty during winter.

Perfumed wisteria and jasmine

crawling around arbors and pergolas provide a million reasons not to stay inside, no matter how hot it is. Tropical plants, a tall glass of sweetened iced tea, or a classic mint julep in a silver cup are just the thing on a hundred-degree day. I have tried to respect and interpret my southern heritage in the gardens I have designed. I look to Thomas Jef-ferson’s Monticello, where he carved a 1,000-foot-long terrace out of the mountainside and divided the area into 24 plots where he could experiment with new plants and grow food for the house. I took a similar approach at my farm, Moss Mountain, which is perched on top of a plateau with garden areas slop-ing toward the Arkansas River. As with any garden design project, my method is to divide and conquer. By creat-ing smaller spaces, I can design each room individually rather than tackling a large blank canvas. My goal at Moss Mountain Farm is to create an ongoing project that serves as a working model to teach classes in garden design, sus-tainable living, and good stewardship all wrapped up in traditional southern garden style.

THE IDYLLIC SETTING BLURS THE LINES BETWEEN GARDEN AND HOME, HERITAGE AND MODERN.

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A simple candelabra decorated with gourds and vines for an autumn al fresco party

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The gardens and Arkansas River in early autumn as seen from the top floor of the house

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OVERLOOKING THE ARKANSAS RIVER VALLEY, MOSS MOUNTAIN FARM DATES BACK TO 1840.

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MOSS MOUNTAIN FARM SERVES AS A WORKING MODEL TO TEACH GARDEN DESIGN AND SUSTAINABLE LIVING ALL WRAPPED UP IN SOUTHERN GARDEN STYLE.

Overlooking the Arkans River Valley, Moss Mountain Farm encompasses more than 500 acres dating back to 1840. The centerpiece of the property is the cottage, built in the Greek Revival style and constructed in an earth-friendly manner. Directly behind the cottage is the croquet lawn that is framed by a summer kitchen and an art studio. I followed the contours of the old farm fields to establish two terraces. The upper ter-race hosts herbaceous borders, and the lower terrace is devoted to vegetables, fruits, and herbs. Although my vegetable garden does not compare in size to Jefferson’s, it is still very large. Designed in the ferme ornee (ornamen-tal farm) style, the gardens are both beautiful and useful. This idyllic setting blurs the lines between garden and home, heritage and mod-ern. The vegetable garden was designed to be pleasing to the eye, as well as a source for food. Flower borders serve a secondary purpose of testing and observing plants before using them in my designs. Beyond the flower gardens are orchards filled with heritage apple trees, stone fruit and blueberries, a bluebird trail, wildflow-er fields, and a daffodil hill that overflows with more than 225,000 daffodils every spring. Vari-ous outbuildings, from barns to mobile chicken homes, dot the grounds and surrounding pas-tures.

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Working areas and living areas

are side-by-side, creating a holistic

experience

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Get the LookTO GET A CLASSIC CAPE COD LOOK IN YOUR OWN GARDEN, TRY THESE TIPS, PLANTS, AND FEATURES.

BOXWOODS Create structure with boxwoods. Unlike many of the Buxus cultivars, Buxus x ‘Glenco’ Chicagoland Green™ shows resistance to boxwood blight.

TUTEURS Traditional wood tuteurs add vertical structure and interest to a garden. This one, from Walpole Woodworkers, comes in white, but many are available unstained also. Let it weather naturally to add that grayed look so common to Cape Cod.

HYDRANGEAS Blue mophead hydrangeas thrive in the salt air and dappled shade of the Cape. At three feet tall and wide, Hydrangea macrophylla Cityline Venice™ from Proven Winners® is perfect for smaller gardens.

ROSES Roses and hydrangeas are the ultimate Cape Cod planting combination. Reblooming Rosa ‘Meiggili’ is a relatively new Drift® rose, grows only two feet tall, and blooms all season long. Use it as a groundcover rose as shown in the preceding garden, or in small groups.

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SOUTHERN GARDENS ARE ALL ABOUT THE DETAILS. TRY THESE IN YOUR OWN GARDEN.

IRON FOUNTAINS are often part of a south-ern garden. They can be found in court-yards, greenhouses, or as a garden focal point. Robinson Iron in Alabama makes historically accurate black iron fountains.

STATUARY is another element found in many southern gardens. Sometimes formal, sometimes not, these classic garden sculptures often depict children. Elegant Earth creates accurate and affordable reproduc-tions of garden statuary.

SOUTHERN MAGNOLIAS (Magnolia grandiflora) are the emblematic flowering trees of the south. Their large and fragrant blooms as well as glossy evergreen leaves make a big statement. Cultivars for smaller gardens, like the ‘Kay Parris’ shown, are readily available.

HIBISCUS aren’t solely found in southern gardens; many cultivars are hardy to Z5, but they add a dash of the south to the northern-most cottage gardens. This one, ‘Summer Storm’, is from Heavy Petal Nurs-ery in Washington.

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leafA U T U M N 2 0 1 2

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