Botanica Atlanta Landscape Design

The newly opened Canopy Walk at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens is a one-of-a-kind experience in the US, literally.  There is no other place in the country where you can experience what I am about to describe.  Because it is right here in Atlanta, it is worth your while to make the trip.

When you walk the canopy at the ABG's new installation connecting the main campus with the Storza Woods, you will experience a garden very differently. 

Photo credit: Cloud Q Conrad

The novelty is the elevated path, which meanders through the tree trunks suspended 30 - 50 feet above grade. You are now getting a glimpse from the squirrel's perspective.  If you think about it, the canopy walk is very like a network of branches a squirrel might follow to take him through the woods on an elevated path.  The walk is a twelve-foot wide concrete path suspended from large steel "masts" which angle and taper and, enameled brown, mimic massive tree trunks in the woods.  It is a well-camoflaged structure in the air.

Photo credit: Cloud Q Conrad

Suspended from this vantage point, the visitor can experience the garden in plan view - looking down at the actual design as if looking down over its plan, unrolled on a desk and explained by rounded, carefully stylized shapes in black ink on white paper.  Except that it's real life and green, blue green, silver green, chartreuse, mottled, striated, flecked, variegated, scaled, spined, toothed, lobed and fronded - not just clever marks on an impressively sized piece of paper. 

It's easy to imagine the master plan for the gardens beneath the Canopy when you can look down upon them. It's much harder for a landscape design client to translate from plan view (what the squirrel sees from the trees) to what he or she will experience at ground level when their plan is installed.  A two-dimensional outline of a Natchez crapemyrtle, no matter how detailed, cannot foretell the exquisite trunk forms and texture that almost appears as skin over bone, or the delight in finding a bird's nest cradled in the tightly clustered branches formed by the obligatory trunk pruning, or the shot of energy their blooms infuse in the mid-summer Georgia landscape when other plants are starting to falter in the sweltering heat.

Looking from above, mass plantings behave very differently than they do at ground level. A mass planting of oakleaf hydrangeas, or fatsias or waxleaf privet appears on the ground like an undulating wall.  From the air, the masses form shapes and interact with other masses as patterns. In this sense, viewing the garden from a different plane gives us another dimension to our experience.  The Canopy Walk is rich in mass plantings of native plants, so the Georgia gardener can visualize this concept with familiar plants that are readily available in our region.

Photo credit: Cloud Q Conrad

On the ground, the canopy has an entirely different effect. When we are experiencing the garden as people, not as squirrels, the canopy is a man-made intrusion. Artful, certainly. Assimilated, indeed. But the impression is left that we have put some indelible, synthetic imprint on the garden.  That's not necessarily bad, considering the ABG's basic purpose is to encourage interaction with the garden and present to man a variety of plants in realistic settings. The Canopy Walk completely defines the stimulation of interaction between man and the garden.  The imprint is weighed against the overall community benefit and wisely spent.

There are many buildings on the ABG campus. Man-made, they certainly make an imprint on the landscape. But we can easily put them in the background, mentally.  The Canopy forces us to keep the man-made in the foreground. Maybe that's the difference.

It's not a critcism. Or an accolade.  Just an observation. You should see for yourself. 

Author: Cloud Q Conrad

Walter Reeve makes a good point – gardeners have a special vocabulary not understood “on the street”, as it were.  His reference is to the old-time advice to “dress with dried blood to accelerate” the growth of a peony.  I’d add, we are then going to “stake” those peonies??

Deadhead is another phrase that either conjures images of Morticia Adams or Jerry Garcia, neither having anything to do with the gardening act nor representative of its outcome.  What about overwinter?  Isn’t that how North Dakotans and Minnesotans feel just about now? 

Photo credit: Cloud Q Conrad

It isn’t enough that gardeners have their own language.  What about the strange social customs gardeners observe?  A gardener will pull weeds at the front stoop while she waits for her gardener neighbor to answer the door.  She can’t do that for a non-gardening neighbor, who would see it as criticism, not an obsession to help. 

Gardeners can sniff each other out at the local garden center, too.  One time a fellow enthusiast strode up to me just beaming and thrust a 6” pot at me and simply said, “Pelargonium citrosum.  There are three left. Next to tomatoes.  You’ll want them.”  He wouldn’t have shoved these in any shopper’s face.  At a higher level, shoppers don’t generally “push” products with other shoppers. No one says, “You’ve simply got to get that red checked shower curtain!” to someone they don’t know.

Photo credit: Cloud Q. Conrad

There are also the rituals. Average mortals cast a wildflower mix over grass they have killed with some variety of toxin and enjoy what they sow as a kind of bonus, a Heads up in the 50/50 odds of life.  But gardeners not only dig, but double dig a new garden bed for cut flowers, vegetables, herbs and perennials.  Gardeners wouldn’t dream of starting off a new area without addressing the foundation first.  Not only that, they relish in the ritual of breaking, turning, cleaning, amending and replacing soil – and for its own sake.  The satisfaction of clearing roots, rocks, building debris and other unwelcome elements from the garden area is enough in itself. 

 Photo credit: Cloud Q. Conrad

Certainly there will be great satisfaction in the planting and nurturing of the new garden composition but every gardener – every true gardener – pauses, at least for a few seconds, to admire her “yummy” dirt likea cake just pulled from the oven, before slicing into it for planting.

Only gardeners understand the idiosyncrasies of what appears to be a distinct culture with its own language, customs and rituals.  For the rest of civilization clay-stained fingernails, calloused palms and a farmer’s tan says zealot or paid laborer.  For gardeners, these things are just part of life.

-author: Cloud Q Conrad

The native azalea is something of an exotic in the woodland garden, but many are native to Georgia.  They are uncommon enough in the “civilized” landscape – one that is conceived in full or in part by man – that they are often misidentified.  Looking more like rhododendrons but blooming before, with and later than azaleas they are also the victims of second guess…surely that can’t be an azalea?!

Photo credit: Donald Hyatt

Native azaleas grow from Florida to the northeastern Unites States, but most are found in the southeast.  They are most commonly found in higher elevations where temperatures are cooler, but several thrive in the Atlanta landscape if sited properly and well maintained.  Here are three that are in bloom now:

The Oconee azalea (Rhododendron flammeum) blooms orange to red from mid-April to mid-May.  It is able to withstand heat and drought and is found only in Georgia and South Carolina, according to the USDA Plant Database.  It appeared on the scene sometime during the late 1700’s.

Photo credit: Donald Hyatt

The Alabama azalea (Rhododendron alabamense) is found in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.  Its fragrant blooms are white, with a bit of yellow towards the center.  It also blooms from mid-April to mid-May. It was first recorded in 1883.

Photo credit: Donald Hyatt

The Alabama azalea self-propagates by underground stems or stolons and softwood cuttings can be successfully rooted.

Photo credit - Steve Baskauf, courtesy of University of Tennessee Herbarium

Pinxterbloom azalea (Rhododendron periclymenoides) blooms pink to white, also mid-April to mid-May.  The blooms are somewhat fragrant.  

Photo credit: Thomas G Barnes

Pinxterbloom azalea stands anywhere from four to ten feet at maturity.  It was first introduced in England in 1734.

Photo credit: Donald Hyatt

If you have shade, a soil pH of about 4.5 to 5.5 and a slightly to moderately moist site (or a legal source of water during drought), consider some native azaleas in your Georgia landscape, and keep the neighbors guessing.

Author: Cloud Q. Conrad

It doesn’t really matter what else is going on in the world, or the size of the national debt or how our daily stress ordinarily weighs us down. When gardeners’ early favorites are in bloom, worries seem to fade into the landscape and hope comes as fresh to our hearts as the first spring grass to our nose.  Three early favorites are tulip magnolia, lady banksia rose and phlox.

Tulip magnolia (Magnolia soulangiana) is a deciduous magnolia used not nearly enough in the Georgia landscape as an ornamental tree.  The tulip magnolia is suited for sunny, high visibility locations in the garden, such as to mark a mailbox, front walk, or garden patio or thoughtfully positioned in a scene viewed from the family room bay window.

Photo courtesy of habitas.org.uk

Lady Banks' rose (Rosa banksiae) is a climbing rose with miniature yellow blooms as pale as butter.  It is perfect for a trellis or iron fence.  This rose is virtually care-free, so long as the soil is generally moist and well drained.  Pests and fungus are not generally as prevalent on climbing roses and Lady Banks' is quite cooperative. Other than tying up her stems, and pruning if/as desired, she makes few demands.  Low maintenance tip: Site Lady Banks' by entry ways or other high-visibility spots close to gutter downspout outflows and/or shade her roots to reduce the need for watering.

 Photo courtesy of Cloud Conrad

Creeping phlox (Phlox subulata) - A shot of magenta phlox is sort of like an espresso for the eyes in the early spring, when not much else is blooming and if it is, it’s usually of a pale color.  Creeping phlox grows in full sun to partial shade, with a height of about 4” and a spread of 1 – 2 feet.  Creeping phlox also comes in white, pink and purple.

Photo courtesy of greenwoodnursery.com

Between now and Memorial Day is the ideal time to plant new shrubs and ornamental trees this growing season.  If it isn’t in the ground by the end of May, you should wait until the fall to add these beauties to your Georgia landscape to maximize your investment in plant material.

 Author: Cloud Q Conrad

The vernal equinox will occur this Saturday at 1:32 pm EDT. This is the “precise” moment that the earth is closest to the sun in its spring orbital path, and also the exact point in the spring when day and night are of nearly equal lengths at all latitudes. (“Nearly” is in part due to the fact that a year is 365.25 days but we'll not digress.)  The dichotomy of this statement is in itself symbolic - there cannot be balance without distinct and opposed things, concepts or feelings.  In this case day and night. 

As it relates to the landscape, we have sun and shade, dry and moist, and deciduous and evergreen.  Mark Rothko's abstract paintings symbolize this notion of distinct and opposed elements and the minimalist style suggests horizons where earth meets sky....the most basic of dichotomies in the landscape.

“Equal”conjures up thoughts of balance, and this is a welcome idea. Balance is fleeting, of course, because we are crossing the point of equilibrium in a path towards the opposite extreme. Still, after this unseasonably cold winter there is more than momentary comfort in the prospect of the other side. The side that offers warmth and light. The side that offers abundance of bloom, fruit, vegetable and seed.

Today’s collage (all photos courtesy of ArtRepublic.com) is a colorful rendering of balance as an abstract concept, each painting selected to represent the nearly balanced – within itself and relative to the others...just how nature is, imperfectly balanced.

Maybe it’s just the time of year, but the collage began to suggest seed packets to me as I was writing this.  If you are the sort of gardener who collects seeds to perpetuate your garden or trade with friends, make unique, memorable seed packets by downloading this seed packet template and accessing images of art masterpieces on the internet.  With scissors, glue, a printer and your computer’s picture manager software (for image re-sizing and cropping), you can easily make your seed packets works of art.  Use the template as a stencil, by placing it under a piece of clear plastic cut from a gallon milk jug and tracing the seed packet outline onto the plastic with a permanent marker.  Carefully cut out the plastic seed packet stencil.  Then, use the stencil to trace the seed packet outline onto printouts of your images.  Cut out the seed packet, label and date them with the marker, and fold and glue three sides closed.  Allow to dry.  Fill, then fold and tape the top side shut.

- Author: Cloud Q. Conrad

Pardon the pun but it's true. According to a survey conducted by the Garden Writers Association Foundation in November 2009, over 41 million households grew a vegetable garden, 19.5 million grew an herb garden and 16.5 million grew fruits during 2009.  Not only is this 7.7 million more households than previously but 37% of experienced gardeners have planned to increase their edible gardens this year - the majority of those reporting - while another 29% have planned to maintain the same-size gardening plot.  First-time edibles gardeners came mostly from the South, as did the more experiened edibles gardeners.

Gardeners named web sites as the number 2 source of gardening information, up from the number 5 slot a year ago.  As a source of information about gardening, the internet was most popular in the South.

Here's some inspirational video to get you thinking about the possibilities this spring:

Statistics courtesy of the Garden Writers Association.

Author: Cloud Conrad

The time has come.  Winter is not behind us. Daylight savings and the vernal equinox are still a few weeks away.  But we can indulge our impatience with the seasons by planning our vegetable gardens, shopping for seed and setting up an indoor grow station.  If you want to get the greatest and most steady yield this year, start your first wave of seedlings indoors now. 

There are acres of information about this on the internet including videos, downloadable pdfs and blog entries. A couple of the references you might want to hit:

Seeds: Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds has an incredible variety. Shop online, but be sure to sign up for their catalog, which is coffee-table worthy and filled with eye-candy for gardeners.

Videos: For a basic primer in starting seeds from a common-sense Cajun, check out these YouTubes

1.   Part 1 - How to Start Your Seeds Indoors (The Bayou Gardener) 

2.   Part 2 - How to Start Your Seeds Indoors (The Bayou Gardener) 

Timing Chart: Use this downloadable worksheet to plan your seed starts for each variety you chose to include in your 2010 vegetable garden.

All photos courtesy of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

Author: Cloud Q. Conrad

Forsythia (Forsythia x intermedia) is one of those unsung heroes in the landscape. Through the year forsythia fades into the background. After all, its foliage isn't very exciting and its form unremarkable. And it's so low maintenance that it is easy to forget. But in late February and early March, forsythia is once again valued for its role in the garden - to brighten up gray winter days and to remind us that spring is just around the corner.

Photo credit: Susan Schurr

Forsythia is named for William Forsyth, one of the founders of the Royal Horticultural Society. Native to Asia and the Orient, forsythia has about a dozen species and many hybrids.

Photo credit: The Gardeners' Network

Site forsythia in full sun to partial sun in zones 4 - 8. Forsythia makes no particular demands on its environment or owners. Forsythia will thrive in average soil, in drought and in pollution. This shrub does not typically have pest or fungus problems. Reaching average heights of 6 - 8 feet or more, forsythia grows about a foot or more per year and benefits from pruning to shape, promote bushiness and blooms, or confine to a particular size. Forsythia blooms on old wood, so prune just after blooms are spent to get the most color from your shrub. This is also the best time to fertilize with an all-purpose 10-10-10 garden fertilizer. New plants can be propagated by cutting or layering.

Landscape designers use forsythia to screen a view, draw attention to other plants with winter interest, mask electrical poles and guy wires or electrical boxes, or create a hedge. But the real payoff comes in the dead of winter, when the days are short and the skies are bleak. Forsythia is a ray of sunshine and a vision of hope for the coming of spring.

Author: Cloud Q. Conrad

“A plant is only worth growing if it looks good when it’s dead.” This wisdom is from the father of the New Perennials movement in landscape design, Piet Oudolf (pronounced "Pete"). With so much influence over the evolution of landscape design the Dutchman has a lot to say about contemporary design principals in the landscape.  Oudolf is also credited with the prairie-style of landscape design, emphasizing the use of ornamental grasses and native plants in an effort to not copy nature but to suggest it in contrived compositions.  His innovative style challenges our time-worn perceptions of what a beautiful garden is.  Oudolf helps us to find hidden beauty in common plants combined in unexpected pairings.

We feature photography of Piet Oudolf’s winter landscapes in these first days of winter to celebrate the passing of time as it is marked in the garden.

 This photo is from a public park in Rotterdam. Photo credit: Piet Oudolf.

Photo credit: Jo and Rob Whitworth.

This photo is from a private park called Wisley.  Photo credit: Piet Oudolf.

Notice the vibrant hues these two autumn landscape displays (pictured above).  Dried and dormant plants and spent seedheads combine for an unexpectedly lush post-season compositions that remind us in beautiful yet subtle ways that time passes inevitably.

Photo credit: Jurgen Becker.

The overlapping of seasons is most prominent from autumn to winter and winter to spring.  Oudolf upholds his ideal of using plants that only look good when they're dead.The snow layer on spent grasses and native plants lends a fantastical quality to what we would otherwise view a "graveyard". 

This photo is The Battery in NYC. Photo credit: Piet Oudolf.

Oudolf's genius for combining natural and man-made elements is on display at The Battery in NYC (pictured above).

Oudolf is currently working on the Gardens of Remembrance, just a few blocks from the former World Trade Center site.  Here is an interesting NPR piece on Oudolf.

Are you looking for something different for your holiday centerpiece this year?  Here are some inspired ideas to help get your creative juices flowing.

Alameda, CA floral designer Ron Morgan, included this photo in his coffee table book on centerpieces, The Center of Attention.  These vibrant -- and no doubt fragrant -- fruit topiaries celebrate the abundance of the season in a back-to-basics kind of way. 

Photo courtesy of Save-on-Crafts.com

Notice how Morgan has used the squash and fruit mingled at the feet of the topiaries to tie them all together.  Here is another set of centerpieces, tied together in the same way.

Photo courtesy of Save-on-Crafts.com

This tabletop panorama is brilliant in its use of variegated, mottled, flecked and striated patterns to unify a variety of 2- and 3-dimensional forms.  It also demonstrates that provocative designs can be conceived from the most elemental tools.  Aucuba, sweet flag, nandina, lenten rose, florida anise, autumn fern, hawthorn, waxleaf privet, mahonia, magnolia and other foliage perennials, shrubs, and vines can combine with fruits and vegetables in unusual ways for inexpensive yet dramatic fresh floral centerpieces this holiday season.

Experiment with new ideas for combining form, color and pattern.  Where you offer a broad variety in one aspect, limit the variety in the others.  To apply this statement to the photo above, Morgan succeeds with his design despite the fact that five patterns and four shapes are used because unity is achieved by the discipline of a two-color palette.

Take pictures of your creations and send them to us.  Happy designing!