BOOK PUBLISHED: GARDENS OF THE HUDSON VALLEY

I have been really honored to have my personal garden included in this beautifully photographed book by Steve Gross and Susan Daley.  It really is fantastic to be included with other incredible places.

Susan Lowery and Nancy Berner wrote the text and it has been my please to work with everyone on this project.   Susan and Nancy are currently giving lectures based on the book.

Please pick up a copy!

GARDENS ILLUSTRATED

GARDENS IILUSTRATED

ISSUE 159

Attending a  seminar at the New York Botanical Garden years ago and I had a middle aged English woman tell me that Gardens Illustrated Magazine is "Porno for Gardeners".  If she meant something to lust over then I think she was correct.  Check out the latest issue with an other wordly garden featured on the cover. The Gardens of Chateau Maqueyssac are magical.

You can visit the garden when your in central southern France:

Website: http://www.marqueyssac.com/

FRANK RONAN sharp tounge

I love people with a sharp tounge and intellengence to back it up.  Frank Ronan writes a column for Garden's Illustrated that never disappoints.  If your in need a chuckle and a frank opinion...Frank's your man.  Usually on the last page. 

CHRISTMAS DECORUM

I don't get it and I can't hold my tounge any more.  Is the Christmas season some national time out for reason and good taste?   Even all the cheap neighbors seem to come out of the closet.  You know the ones, that don't keep up with garden maintaince and wouldn't spend a dime on a few annuals for the front door.
But those same neighbors are at it during the holiday season spreading bad taste and massive mediocrity.

With all the nice things one could do, why are we all forced to look at blow up plastic globes with snowmen inside that often look like plastic pancakes on the front lawn during the day.   Yes...I'm sick of all those icicle lights to..well most lights in general.  What the hell happend to a little good taste during Christmas?

I say POOO to winnie and poo blown up like there constipated on anyones front lawn.!

poo--flush it

Please ban these lights

DESIGN COLLIDE

Fashion  Art  Interior design  Architecture

Garden design

I love all design and art.   We mash it together more than ever today.  It may surprise all of you to know that I really love Modern Art and photography and modern architecture and gardens.  I also think of fashion as an art form having spent many years design clothes, and my line was sold in Barneys, Bergdorf, and many of the best young designer boutiques at the time...No, I won't tell you when...lets just say it was in between the last great depression and this one..!  

Vintage photo: Michoel Schoeler label

I still love fashion and many fashion people have rolled into interior design, and home product design.  Of course designers are lovers of gardens too most notably Yves Saint Laurent's garden in Marrakesh call Majorelle Gardens. Its easy to see you artist, fashion designer, Interior designer, and architecture are inspired by nature and gardens.  

Majorelle gardens

For some reason there seems to be an inordinate amount of people in Horticulture and landscape architecture that seem to think its a one way street.  I never seen so many homely, unfashionable people in the world of garden design/Hort. Gee what happened...I know we sometimes get our hands dirty...but with all the options at every conceivable price range out there really isn't any excuse...so come on garden designers...man up and get out there shopping and not just for plants! 

Jimmy Choo for H & M

For all the frugalistas out there...Try Top Shop down town NYC and around country, or H & M.  I have found casual good looking flat front linen trousers their, that have a modern fit and really inexpensive.  H & M just launched a new line working with Famous shoe designer Jimmy Choo...They have a pair of biker boots that look great. 

Black Fleece cardigan and trouser

If your more like myself and have a huge range of quality mix in your wardrobe and appreciate good tailoring as well as a Target..pick up once in a while.  I wear everything with jeans, but also with great boots and often with a tailored jacket..!  Check out..the Black Fleece line at Brooks Brothers. I know BB is boring..but the black fleece line is design by Thom Browne.  Its on the higher end for BB but you have to appreciate is forward takes on vintage style. Its just dandy!  They sell this wool jacket trimmed with Gros grain as an evening jacket, but I think its everyday, with jeans and a half zip sweater or simple white shirt.  I would also pair with some of his black and white check shirts.

Black flleece/ BB jacket

John Varvatos is one of my favorite men's designers.  Costly for sure but the right mix of soft tailoring, american sportwear and fashion forward.

Varvatos collection

Another perennial favorite of mine is To Boot by Adam Derrick, and in the interest of openest, he is a good friend, but I had To Boot shoes way before we met and he shares that same sense of classic design  mixed with fashion foward and quality.  The shows are avaiable many places, Nordstroms, Bloomingdales and around the country.

Brando boot

Hendrix boot

You can find things from the chain stores:  J Crew..has risen in popularity since the Obama's said they wear it. and Banana republic has things also.  When I buy from those stores, I find I usually want to tailor the garments so its a custom fit. So buy that thing on sale and spend a little on tailoring. 
I'm looking forward to well dressed garden designers, hort people everywhere!

WETHERSFIELD GARDEN

In my opinion this garden is one of the best examples of a classical garden in the United states. Well hidden in the Hudson Valley, Dutchess County, New York, the garden built in the secound half of the twentieth century by Chauncey Devereux Stillman. The design is attributed to at least two designers: Bryan J. Lynch and Evelyn N. Poehler.

Address: 214 Pugsley Hill RoadAmenia, NY
Phone: (845) 373-8037

The oval reflecting pool looking forward to the great arborviteae allee.

Fountain Cupid-on-Dolphin

Central Axis

Arborvitea allee

Entrance to cutting garden

Great pattern created with grass and stone work

COTTAGE GARDENS OF SIASCONSET NANTUCKET

I usually stay away from this term as its meaning has been widely overused to describe any mess that has a cheap bird bath stuck in the middle. I also hate to throw around the word charm because its use by every TV make over show has been applied to more throughtless , and trite details than I have the patience for.

BUT....for the cottage gardens of siasconset on Nantucket I make an exception and instead welcome the labels: Cottage and Charm

The meandering streets, close quarters and small scale of these structures and the gardens that envelope them are truly deserving of this title. I visited recently and although is was a cloudy day, the gardens and cottages looked magical and well...see for yourself.

Abundance

Is there any better than bright shades of green off setting the white trim and faded blue door?

I love the clean graphic quality of this design

GREEN IS MY FAVORITE COLOR

Gardeners training vine at Sissinghurst, in England

Villa lante, Itlay

Simple tall elegant hedge

Boxwood creates pattern

THINK GREEN!

No this is a rambling Diatribe on the glories of conservation. It's color theory and the overlooked and often under appreciated color GREEN.

A tall elegant six to eight foot hedge enclosing a garden, or a low boxwood hedge used to edge and define areas. Also ground covers use to create drifts of green..and yes even the much maligned turf lawn all use variations of green.

Even our most beloved flowering plants use a base of green from which to contrast there blooms.

So think green. A garden doesn't need to be forty different colors. A garden of all greens is a calm soothing place, when done right is timeless.

Nothing thrills me more than the gardens of Italy that use green architecture to create spaces of unparalleled beauty. Villa Lante, Villa de Este are of course some of the most famous, but Italy is flooded with great gardens that have been time tested.

A few of my favorite ever-green plants for North east america

1. Ilex (Holly) Blue hollys & crenata's like steeds or Ilex opaca 'cheasapeake'

2. Buxus (Boxwood) Lots of varieties to love:

3. Hedra (IVY) many varieties a real classic

4. Taxus (Yew) wonderful for shaping

5. Arborvitae: Great substitute for Italian cypress trees in the north east

6. Pachysandra: Yes I even love this much over used and under appreciated ground cover.
7. Eunoymus: 'Manhattan' for large shiney leaves and fortunei 'emerald gaiety' for a ground cover

HUDSON VALLEY MAGAZINE ARTICLE

Writer Lynn Hazlewood from Hudson Valley Magazine and I had a chat about my garden and the results with photos are published in the July 2009 issue of the Magazine.

Click here for the link:
http://www.hvmag.com/Hudson-Valley-Magazine/Hudson-Valley-Home/Summer-2009/Italian-Lesson/

Below is the opening for the Article.

Italian Lesson
Taking his cues from classic Italian gardens, a landscape designer uses local materials and lush plantings to create his own interpretation
By: Lynn Hazlewood Published June 17, 2009 at 10:25 AM

The kitchen garden, on the upper tier, has a more rustic, casual look than gardens closer to the house, but is laid out symmetrically, with beds edged in box. Michael Schoeller grows the classics: tons of tomatoes, heirloom potatoes, herbs, Swiss chard, lemon grass, and things we can’t get at the local farmer’s stand. Yellow Tagetes marigolds, zinnias, gourds twining over arbors, and trumpet vine trained along the fence give the garden spice, he says

Photographs by Philip Jensen-Carter

A GARDEN OF WOODLAND PATHS

RUSSELWRIGHT ECOLOGICALLY DESIGNED LANDSCAPE AND EDUCATION CENTER

This past weekend, myself, a bunch of friends and over 40 others were lucky to be involved in a volunteer landscape maintenance day at the Russel Wright Center in Garrison New York. I was an amazing beautiful day and the place has started to come out of its winter slumber.

I encourage everyone to go to the center and take the guided tour of the main path way and house. Above is a photo of the moss room, which is unbelievable beautiful. There are also more aggressive paths for hikers and people wanting a deeper woods experience.

Visit the website to learn more: www.russelwrightcenter.org

GARDEN CONSERVANCY'S OPEN DAYS

OPEN DAYS ARE HERE

The Garden Conservancy open days directory is out and the open days start April 3 & 4 in Pennsylvania and April 26 is the first showing in our area.

If you aren't familiar with the program " OPEN DAYS" is the brain child of the Garden conservancy, who headquarters is located in my back yard, Cold Springs, New York.

Started in 1995 the Open Days program unlocks private garden gates across the country, working with volunteers and garden owners to coordinate schedules. Many of the gardens are rarely, if ever open to the public. All the money goes to support the Garden conservancy efforts to preserve exceptional American gardens for public education and enjoyment.

Visit the website: www.gardenconservancy.org

I love there easy going, user friendly organization as you can choose just to visit one garden and pay at the door, you can become a member and pre-buy tickets, you can purchase a directory which I love, or just visit the website.

RECYCLED READING

I have to admit I'm a gardening book fanatic, having hundreds of garden books on ever topic from design to pruning. With all the talk of being green, I thought one of the ways to recycle is to re-read a gardening book that has been on your shelf for a while.

I brought down from a shelf one of my favorites, Garden Style by Penelope Hobhouse. There was a piece about her in my latest edition of GARDEN'S ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE (the Vogue of all garden magazines) and it reminded me of her great contributions and the many books I have written by her.

Reading her book again, after many years reminded my of why I love all things garden related, and she has a terrific way of outlining garden style history and people that really have made a major contribution. It's also interesting because since my first read, I have traveled and seen some of the gardens she speaks about which really makes it all more relevant.

So try recycled your reading, its free...and it might just spark a new fire..!

Here are some of my old favorites, not sure if they all are still in print. Try the public library if your old books can't get your going.

Gardens of Persia

Author Penelope Hobhouse

Penelope Hobhouses, Gardening though the Ages

Author Penelope Hobhouse

David Hicks My Kind of Garden

Author Ashley Hicks

Garden and Climate

Author Chip Sullivan

Color by design

Author Nori and Sandra Pope

FUN IN THE GARDEN

"I HATE...FUN...IN THE GARDEN"

.........a phrase that rolled off my tongue during a weekend with great friends that I think I will never live down. Well, they new what I meant...we were discussing the overused term FUN by many gardening TV shows to describe something that is utterly tacky, cheap, and usually crafted by the enthusiastic home owner.

JUST STOP IT ALREADY!

Of course, great friends, ever ready to point out the total hypocrisy and ridiculousness of my statement took it to new levels and proceeding to regurgitate (I hate fun in the garden) ever time it seemed appropriate! I'm glad they are all getting a good giggle out of it.

Lets be honest, our gardening culture in the USA was mostly for the wealthy in the past, great estates and some amazing gardens where created and some great work is still going on today. Gardening has caught on as a national past time in recent years and I'm thrilled to see interest in all things design, gardening and horticulture. But we have the classic USA side effect. Our culture tries and break down the components that make up a great garden into the cheapest, fastest, McGarden...way and feed it to the masses. I have no data tis true, but I'm thinking the majority of people in this country think that a weekend makeover team could create their garden on a 2,000 budget.

Great gardeners that didn't have money in the past used, time, hard work, persistence, and creative thought to create there gardens. Even the gardens I work on today that have budgets larger than the cost of most peoples houses takes years to create and many seasons of hard work.

What I really dislike is that because we are all supposed to be so warm and fuzzy, nice and politically correct, we no longer call a spade a spade. Instead we have cheery, usually pretty hosts telling us to glue gun a Mosaic top on 5 dollar table for outdoors or paint some colorful blobs on the side of a garage and call it art. Its not art...its crap...okay...its cheap tacky crap...hey I'm all for cheap tacky crap....if its is properly identified as such...but what burns my butt is that its passed off as real design or a cheap way to get a high end look. That's a huge insult to true craftsman and artists everywhere that spend years honing there craft.

I'm pro democracy and power of the people and all that stuff....but many people have little background, history or even a vocabulary to discuss garden design ideas and concepts. I would like to champion greater and deeper understanding of garden design. Some history of gardens and a deeper appreciation for the stone mason, the carpenters, the metal smiths and designers and architects that work tireless sometimes for years to create something magical. I don't mean to get off on a rant here.....
So here goes another lists of things that are really no fun in the garden.

1. little statues...lions, birds, frogs, cranes, cherubs....AND YES including gnomes
2. The word "cute"
3. Garland of flowers motif on anything
4. gazing balls (Bad Victorian idea....they had many)
5. multi colored bird houses
6. Decorative items on garden stakes: Like dragonflies or butterflies
7. Decorative concrete step stones with impressions of leaves or flowers on them
8. Plaques & signs with warm greetings or statements of love....what...ever!
9. Junk masquerading as eccentric collections strewn throughout the garden


What to do instead?

I'm going to try my best with every entry to offer some alternative ideas. It really isn't good enough just to tell you what I don't like, so in that spirit I offer the following.


THINGS THAT ARE REALLY BEAUTIFUL IN A GARDEN

1. Classic dry stacked stone walls

2. Good terracotta containers especially large scale ones

3. High quality cast stone/concrete containers

4. Garden antiques (if your budget allows)

5. Wood Versailles boxes

6. Obelisks and tuteurs of good scale 6' H made of wood or metal

7. Tanks: metal or stone

8. Formal water features made of stone built into walls or ground.
9. Pea gravel paths
10. Local natural materials in your area: stone, brick, and plants
11. Beautifully crafted pergolas and arbors in wood, stone or metal

FEAR, LOATHING AND PASSION

Post 1 of many

Before all you literary OCD annoying people out there bash me for stealing a concept out of David Hicks book....your right...David Hicks is genius and I am proud to say I stole the idea right off of page 224 of his book. This blog's name is a reference to his book and style after all. If any of you don't know who he is, I recommend his book: DAVID HICKS, my kind of garden.

I fear the tacky people will take over the world and spread horrible red mulch and garish colored annuals around so yes, I'm fearful, but confident the real world of great gardeners can overtake this immoral majority of tackiness and take back the country.

I also Loath the weekend makeover mentality that has nothing to do with gardening or good design at any level....so just stop it....already! If your in this group, read this!

Things I love to loath

1. RED MULCH:
Horrible misguided tacky stuff that should be banned.

2. MULCH VOLCANOES:
Volcanoes around trees and shrubs..not only is it bad for your plants. (IT'S UGLY)

3. LITTLE CUTE CONCRETE STATUES:
Bunny's, frogs, mother Teresa, all on my hit lists of never do under any circumstance. Plastic versions even worse.

4. PLASTIC POND LINERS:
Prefab, biomorph shaped plastic pond liners...fake looking, stupid contraptions that should all be recycled for some good use.

5. WATERFALLS/NATURAL PONDS:
Not all but most. Especially those kind the build on the home and garden network. If you have a flat property, don't build a fake berm and stick a waterfall on it. Unless your going for horrifying theme park concept!

You can be successful with this feature but it will take a lot of effort and usually money to make it look natural. I much prefer formal or modern water features that are constructed of concrete, stone, glass or other permanent materials and are designed as art.

6. CONCRETE PAVERS:
Not all, but most especially the ones that come with that no fade surface, so It can look perfectly tacky for years to come. (Try real brick or granite cobble) I also love concrete surfaces used in modern ways. Let the material be what it is. If a product is trying to look like something else, its almost always a bad idea.

7. BIRD FEEDERS, HUMMINGBIRD FEEDS:
Plastic, wood or metal monstrosities that are the equivalent of putting an old sofa on the front porch...YUCH

8. PLASTIC OUTDOOR FURNITURE:
Read blog entry sit on it.

9. ASPHALT DRIVES:
I know this will be a controversial one! There ugly and like big black mark leading up to your house. If you must have kids give them a little patch with one of those dreadful basketball hopes hidden by hedges or other planting somewhere. Or try the PARK, that's what there for.

Alternatives:
Oil and stone top for your asphalt drive is a nice finish. Pea gravel is a nice option and other native materials depending on your area like in Nantucket they used crushed shells, very beautiful option. Stone is one of my favorites, but of course that can really be a formidable cost in a long driveway. I love grass strip in the center of a concrete drive...I have seen this work great with a mid century modern house for a small drive. It allows a little more green and is better for environment.

In a few western states they have developed a soil stabilization product that is made from Pine sap and other organic materials. These have a natural color to them and look much more at home with the land. This process has not come to the Northeast yet. I tried to find an installer for a project I worked on in Darien CT but none could be found. Still a specialty.

BATHERINGS OF A GARDENER

Spring 2008

I can hardly stand up, my back hurts...my hands are full of cuts and bruises, I'm sunburnt, I think my body is frozen in a weeding position....but hey, the garden looks marvelous! Now I need to go away to a beauty spa for a month.

Gary & I participated in the benefit garden tour for PARC again this year and we....or correctly...I have been busy making sure the tour goers get their money's worth. It was Saturday June 14th and we had a terrific turn out.

We added a fairly large new garden this season. (The West Shrubbery) Its not completely finished but below is a picture of the rustic daybed feature set in the center of the garden.

While the garden was still in a still state of fleeting perfection, I shot these photos.

Front courtyard roses & clematis

Entrance to Peony garden

Peonies in full bloom

Overlooking rear north garden and lawn

Re-designed porch furnishings

Breakfast terrace

Blue garden

Entrance to west (Chanel) garden with a site line to potager gate

Shade garden

Potager

Upper cutting garden