a garden maker's notes

Photo by Maria von Brincken copyright 2012

Twenty degrees Fahrenheit at 9am on a Sunday morning.  A cold January New England day with a wind chill factor of 0!  I spotted this evergreen fern thriving in this hundred fifty year old foundation wall. Cold or not, I paused to admire and dig out my camera. The field-stone wall retains the glacier made hill to the rear of the horse stalls built when the town and the church shared the Meeting House.

Photo by Maria von Brincken copyright 2012

Then the horses stayed in the stalls nibbling hay I imagine or chewing the boards as one can see that evidence.  Anyway, now-a-days, we park our cars in front of the space. During church fairs, crafters enjoy the shelter from wind and the southern exposure on sunny days.

Stopped in my trek from car to building, I marveled and continue to marvel at the fragile seeming fern living so well in this protected crevice–a kind of outdoor room if you think about that. I also appreciated the shadow play from the post structure and the diagonals of the chain that keeps cars out of the stalls. Nice composition that probably drew my eye to the fern in the first place. I ‘m awed by its good health and also wonder if a fern has flourished in this crack since the time of  the horses parked in here. Then I wonder if the horses nibbled it. I suspect not but I don’t know if horses eat ferns.

A nice bit of wonder to add to my day. Hope you find one, too.

Photo by Maria von Brincken copyright 2011

I snapped this photo on New Year’s Day–Just before I took down the Christmas tree.  I so enjoyed the view of the tree, the deck containers filled with winter greens, and the forest landscape beyond. I also like the way the railing pickets’ shadows and the lower containers’ foliage create patterns on the deck. And then there’s the orange cat who adopted me last year waiting patiently for me to let him in.

Photo and design by Maria von Brincken copyright 2012

Another shot.  In each the containers filled with winter arrangements of white pine, rhododendron–green and burgundy colored foliage, spruce, and red winter berry stems add so much to my daily vista. I love the way they form the mid ground–framed by the window –and leading into the longer view of the winter forest.  I’m particularly taken by the lingering brown oak foliage that opens to reveal the light bark of the grey birch beyond.

Of course, last winter, there was so much record breaking snow that I could barely see the containers so with this warm and snowless winter to date I’m enjoying a different view. And the orange cat enjoys a snooze becoming part of this picture as well.

Photo by Maria von Brincken copyright 2011

Inspired, I snapped this enchantingly beautiful sky. Conversing with a friend in the Historic Town Center in Sudbury, Massachusetts I happened to look up and out, and was stopped in my tracks by the sky’s stunning beauty.

New England offers such beautiful skies. Especially, I love the crisp and brilliantly clear night skies at this time of year.

And, often, I wonder about the English settlers looking at this sky and thinking about another sky on the other side of a large ocean.  I’ve lived here long enough that I don’t think too often of the ‘big’ skies I watched growing up in Northern California. If there is anything I miss about California it’s the ‘long views’ and the ‘ big skies’.

Here I start really noticing the night skies sometime in the late fall, as I can’t help but wonder at the the stars. The late fall alignment seems particularly bright to me and calls out to me to look and marvel. At this time of year I can’t help thinking about the carol phrase ‘It Came Upon a Midnight Clear’. I don’t know why and don’t remember the verses, but something about the song and the phrase suits what’s I’m seeing and feeling.

There’s something powerful and beautiful about this winter late afternoon sky.

Photo by Maria von Brincken copyright 2011

Winter Solstice Day I noticed this hellebore in my front garden. But it felt more like a discovery as it’s  fully budded and this in not England where they bloom at this time of year.

Because it was such an unusually warm day–50 degrees to start the day–I took the opportunity to cut back my large ornamental grass that was under a snow bank this time last year and the year before. While out there I continued to fill the “lawn” bags for pick-up later that day for the yard waste recycling.  The grass alone would have overwhelmed my compost bin in my small garden. Clipping away at long gone late blooming chrysanthemums, I noticed the hellebore. The ‘noticing’ stopped me in my tracks.

I’m fairly certain that this is actually the Helleborus niger or the ‘Christmas Rose’ (white blossoms) rather than orientalis or foetidus.  In the Boston western ‘burbs it blooms in March, if we’re lucky, but usually sometime from March thru May. As I write this Christmas Eve on a freezing winter day, I just peeked out my door, and the buds persist. Amazing. This is why it’s called the ‘Christmas Rose’ in England. In New England, we’re lucky if it blooms at Easter, more like May Day.

It’s leaves persist thru our winters which is why when my horticultural buddie Marylyn gave me piece a year or two ago I planted it in my front garden. I chose that spot so I could see it’s “evergreen” leaves in combination with a nearby ‘evergreen’ variegated plant. (See it in the photo’s lower corner–it’s a plant that I’ve not successfully identified, but looks great and does well).

The orange chord you see powers the tiny colored lights on the nearby conifer to celebrate winter and the birth of the new year.

I’ll let you know if this crazy weather pattern lets the hellebore bloom–I’ll check tomorrow–Christmas Day–just in case.

Hope your Solstice was happy and your Christmas is Merry whether you celebrate these holidays or not!

Photo & Design by Maria von Brincken copyright 2011

Design & Photo by Maria von Brincken 2011

Mid-December in New England our landscapes and gardens are more about form, structure, and texture than flowers. We can still create delight in our winter landscapes but no flowers. The plants that summered on the shady patio and then were moved indoors in mid- September to avoid the first hard frost to a holding area (just the other side of the glass doors, but now indoors)–now it’s time to selectively move some of them to tables near windows to showcase them.

Currently, it’s the combination of foliage and flowers that enchants me.  The pink Cyclamen (a gift from horticultural friend Melinda years ago) creates more buds and open flowers each day. It combines beautifully with the pink orchid my horticultural friend extraordinaire Marylyn gave me. She says it might be Oncidium” Twinkle”. The fern and the other orchid foliage add to the composition.

And the moss.  The moss I added to the containers unifies the compositions and makes the container plants look great.  Also, helps retain moisture, I imagine. I find it amazing that “sheet moss” bought at a garden center in a plastic bag can do so much in so little time (it probably took me all of 5 minutes start to finish).

So while my winter views are enhanced with the outdoor containers filled with winter greens arrangements rather than empty pots–I’ll post a blog on those soon–my indoor gardens are beginning to bloom and make me smile. And these long blooming indoor plants will continue to bloom to celebrate the Winter Solstice and Christmas Holidays. It won’t be long before the ‘Paperwhite’ Narcissus begin their fragrant enchantment and add to New Year’s celebrations.

Photo by Maria von Brincken copyright 2011

This squirrel’s enjoying the rose hips offered by Rosa ‘new dawn’. I thought rose hips were eaten by the birds only. Imagine my surprise looking out my window at the rose trellis and coming eye to eye with this fellow.  By the time I got my camera out, he or she had turned but you can still see the orangish rose hip in its paws.

Making friends with squirrels or other critters involves the leap of thought from “mine” as in my garden to “all” as in this piece of land is also the home for many critters. I’ve learned if it bothers me that the groundhog eats all the asters and so, then I won’t plant them in that area. That way the groundhogs will eat what’s in the wet meadow and forest behind my garden.

Same with the squirrels–I’ve squirrel proofed the bird feeders because while I didn’t mind the squirrels helping themselves to seed–I found out how fast squirrels can empty feeders.

But the raccoons have no problem with squirrel proof feeders and have even learned how to open the ‘locking” galvanised container.  So for most of the summer I stopped filling the feeders. The raccoons made such a mess–seed all over the place. And they brought babies who used the planters as step stools–thereby breaking plants!I’m going to try filling the feeders again as its winter and I’m home to see the birds feed. But I’ll keep the seed indoors and perhaps only use one feeder. We’ll see.

But I like thinking of animals in a friendly way rather than as enemies. I don’t need to stress my body with anger and hate at animals. Thankfully living in this century and place I don’t need to fear them either. Peace. Harmony. Got to start somewhere.

"After" Design and Photo by Maria von Brincken copyright 2011

Before

Arriving at this home before this landscape renovation (see ‘before’ photo below), you may well wonder why this landscape needed renovation. After all, the lawn looks great and the plantings are okay. That’s it.  Just looked ok.  But the great lawn can’t make it a special place to live.

Walking the path on a dry day, you may wonder why the wood planks at the step bottom.  You may wonder why the walk wasn’t built at the best grade to begin with. Indeed it seemed the walk was built as a “swale”. That’s a term used to depict a shallow ditch used to direct water.  In this case as the majority of the front landscape is much higher than the foundation of the house, it was used to keep water away from the foundation. But it didn’t work for humans walking in and out of the front door especially on rainy days. Rainy days that seems to occur more often and with great volumnes of rainfall in our New England area.

Designing these series of beautiful welcoming entry gardens included the important grading and drainage issues but overall the goal was to create a ‘home’ place.  A place that embraced people while enhancing and setting the house within the landscape.

Working with my clients, my intention was to create a landscape that reflected my homeowners and was an extension of themselves. Previously there was a mature conifer forest that he wanted to restore. Also, wanted enough lawn to serve as a playing area as the back lawn was small. And the existing walk was terrible as well as a grading issue. She wanted a landscape of texture and contrasting forms with boulders –she handed me a photo of pacific northwest style contemporary landscape. But they own a traditional New England style house.

The resulting custom landscape design works 24/7, 365 days a year. A newly installed brownstone walk now curves on higher ground. The native blue spruces will need light pruning each spring to keep them from overgrowing their spaces–that’s the concession to get the plantings and keep the lawn as big as possible. But meanwhile, the after photo shows the project just mulched after the deciduous trees have lost their burgundy colored leaves of spring and summer. However, still plenty of “color” from the blue in the spruces, the yellow of the chamaecyparis, the green and white of the vinca ground-cover, and the winter leaf color of the broad leaf evergreens of pieris and  native leucothoe. The low growing “yak” rhodies and boxwood add to the textural composition as well as the architectural drifts and forms.

Many design details like the shaping of the beds and the walk to create sinuous broad curves within the landscape that all connect to create a shaped space reveal themselves in your body as you walk to the door or wander to the bench or from the second floor window views. And I haven’t even mentioned the night lighting.

So many design details contribute to the sense of place or “genius loci” now residing here. It’s magical.

The garden’s a mess–the hard frost took out most of the perennial foliage. But look at what I see out my windows and as I travel the garden path.

The first photo shows a close-up of the late fall foliage color. The planting composition you see below shows spirea  in yellow with brown flower remains, the metal tower in black, oakleaf hydrangea in burgundy and burnt orange with the light brown round “Endless Summer” hydrangea flower.

Below the image shows the larger composition.  We see the autumn yellow leaves of the magnolia virginiana (top) with burgundy viburnum mariesii (right) and then the deep burgundy hydrangea quercifolia (left) and the spirea variety (lower left) that has green leaves in spring and summer. You also see in the lower middle part, some of the rosa “Knockout” foliage.

The garden may be trashed but there is still something delightful to see .  Looks even better on days the sun shines!

Design & Photo by Maria von Brincken copyright 2011

The Laceleaf Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum ‘Filicifolium’) looks great with or without snow in October.  The normally light green leaves become this rich “red” color in the fall. Often starting to “turn” at leaf’s edge in late August, this maple plays a starring role in this part of the garden. In early spring, its’ brilliant red “flowers” are thrilling too. Something to look forward to all winter while enjoying its form and red branches contrasting with snows of January and February.

Design & Photo by Maria von Brincken 2011

Welcome to the side entry to this sanctuary garden retreat. Designed to provide privacy and special views from the new four season room, this garden also provides gathering spaces on the new lawn and in the courtyard area around the bend. You can see the field-stone stepping stone path at the edge of the photo.

Design & Photo by Maria von Brincken copyright 2011

The photo above shows the retaining wall and stepping stone path that frames and travels thru the new garden of perennials, flowering shrubs, and trees. The wall functions to help direct water away from the house and courtyard as well as playing a key role in providing beautiful winter views. The wall, stepping stone path, massing and combination of shrubs and trees work together for the winter views.  This newly installed garden is so very new that the mulch was just laid down and irrigation flags are present.

Before photo by Maria von Brincken

Hard to choose which before photo to use.  Blog space constraints limit all the photos needed to show all the “rooms” of this landscape that embraces three sides of the building and its’ window views. I’ll show the hot tub courtyard with BBQ and sitting area another time. Hopefully you get the scope of the transformation that has occurred.