Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

Last Saturday, my students and I had class at the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens.  If you haven't been (and you live in the DC area), definitely check it out.  We lamented the fact that we were just a few weeks too late to enjoy what had to have been an amazing show of lotus (Nelumbo nucifera).

Here are a few photos.  I'll elaborate on a few new species later in the week. 

Enjoy!

The National Aboretum's "Ruin"

Last Saturday, I took my students on a trip to the National Arboretum. While walking the grounds (admittedly, this was my first trip there), I suddenly felt like I was living in Turkey again, where one frequently encountered architectural ruins from ancient Greece dotting the landscape.  Seeing something like that here, in the states, was a little surreal. 

Turns out the sandstone columns were quarried for use at the Capitol.  However, architectural revisions rendered them superfluous.  An arboretum benefactor, Earl Garrett, made it a mission in the early 80s to find a home for these columns and Russel Page (who was friendly with Garrett) sited them, shortly before his death.

More on the columns and their adjacent planting in the days to come.

More Ladew

A few scenes from the large hedged garden at Ladew.  Clipped Tsuga create massive hedged walls.

Statues are hidden in side the hedged walls.

Below, a vista to the more formal topiary garden, nearer the house.

The axis between the hedged garden and topiary intersects with the axis between the rose garden and a streambank garden.  At the intersection, sits this oval pool.  Though it looks round below, it's truly elliptical.

Ladew Gardens,

Without a doubt, the Water Lily Gardens at Ladew were among my favorites.  But I am sadly a bit too busy to elaborate on why.  So I'm posting these shots without comment....

Ladew Topiary Gardens, Victorian Garden

I loved, loved the effect from planting Cryptomeria japonica so close together that they formed a fairly rigid fence around the 'Victorian Garden'. 

 The Rhododendrons are thriving as well, so passing through the threshold feels pretty magical.

Ladew Topiary Gardens

On Friday, I mentioned a recent visit to Ladew Topiary Gardens but only shared a few pics of the window boxes.  We'll look at a bit more today.  Ladew is named for Harvey Ladew, who designed and created the 22-acre site.  Ladew was born in 1887 and bought the land in 1929.  He died in 1976 but not before making preparations so that his home could be made open to the public.

  

The Manor House was built in 1747 though wings were added by Ladew in the '30s. Tours of the house are available, though regular readers know I rarely bother with the interiors.

 

As the name implies, there is a large amount of topiary in the gardens.   The scene above, called the 'Hunt Scene' shows a rider, following dogs that are chasing a fox. 

Above, swans 'float' near the oval pool.

The gardens are set up as a series of rooms, including: The Victorian Garden,

The Rose Garden, 

The Water Lily Garden,

The Terrace Garden,

and the Portico Garden, to name a few.

More detail shots of these rooms in the days to come.

Ladew Topiary Gardens

A couple weeks ago, I took my students on a tour of Kurt Bluemel's perennial nursery.  After that tour (photos to come, no doubt) we stopped by the Ladew Topiary Gardens nearby.  More on the gardens later this week and next, but in the meantime, I am sharing photos of these lovely window boxes, planted almost entirely with succulents and Euphorbias.

The Moongate Garden, at the Enid Haupt Smithsonian Gardens, and the Number Four

Last Friday I was fortunate enough to have some downtime in my schedule for a walk through the Enid Haupt Gardens at the Smithsonian.  I'd say, as far as enjoying the blossoms of Magnolia x. soulangiana, my timing couldn't be more perfect.  I always love flowering trees most when half the petals are on the ground, and half still on the tree.

Strangely enough -- and I've never noticed this before with saucer magnolia -- but the landscape smelled a little like pizza.  Now then, maybe I was just hungry, but I think when the petals start to decay they have a slight aroma of parmesan.
 

I love the boldness of using so many of this tree, and against the brick, the petals weren't even that slippery (on smoother surfaces they can be like banana peels).   The shots above are at the entry to the Moongate Garden, which was part of the renovation of the Enid Haupt Gardens in 1987. 

In the photo above is the Moongate itself (there are actually two in the garden).  It's hard to read thsi time of year since the pink granite blends so well with the Magnolia petals.  Below is a more clear shot. 

Approaching the Moongate, the paving changes to granite with notches of Belgian block.  The Moongate Garden is inspired by the Temple of Heaven, built in Beijing during the Ming Dynasty (14-17C).

The round granite stone placed in a square pool represents heaven and earth.   The square is earth, heaven is the circle. Strangely enough, I can't find much written on the symbolism of the four pathways to "heaven."  Below, they are represented as stone bridges over the water.  At the actual temple, they are entry points to the circular landform.  

Perhaps the use of four here isn't as deliberate as the circle and square, but the concept of four being a symbolically rich number is prevalent.  The number four appears often in Hinduism and it's believed in that religion there are four paths to meet God.  The garden of Eden was believed to be accessed by four different rivers and, as such, many gardens mean to represent Eden have four waterways included in the design.  In Buddhism there are four noble truths.   In Islam, there are four sacred months and four archangels. In Judaism, during passover, there are four cups of wine to be drunk, four sons to be addressed and four questions to be asked.

Finally, perhaps most darkly -- there are four horsemen of the apocalypse...!

Scilla siberica

Last Saturday, I took my design class through Dumbarton Oaks for a field trip.   It had been almost exactly four months since my last visit and it was a delight to be there at the beginning of spring. Really, truly: if you live in the DC area and have never been to the gardens, please go.  It's worth it!

 

Above, tucked in among the foliage of Eranthis hyemalis, is a wonderful spring bulb, Scilla siberica.  Scilla is native to the Mediterranean, like most bulbs, which grow leaves and flower in the early spring and go dormant during the hot, dry summers. 

The straight species is blue, but an 'alba' variety exists which is white, as there are some others that are ever so slightly pink.  The plant can naturalize quite easily from seed and that feature has been used to a great effect here on a wooded hillside of the gardens.

Gorgeous!  It's made me think I definitely need to order more Scilla for my parents' place this autumn.  Though diminutive in size (it barely passes 6" in height) the impact of using it en masse cannot be dismissed!

Vriesea imperialis

Like a bad magician, I am giving away one of my tricks with this photo.

I like to think that some of you readers assume I just happen to know every plant that exists (or a lot of them, at least).  But that's the great thing about botanical gardens - they have tags.  And with digital cameras, you can take as many photos as you want and not worry about wasting film!  So I have countless pics like this one - of a plant in question and it's accompanying tag.

However, hopefully regular readers to PC and NYPAOS would recognize a bromeliad when they saw one.  I feel like I'm always posting about them, though that's hardly the case.  This specimen, also called imperial Vriesea, was growing at the Waimea Valley Botanical Garden, a fantastic botanical garden I mentioned just last week as well.

Disappointingly, these specimens were just beginning to flower.  The inflorescences (pollinated by bats, usually) reach heights as high as 3 meters.

More on Longwood Garden's Green Wall

Below, Philodendron scandens and Asparagus setaceus.

Below, Selaginella (spike moss) and a mystery plant.  Anyone recognize what's on the bottom?

Philodendron scandens. 

 

Below, Pteris ensiformis (brake fern) and perhaps Hoya?

Rabbit's foot fern (Davallia). 

 

And again, perhaps this is Hoya?  Any other suggestions?

Check out a great account on the development of the wall on Longwood Garden's blog.