Too pretty not to share

I recently took break from garden history to get inspiration from local gardeners Nate and Roberta Selle who have taken a bold design approach to create a welcoming garden.  Both fell in love with gardening when they were young.  While their first gardens consisted mostly of vegetables, their current Wisconsin garden is packed with flowers, color and fragrance.  “The passion is in the flowers, in working with the beauty,” explains Nate, and Roberta adds, “I love the fragrance. The garden brings a simile to my face every time I am in it.”  Speaking with Nate and Roberta about their garden reminds me of the power of memory, the joy of sharing, and the importance of personality in garden design.

Bird bath/ planter for succulents overlooks the layout of the rear garden beds.

Nate can visualize design ideas in his head; he’s ready to implement them right away. Roberta likes to draw things out, to consider before moving ahead.  These different approaches to the garden complement each other.  Their property was originally dominated by lawn.   Over the course of six years, they converted section after section into plant beds so that today it is a garden first, with grass pathways providing a way to get around.  “We started with the south side of the house where we could put just about anything in.  We loved it so much that we slowly expanded the garden around the house.”   One of the most striking features is a 20-foot by 50-foot garden in the middle of the back yard - no easy feat since the house lies on the Niagara escarpment.  Nate dug out three tons of rocks by hand to make room for fresh, rich soil. 

The couple actively seeks inspiration from other gardeners: “we are often driving around and Nate will say ‘go slow here’ to point something out.”  They are not shy about building on what they see, making changes that let their personalities shine.  This makes their garden delightful and unique.  In terms of plant selection, they’ve got over a hundred varieties, but their favorite plants - daffodils, tulips, and irises in yellow, orange, and purple – play starring roles.   And their love for succulents comes through.  Hen and chicks are paired beautifully with creeping sedum: as ground cover, in a collection of strawberry planters, and in several giant wire pigs.  

The Selle’s personalities extend into the details of the garden.  Nate’s childhood hobby of collecting pigs, a good luck symbol across cultures, has spilled into the garden with several pig sculptures.  And during their garden party last year, Roberta planted teacups with succulents and gave them away as party favors.

From the beginning, family and friends have been important to the garden.  The first plants used came in a car “filled to the trunk” from Roberta’s uncle in Pennsylvania.  The fact that these plants were shared from his garden make them even more meaningful.  When Roberta’s 39-year-old cousin passed away, they planted a special container filled with yellow begonias to remember her by.  Roberta explains what happened next, ”We then started to invite people to do something special for a loved one, or we’d put in a friend’s favorite flower.  An angel and smiley face are for our neighbor and daughter, both breast cancer survivors.“   These last two are right next to each other in a field of irises, their favorite flower.  This element of Nate and Roberta’s garden give it depth, and reminded me of the power of using the garden to remember loved ones by.

When asked for gardening advice, they quickly respond, “know your sun and soil and match plants to that.  Start small and be realistic with how much time you want to spend.  Not everyone is going to like spending 20 hours a week in the garden like we do.”  Nate also insists: “Figure out what plants you like, what makes you happy.”  And Roberta advises patience, “Give your plants 3 years.  If they don’t work by then, move them somewhere else.”

The most amazing thing about Nate and Roberta’s garden is how welcoming it is.  No fences or hedges block it off from the neighborhood.  They weren’t home when I first visited, but the layout made me feel comfortable wandering around.  Before I knew it I made myself right at home, sitting on one of several benches, just enjoying the space.  Roberta and Nate say that this design feature is intentional: “The flowers are too pretty not to share. We love to have people come in. Why have a garden if you are going to close it in.  It’s not what they are made for.” 

Happy gardening!

A group of red and white striped tulips remind me of the famous ‘Semper Augustus’ variety.  In the 1600’s these were so rare that it was cheaper to commission a grand master painting of this tulip than to own one. 

The iris, named after the Greek goddess who traveled on rainbows to link heaven and earth, plays a key role in the garden.  They are planted in drifts to increase their impact. 

Shade-loving plants like trillium and ostrich fern fill the shady border on the north side of the house.

See this post as featured in the Post-Crescent.

Border in a box

Baby blue eyes, Primlet sunrise, Skippy orange, Ballerina white.  Just a few of the evocative names for the primrose, violets, tulips, and sedum that fill these hand-made arts and crafts garden troughs.  Created to look like carved stone, each one is a border garden unto itself and perfect for shallow-rooted plants.  They are a reminder that gardens don’t need to be big to pack a punch and imperfect, hand-made things can be beautiful.

Even better: these garden troughs can be made at home using equal portions of peat moss, perlite, and Portland cement.  But don’t try substituting concrete mix for the Portland cement as I did.  The mix won’t have enough holding power to compensate for the other added ingredients.  The right ingredients will make warm containers that are more lightweight than concrete or stone.  Otherwise, your containers will turn to powder over time-- as I learned the hard way.  Instructions to make your own, just like these, can be found in the video below.   

The set above are from Chicago’s Heritage Garden, part of the Chicago Botanic Garden. The Heritage Garden is dedicated to Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish naturalist and explorer who developed the “species and genus” scientific naming system that we use to identify plants today.  This was the first classification approach based on the natural characteristics of a plant’s flower and fruit.  The system had the capacity to accommodate the growing number of new plants being brought into Europe from far away trading posts; replacing other, more arbitrary attempts to classify plants. He shared his work through his book Species Plantarum, published in 1753.

Carolus Linnaeus, engraving from Robert John Thornton’s The Temple of Flora (1807).

The Heritage Garden is divided into seven beds that display plants based on their geographic origin, and 14 beds grouped by their classification.  As opposed to a purely aesthetic garden, this space is essentially a dictionary of plants.  The overall design references the world’s first botanical garden in Padua, Italy that dates from 1545.

When I visited the Heritage Garden recently, all of that history was interesting, but it was the garden troughs that stole the show.

 

Monumental containers

I fell in love with these monumental terra cotta pots at Villa di Castello in Florence, Italy.  Originally the country estate of Cosimo I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, this Italian renaissance garden includes fountains, statuary, a grotto, and a bosque.  But it is these massive, earthy containers filled with citrus trees that captured my interest the most.

Each container is slightly different in age, size, and ornamentation. Some even have heavy wire bands for added strength.  By using a consistent material, terra cotta, and by placing them along the gravel paths, they create a unified whole. I am especially drawn to the slight imperfections and irregularities in each container that communicate “hand made” and add to their warmth. 

The garden equivalent of a navy blazer or black dress, terra cotta goes with everything.  Letting the plants, and the design, shine through.  In this case, they also serve a functional purpose.  The trees become portable so that they can be moved into shelter when the weather gets too cold.  Though I’d love to see how they move several hundreds of pounds of pot, dirt, and tree.

Terra cotta literally translates as baked earth.  And nobody does terracotta like the town of Imprunetta, Italy.  Terra cotta has been made in this area since the first Etruscan settlements 3,000 years ago and the first industry association for terra cotta manufacturers goes back to 1300! 

Pots are made by hand using the coil method where the sides of the vessel are built up one layer at a time.  Once ornamentation is applied, pots are dried and fired in a wood-burning kiln that reaches nearly 2000°F (1000°C).  This gives traditional terra cotta its strength and durability.

The garden was designed in 1538 by Niccolò Tribolo who later designed Boboli Garden.

See more Italian renaissance gardens here.