A few days ago, the Garden in the Woods guides were treated to a tour through the garden with Horticulturalist Rolf Schilling. He gave us a torrent of information about the Art Goes Wild exhibit and some of the new plants in the garden, so this is just a brief overview of some of the highlights.
At the entrance to the garden it was already clear that we had made the transition from spring to summer. Here are the the fiery blooms of the Flame Azalea and the seed stalks of the Bottlebrush Buckeye.
The Idea Garden (these photos are from May) includes plants that grow in dappled shade, with predominantly blue and white flowers. Rolf highlighted a few of his favorites.
The yellow birch trees (in the background of the left-hand picture) were field grown before being moved into the site, so they still hold most of their lower branches. Yellow birches grown in the open will keep that form, but when grown in the shade, they will grow taller with few lower branches, like the tree in the right-hand picture, where you see only a trunk reaching up to the canopy.
The Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica) used in the small patch of lawn will grow in full sun to almost full shade, and will tolerate some traffic. It can either be mown like grass, or can be allowed to grow and will reach a maximum height of about 8 inches. According to Rolf, it outperforms most grass mixes across this range without irrigation.
Another sedge used in the mixed borders was broadleaf sedge (Carex platyphylla) with seersucker-like foliage.
There is an American Styrax near the entrance, a small understory tree that stays lacy in form, so makes a nice tree to put in front of a window, for example.
Aster 'October Skies" is a late-blooming aster that will bloom in both sun or shade.
Other blue plants were tall larkspur (Delphinium exaltatum) and Allegheny skullcap (Scutellaria serrata). Heuchera 'Amethyst Mist' was used for its dark purple foliage, and Umbrella leaf (Diphylleia cymosa) also added bold green foliage. (If you visit the garden, you can get a full list of plants at the Visitor Center.)
One plant that was new to me, but I'd like to try, is creeping wood mint (Meehania cordata). It's a low-growing ground-cover plant that spreads and has violet flowers in May/June. Browsing the web, I see comments that it will grow in very shady situations. It also seems to be hard to find on a retail basis.
We continued on and stopped briefly by the Woodland Parterre, where the American holly hedge is filling in nicely. Rolf commented that American holly is a great plant for a screen, as it will grow quite densely. In its natural form it will grown into a pyramidal shape, but it is quite tolerant to shearing and shaping, and can even be used for topiary. You need only one male plant in the vicinity to suport pollination and the production of berries.
We also took a minute to sit in the Council Ring, which has now been shaped and furnished with a ring of tree-stump seats. I missed my timing on this shot, so Rolf's face is obscured by his water bottle, unfortunately.
The pond was looking great, at the peak of summer bloom. Here are closeups of the water lilies and blue flag iris. The mama duck is still nesting on one of the floating islands.
Rolf explained that the floating islands were originally developed in the midwest as a method of environomental remediation for reduce nitrogen and algae levels in ponds. They are made from recycled plastic, with a loose structure that allows the roots to grow through and directly into the water. Marine styrofoam is used to make them float, and specialized rich soil is used in the planting pockets. Some of the plants on the islands include marsh marigold (Caltha palustris), pink and white turtlehead (Cheloni glabra and lyonii), various types of gentians, cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), and heartleaf scullcap (Scutellaria ovata).
As expected, the Yin-Yang piece is greatly improved now that the hayscented fern has matured.
The flying saucer gardens in the meadow and wester garden were starting to bloom. One subtlety that observers might not appreciate is that the dish gardens are planted with regional plants, going from east to west. So the meadow garden saucers have midwestern prarie plants, the next section uses Rocky Mountain plants, and the final group uses California plants. The color scheme used is purple, pink, yellow, and blue, and all the plants are adapted to somewhat dry conditions so they can grown in the shallow bowls. Some of the plants in bloom now include the pink showy evening primrose, sundrops (Oenothera berlandieri), sky-pilot beard-tongue (Pennstemon serrulatus), and wine cups (Callirhoe involucrata)
In the wildlife garden, we got a good look at a hummingbird hawk moth that was hovering over the phlox blossoms. Rolf also noted that it was unusual for our Yucca x intermedia to bloom, but this year we see some flower stalks. (Other Yuccas, like Adam’s Needle and Arkansas yucca do bloom here.) Rolf speculated that it might have had something to do with the odd winter weather. Although the abrupt cold harmed a lot of plants, there were others that were stimulated by the warmth into January. For example, the green and gold (Chrysoganum virginianum) is unusually floriferous this year.
I wish I'd taken better notes, as Rolf was just a font of botanical information, but this is what I was able to remember.
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