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April 21, 2005
Make a Trough Garden at Wave Hill
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Trough gardening is going mainstream. For many years these miniature landscapes created in stone-like basins were the domain of dedicated alpinists, gardeners who specialized in finicky rock garden plants, and rock gardening at its highest echelons closely resembled serious bird-watching in that both of them were almost contact sports and competition could be fierce.
Troughs, originally made from stone but now often created from hypertufa (much lighter!), are ideal for alpines, but also for succulents...and succulents are In. Recently, all of the major gardening magazines have featured spreads on them, from Horticulture to Landscape Architecture. They are xeric, come in lots of interesting shapes and sizes, and grow in very little soil. An explosion of hens and chickens and sedums is upon us. One reason for this is that they are the preferred plant for green roofs, where they make neat but attractive patterns, and green roofs are are in. But succulents are also a super choice for troughs, and the combination is ideal for space-deprived city gardens. Trough gardens filled with succulents don't have to take up much room, they can be very decorative and if you forget to water them they won't die instantly.
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One of the prettiest displays of troughs we've seen is at the Summit Street Community Garden in Red Hook, where for years an attractive collection has graced the entrance. The grouping makes a sophisticated statement about the garden. They are just as interesting but somehow more subtle than conventional pots.
The most impressive group of trough gardens anywhere--in the world? well, at least in New York--is at Wave Hill. The collection, located beside the alpine house, is a delight. Naturally, the plant pallet varies, and includes alpines that only an expert could grow, but it also includes many succulents, which are much harder to kill. This Saturday (4/23), Wave Hill is sponsoring a trough-making workshop. There will be demonstrations and participants can try and create their own troughs to take home and plant. So fun!
The trough-making workshop is part of Wave Hill's Earth Day activities, which also includes a community garden clean up. This year the clean-up will be at the Enchanted Garden at JFK High School in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx. Founded by students who wanted to transform a blighted lot in front of their school, the garden has nurtured countless kids and was instrumental in creating an important environmental learning program at the high school (you can read all about it in our book, Garden Guide: New York City). The kids are great, the garden is impressive, and cleaning it up should be fun as well as worthwhile.
Link: Wave Hill
Posted by gardenguidenyc at April 21, 2005 12:25 PM