January 23, 2006
Winter Lectures
Winter seems to get shorter every year, which is a problem for gardeners, who gratefully use the winter months to clean tools, plan for new plantings, place plant and seed orders and, of course, read and study. This winter there are a number of interesting lectures that are well worth marking down on your calendars.
At the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, you can sign up for two different series: the seventh annual American Gardening series on February 16 and March 16, from 10am-12pm; or the series on the American Landscape:Ideals, Influences, Innovations, which includes lectures on February 13, March 13 and April 3.
On February 15 from 8:45am-3:30pm, Atlantic Nurseries will be sponsoring Creating Great Gardens at the C.W. Post Campus in Brookville, New York. Speakers include the renowned horticulturist Allan Armitage. For information, call 631-586-6242.
Lastly, Wave Hill has two more lectures in its 2006 Horticultural Lecture series--one on February 22 by Topher Delaney and the other on March 22 by Bunny Williams, both taking place from 6:30-8pm at the New York School of Interior Design, 170 East 70th Street, Manhattan. For telephone reservations and tickets, call 718-549-3200 x216.
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 05:37 PM | Comments (0)
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Troughs, originally made from stone but now often created from hypertufa (much lighter!), are ideal for alpines, but also for succulents...and succulents are In.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 12:25 PM | Comments (0)