WHAT GOES AROUND...

Gardeners are generous people. We're delighted to share divisions of favorite perennials or seedlings we've grown too many of. Eudora Welty honored the custom of pass-along plants in her famous novel, Delta Wedding. 

I used to host a day on my farm every spring called 'Plant Swap in the Barn', where customers where invited to bring five divisions in pots, (no mints please) and a covered dish for lunch. Everyone went home happy with precious new choices.

Now gardening in NYC I'm thrilled to be on the receiving end but I'm finding it harder to find the space to cram in the gifts I get.

Above, irises from Ellen Zachos, about five years old, planted with a rose 'Harison's Yellow'.

This rose was itself a gift from rose expert Stephen Scanniello, President of the Heritage Rose Society. When I got this, it was but a cutting in a four inch pot.

When Anne Kugel heard that I was looking for Montauk daisies, she promptly dug and divided some from her own NYC terrace containers, and gave me three clumps. Their bright white flowers are one of the last to burst into bloom in my fall garden.
Last summer Linda Yang schlepped a huge mound of northern sea oats to my door. I managed to

stuff it in an already full container. It's preparing to bloom right now and by fall should look like this...

What gifts!!!

a small thing

I don't usually do small jobs, but when I got an email from my old acting teacher I didn't think twice. If you're lucky, you have one or two teachers in your life who truly make a difference. I've had two and Richard was one of them.

Richard has a terrace but no irrigation and no desire to install a watering system. He didn't want a full blown garden, just a few boxes to block the view from across the street into his bedroom window. (Can you blame him?) I won't usually do a job without irrigation, but I'd do anything for Richard and I told him so.

He wanted ornamental grasses, which sounded perfect for his full sun location. Once established, they'd be pretty drought tolerant, but getting them through the first season was the challenge. Friend and colleague Sara suggested using the rain-mat from Kinsman as a liner.

The woven fiber mat contains water retaining polymers which absorb and retain moisture, releasing it to roots slowly, over time. These are potassium-based, rain-gel granules, not sodium based polymers. (There is some concern that sodium based polymers may result in root burn.) The bulk roll is 16 feet long and 22 inches wide, which was almost exactly how much I needed to line two, 22-inch cubes.

I cut the mat to fit the sides and bottom of the containers, then taped them in place with painter's tape. The tape doesn't have to hold for long, just long enough for me to plant the container. Once the potting mix is added, it holds the mat in place. I also cut holes in the bottom layer to match up with the drainage holes in the container.


We chose Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light' and I underplanted each grass with portulaca, another drought tolerant, sun & heat loving container plant.

For the record, I paid full price for this product. It's easier to give something a bad review if you don't feel beholden. I needn't have worried. I planted the grasses at the beginning of July, then promptly left town for two weeks, during which time NYC experienced a brutal heat wave. When I got back, I called Richard to see how everything had come through, and he had good news: no drought stress on the grasses and he'd had to cut back the portulaca, it had grown so well.

The moral of this story is that if you just want a few containers and can't install an irrigation system in your outdoor space, you aren't limited to cacti and succulents. With drought tolerant plants, and a little extra life support, good things are possible.

Blooming Grasses

My gardening season starts on Christmas day, when the tradition on my farm has been to light the fireplace, brew a pot of tea, and surround myself with spring catalogs that have been poring in. I start with a sharp pencil, Post-its for marking pages, lists of seeds and plants, and fantasies of what my garden could look like. My tradition continues on New Year’s Day. While the other half of my family celebrates with college bowl games, I try on old and new plant favorites on my wish list.

My visions are vivid for spring and summer, much less so for fall and winter. I do my major garden center buys between April and June, and am seduced by plants not on my list because they’re coming in to season. If I got to a nursery more often in fall I‘d have more grasses in my garden because they’d scream ‘Take me home.’

During fall and winter many grasses show off best. Majesty of structure, movement with the breeze, whispering sounds, a backdrop of crimson and gold trees or a dusting of snow, are some of the reasons to plant grasses. In Mid-November the sun streaming through blooming grasses in the Conservatory Garden is one of the highlights of the display. (top center)
The Conservatory Garden is a largely hidden treasure on 105th and 5th in Central Park.






On the right, noted garden photographer Alan Detrick captures light playing off the grasses in one of my fall displays. (©Alan & Linda Detrick)










New York City gardeners find that that grasses are perfect for containers and many like sea oats, golden variegated Hakonechloa,and Japanese blood grass do well in light shade. Use grasses like the tough Giant Reed (Arundo donax) for screening as well as aesthetics. Remember that the annual spring shearing will leave you temporarily exposed. On the right, my rooftop garden in September with Pennisetum grass, black-eyed Susans, and the lovely Joe-Pye variety, Eupatorium 'Little Joe' (Double-click to enlarge photo.)

Cut a few stems of any grass from your garden when the plant is coming into bloom and stand them in an attractive container. They’ll dry in place and give you an elegant but inexpensive display all winter. If you don’t have any of your own, look in vacant lots for weed grasses like green foxtail, that looks fantastic dried. Pick in the green stage, late summer to early fall so the seeds won’t drop all over your floor as the bloom dries.

Container Art

Without my realizing it, I’ve become a stalker. I go to visit the object of my affection about once a-week. I try to grab a peek as I’m going by on the bus and I take photos in all seasons. Of all the planters visible on the streets of NYC these are by far my favorites. They are redone completely three or four times a year; in the interim when they get sad looking, plant material is removed or added. There are two window boxes and some built-in concrete planters about 12” H x 12” W that flank the flight of stairs to the entrance of the building. I’m enthralled with the color and texture, individual plants that are slightly unusual, and combinations that surprise. I go to see what ideas I can steal for my own garden because these are truly inspirational.

In a city where we may not have a garden of our own, why not enjoy the borrowed scenery of others’ gardens? As I stop each season to take pictures, passersby approach me to share their own delight.

I finally walk up and open the imposing front door to the Orthodox Greek Archdiocese office on 79th St. between 5th and Madison to discover the name of the artist who designs and installs the plants. He is Evan Denis, a third generation florist, as he calls himself, who no longer has a shop but works for clients doing floral design, events, traditional florist stuff as well as designing terraces and containers.
Visit Evan Denis at: www.evandenisflorist.com. or after you visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, walk three and-a-half blocks south and see what another artist does with his palette.