JOIN ME

Above, "Waterlily Dreams"  incorporating hand painted paper and found papers, cut photos, and found Ailanthus pods.

Join me Thurs. 9/27/2012 in a workshop "Artful Collage from Found Objects" at the Horticultural Society of NY.
I (Ellen Spector Platt) will talk about my new book by that name, that incorporates plant and garden themes, stressing recycled, repurposed and reused materials. Following a brief discussion about gathering, designing, and manipulating found objects, I'll give a demonstration involving cutting and tearing, gluing and other attaching techniques.

Each participant will create her/his own collage of a striking garden memory to take home.
Participants will need to bring small garden treasures like photos, plant labels, pressed flowers and leaves, copies of old botanical prints, pods, seeds, seed packs, special papers, postage stamps with garden themes, floral fabric, pieces of other old craft work like embroidery.  The Hort will provide all other crafting materials.

 Above, "The Weaver",  incorporating paper, recycled bamboo skewers, and pressed black cotton and flowering plum leaves that I grew.
Techniques of collage were first used at the time of the invention of paper in China, around 200 BC. Originating from the French word "coller", meaning "to glue", the collage allows you to experiment with a wide range of materials  two and three dimensional materials to achieve amazing results.

Above, 'North of Santa Fe' the cover collage using colored tissue and other papers, pressed weeds.
Ellen's book will be available for sale at the workshop and also now at Amazon, by clicking the icon of the book cover to the left of this blog post, also at B&N online, and other book and craft stores around the country.
For more information about the workshop, more images, and to register:
Limited space available, preregistration required
Thurs, Sept. 27,  6:00pm-9pm
Hort members: $30 Non-members: $45
Register online or email programs@thehort.org

DISCOVERY

Through the iron bars on Rue  Ste. Catherine, Nancy, France, we glimpsed bright, orderly color.  Weary after a day of travel from Paris to Nancy and strolling around the old town, we had just enough strength to explore one more place. Formally laid out, precise beds bordered by clipped boxwood and  immaculate lawns, my first thoughts were dismissive, then I looked closer.

The beds of annuals were laced with vegetables. Blue-leaved cabbages, beets, kale, and Swiss chard were all there.
I travel to make discoveries, see new sights,  learn something new. I pore over guidebooks before going, Google gardens in each town, but nothing is more exciting than finding a treasure for oneself. It felt as if no one else knew about this garden, though a few other visitors were also wandering about and I found out the town of Nancy in Lorraine, France has won European awards for being a floral city.

Here kohlrabi were treated like jewels and pristine herbs are part of the pallette.

This small garden in the heart of the town and bordering a school and the city aquarium is free and open to the public, but has few benches and obviously doesn't encourage lolling about. All varieties are well labeled and containers abound. Inspiration for city gardeners like us? I draw my own conclusions.

We discover that this is an historic garden, named Dominique Alexandre Godron, after the man who was Dean of the Faculty of Science and rescued the garden in 1854, re-creating a Botanical College on the site where, in 1758 Prince Stanislas founded a Botanical Garden attached to the Royal College of Medicine. The current designer obviously has a sense of humor as well as an interest in education.
Carrots are planted in long plexiglass tubes so the growing roots are somewhat visible, and strawberries in rain-gutter trees.

Here's to stumbling on more fascinating discoveries here and away.
What's your favorite?

A HIGH LINE IN PARIS

So there I was in Paris last week, with Ben and two friends from Wales, not at the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, or Notre Dame Cathedral. I had convinced the other three to stroll with me along the Promenade Plantee, a park which claims to be the first in the world on a rehabbed elevated train track. in a formerly seedy section of the city.
Arising from the Bastille metro station and finding the entrance to the Promenade Plantee, we walked up some concrete steps and I found my personal greeting in graffiti. ESP for sure on the left, (my initials) and does that say 'love' behind it?

Not seen in this serene image four loiterers who were not above greeting a woman of a certain age with some crude come-ons, as I had raced up the steps ahead of my companions .

Roses everywhere including the arches covered with canes. Shoulda been here in June.

Just like in New York, many are running or talking on cell phones, ignoring the huge plantings of lavender.

The buildings close by look a little different.
Not every plant is a rose bush, there are lots of large trees that look like they might have been part of the original plantings in 1986.

Visitors are strolling, but at least at 11 am on a Saturday morning, far fewer tourists than on The High Line in New York. Kids are on skates and scooters, not allowed in NYC and I had the feeling from seeing this guy and others that there's less attention to rules and security in general. Buildings that abut the Promenade Plantee are within spitting distance as in NYC, and the whole area has been revitalized by this park, which was opened in 1989. Some of the buildings display a mixture of old and new exterior walls.

We walked about half of the almost 3 mile Promenade because part was closed and John spied a likely looking cafe below on Ave. Daumesnil; I'm always ready to act agreeable where food or drink is concerned.
Missing in Paris is the brilliant diversity of plantings along The High Line in NYC and the inclusion of pieces of the track, railroads ties, and iron walls, all helping the visitor to understand what has been accomplished. But Paris has the pride of being first; future designers could build upon its successes and failures.
Under the walkway, the arcades were also redone and offer space to high-end shops below.

moving day

Who wouldn't want to have their own terrace? You'd sit there, perched above the Avenues, gazing down on the matchbox taxis with a cool glass of Pinot Grigio on a hot summer night. Sigh.

But just so you know...it's not all white wine and spectacular views. Most buildings have clauses written into their shareholder agreements that stipulate the building can access your terrace at will, to fix a leak, to build a scaffold, to make a little extra scratch by skimming a percentage off the top of unnecessary construction. That last one isn't in the building rules, but you better believe it happens.

And when it does, it's the terrace owner's obligation to prepare the terrace for occupation.

Large trees must be moved, furniture stored, irrigation interrupted and re-laid. It can be hair-raising, especially if old containers are involved. Old containers that might have rotted underneath. No way to know till you lift it, at which point the weeping cherry may or may not push through the rotted wood, leaving you with a naked root ball and no place to put it.

Fortunately, that was not the case this morning. Well-prepared terrace owners, a helpful building staff, and me (basically pointing and saying, move this here, move that there). It all went as smooth as silk. Sigh.

WATER LILY DREAMS

Last night I was one of the exhibiting artists at the Haym Salomon Arts Award a citywide competition for New York artists from non-profits who support and teach visual arts.  The theme of the exhibit this year was Visions of a Greener World. My collage "Water Lily Dreams"was nominated by the gallery DownstairsArt at the Carter Burden Center where I sometimes show my work.

My own inspirations were photos I took at Longwood Gardens of the underside of the giant leaves and paper that Annabelle Platt had created in a painting session we had, that I begged to use. The other stuff in the collage are found objects, some copper wire snatched from the street, gold foil from a fancy chocolate bar, and a green plastic folder languishing in my office. Even the frame was recycled from another project.

The complete collage is simple and subtle in tone: I was satisfied with the results and photographed it for my new book, Artful Collage from Found Objects, Stackpole Books, 2012. Note that the curve at the top is the same image as just below, though printed smaller and reversed. 

I gazed at the collage on my wall for about three months, then added some color by way of two pink water lily flowers photographed at another time and place. With collage, it's often easy to add, but hard to undo.

 Artist, Ellen Spector Platt at the Haym Salomon Arts Award Ceremony, July 18, 2012
To purchase the book with complete directions to make 46 collages from found materials, click on the book icon atop the column top left, 'We Recommend' .

POSING IN THE PARK

In the Queens Botanical Garden, under the massive blue spruce, a wedding party gathers while members of the community walk by unperturbed. The bride must have selected the shade of yellow for the gowns knowing they would look spectacular with the spruce.

While at Brooklyn's East River Park a girl poses in her quinceanera dress for a posse of photographers.

In the Manhattan's Conservatory Garden, I capture a bride and groom awaiting  instructions from their photographer. Behind the quince and barberry hedges, there's no knowing the groom is wearing flip-flops. 

Near the Harlem Meer in Central Park, these women  pose in yoga suits as I huddle in my down park 4/8 to snap the shot.

And nearby a group attracts attention as they await the instructions of their photographer to start strolling.

 Animation makes the shot.

A girl dressed in her prom gown selects the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden of the NYBG for her mother's official pictures.  Where's her date?
Just across the path from the rose garden another bride and groom get ready for their photo op.

This guy at The High Line isn't posing, he's just reading in the most comfortable spot he knows.

Oy.

MY NEW FAVORITE

O.K. this garden is not in NY which we usually write about but is less than 2 hours from Manhattan,  a beautiful ride up the Hudson to Washington CT, Litchfield County.  George Schoellkoph's  Hollister House is an eighteenth century historic home with newer additions. It's available for all to see on the Garden Conservancy Open Days.  Hollister House Garden is based on the English ideal of paths and rooms, places to meander among shrubs, perennials, self-sewn annuals, even some patches of vegetables. I visited on a brutally hot day last week. The bench above would have been perfect to sit with a tall iced tea and enjoy the scent of Nepeta with a book in hand. 

But paths and arches led elsewhere, and the design forced me to explore the many rooms and admire the foliage color and texture. All seemed to be combined effortlessly, but every gardener knows how much effort that really takes. The eye and brain of an artist planned this garden, yet the feeling is casual, not  egotistical, not demanding credit.

Containers are strewn everywhere, bordering paths and in the garden itself.

By the pond is another seat that I must by-pass and move to where the bench color is the perfect foil for the flowers or is it the other way around?The property undulates offering glimpses of gardens above and below.

Hollister House Garden is easy to visit on the Garden Conservancy Open Days program . (See information in our BYTE NOW column, top left of this blog). In addition Hollister House Garden is hosting a special Garden Study Weekend Aug. 24-26, 2012.

Schoellkopf has signed an irrevocable agreement with the Conservancy for donation of house, out- buildings and garden, either during his lifetime or by will, along with not less than 2 million dollars in trust for maintenance in perpetuity. All gardeners can be grateful to him for his generosity and foresight.

If you don't fall in love with this garden as I did, the yellow mulleins by the river at the bottom of the garden express my thoughts.