‘A modest garden contains, for those who know how to look and to wait, more instruction than a library.’
Henri Frederic Amiel, philosopher, 1821-1881
Oh, to be A New Gardener. Like that first intense love, we’re blinded by sunbeams and stardust, rushing headfirst into the nearest garden center where, casting inhibitions aside, we wrap our arms around a profusion of pots, wildly embracing flowers, shrubs, vines, all the while whispering: You’re coming home with me where we’ll live happily ever after.
In that heady first romance we discover that more is more. We buy perennials. Lots of them. Some die, some invade, some bore and a few become lifelong partners. We feather the outdoor nest with garden “art” — chimes, signs, bells, benches, statues, birdbaths and other trinkets. And then one summer afternoon, after taking a long, hard look at the results of our passion, we realize the relationship isn’t quite working.
Sometimes we learn garden lessons the hard way — plants pass on or they multiply like crazy. The Victorian urn doesn’t quite go with the ranch house. Colors clash, deer demolish the dahlias, the cottage garden runneth over with aggressive plants, or that once-cute gnome doesn’t make the heart sing anymore. Other times we celebrate the identification of a new butterfly. Or the garden becomes a sanctuary, a place that helps us look inward, uncovering our own emotional landscape.
“Living in, around and with an ever-changing garden is one of the most important things in my life,” says Lee Randhava, editorial manager at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe. “Beautiful views and vistas bring a peace to my life and promote contemplation and deep thought, which is otherwise impossible in this crazy, busy world.”
There are many things a garden can teach us, even after that first passionate encounter at the local nursery. We hope these lessons — gleaned from some of the winners of the Chicago Tribune’s Glorious Gardens Contest 2006 — will inspire you to get out the camera and enter your garden in our weekly garden contest. (See chicagotribune.com/contestrules for more information on how to enter.)
home& garden@tribune.com
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Lesson 1: Create a focal point
Gardener: Rick Briasco of Chicago
Goal: Use a fountain to draw the eyes away from the garage wall.
Why it works: The fountain’s formal style meshes with the Italian-style garden theme.
What makes it work: The fountain is small enough that it doesn’t overwhelm the space but provides a contrast against the bright-colored walls and flowering vines.
You could use: A small statue, a birdbath, a garden globe, a container with colorful plants, a collection of birdhouses, a brightly painted obelisk or an empty decorative urn.
Lesson 2: Mix edibles and ornamentals
Gardener: Judy Greenfield of Ringwood
Goal: Create an organic, useful and attractive garden with flowers and vegetables.
Why it works: “Blending flowers and vegetables in any garden or container creates a multipurpose multimedia display,” says Nona Koivula, executive director of All-America Selections in Downers Grove.
Plants that make it work: Strawberries, herbs, carrots and tomatoes mingle with marigolds, petunias and other annuals.
What you could use: “In the fall, grow lettuce, peas or broccoli plants with colorful annuals that thrive in cool weather such as Diascia ‘Diamonte Coral Rose,’ violas or dianthus,” Koivula says. “They’ll provide abundant color in the fall vegetable garden and will tolerate a slight frost.”
Lesson 3: Create a room
Gardener: Beth Clemen of Western Springs
Goal: Create a secluded, comfortable outdoor living room.
Why it works: Well-designed garden rooms mirror our idea of inside spaces, says garden designer Patti Kirkpatrick of Joliet. “When you think about the entire yard as a living room with somewhere to sit and relax, you define your boundaries with plants that become the walls and with paths that lead you through the space.”
What makes it work: The walls of this room are layers of shrubs, vines and trees with a flower-draped arbor for a doorway, a stone patio that serves as the floor and comfy chairs to relax and enjoy the surroundings.
You could use: Individual trellis panels or arborvitae (an evergreen shrub) as a screen to form walls around a seating area. The “floor” could be pea gravel, pavers or wood chips.
Lesson 4: Incorporate art
Gardeners: Gene and Joan Lemme of Dixon
Goal: Find the right spot for the stainless-steel sundial made by Gene Lemme.
Why it works: The sundial serves as a focal point, holding court above cannas, buddleias, Russian sage, ornamental grasses and elephant ears.
What makes it work: Besides commanding attention and stopping visitors in their tracks as they stroll along the garden path, the sundial provides a hard reflective surface that offers a contrast from the lush plantings.
You could use: A colorful glass globe, a piece of statuary or driftwood, or an obelisk or tripod made from bamboo.
Lesson 5: Invite wildlife
Gardener: Ted Kozlowski of Chicago
Goal: Attract birds, butterflies and beneficial insects.
Why it works: “Creating a healthy habitat for other earthly inhabitants is largely a matter of mimicking what happens in the native environment,” says Carol Reese, ornamental and horticulture specialist at the University of Tennessee Extension Service. “You may use more exotic plant forms, or choose many that are highly ornamental and serve other functions in your landscape, but the basic idea is to develop a diverse array of plant materials that provide food and shelter throughout the seasons.”
What makes it work: Flowering plants and a water feature draw them into this small urban garden filled with tropical plants.
You could use: A birdbath set on a pedestal or placed on the ground along with nectar-rich flowers such as zinnias, nicotiana, impatiens or buddleia.
Lesson 6: Use a theme, incorporate humor
Gardener: Jason Ewing of Chicago
Goal: Create a field of dreams on a rooftop overlooking Wrigley Field.
Why it works: He uses funky baseball art in a nod to nearby Cubs. And there are those big smiling faces on the terra-cotta pots. But most of all it’s that corn he’s growing on a Chicago rooftop.
Plants that make it work: More than 100 containers filled with herbs, lettuce, eggplant, peas, peppers, zucchini and watermelon.
You could use: Whatever tweaks your fancy. Recycle and paint a few bowling balls and place them among the flowers. Get those unused golf clubs out of the closet and stake the tomatoes. Or have the scarecrow sport a Chicago Bears jersey.
Lesson 7: Create a vista
Gardener: Sandra Bailey of Wheaton
Goal: Fashion an enticing view that draws your eyes across the garden.
Why it works: “A vista, in its grandest form, is a dramatic view to the horizon over water, a prairie, or even a field, but it can also be a view to a focal point,” says landscape architect Carrie Woleben-Meade of Mariani Landscape in Lake Bluff. “Vistas are more typical on large properties, but can be achieved in smaller spaces. In a smaller space, it’s important to see what borrowed views you can capitalize on from neighboring properties.”
What makes it work: The winding, grassy path creates a sense of mystery and pulls you through the garden.
You could use: “For those of us who don’t have great views to borrow from our neighbors, it is even more important to provide a focal point in your garden,” says Woleben-Meade. “This can be achieved with something as simple as a beautiful urn backdropped with evergreen shrubs.”
Lesson 8: Use water for sound and movement
Gardener: Mary Lee Calihan of Chicago
Goal: Create a peaceful patio setting with the sound of water next to a busy street.
Why it works: “Water is really magic. No one objects to the sound of water because there’s something peaceful about it,” says Judith Glattstein, author of “Waterscaping: Plants and Ideas for Natural and Created Water Gardens” (Storey, 192 pages, $18.95).
What makes it work: A small terra-cotta fountain and arborvitae soften a large wall, help drown out nearby traffic and draw the eye away from the street.
You could use: A birdbath with a mister. “Water can be featured in many different ways,” Glattstein says. “Fountains can be large or small to fit the size [of the] garden.”
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Class notes
Here are some resources and a course that can help enhance your garden:
*Garden and Landscape Photography — The Long and Short of It. Learn how to take great photographs of your garden (and then enter the Chicago Tribune’s weekly Glorious Gardens Contest 2007).
1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday. Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Rd., Glencoe. Cost: $74. 847-835-8261. www.chicagobotanic.org/school .
*The Art of House and Garden. A private garden tour sponsored by The Morton Arboretum. The owners’ original sculptures, ceramic tiles, paintings and orchid collection link outdoors and indoors in an original manner at this Naperville site. Homeowners guide you through house and garden describing their choices and design goals.
2 to 4:30 p.m. July 21. Cost: $40. 630-719-2468. www.mortonarb.org .
* Hort Corner, the University of Illinois Extension Web site: www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/hort, where you’ll find garden and lawn care ideas.
*U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Web site www.epa.gov/GreenScapes offers ideas on environmentally beneficial landscape practices.
— Nina Koziol
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Glorious Gardens Contest 2007: Week 3
Ann Tice created raised beds to escape impervious clay soil and created a sweeping, graceful lakeside retreat full of cool bloom colors sparked with chartreuse. That grace, and the three-variety espaliered apple tree, helped us choose her Champaign garden as the Week 3 winner in our Glorious Gardens Contest 2007. Learn more about Tice’s garden on Page 7. We’ll be picking more weekly winners until Aug. 13. So enter — or enter again; see rules on Page 7.
