Extra: Acclaimed garden designer proves you can have it all.

More than pretty

A lifetime’s perspective on good gardening

By Carol Diggs

living@c-ville.com

It’s the accepted wisdom: You can’t have it all. Or can you? When it comes to gardens, C. Colston Burrell thinks maybe you can—and he’s spent a lifetime considering this very question.

A noted horticulturist, garden designer, and author, Burrell will offer his thoughts at Beauty, Integrity and Resilience: Can a Garden Have Everything? The online March 3 session is the first of four weekly lectures presented by the Piedmont Master Gardeners.

A self-described “chlorophyll addict,” Burrell says what crystallized his thinking was a widely quoted comment from well-known entomologist, ecologist, and author Doug Tallamy at a 2015 conference. Tallamy said it was no longer enough for gardens just to be pretty.

That comment, Burrell says, got him thinking about why we make gardens. “Without beauty, we wouldn’t bother,” he says. “Face it—even low-impact gardening is a lot of work! So beauty is first, but then we have to consider the [ecological] impact of our work. And then the garden has integrity, and it becomes more resilient.”

As part of that, Burrell says, “We have to get away from the idea of growing one per-

“So beauty is first, but then we have to consider the [ecological] impact of our work. And then the garden has integrity, and it becomes more

resilient.” C. COLSTON BURRELL

fect plant—whether it’s a trillium or a bluebell or whatever. [As a gardener], I’m trying to form a population of plants in a community—that’s not possible with a garden of specimens.” In fact, he sees gardening as the creation of “novel plant communities.”

While he supports the increasing interest in native plants, Burrell, a founding member of the Virginia Native Plant Society, says the definition of native can be unclear: Does it mean local? Common in the state? Here before Europeans arrived? One example is the great white trillium (very popular with gardeners in this area), which has a range covering the eastern U.S., including Virginia, but it didn’t grow in Albemarle County because the mesic soil it prefers doesn’t occur naturally here. Another example is the purple cornflower, “a pollinator gardener’s dream plant, butterflies love it, but it’s not native to Virginia,” according to Burrell.

His third factor, resilience, is a term Burrell prefers to sustainability. He’s not a purist. At the novel plant communities he has been creating over 20 years at Bird Hill, his

SUPPLIED PHOTO

Internationally acclaimed garden designer and author C. Colston Burrell will pass along his plant wisdom in a March 3 online session, Beauty, Integrity and Resilience: Can a Garden Have Everything?, part of the Piedmont Master Gardeners lecture series.

Great white trillium

FILE PHOTO

nine-acre property in Free Union, he curates what is important to him. “I grow plants under trees, I water in the summer, I have plants from all over the world,” he says. Including a banana tree, a reflection of his lifelong interest in tropical plants. But Burrell is careful to keep an expert eye on plants that could be aggressive or invasive. As an avid bird-watcher, he also plants to provide habitat, cover, and food for birds, as well as insects, frogs, salamanders, and other welcome visitors. Whitetail deer, however, are discouraged by a 10-foot fence.

The Bird Hill garden started with three acres around Burrell’s house, situated on a south- and east-facing hillside. “I love sun-loving plants,” he says, “but I looked at the site and asked, ‘What kind of garden does this want to be?’” So he designed shade beds close to the house, as well as full-sun areas further down the hill. He found that many of his plants started to seed and spread downhill and out into the surrounding forest edges, and so he created plant communities there as well.

“If you listen to your garden,” he says, “it will tell you what it needs.”

More information and registration for Burrell’s lecture and the four-part series is at piedmontmastergardeners.org/events.

Wednesday 3/2

music

Monticello Strings. The collaborative strings ensemble performs works from various genres. Free-$50, 7pm. Wayne Theatre, 521 W. Main St., Waynesboro. waynetheatre.org The Wavelength. Jazzy blues and vintage rock. Free, 6:30pm. The Whiskey Jar, 227 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. thewhiskey jarcville.com

dance

Bachata Fusion Class. Edwin Roa teaches a fun beginner-to-intermediate-level bachata lesson to get the party started. $6-8, 7pm. IX Art Park, 522 Second St. SE. ixart park.org

stage

How to Live On Earth. In this touching story inspired by the Mars One project, four frontier adventurers prepare for a one-way journey to Mars. $8-14, 8pm. Ruth Caplin Theatre, 109 Culbreth Rd., UVA Grounds. drama.virginia.edu

words

Building Sovereignty in the Kingdom of Hayti: An Archaeological Perspective on Architecture and Material Culture at the

Palace of Sans Souci. A lecture from J. Cameron Monroe. Free, 5pm. Online. arch. virginia.edu

etc.

A Raisin in the Sun. The landmark first film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play. $10, 7pm. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, 5th Street Station. drafthouse.com

Thursday 3/3

music

Beleza Trio. Samba sounds of Brazil, Latin America, and the U.S. Free, 7pm. South and Central Latin Grill, Dairy Market. south andcentralgrill.com Faye Webster with Kate Bollinger. Poised, plainspoken albums full of aching emotion. $15-18, 8pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. jefferson theater.com

J2B2—John Jorgenson Bluegrass Band.

Cutting edge Bluegrass featuring all-star musicians. $30-35, 8pm. The Front Porch, 221 E. Water St. frontporchcville.org

stage

How to Live On Earth. See listing for Wednesday, March 2. $8-14, 8pm. Ruth Caplin Theatre, 109 Culbreth Rd., UVA Grounds. drama.virginia.edu

words

Beauty, Integrity and Resilience: Can A Gar-

den Have Everything?. Lecture from acclaimed garden designer C. Colston Burrell, hosted by the Piedmont Master Gardeners. $10, 7pm. Online. piedmontmastergardeners.org

etc.

Arts Underground. Artmaking, drinks, and karaoke inside The Looking Glass. Free, 7pm. IX Art Park, 522 Second St. SE. ixart park.org

The Phantom of the Opera Movie Party.

A young soprano becomes the obsession of a disfigured musical genius who lives beneath the Paris Opéra House. $13, 7pm. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, 5th Street Station. drafthouse.com Trivia in the Orchard. Hosted by Katalin Magyar. Free, 6:30pm. Albemarle CiderWorks, 2545 Rural Ridge Ln., North Garden. albemarleciderworks.com