THE BULLETIN • Tuesday, March 8, 2011 F5
G Scottish landscapes to help inspire us all By Adrian Higgins The Washington Post
At a moment in the year when people are looking to spring and thinking about their gardens, landscape photographer Allan Pollok-Morris is rethinking the whole idea of the garden. Is it a place of swooning beauty? No. On an old city campus, plumes of pampas grass brighten a forlorn space but cannot quite transform it. A place of flowers? Not in a contemporary town garden, where the landscape is a study in lawn panels and other rectilinear planes. Of permanence? No. Look at an artist named Jim Buchanan, who etches a labyrinth in the sand to be erased by the tide. You can assess Pollok-Morris’ eclectic take on the garden in his book “Close: Landscape Design and Land Art in Scotland” (Northfield Editions, 2010) and in an exhibit at the U.S. Botanic Garden near the Capitol in Washington. Close, as in near, is an old Scottish term for a landscape that is so inspirational, “it’s as if the heavens are closer to Earth,” Pollok-Morris said in an interview. Through his lens, a garden is many things, but not amorphous. Indeed, he has captured the work of some of the most focused minds in the landscape world today, and yet you come away from the show realizing that the old barriers between flower gardens, landscape gardening and land art are as artificial as gardenmaking itself. Pollok-Morris said he is open to various interpretations of his chosen terrains. In each, he says, he strives “to convey a sense or an experience of the place.” Some of the landscapes are distinctly of their region. Others offer universal inspiration. From a purely horticultural perspective, Scotland is an engaging place to garden. The west coast is wet, the east coast is not (so much), the days extend into the night in the growing season, and the amazing temperance of the Gulf Stream is countered by the effects of the coastal winds. It is a land of the north, and even after six years on the project, the 38-year-old photographer is still amazed that a country sharing latitudes with Alaska can support such lushness.
Stone sentinels A few of the featured landscapes really grab me, in different ways. Andy Goldsworthy has elevated the high craft of dry stonewalling into an art form. (His exhibit “Roof” was installed in the National Gallery of Art’s East Building in 2005.) Near the village of Penpont, Goldsworthy assembled an egglike sentinel recalling the ancient Celtic stone piles or cairns. It is another installation of his that I find mesmerizing: a brownstone arch emanating from the opening of a stone barn. The arch seems to provide a symbolic link between the stone of the barn and the soil whence it came. The muscular arch itself is vernacular in form and material, and yet its use here is strange. The resulting tension is incredibly effective. Pollok-Morris said he was most inspired by Little Sparta, the art garden near Edinburgh devised by the late Ian Hamilton Finlay and known for its gardens, sculptures and monuments inscribed in “concrete poetry”: poetic quotations carved in stone and wood and given heightened meaning by their placement in the environment. The photographer also likes the way the designer Douglas Coltart forms peaceful landscapes that observe the cardinal rule of gardenmaking in scenic territory: Don’t compete with it. I have a handful of favorites, from afar, Little Sparta being one of them. I am drawn to an estate garden and the dramatic siting of the big turreted Dunbeath Castle on the seaside cliffs of northeast Scotland.
Next week: Going up Vertical gardens are rising in popularity.
Trends Continued from F1 A packet of seeds for less than $2 is a small investment for weeks of good, fresh eating. McCoy states, “We had trouble wrapping our heads around saving the rain forests, but we clearly can wrap our arms around saving our own backyards.” Putting conservation on the level of our own backyard makes sense and is a challenge we can meet. Gardening with a purpose heads the list of emerging garden trends for 2011. Other trends include healthy soils being built with additions of organic composts and soil amendments, gardeners using more eco-friendly products, and moving further away from the toxic chemical weed killers and pest repellents. Keep reading for more garden trends.
Eco-scaping Photos by Allan Pollok-Morris / The Washington Post
Charles Jencks, an architectural theorist and landscape architect, designed the Garden of Cosmic Speculation at Portrack House in Dumfries, Scotland, where he lives, as “a landscape conceived as a place to explore certain fundamental aspects of the universe.”
The landscape at the Maggie’s Cancer Caring Center in Dundee, Scotland, was crafted by the garden designer Arabella Lennox-Boyd. The building is by Frank Gehry.
The term “sustainable gardening” has been around for more than a decade, but what does it mean? According to the handbook used in Oregon State University Master Gardener training, sustainable gardening uses “gardening practices that allow plants to thrive with minimal inputs of labor, water, fertilizer and pesticides.” In many cities the planting of the parking strip — that area between the sidewalk and the road — has become popular. Usually drought-tolerant plants are used rather than turf grass or trees that require high water usage. I checked with the Bend Public Works Department, and there is no restriction in planting that strip. However, remember that it is public right of way and the department may need to work in it at some point. So keep that in mind if you are inclined to use eco-scaping in that space. Eco-scaping promotes the planting of native plants. There is an increased interest locally, and nurseries are responding with a wider selection of native plants.
Edible ornamentals Small fruit-bearing shrubs like berries and smaller trees are gaining interest. Is there anything more delightful than raspberries or strawberries from your own garden? Blueberries are gaining in popularity as more varieties suitable to our climate are offered.
The Bulletin ile photo
Raspberries, shown here in a Bend backyard, are among the fruitbearing shrubs and trees that are trendy for 2011.
Growing up with vertical gardening Vertical gardens go beyond your typical redwood trellis. Vertical gardens require a sturdy, free-standing, heavy-duty framework. The plants grow in a series of horizontal growing spaces or pockets. Horticulturist Allan Armitage suggests they can be used to provide privacy, screen eyesores and draw the eye upward to create the illusion of space.
Urban farming and CSAs Farmers markets and community supported agriculture are a growing trend. We have seen that increase in our own area. CSA farms provide fresh produce to subscribers throughout the growing season. The general policy is that you receive a weekly allotment of vegetables that have been harvested that week. The upside is you try veggies that are new to you; the downside is
you may get somewhat the same selection a few weeks in a row. It’s the perfect opportunity to explore some new recipes.
New urbanism According to the Garden Media Group, the definition of this trend is, “Sustainable urban communities offering convenient and enjoyable places to enjoy an urban lifestyle.” I think Central Oregon is ahead of the curve on this trend. Planting water-wise plants, collecting rainwater, walkable streets, diversity of shops, homes and apartments with less turf and more plants encourages better stewardship of our earth and reconnects us as fellow stewards of our resources and our communities, according to the Garden Media Group. What a great common goal for all of us to work toward. Liz Douville can be reached at douville@bendbroadband.com.
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Sustainable containers Peter Cool, gardener at Jura House garden, has taken advantage of the mild climate of the Isle of Jura to grow tender exotic plants in the old vegetable garden.
Annual flower sales are down almost 20 percent from previous years. Annuals are being replaced with longer-blooming perennials. Growing food in containers is becoming a trend, especially as more vegetables that are smaller in size are developed for container growing. Add a trellis to the container for cucumber vines, sprinkle in some dill seed plus a mixture of lettuce seeds and you have the start of a summer salad. The increased interest in herb growing leads one to think about containers that can be planted for the purpose of windowsill growing during the winter.
Succulents At Cambo House, in Fife, Scotland, gardener Elliott Forsyth has repurposed an old walled garden for a 21st-century take on the Scottish garden. Here, landscape designer Xa Tollemache has reworked old walled gardens with tough, bigboned but decorative shrubs, and perennials that are both pliant and defiant in the galeforce winds. I would like to spend an afternoon with the pop artist and sculptor Gerald Laing in his castle garden, not least to observe the pontoon-bicycle boat in action on his pond. Pollok-Morris’ work also records, perhaps not consciously, how the British garden has changed in the past 20 years. The eye-catching, color-driven floral border, dripping in rambling roses and tender wall shrubs, held out a false archetype. Today, the sizzle in the garden is with herbaceous plants - perennials, grasses,
bulbs, even annuals - and the knack is to assemble them in a bold and coherent way that avoids a visual jumble. This is not just a British idea; indeed, it is more Dutch, German and, yes, American. At Cambo House, a country estate in Fife, gardener Elliott Forsyth has pulled this off with striking blocks of summer perennials and grasses in shades of purple, white and green. In another image, we see a foreground of echinops veiling bands of verbena, grasses, plume poppies, buddleias and what look like red blanket flowers. This is exciting, vital gardening, but in the broader survey of “Close,” this horticultural emphasis seems positively traditional.
Succulents are already popular in many Central Oregon gardens. They fit so well with our desire to garden with less water. Succulents make attractive additions to rockeries where soil mass is limited. They can also satisfy our desire to have an attractive indoor plant. Think of the pleasure a blooming Christmas cactus or a jade plant in bloom can bring.
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Indoor gardening For those who can’t or don’t want to garden outdoors, join those who bring the outdoors in with houseplants. Orchids are becoming increasingly popular for their ability to help clean indoor air from volatile compounds and provide oxygen. Phalaenopsis (moth) orchids as well as other varieties are perfect choices for easy growing. Indoor ferns are also becoming more popular. My favorite houseplant is a rabbit’s foot fern. I love how the fury rhizomes resembling a rabbit foot spill over the edge of the container.
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