Kids' Stuff: Storybook Playhouse

Maybe it's because I have kids, but I definitely think of my garden as playground central. Barbara Butler thinks that way too--you can tell by the elaborate play structures she creates. This one, for Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith's children, is called the Storybook Playhouse. It is elaborately hand-carved with a menagerie of delightful creatures that frolic and play on all four walls, and you can choose your own color palette and one of three sizes. On Barbara's web site you can also buy plans for garden play houses--but you need a carpenter or carpentry skills to build them.

Check It Out: Rites of Spring

The LongHouse Reserve in in East Hampton, NY, opened their Spring Season on Saturday, April 25th. Their Rites of Spring opening featured new sculptures by Magdalena Abakanowicz, Eric Fischl, Gonzalo Fonseca, George Rickey and Johnny Swing. There was also a site specific water sculpture by Mia Westerlund Roosen.

Among the new pieces is East Ender Eric Fischl’s Tumbling Woman, which was commissioned to commemorate those who lost their lives at the World Trade Center on 9/11. It was deemed controversial and withdrawn after being installed along a Rockefeller Center concourse. Visitors discovered four of Gonzalo Fonseca’s sculptures which are developed from marble, travertine, limestone and brownstone. LongHouse reinstalled Magdalena Abakanwicz’s two figures which once again graze Peter’s Pond. Celebrated kinetic sculpture and contemporary artist George Rickey’s sculptures enticed visitors to study the simplicity and scale of their moving parts. This season Johnny Swing’s most recent work (he has other pieces at LongHouse) Finally Mia Westerlund Roosen’s water feature of stucco and running water invited viewers to inside to sit and listen as water cascades through the sculpture from above.

Shown above: Newly installed sculpture by Magdalena Abakanowicz: Rabdomante (Black Standing Figure), 1998-1999

Check It Out: Balloon Flower Study

The Chicago Botanic Garden is releasing results of a long-term study of balloon flower, Platycodon grandiflorus, in its 32nd issue of Plant Evaluation Notes: “A Comparative Study of Platycodon grandiflorus Cultivars.” Between 2001 and 2005, the Chicago Botanic Garden evaluated Platycodon grandiflorus and 19 cultivars in full-sun trials. The goal of the comparative trial was to recommend exceptional balloon flowers for northern gardens. Twelve balloon flower cultivars received high ratings for their strong habits, generally upright stems and good floral displays.

Balloon flower is a bushy, clump-forming perennial, growing to 3 feet tall, but often troubled by floppy stems. Throughout July and August, the buds burst open to blue, pink or white starry flowers streaked with prominent veins. Bluish green leaves, generally oval with toothed margins, are arranged in whorls on the lower portion of the stems but positioned alternately at the tips. In autumn, leaf color changes to dark purple or a mix of light purple and yellow, depending on the cultivar.

Hardy balloon flowers grow best in well-drained soils in full sun to light shade and are long-lived under normal conditions. They have few pest problems, though deer enjoy the stems and flower buds, and staking may be required. Balloon flowers perpetuate themselves in the garden through self-seeding, which sometimes results in subtle new color forms.

In the border or cottage garden, balloon flowers are good companions to other summer-blooming perennials such as Shasta daisies (Leucanthemum sp.), yarrows (Achillea sp.), sages (Salvia sp.) and ornamental grasses. The dwarf cultivars are well suited to rock gardens and seasonal containers.

One drawback to balloon flowers is their often lax stems, which is particularly troublesome for taller plants. Shorter cultivars have been introduced to remedy this problem; however, some short cultivars in the trial grew larger than expected. A compactness of habit was especially notable on 'Astra Blue', 'Baby Blue', 'Misato Purple', 'Sentimental Blue', and 'Zwerg'. These robust cultivars remained mostly upright during the bloom period but occasionally had relaxed or floppy stems by September.

Among the taller balloon flowers that remained fairly upright during the bloom period were Platycodon grandiflorus, 'Blaue Glocke', 'Double Blue', 'Fuji Blue', 'Fuji Pink', 'Fuji White', 'Hakone Blue', 'Hakone White', 'Komachi' and 'Perlmutterschale'.

The Chicago Botanic Garden’s Plant Evaluation Notes provide the latest information on plants suited to the Midwestern climate and growing conditions. To download a PDF of Issue 32, “A Comparative Study of Platycodon grandiflorus Cultivars,” click here.

Photos by Carol Freeman.

In Progress: Naples Botanical Garden

Raymond Jungles, who has designed the Brazilian Garden at Naples Botanical Garden, just e-mailed these photos of the installation. More updates soon!

Check It Out: Green Expansion at Atlanta Botanical Garden

Just received a note from Danny Flanders at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. They have embarked on a "green expansion" that emphasizes sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. The project will be complete in 2010. During the first phase, trees removed as a result of construction were all recycled; and, by planting of hundreds of young trees throughout the garden, the tree canopy will be rejuvenated, becoming healthier than before.

Check It Out: Oh, Silvia!

Phil Maddux, landscape architect at Sanchez & Maddux, Inc. in Palm Beach, Florida, and his wife Silvia have a fantastically overgrown (in the best possible way) garden that they call "The Jungle". This note just came from Phil via e-mail:

"I have been collecting Sansevierias (snake plants) for years. Silvia has not appreciated that part of our collections at all...especially when I come home with another one. The article in Garden Design has given me new creditability at home in the jungle. Thank you."

Green Things: Eco-Friendly Garden at Maitland Art Center

Garden Design is partnering with Project EverGreen to install an eco-friendly landscape at the Maitland Art Center in Maitland, Florida. The goals of the project are to beautify this beloved promoter of the arts and to educate the public on the importance of gardens that have a minimal impact on the environment. Landscape architect Raymond Jungles of Miami, FL, is providing the design pro bono, and the installation will take place in 2009. Two of Jungle’s recent projects are the design for The Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden (shown, left) and the Cisneros residence rooftop garden, which will appear in our July/August 2009 issue.