He had a couple of tips, like using lots of self-sown annuals to break up your plantings (they tend to sow themselves where they look good) and using photo editing software to pull the color out of your garden photos. With the color removed you can assess your texture to see what you're missing. Loree explored this idea a while back and the photos are gorgeous. You can see that I have way too much fine foliage. I need big leaves to break everything up.
The talk was mainly plant porn with jokes thrown in. These were my favorites.
Gunnera. It can really only be grown in the U.S. in Northern California and the Pacific NW. Dan said it makes gardeners elsewhere insanely jealous and gardening is all about making other people feel bad about things they can't grow.
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| Image source: Wikipedia |
Musa basjoo. Dan leaves his in the ground for the winter, mulching them well.
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Panicum 'Northwind'.
Darmera peltata, a shade-loving NW native that loves standing water but doesn't necessarily need it.
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Podophyllum pleianthum.
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| Image source: Dancing Oaks |
Chinese fairy bells (Disporum cantoniense), whose new foliage emerges purple.
Melianthus major 'Purple Haze'.
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| 'Purple Haze' Image Source: Far Out Flora |
Melianthus major 'Antonow's Blue'.
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| Image source: Dancing Oaks |
Yucca rostrata 'Sapphire Skies'. I'm getting this, I need this.
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Pittosporum tenuifolium 'County Park Dwarf', which my notes indicate Dan uses as a groundcover.
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Helwingia, a genus whose fruit fuses to the leaves. Super cool.
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Schefflera delavayi.
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I'm trying to figure out where I can fit a Gunnera right now because, come on, giant rhubarb! I need that.
No Tetrapanax?
ReplyDeleteYes, actually you need all of those plants!
Just be sure wherever you plant the Gunnera the ground stays wet or has an easy way for you to get water to it. All it takes is a sunny day in August and everyone of those big leaves is laying on the ground. They'll recover with water but never quite look the same (I speak from experience).
What, you're not going to tell us what the jokes were? I have none of those flamboyant foliage plants, except for 'Northwind'. I like grasses, but I think I am mostly a flowers person.
ReplyDeleteHow great to hear Dan Hinckley talk! I like that the topic was foliage. Gardeners (myself especially) need to be way more focused on how to design with shape and texture, and not so much with a brief bloom color.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love his take on gardening -- that it's all about making other gardeners jealous about what they can't grow. So true.
I LOVE 'Northwind'...absolutely fell in love with it a few years ago. I struggle to add plants with larger foliage in my garden. Either I find something about them I don't like...or the ones I do like, don't like my garden :-( I've found so many look fine until summers heat and dry winds hit, then it's "hello scorched leaves", I could water them constantly, and they still fry. If my Rodgersias crisp up again this summer, perhaps I'll replace them with Darmera.
ReplyDeleteYou will need to rename your blog if you plant a Gunnera: "Help! A Gunnera swallowed my house!"
ReplyDeleteThis is a nice follow up to Dan's talk. An inability to completely dim the lights took a toll on his slide show, so thanks for doing the homework to bring us these nice images. His style is so entertaining that he could almost get away with no pictures at all.
ReplyDeleteDamn, I knew I should have made it in Saturday for Dan and Sean reprised. Yes, you do need a Yucca Rostrata and a Gunnera. And several Meliathus major.
ReplyDeleteI have one Melianthus that I picked up at the Viscaya sale but I know that I need many more!
ReplyDeleteSeriously. I would sit and listen to him read from the phone book.
ReplyDeleteIt was such a great talk, though a lot of the plants he spoke of need a lot of water, which conflicts with the other talk I went to on low-water gardening. I'm torn!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you spoke up--I wanted to ask you about considerations in planting Gunnera. I'll have to think about how to get water to it if we go away for the weekend.
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