4 minute read
Discover how to tap into your inner horticulturist
Good coverage from Rosa 'Maid of Kent' in CBG's Sears Swetland Rose Garden
Explore, Learn & Create
You can tap into your inner horticulturist by learning what’s going on inside your own yard.
Imagine, you’re in the garden — a smattering of deadheads to snip, a rake of weeds to hoe, an awkward patch to research something that might just thrive, a moment to lie back and dream of next year (isn’t it always last week or next week that friends should have seen the true bounty of your efforts?). When you’re doing this work do you ever think about what you might call yourself? Greenfingered, gardener, laborer, landscaper, eco-warrior, recycling queen, composter extraordinaire, farmer, no-dig convert…?
Ever considered horticulturist (or, up for discussion, horticulturalist?). Nowadays a much more commonly used title in the public gardening world (and the moniker of HF&G’s senior hands-on gardening staff) horticulturist is gaining ground as we seek to elevate the skills and knowledge required to create responsive, flexible and creative garden spaces.
I think I was a gardener from about 4 years old. The smell of creeping dead-nettle (Lamium) which carpeted the un-pointed crazy-paved back postage-stamp takes me right back. I think I became a horticulturist when I stared mesmerized at the flowery faces of sumptuous and simple blooms. The deep satisfaction of growing each one strong, upright, well fed, blooming marvelous. From seeing them off to new homes with a snippet of advice hanging in the air — ‘do chop off the first flowers!’ (lupin), ‘only cut back by a third in winter!’ (penstemon), ‘watch those brittle roots!’ (corydalis). Then I began to see that plants looked even better together: an orange bloom sets off purples, add in greys and maybe a splash of white variegation in a leaf and the party has started! Get to know your plant palette like your best friends — lovable characters who all have their flaws. Who easily gets in a bad mood but you love them anyway (Clematis), who likes to sleep around (Aquilegia), who is the fuddy-duddy sulking in the corner who just needs a stiff drink to get them dancing (I couldn’t possibly name names!). You know, just like a great dinner party — the right balance of strong opinion, the freethinker, the inevitably late arrival, the creative type, the stalwart who’ll stay and help tidy up. All these characters are required in the garden borders and bring the dimension of interactivity that makes every border unique.
HF&G’s horticulture teams also weave into their dreaming, assessment and design the story of Living Collections. Not simply enough to select from the long commercial nursery lists filled with eye-catching booty, but how to design and maintain gardens of which each and every one reflects the mission of this ‘‘living green museum’ botanical garden and arboretum — “…to connect people with trees and plants…”. The challenge is to strike beauty into the eye of the guest, to cause wonder, to define value… all done with plants.
It starts at soil level. Know your soil.
Soil is where it’s at. Did I mention soil??! Tomorrow, go out and dig a spit of soil in 4 different garden areas — what do you find? What might that tell you? Sand/clay, free draining/retentive, spongy or rock hard (that particular
Explore, Learn & Create
Snip the tip, lay down the growth, buds are stimulated, more flowers are produced
one indicates the level of nutrient rich and water absorbing organic matter)
Identify myriad microclimates within your garden space.
Where the sun sits in the day, the silvery full moon at night, who is in deep dark winter for longer then anyone else in the garden. Explore how weather patterns impact your microclimate — dig up the same spots after heavy rain and drying winds — how is the soil changed, what is going on with the soil?!
Manipulate your plants. Play with
them. Bend them. Train them. Chop of their heads occasionally. What’s the result? More flowers? Fewer pests? A longer season of color? Death? Humm, ok that sometimes happens but hopefully not too often. And not with that rare wild-collected Oak! The skill
Stefanie Verish prunes Rosa 'Maid of Kent' Fan-trained Cornus mas
of a horticulturist comes through intimate knowledge of a plant’s response to manipulation.
Our climate is changing and the question is, can plants adapt to
that change? As a practicing horticulturist I can speak to the adaptability of plants from a gardening perspective. Collected and moved all over the world, plants have lived, thrived (too well in some cases) and died because of the management of soil, light, water and fertilizer, but also because plant husbandry techniques manipulated the plant’s growing habit.
Plants are remarkably adaptable to this physical invasion of being pruned and trained, chopped and tipped. How could you treat your plants differently to gain even more flower, coverage, form, interest? Beauty. Wonder . Value. Just outside your door.
MEET THE STAFF
Caroline Tait isthe Vice President of Horticulture and Collections. Caroline began her career propagating perennials at Coton Manor Gardens in Northamptonshire, England, voted the UK’s favorite garden in 2019. Designing gardens for shows and clients took her all over the UK, until 2018 when she was selected from a global pool of candidates for the yearlong residential Fellows Leadership Program at Longwood Gardens in Philadelphia.
