Home HudsonValley MAY 8, 2014 • ULSTER PUBLISHING • WWW.HOMEHUDSONVALLEY.COM
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LEAVES C r e atin g a b eau tifu l space at h o m e
PHYLLIS McCABE
8, 2014 2 | May Home Hudson Valley
The porch life Bringing relaxation home Mike Townshend
A
ll my life, the one part of a house I’d gravitate to – the place in a home where I feel most at home – has always been the porch. It doesn’t matter if it’s a back deck, front porch, patio or a 14th-floor balcony – I’ll be there. Balconies happen to be my favorite. If I have a choice, the higher the better. They’ve always inspired deep, virtually meditative calm in me – no matter my mood. They’re often my gateway to nature. Whatever inspiration I take from viewing the leaves outside my door, in hearing them rustle, I take with me when I sojourn into the woods. Weather is meaningless to me out there. With my trusty giant mug of tea, pack of sunflower seeds and a good book, I sit and watch storms roll in or placid clouds float on by. I’m even out there in the wintertime. Part of that, I suspect, comes from growing up in Michigan and having seen Mackinac Island’s Grand Hotel at an impressionable age. The sprawling, Gilded-Age resort is nearly indescribable if you haven’t witnessed it yourself. Approximately every 15 minutes, some new blog, travel magazine or TV network names it on a Top Travel Destinations list. At 660 feet long, the Grand Hotel’s porch supposedly holds the world record for longest porch. Like it does for most every good Michigander, that porch has seeped into my psyche forever. Silently, almost always subconsciously, I make note of people’s deck decoration and builds. I judge homeowners a little if they have a screenedin porch – that’s cheating, on the order of “glamping� with an AC unit in your tent, in my mind. Either you’re exposed to the wind, or you’re not truly living the porch life. Back a few years ago, I rented a place at Town
PHOTOS BY DION OGUST
Interior of the Hoffman’s porch. & Country Condominiums in New Paltz. I loved the courtyard between the units, which was essentially a parade of back porches. Every condo had an identical porch or balcony facing each other on either end of the grass – roughly 40 in all if you totaled the two stories on our side and theirs. One of my neighbors kept what looked like a rain forest on her porch. Each morning when she went to water the plants you could barely see her through the fronds.
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May 8, 2014 Home Hudson Valley table for two. For the three or four people still earning money enough to smoke tobacco in New York, porches are a vital refuge and often the last acceptable place to light up a cigarette, cigar or pipe. When I began writing this article, I had a fiery sermon in mind about the do’s and don’ts of creating a relaxing porch or patio. It was filled with intractable commandments and pronouncements from on high. Then I started thinking about Town & Country. I started thinking about every deck or porch or patio I’d ever seen. My grandmother, who lived the posh part of my hometown, decked her porch out with hanging flower baskets and uncomfortable whitewashed iron chairs. That worked for her. My parents’ front porch is too small, and its wicker furniture annoys me. But their back deck I could sit on forever.
My aunt in suburban Detroit has a stone patio, not a backyard deck. It’s a mix of the masculine – a propane grill and black labs flitting back and forth – and the feminine – flowers clustered next to every footfall and a table set up for great conversation. In short, in thinking about it, what I remembered was that wild variability. A porch is a reflection of its owner’s personality. Telling someone how best to decorate their porch is akin to dictating what kind of tattoo they should get. It’s about as out-of-line as telling someone what clothes to wear. If you want to sport the punk rock vest and liberty-spike Mo-
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hawk, who am I to judge? If you want to dress like a Boston prep school Kennedy, should I mind? In sitting down to write, I’ve discovered my own bias, too. In my dreams, the “party-sized” upstairs balcony of my house heads outward to a bridge – a boardwalk at the level of the treetops heading off into the undiscovered forest below. Had I the money, time and resources, that is what I would build. I think these are some general tips that can help anyone think through what they want out of their porch, deck or patio. Find what’s relaxing for you
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8, 2014 4 | May Home Hudson Valley
PHOTOS BY DION OGUST
Left, Joanne and Jeff Leffeld; right, Alice and Richard Hoffman.
The Hoffman’s porch, exterior.
Only you know what’s best to calm you down. Is it a comfy chair? Is a table that looks like it should be outside a small Parisian café on the Seine? Is it the biggest, manliest grill that money can buy – something to make Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor weep with joy? Is it sculpture or art? Do you hate bugs so badly that you actually need a screened-in, air-conditioned porch? Do you need to be up at the level of the treetops, or do
heights scare you? Find what works for you and run with it. Plan ahead for guests Presumably, unless you’re a loner, you’ll want guests on that porch with you. Think about what they’d want or need. Don’t just buy furniture for looks, or you could end up accidentally purchasing a guest torture de-
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vice. Make sure to test-drive the chairs you buy by actually sitting in them for a few minutes. Lean back, close your eyes, and let the physical sensation of that furniture sink in. Are the chairs comfortable enough to eat a meal in? If you were staying at a friend’s house, would that furniture feel inviting to you? Bare Furniture over in Accord has some options for people creating a true outdoor setup. But if you
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Some people might want to highlight a sculpture or art collection, drawing attention to that investment with dramatic lighting. People like Alice and Richard Hoffman wanted to use LED lights to create a mood and a space for conversation in their home, he said. “What does the homeowner want to achieve? Do they want the effect of soft candlelight on every square inch of the floor? Do they want to have any drama – that is do they want to have high contrast? Do they want any tucked in a cove or along the ceiling?” Leffeld said. All of those considerations matter. But the ener-
are one of those screened-in porch folks, North Park Woodcraft in Hyde Park has some cool stuff, too.
gy-efficient bulbs are also astoundingly so. Leffeld noted that they have some lights that clock in at one watt. They typical incandescent light bulb is a 60-watt. An LED rig to rival that usage would have to include 59 other lights, he said. LEDspin is also working on some cool projects like lights at the resurrected Phoenicia Library. Leffeld said they’re happy to talk to homeowners for projects like the Hoffman’s porch, but they’re so busy that they might not be able to take on everyone’s requests. Learn more about them at http://www.ledspin.com/.
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Grill for thrills I’ve yet to meet a true blooded American who doesn’t want to own a grill. Vegans, vegetarians and omnivores alike gather around the ancestral cooking fire with glee. The great debate over charcoal versus gas grill is probably not one I can solve for you. However, there are a few things to consider. Charcoal can add a lot of flavor otherwise missing from propane heated grills. As someone who grew up with charcoal, the first burgers I ever ate off a gas rig felt surprisingly lifeless and devoid of taste. But grilling food over combustibles also creates some issues, too. A segment of the population, those with wood allergies, has problems with cedar-smoked foods or charcoal-grilled foods. Gas is the surefire way around that.
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Lighting: The hidden element One of the biases I uncovered writing this piece is that for however little thought I give to home design aesthetics, I pay lighting about 12 times less thought. Part of that is my being only 31. I’m living in the mindset of a post-college renter – still ready to box everything up and move from year to year. Mood lighting on my dream porch is a low priority for me. A conversation with Jeff Leffeld, with LEDspin, changed that. Leffeld’s firm has created lighting displays for museums and storefronts. They’re behind the LED lighting rigs shining down on the U.S. Constitution, but they also do work installing the super-energy-efficient lights in homes. Leffeld bubbles up when he talks about LED lights, and his professionalism, enthusiasm and evangelism for the technology is apparent. For installs, they first measure reflectivity of paints and other surfaces the lights will hit. They do the math and build a picture. They custom build the light rigs to do very specific jobs.
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8, 2014 6 | May Home Hudson Valley
PHOTOS BY AL ALEXSA
A butterfly lands on a backyard flower. Gardening to attract butterflies, bees, hummingbirds and other beneficial animals is counter-intuitive, experts say.
Birds and bees How to plant to attract pleasing, beneficial critters Lynn Woods
S
pring is finally here, in all its glory. Not to be forgotten are the modest wildflowers on the lawns, tiny white and purple violets and quarter-sized dandelions. They’re a boon to the queen bumblebees that have emerged from hibernation and have now begun establishing their nests, furnished with honey and pollen. They’ll lay their first eggs on the pollen, which will hatch into drones; the drones will forage as the queen lays more eggs. To give the bees and the butterflies a boost, it’s best not to mow your lawn until the wildflowers are done blooming. Maintaining your garden without impacting wildlife is a constant challenge, notes Saugertiesbased naturalist Steve Chorvas. He calls it “avoiding conflict” and explains: “If I have weeds in the grass, they’ll attract butterflies, and if I’m cutting the grass every week, I’m running them over.” Solution: “Don’t allow weeds to grow in your lawn.” Cleaning out the rotten logs and other debris in your yard is also detrimental, since many
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An Eastern tiger swallowtail rests on a flower to drink nectar.
butterfly caterpillars and pupate overwinter in such litter. When it comes to attracting butterflies and birds, one has to adapt a mindset that goes against our cultural instincts. The weedier your yard, the better it is for the environment. “You can have a really nice beautiful garden full of plants that are of limited value to birds and butterflies,” says Chorvas. “If you want a butterfly garden, it will be weedy. Ornamental grasses are nice to look at, but they don’t produce seeds.” Many hybrid flowers have been bred to the point
they no longer attract butterflies or other insects. In fact, some of the showiest flowers, such as roses and peonies, with their decorative double petals, have been bred to the point that it they are no longer recognizable to pollinating insects as a flower, and the insects avoid them.
I
n contrast, wildflowers “still function the way plants have evolved over millions of years with respect to insects,” said Frances Groeters, owner of Catskill Native Nursery. “Some of the plants that support wildlife are normally
May 8, 2014 Home Hudson Valley if people plant it, the butterfly might not show up, given that there’s plenty of milkweed growing along our local roadsides, but still no butterflies. According to Groeters, a dramatic shrinkage of overwintering sites in Mexico accounts for the crisis. Another impact on the butterfly is the use of genetically engineered crops in the Midwest. Because the crops can withstand herbicides, the farmers are nuking their fields with the chemical, which is killing all the weeds, including the milkweeds. “Before, they would never spread the herbicide so prolifically,” he said. “The collateral damage is all those milkweed plants, which use to line the fields in the Midwest. The butterflies don’t have as much to eat.”
for the swampweed milkweed, which he’s planted in his raised beds – and it survived the winter. Not as hardy, but the number-one plant when it comes to attracting butterflies is the butterfly bush. Chorvas says it will draw the greatest variety of butterflies, including monarchs. It’s actually not a native; in Europe, it’s an invasive species, and the weedy bush was the first plant to spring up in London bomb craters during World War II. But Chorvas said the plant isn’t an invasive here – in fact, some breeders have bred plants that don’t produce seeds – and its peppery-smelling blooms are known for producing very sweet nectar, “which is often referred to as ‘candy’ for butterflies,” Chorvas says. The bush needs a bit of space and a sunny location. Some common invasive weeds have become popular butterfly foods. One of Chorvas’ favorite butterflies, the Baltimore checkerspot, was in steep decline because its host plant was overbrowsed by deer. But the insect is now on the increase since it switched to English plantain. Stinging nettle is another example of a nuisance weed that has become a food plant for several species of butterflies. Similarly, cabbage whites, perhaps our most prolific butterfly, use garlic mustard as a host plant, an invasive weed that is actually toxic to another species of butterfly, the West Virginia white. The West Virginia white is fooled into thinking the plant is the native toothwort, which it re-
Staghorn sumac in particular … is an important food source for bluebirds, woodpeckers, robins and other birds.
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thought of as nuisance weeds. Sumac, for example, with its spindly candelabra of branches is a common sight along the edges of abandoned lots, and it’s usually avoided by gardeners.” But only one species is toxic, and the staghorn sumac in particular, which keeps its thick cluster of maroon seeds throughout the winter, is an important food source for bluebirds, woodpeckers, robins and other birds. (Groeter noted that the plant “does pop up everywhere” and so is best planted on the edge of your garden.) Catskill Native Nursery is ordering the silky willow, a plant that has no ornamental value – unlike its relative the pussy willow – because it attracts a tiny butterfly called the Acadian hairstreak; it also helps stabilize streambeds and retain moisture in rain gardens, said Groeters. The nursery tries to offer customers the best of both worlds, by selling both “a somewhat limited subset of native plants” with ornamentals. “There are tons of native plants we don’t even try to sell because they’re not ornamental,” he said. “We’re trying to meet that demand for both ornamental and ecological value.” Groeters noted that the hottest wild plant right now is common milkweed, the host food of the caterpillar of the monarch; the plight of the monarch, whose population is crashing, accounts for the milkweed’s popularity. The problem is, even
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f you nonetheless hope to attract monarchs to your garden, he recommends planting the swampweed milkweed species rather than the common milkweed, which spreads uncontrollably. The swampweed species “is easy to grow in an average perennial bed.” Chorvas also vouches
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8, 2014 8 | May Home Hudson Valley sembles, and lays its eggs on the leaves; when the hatched caterpillars begin to feed, they die. Groeters notes that some invasive plants do more harm than good. One plant you should never plant in your garden is Japanese barberry. Even if you can control its growth in your yard, the birds eat the seeds and poop them out in the forest, where the barberry, which is resistant to deer, is growing uncontrollably, pushing out native plants. Groeters says that goldenrod is one of the best sources of nectar for butterflies in the late summer and fall, as are asters; goldenrod tends to take over, but it can be cut back and controlled. Other native plants that attract butterflies are spicebush, the spindly bush with the teeny, fragrant yellow flowers that proliferate in our woodlands and right now are filling them with a golden glow (it’s a host plant for the spicebush swallowtail); the aforementioned violets, which are a host plant for frittaries; red cedar, an evergreen that also provides shelter
The hottest wild plant right now is common milkweed, which is the host food of the caterpillar of the monarch.
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to birds, which both nest and roost in its thick foliage; northern prickly ash; and button bush, which grows in swampy ground and is the host plant for the spring azure, a tiny blue butterfly that appears in early spring. Zinnias are an example of a colorful annual that attracts butterflies galore.
F
or a hedgerow that attracts wildlife throughout the year, providing a bonanza of flowers, berries and nuts or other fruit and
plenty of shelter, plant chokeberry, serviceberry, a pine or spruce, bayberry, red cedar and dogwood, recommends Groeters. Unfortunately, the native species of dogwood is susceptible to a fungus, particularly when grown in shade, so he advises planting the hybrids. The lack of seeds from the flowering dogwood hybrid means it won’t attract cedar waxwings or robins in the fall; however, the flowers are an abundant source of nectar. Even with native plants, for some species to produce seeds you may have to
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May 8, 2014 Home Hudson Valley plant both male and female plants. An example is the spicebush. I planted two spicebushes in my yard several years ago, and while I enjoy them, have yet to spot a spicebush swallowtail caterpillar on the leaves. How much do you need to plant to attract these beneficial critters to your yard? “When I travel along the coastal plain, there’s been so much development there’s little for the animals to feed on. The more you plant the better,” Groeters says. But that doesn’t mean just planting one plant won’t make a difference, particularly in an area where food is scarce. Groeters recalls he and his wife, Diane, co-owner of the business, were once in Ellenville doing the farmers’ market. They spotted a monarch on the single blazing star plant they’d brought. “It came flitting and started feeding in the middle of all this concrete.” Chorvas says he’s noticed something strange: butterflies cluster around the smallest plants. A tiny clover on the lawn is more apt to attract the insect than a big, weedy bush. He speculates it’s because those plants growing closest to the ground provide more protection, since they would be covered with snow and less likely to be browsed by deer. By actually limiting the amount of host or nectar plants you plant in your garden, you concentrate the butterflies and hence are more likely to see them, he said. Chorvas also recommended planting grasses that go to seed, which attract sparrows and other ground-inhabiting birds. Purple coneflower is excellent for attracting gold finches, as are sunflowers; “if you leave the heads on, they’ll disappear pretty quickly.” By not deadheading the flowers in your garden after they bloom, you do the birds a service, providing more seeds. Particularly when it’s hot and dry, providing water in a birdbath or other shallow container helps out the critters. Butterflies also need to “puddle” – soak up nutriments – and keeping a portion of your yard wet and muddy, if practical, enables them to do this. If a butterfly lands on your arm on a hot sunny day, it is doing so to get the salt from your sweat, Chorvas says.
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peeling whitish bark.” Groeters says that replacing our neat lawns with a variety of native plants and keeping our gardens a bit disheveled is not necessarily an easy sell. “Guys especially like their lawns,” he says. “Men like having this thing they can get out with their power equipment and dominate. Plus, if you plant a wild garden, the neighbors go crazy, because they think there’s snakes in there. There’s always some backlash.” Even if you replace that rectangle of green with flowerbeds and shrubs, “there’s always maintenance. Plants occasionally don’t survive, and some are more aggressive than you think. It’s what gardening is all about. It’s constantly changing and evolving.”
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Purely ornamental Exploring the strange world of lawn sculpture Jennifer Brizzi
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hether you have just a spot of yard or balcony, or if you own acres to fill – and from pennies to thousands to spend – there exists the perfect lawn ornament for you. When it comes to beautifying outside your house, there is a multitude of decorations – from the kitschy and common to high art, and much in between. Enhance your outdoor experience and express your unique inclinations. You can get everything from a dainty bronze mermaid sitting at your koi pond to a zombie emerging from the earth between your pumpkins. Since the gardens of ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt, we’ve been doing lawn ornaments. Through the years since we’ve been decorating our garden paths with expressions of ourselves and our tastes. Consider an immortal sculpted cat or dog that never has to be fed, walked or cleaned up after. Perhaps you’d prefer a fawn or fox, still wild but forever tamed. Express your aptitude for self-reflection with a gazing ball as bright and shiny as a giant Christmas ornament, your religious beliefs with a concrete painted saint in a grotto of ceramic or a half-buried bathtub, or defense of your kingdom or queendom with a fierce pair of lions,
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your love of the hunt. A peaceful Buddha will enhance the calm and peace your garden evokes. A jockey might show the world your nostalgia for the pre-civil-rights era, a Luke or Yoda your Star Wars obsession, a pink flamingo or gnome your traditionalist nature. Lawn sculptures are a beautiful – or not so – way to remind yourself and the world just who you are. I’ve only ever had a small green man and a gargoyle – oh, and a tattered plaster Shiva and Par-
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for this article has a seven-foot Statue of Liberty for $2,850, copper and brass insects from ants to dragonflies, and many, many saints. A neighbor of mine has a yard full of a big fat verdigris frog, stone child on a bench with a puppy, a rooster, a bear, a lighthouse, a saint and much more. Phantom Gardener in Rhinebeck has a carefully chosen and lovely little selection of realistic cats and buddhas and more. Materials for yard art can be wood, steel, iron, aluminum, resin or polyresin, stone and volcanic ash. Online you can find lizards, dragons, dinosaurs, fairies, elves, pixies, mermaids, Venus, David, Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, cherubs, cranes, gorillas, crocodiles, zombies, hybrid gnome/zombies or gnome/buddhas. The gnome is one of our most iconic garden creatures, dating back to mid-19th century Germany. It was even banned for a while in British garden shows for being too common. But it also has lasting appeal, and many variations. The classic garden gnome is now made famous by the movie Amelie and travelocity.com, and you’ll find one of the world’s biggest – Gnome Chomsky – welcoming visitors to Kelder’s Farm in Kerhonkson. If your taste runs more to fine art than cliché, consider true art for your property. There are stunning and huge modernist sculptures – from the stone of Isamu Noguchi to the carefully balanced large-scale abstract steel works of Chuck Ginnever. At Storm King Art Center in Mountainville you can get inspiration on 500 acres of sculpture gallery with 100 magnificent pieces like Zhang Huan’s giant three-legged Buddha. And if Storm King fails to inspire, you can always settle for a pair of pink flamingos.
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The gnome is one of our most iconic garden creatures, dating back to mid-19th century Germany. It was even banned for a while in British garden shows for being too common. vati I found on the streets of Brooklyn. But if I had acres and mounds of cash, I’d own marble Greek gods, Italian nudes and bronze children reading books. I’d have dragons and mermaids, huge metal Chuck Ginnever sculptures and lots of beatific buddhas like at Medusa Antiques in New Paltz. There Salvatore Rondinelli has been sourcing shivas and buddhas and more, from the Far East and Southern Europe, for 20 years. “All the material is hand-carved,” he said. “Nothing was made in a mold. So they all have souls in them …. Every one has a different feel to it.” A native of Calabria in southern Italy, Rondinelli says he travels extensively to find offerings of angels, medusas and Indian deities, including ancient bronzes and pieces more recently carved from stones that include granite, marble, bluestone and limestone. He offers many styles and moods of buddhas, from the blissfully happy to the simply serene. From southern Europe come the Greek-style sculptures, he said, like busts and heads of Athena. The simple Japanese pagoda/ lantern is a popular icon evoking Asian serenity. The Buddha reigns. “Our most popular statues are the Asian ones, and a lot of our business is the buddhas,” said Rondinelli, “praying, teaching, reclining and meditating.”
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Find Medusa Antiques at 215 Main Street in New Paltz, 212-470-8887, or www.medusantiques.com. In my eye you can’t do better than that, but for other budgets and other tastes there is a lot out there to choose from. One Hudson Valley emporium whose proprietor chose not to be named SPECIALIZING IN HARDWOOD FLOORING WIDE PLANK, PREFINISHED SOLID AND ENGINEERED ANTIQUE / RECLAIMED FLOORING / ANTIQUE FURNITURE / CABINET STOCK RECLAIMED HAND HEWN BEAMS CARPET - VINYL - LAMINATE - CORK - BAMBOO MARMOLEUM - CERAMIC TILE - SPECIALTY FLOORING
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8, 2014 14 | May Home Hudson Valley
PHYLLIS McCABE
Honey bees gather on the comb at Hudson Valley Bee Supply, in Kingston.
What’s the buzz? Honey bees bring sweetness wherever they go Paul Smart
T
here’s something zen about bees, beekeeping and honey – or at least something calm and serene. Think of what’s involved in this increasingly popular local activity throughout our region. Working with these busy stinging insects that need to scoop up the pollen from a couple of million flowers to create a single pound of sweetness is somehow more calming than consuming processed sugar and almost anything this side of maple syrup. The associated toil involves slipping on a uniform, and attitude, that thrives on calm and gentility – along with smoke to aid the overall effect. There’s something in this bee-and-honey thing that’s about quieting and slowing down. Then there are the subtleties involved. Timing
is key. You don’t want to spend too much time disturbing your hives, checking to see that the bees are doing what they’re supposed to be doing, whether it’s hibernating during the cooler months or building up honeycomb and lovely honey during the summer into the fall. Collecting what the bees themselves don’t need for that hibernating process inevitably comes in autumn. The differentiations honey connoisseurs can taste among the types of honeys they aim to make, be it blueberry or apple blossom, clover or honeysuckle – and many, many more elements. Admittedly, there are some not-so-chill aspects to the whole process: the presence of regurgitation methodologies and enzymatic toxins, the bits of honey and comb that show up in raw honeys, the sort of folks who use the stuff for anti-allergy and other holistic medicinal purposes prize, and of course those stings. Honey’s use is an ancient thing stretching back
It is nice taking a spoonful each day, whether it beats the Claritin or not.
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to the time of man’s first drawings deep in dark European caves, its first great civilizations – be it in Egypt, Asia or the Middle East. And honey tastes yummy. Is what we hear about those anti-allergy properties true? That’s debatable, even amongst our own local beekeepers. Those on the pro side talk of pollens that work their way into all honey, left extant in its raw forms available from local beekeepers and an increasing number of choice honey-oriented establishments around the region. They say one takes in enough of such pollens to allow one’s system to build up resistance. Yet those who call such notions nothing but old wives’ tales note how most allergies are from wind-born pollens, and not the type bees harvest. Whatever.
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AL ALEXSA
Left, Jorik Phillips, co-owner of Hudson Valley Bee Supply, in Kingston; right, honey bees gather at the opening of a hive in New Paltz.
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or me and my crowd, having some form of truly local honey is a blessing, and a means of lessening the negative effects of this time of year. It’s a seasonal thing. One can’t get closer to nature than the culture of honey. Similarly, sitting in a friend’s maple house by a smoky fire that seems to draw winter to its close makes the last weeks of the chill that much more bearable. Our British friend Gary makes fantastic honey with his kids. It’s become a living and bonding tool for his family, as well as all who know them. My brother-inlaw Douglas’ honey was equally fantastic, although he never resumed his hives after being hit by the recent bee collapses (and a busy new teaching job). Over the years, I’ve always found someone within a mile or five, at most, to buy honey from on a regular basis. It is nice taking a spoonful each day, whether it beats the Claritin or not. It makes me and all who share our meals feel tied to where we live, and who we are. It provides that continuum of experience stretching back to this area’s earlier years, and our civilization’s roots. Almost everyone we know in the Hudson Valley these days feel that way, whether or not they have the time to grow their old gardens and keep their own chickens.
stands carry the stuff, as local as possible. Bumble & Hive in Rhinebeck (find them at 8762625 or www.bumble-hive.com) carries beekeeper supplies and even bees, as well as over three dozen varieties of raw and local honeys, most with tastings allowed before purchase. Some great honey locations around include Traphagen’s Honey up in Hunter (518-263-4150), which has been around forever, and Heather Ridge Farm, whose Bees’ Knee’s Café is one of the region’s great foodie destinations (find them at 518-239-6234 or www.heather-ridge-farm. com). In a league all its own is Widmark Farms in Gardiner (at 2556400 or www.widmarkfarms. com), which once upon a time featured the entertainment of real bears clambering over to the hives. It also has an offshoot, Honeybrook Farms outside of Pine Bush (7442677 and www.honeybrook-farms.com). All are likely to provide that hyper-local pure effect of bees’ products, which are at least as tasty as the many fine honeys available through travel or international shopping. For the real close-tohome honey, we suggest trying those who help organize, back up and supply local beekeepers. Maybe you should even don one of those
For me and my crowd, having some form of truly local honey is a blessing.
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or the best local honeys in your neighborhoods, closest to home, ask around. In Woodstock, New Paltz, Dutchess County and even in our small cities there are old-timers and newcomers who put out the occasional sign for their honey and other wares. Many local farm
hazmat-like beekeeper outfits and begin a closer relationship with those stinging critters with a sweet side. Among my favorite resources are Megan Denver at Hudson Valley Bee Supply on Sawkill Road in Kingston (336-6233 or www.hudsonvalleybeesupply.com); Chris Harp’s Honey Bee Lives in New Paltz (www.honeybeelives.org), or Cornell Cooperative Exchange anywhere (www.cce.cornell.edu/).
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8, 2014 16 | May Home Hudson Valley
A secret history of lawns Grass’s lure as status symbol keeps us mowing, growing Paul Smart
Y
es, I admit that there’s a joy in mowing lawns. It’s part nostalgia and part a summoning of my inner amateur landscape architect. Mowing provides me the ability to craft order, and patterns, out of mere property. Unmitigated happiness isn’t my first reaction when the grass starts getting tall this time of year. When you weigh the upcoming mowing season against a host of choices, both practical and ethical, it gets complicated. How do you keep lawn care environmental and green without breaking your back? How do lawn tractors compare to old-style gas mowers, self-propelled variations, electric mowers (both plugged-in and battery-powered) and the classic old whirring scythes? Have those hand-pushed, non-motorized torture machines some still remember with loathing from their youth gotten much better? Are we now treating lawn chores as welcome workouts? Does it make sense to think in terms of sheep, flower beds, foreign-looking round pebble paths and wabi-sabi design elements? Most importantly, it may be time to consider when the act of mowing one’s lawn gets trans-
Pasture lands kept without benefit of pasturing animals was a sign of great wealth. It often meant someone had been ordered to cut grasses with scissors or scythes. mogrified into the problem itself. To consider that grave question, we need to know why we go to all this trouble in the first place, culturally. What does it do for us, health-wise and in terms of the soul? It turns out that lawns, like wedding rings, are a tradition we cling to – although few realize why. My history of lawns Back in the 14th century, the word “lawn” stemmed from the Middle English and AngloFrench word “launde.” It referred exclusively to an open, grassy space breaking up a wooded area – essentially what we would now call a glade, according to the dictionary writers at MerriamWebster. How did nature exit our understanding of lawns? When did they become the culturally required grassy patches surrounding every home on our block? ‘The term lawn, referring to a managed grass space, dates to no earlier than the 16th century,’ reads the current definition of the term from Wikipedia. “Tied to suburban expansion and the creation of the household aesthetic, the lawn is an important aspect of the interaction between the natural environment and the constructed urban and suburban space.” To whir over its history with a random scything,
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the lawn dates back to the rise of the bourgeoisie and the realization that rising classes could war against entitled classes. According to my Upstairs Downstairs version of history, pasture lands kept without benefit of pasturing animals was a sign of great wealth. It often meant someone had been ordered to cut grasses with scissors or scythes. Occasionally, a quasi-Democratic Roundhead or Puritan village was built around a commons or “green.” That inevitably meant someone was working to maintain useless land, not given to agricultural pursuits, and thus aiming to imitate in miniature those with real leisure time on their hands. The great estates that boasted lawns – first in England and later surrounding French chateaus – saw them as places where gentlemen and ladies could walk and converse in comfort. Often they were planted with aromatic elements, from chamomile to thyme, to lend direction to the sweetness of the topics one entertained while enjoying a lawn. Some enterprising early “landscape architects,” including the wonderfully named Capability Brown, transformed the concept of the lordly estate into the form of urban gardens, or places the wealthier estate-less could think kindred elevated thoughts as the upper crusts. Then an enterprising engineer named Edwin Beard Budding invented a push mower, a cylinder reel machine not very different from today’s nonmotorized jobs. That was 1830. Within a decade,
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the machines were whirring around the verdant lawns of London, the campuses at Oxford and Cambridge universities, and the lordly cathedrals of the land. Ironically, sports fans probably owe Budding a great debt of gratitude. His push mowers allowed for a resurgence of several ancient games, from soccer and lawn bowling to grass-court tennis and cricket (eventually morphing into the likes of football and baseball, hockey and lacrosse). Previously, those had been relegated to hand-cut laws. Much has been written about the role played by lawns, and more importantly the lawn mower, in the rise of suburbs, both in England and right here in America. They were used as a lure, advertising a park-like look for these in small cities on the edge of urban enclaves. They implied upper-class lifestyles – no matter the commuting times or lack of indigenous culture in a new Tuxedo Park or Forest Hills. Mowing technologies Eventually, a combination of cheaper motorized push mowers utilizing single fast-whirring blades took center stage. They replaced the huge horse-drawn or self-powered lawn machines, or non-motorized small-yard maintenance anachronisms. With the institutionalization of the 40-hour work week during in the late 1930s, increased leisure time allowed Americans to apply their industry to community cleanliness. Lawns and lawnmowers
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May 8, 2014 Home Hudson Valley became almost synonymous with manly patriotism. Today the choices available to homeowners – from retro non-power machines to robot mowers – have become endless. Lawns are status symbols needing protection. We engage in earnest discussions of possible threats to the lawn being dispatched with generous applications of powerful fertilizers and weed-killing chemicals. Where do we stand now with our lawns? Allow me yet another personal digression. I used to live in the forest – first in Alaska and then near Phoenicia, and later between Saugerties and Catskill. To bring order to my unruly property, I employed cheap single-handed scythes, lots of planted hostas and ferns, an odd hand-powered mower or three picked up from the dump, and eventually a weed-whacker. When we finally bought a small-town house, I remembered the responsibilities I had been taught in my “Leave It to Beaver” and “The Brady Bunch” childhood. Needing to meld in with our neighborhood, I set out to buy my own mower. I never liked the mess of mixing oil into fivegallon cans of gasoline, or the smell left in the car after carrying such things back and forth from the gas station. Even worse, I hated the repeated trips I’d have to make each year to the mower-repair dudes for machine maintenance. Combining sheer laziness with a generic wish to cut down on my carbon profile, I looked into alternatives. We have a big lawn out back, almost a field. I didn’t feel like handling all this with a non-motorized mower, even though they cut well and are now almost as easy to push as a traditional mower. Their swath is narrower and, to put it bluntly, I couldn’t find one on sale at the chain stores I went to. I didn’t feel like waiting another day to drive elsewhere to buy one, or order one online. So I figured to go with electric, even though that meant I’d still be plugged in and using power. Which kind – battery or plug-in? My wife and I discussed the merits of batteries, and considered added the added expenses for such machines, much as we had when buying a car. With our car, we went with the greatest, cheapest we could get on gas mileage alone. As for the mower, we went
with a long extension cord and left our lower lawn to return to field for now. Keeping up with the sheep We continue to talk about the value of lawns. Though my wife and her group of fellow lady gardeners talk a lot about sheep and gardens I don’t feel like maintaining a herd of animals in addition to our son. I’ve taken to occasionally muttering about village laws regarding such things. I’ve yet to formally research such matters. Having dug our ever-larger garden each year, I also now realize the work involved. Besides, our gardens tend to get out of control each year, given our hectic work and life schedules. There’s still something to keeping up with the Joneses, mowing alongside everyone else ion my block as best I can. It’s a bit of a man thing, even when the other dudes look askance at my long orange plug. I admit to having sliced through a good share of cords at first. Yet eventually I got the hang of things. How has the electric mower worked out? It’s quiet and the machine never needs maintenance. Although it did simply not start once, at which point I took it to the dealer, who called corporate
It turns out that lawns, like wedding rings, are a tradition we cling to – although few realize why.
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headquarters. Lo and behold, they simply gave me a whole new machine. I am now the epitome of a loyal customer. I wish I could throw aside the bourgeois ties my lawn engenders. Eventually, after a few decades, I suspect society will do the same. Younger generations are moving from the suburbs into more urban village-like settings. My own son embodies progressive attitudes in rersisting any chore, be it lawn-mowing or simply setting the table. I’m enthused by the work Cornell Cooperative Extension is doing on new ground covers that can do what a lawn does and keep the ticks at bay, at least somewhat. I applaud the community openspace initiatives that allow all of us spaces outside our own homes for lawn games and other enjoyments. Having just made it back from that feared first mowing, I am forced to admit I still enjoy that patterned grass around my house. I also have a bit of pride at being tied to a different drummer, somewhat more responsibly green than the rest; an orange cord obediently trails me wherever I mow. Maybe I will go all the way back to the non-motorized age, perhaps eventually even to sheep. But it won’t be this summer.
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8, 2014 18 | May Home Hudson Valley
Inspired backyard Tips from Innisfree Garden Sharyn Flanagan
I
nnisfree Garden in Millbrook is a serene oasis of lush greenery and rugged topography on 185 acres, with a sparkling lake at its center. Originally a private garden, Innisfree has been open to the public since 1960. Visitors come from all over the world to experience the tranquility found in this Asian-inspired harmony of cultivated and natural beauty. But as relaxing as it is to have this magnificent place in the Hudson Valley in which to unwind and relax, is there a way to bring the essence of what we experience there home to our own gardens? Recently we spoke with Innisfree’s landscape curator Kate Kerin, who has some wonderful ideas for doing just that. Create vignettes, or ‘cup gardens’ Innisfree Garden was the inspiration of artist Walter Beck and his wife Marion, who collaborated on its creation with landscape architect Lester Collins. As Kerin points out, the Becks weren’t seeking to copy a Chinese garden so much as they were going for the essence of one. The Becks originally built an English-style terraced garden around what was their home, she explains. On a study tour through Europe in the early 1930s, the couple encountered scroll paintings at the British Museum by eighth-century Chinese poet and painter Wang Wei. Studying the paintings, Walter discovered the concept of what he came to call “cup gardens.” Unlike a Western garden, where the entirety of the space is treated as a whole, a Chinese garden is more like a stage set, with carefully composed vignettes. Small moments of selfcontained beauty are set into landscape in which one can wander and discover continuously rather than come across all at once. That concept – compositions within the larger space providing those beautiful moments of discovery – became the primary design principle at Innisfree Garden, said Kerin. And it is one that
The judicious contrast, of one type of form set against another, make both more interesting.
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A view of the rocky plaza overlooking lilypads in the pond at Innisfree Garden in Millbrook. anybody can apply to a home garden on any scale. The technique allows flexibility in dealing with the changes that happen over time in every garden. “If your whole site is knit together with allées of trees and something happens to one of those beautiful maples, or if a tree falls on your rows of clipped hedges and flattens half of them, the whole thing doesn’t work any more,” Kerin said. “But if you have a more organic or asymmetric understanding of balance, something that you can draw from Modernism or Chinese or Japanese design principles, then the whole is a little more fluid.”
Compositions can be altered to reflect nature’s changing reality. It’s not unlike what happens with floral arrangements, she added, where as the blooms die off you remove them and tweak the arrangement a bit so that it looks good for several more days. “If you just think about balancing the composition, then when a tree grows significantly or comes down in a storm, another tree or shrub or a rock can be added or subtracted to rebalance the composition,” Kerin explained. The power of green
Farmers’ Markets Beacon Farmers’ Market. Sundays, all year. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Located at the Beacon Ferry dock, near the train station. Search for them on Facebook or get info at www.beaconfarmersmarket.org. Ellenville Farmers’ Market. Sundays, June through October. Goes 10 a.m. till 2 p.m. At corner of Market and Center streets. Look for them on Facebook. Gardiner Green Market. Fridays and Saturdays, depending. Runs 4 p.m. till dusk in the Gardiner Library parking lot on Farmer’s Turnkpike. Search for them on Facebook for timely updates and the latest news. Heart of the Hudson Valley. Saturdays. June through October. 1801-1805 Route 9W at Cluett Schantz Park, in Milton. Look the event up on Facebook or learn more at www.hhvfarmersmarket.com. Highland Farmers’ Market. Wednesdays, June till October. At Route 9W and Haviland Road. Info: 845-691-2144 or www.townoflloyd. com. Hudson Valley Farmers’ Market. Saturdays. Runs 10 a.m. till 3 p.m. at Greig Farm, 23 Pitcher Lane, Red Hook. Learn more at www. greigfarm.com. quality produce. herbs. shrubs. trees. mulch. soil. garden plants.
New Paltz Farmers’ Market. Sundays. June 3 till Nov. 18. Runs 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. Located at 24 Main St., across from the bank. Info at www.newpaltzfarmersmarket.com. Rhinebeck Outdoor Farmers’ Market. Sundays. Mother’s Day through Thanksgiving. Runs 10 a.m. till 2 p.m. Located in the municipal parking lot at 61 East Market St., in the Village of Rhinebeck. Learn more at www.rhinebeckfarmersmarket.com. Rosendale Farmers’ Market. Sundays. June to October. Runs 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. Located in the Rosendale Community Center parking lot. 1055 Route 32, Rosendale. Learn more at www. rosendalefarmersmarket.com or search for them on Facebook. Saugerties Farmers’ Market. Saturdays. Opening day is May 24. Runs 10 a.m. till 2 p.m. 115 Main Street in Saugerties. Learn more at saugertiesfarmersmarket.com. Woodstock Farm Festival. Wednesdays, May 28 to October. Runs from 3:30 p.m. till dusk. Located at 6 Maple Lane, Woodstock – behind H. Houst & Son. Learn more at woodstockfarmfestival.com or email info@woodstockfarmfestival.com.
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PHYLLIS McCABE
Innisfree doesn’t rely on flowers for impact, said Kerin. People who visit looking for traditional gardens in bloom will find instead a rugged drama created with rocks, trees, swelling landforms and a range of both natural and created water features. And it’s all about the many shades of green. “One of the things that creates the sense of serenity at Innisfree is this predominantly green landscape,” she said. “Color is wonderful and uplifting, but if you’re looking to create a corner of your garden that feels peaceful like Innisfree try using mostly greens. If you want a place to relax and let the cares of the day slip away, create a verdant, leafy green bower in even a tiny corner of your garden or with a few pots in your house or on your deck.” Think about leaf textures and shades of green, she advised. “And think about what something will look like when it’s not in bloom. Use plants that have small or insignificant blossoms. A Japanese garden might have a stunning moment with cherry blossoms or azaleas, but for the most part, nothing is in bloom: it’s green.”
art: the judicious contrast, of one type of form set against another to make both more interesting. “Along one side of the lake is a grove of ancient and gnarled smoke trees that actually predates the creation of Innisfree as a private estate, much less a public garden,” the landscape curator said. “The branches are curling and ragged, very
That concept of standalone “cup gardens” – composed within the larger space and providing those beautiful moments of discovery – became the primary design principle used at Innisfree Garden.
Contrast Innisfree is a place “where untamed nature appears to meet a stylized version of itself,” said Kerin. One of the key design principles used to achieve this effect is the same as that found in fine
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gnarled and old-looking, and visitors love them. But Lester Collins planted a grove of very tightly columnar sugar maples next to the smoke trees, and they create these really vertical marks next to these sort of wild, crazy smoke bushes, and suddenly both look stronger and much more interesting – that sort of play between the two forms as a composition – it’s much better than one or the other on its own.”
Another example of utilizing the principle of contrast would be to pair something natural with something manmade, as with the pear trees at Innisfree that are clipped into dome shapes played off against a backdrop called Dumpling Knoll, a natural glacial landform. “There’s a dialogue between the natural and the manmade that strengthens both,” Kerin said. “This is a fun concept to play with, but just use a light hand, because it can get overdone quickly.” Embrace your site Innisfree is an example of what can happen when one embraces the site one has without trying to make it into something else. “In one area of Innisfree, at the base of the waterfall we call The Mist, we have a marvelous, almost tropical plant called petasites,” she said. “But it’s what’s known as a thug in the plant world, one that will take over given the right conditions.” Planting it below a waterfall, keeps the petasites wet on an otherwise dry slope, so the species doesn’t spread and take over. This concept can be applied in home gardens by understanding the inherent qualities of one’s landscape one has, Kerin said. “And be aware that your property might not be the same all over – Look at what’s happening in terms of different amounts of light, water, shade and exposure parts of it get. If you understand what’s going on, you can make smarter choices about plants that will and won’t work there.”
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