A glance at the display featured in the New York State Museum show in Albany

Here’s a shot of the display for the New York State Museum show in Albany. Well, after assessing available flowers at the market in winter we went with plan"B.” Changing  the color palette to a more analagous group I did my best to duplicate the style of last summer's poster child. All in all it came out OK. New York in Bloom was a "best ever "success with 15000 attendants in 3 days. The show featured some interesting interpretations of museum displays.  It was an exciting challenge duplicating an arrangement I made last July.  It was a challenging week at the market with many varieties not making it from Holland and boy do I appreciate how well we grow flowers here on the mountain. You can't buy delphiniums like that.    Next week…Philadelphia Flower Show

An Affair to Remember

February 24-26, 2012 marks the 21st annual "New York in Bloom" at the New York State Museum in Albany. Over 100 floral designers exhibit each year and I was asked to do the signature piece for the upcoming event in 2012. The call came last June and the poster photography actually occurred on July 21, 2011. I can remember the day vividly as the thermometer read 101 degrees. Not so easy on Delphiniums!  Through painstaking preparation and plenty of ice, I managed to cut the flowers and get them to Albany in fine fettle. The "masterpiece" towers over 4 feet and the giant fish bowl has 3 dozen pieces of fruit. It is a thrill to see the almost life size poster hanging in the museum.  I hope you can get to the show to see how well I can replicate it, this time dealing with temperatures some 80 degrees cooler than last.

Hanging Up The New Calendar

Happy New Year to all Mohonk gardening friends! I know you've all got your calendars out so let's firm up some dates, shall we.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18 at 2:00 p.m.    

Woody plant guru and author of the "bible of trees and shrubs,"  Michael Dirr will speak for the Berkshire Botanical Garden. Checkout  http://www.timberpress.com/author/39 for his bio or http://www.berkshirebotanical.org/education/ to get the skinny on his talk.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24 - SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26 

The 2012 edition of New York in Bloom at the State Museum in Albany. Yours truly is featured as the headline floral designer.  Here is the poster child for this event:

2012 New York in Bloom posterchild by yours truly

...and here is the web page http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/programs/nybloom/.  Please join us, it's a great cause.

SUNDAY, MARCH 4 - SUNDAY, MARCH 11
Philadelphia Flower Show presents its 2012 theme Hawaii, Islands of Aloha....  need a sneak peek http://www.theflowershow.com/home/index.html should do the trick. Once again I get to judge on Tuesday. Wish me luck.

FRIDAY, MARCH 23 - SUNDAY, MARCH 25
Longwood Gardens International Orchid Show, need I say more? Okay, I will...
http://www.longwoodgardens.org/InternationalOrchidShowandSale.html  
A must see!

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26 - FRIDAY, AUGUST 31 
77 years of Garden Holiday at Mohonk Mountain House features our "Out of Africa" themed show garden. Did I hear a roar?   

........thought I'd give you these entries. 

Happy Trails,

Gartenmeister

Now We Don Our Gay Apparel

The Mohonk Gardening/Greenhouse/Florist Team cannot be stopped.

Just like the "Energizer Bunny," we keep going and going...

Head Gardener Kim Fusaro high atop the Nature Tree

Last minute natural tinsel and garland are added to the Nature Tree.

Those starbursts are stems of Allium schubertii from the garden.

The Nature Tree in all its holiday splendor

Ta Da! Here's the finished product (just add squirrels).

Paperwhite Narcissus, up close and personal

Here's a glamour shot of winter paperwhites. I bet you can smell that pungent fragrance.

I tried my hand at a Christmas tablescape - high maintenance, but it stops traffic.



Holiday tablescape



Carol, once again, has blended old-world charm,

 fancy greens and the nostalgic aroma of orange and clove.

Eleganet mantle by Carol Cramer - faux pine and orange pomanders

No frankincense or myrrh here, but this glass spice trough literally fills

the air with the scent of star anise. Yum!



Glass trough with spices and pinecone rosettes



HAPPY HOLIDAYS

'Tis the Season to be Holly!

We still grow 'em the "old school" way! Single stem Poinsettias are allowed to produce one large head atop the stem. This is how you get the real Christmas star look.

'Freedom Red' Poinsettias don the Parlor

Got nothing to do with the bottom 10 feet of your Christmas tree? Why not make a 48 inch wreath and add noble and silver fir. 4 lbs. of canella berries and 20 yards of tartan plaid and you are GTG (good to go).

Handmade 48" Fir Wreath  in our Main Dining Room

Dress up your Amaryllis pots with scratch cones, canella, and birch bark. It helps to have these handy moss cache pots.

Amaryllis decked in natural holiday splendor

Moss, moss, and more moss sets off these paperwhite pans. Keep them cool and sunny.

Paperwhites ensconced in moss

Our Spa fitness level tree is a Grand Fir (only 4-foot high) donned with birds you might spot at your own feeder.

Bluebirds flock on the grand fir in the fitness level of the Spa wing

And, we are not done! MTC (more to come).

Deck the Halls with This and That

Just in case you won't be visiting the Mohonk Mountain House this holiday season, I'll try to show you some highlights.

The Parlor hosts a magnificent Fraser Fir that is 13 feet in height. Donned in red ornaments and lights, it is filled with angels of all shapes and sizes. This is by far the grandest Parlor tree yet.




Fraser Fir in the Parlor (13 feet high and wide)

 
We make our wreaths here on the property (actually, Greenhouse Manager Cindy Muro does) and they are subtle and elegant. How about this mix of white pine, Scots pine, and euphorbia? It complements the blue-green of the wall splendidly.

Lovely handmade wreath near the West entrance

Over in the Main Dining Room, a 24-foot balsam is going up. Scaffolding and ladders help even the tallest of our crew to get the lights and stuffed animals up.

24' balsam pre-lighting in the Main Dining Room




The Main Dining Room lights up and ornaments hang in full swing


Down at the Greenhouse complex, Head Gardener Kim Fusaro starts work on the Nature Tree. All natural ornaments here!

Nature Tree at the Mohonk Greenhouse 

And how about this beautiful bunch of dried Leonotis from the garden?

Dried Leonotis 

BRAVO!

'Til next week - Hoe! Hoe! Hoe!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year as the landscape is quiet and we have a moment to vest and reflect on the season past.

Last week I headed back down to Longwood for the Chrysanthemum display and luckily hit it on one of the last days of Indian Summer.

Before I talk about mums, I wanted to compare some hardy woodies that are prevalent at Longwood with related plants growing on the Mountain.

First…deciduous conifers
We have two specimens of Dawn Redwood: Metasequioa glytostroboides. This tree was thought extinct until the 1940s, when it was discovered in China. Ours were planted in the early 60s.

They have intriguing fall color, sort of a rosy-bronze.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides Dawn Redwood

Longwood has a dramatic allee of another deciduous conifer: Bald Cypress: Taxodium distichum. Breathtaking against the azure sky in November.


Longwood Allee Taxodium distichum Bald Cypress



"Knees" Taxodium distichum Bald Cypress















“’Tis the season to be Holly”
Three Holly’s to talk about here at Mohonk.

Ilex verticillata or Winterberry, a native of eastern swamps just sings as the leaves fall and winter approaches.

Ilex verticillata Winterberry Holly

Down at Longwood, their main conservatory hosted a newer cultivar ‘Wintergold.’ We added it to our “must have” list.

Ilex verticillata 'Winter Gold'

I stumbled upon another Holly, Ilex cornuta ‘Burford’ with scarlet berries contrasting to the waxy evergreen foliage. A real winner.

Ilex cornuta Burford Holly 

We both grow oakleaf hydrangea. It’s our personal favorite, particularly in late autumn when the shrub sports burgundy leaves and interesting dried flower panicles.

Hydrangea quercifolia Oakleaf Hydrangea

As for the Longwood Chrysanthemum display—as dramatic as ever.

I’ve included a sampling of tender mums grown in the classic Japanese style. You really should go (next fall) to study in detail how these plants are grown and displayed. Some plants spend 18 months in cultivation. I wish I had the time…

Happy Turkey Day!



Single Stem Chrysanthemum Mound



Single Stem Chrysanthemum Shield



Standard Formal Incurve Chrysanthemum 'Hagoromo'



Longwood East Conservatory Entrance Chrysanthemum arch



Indian Summer

Well, it's a full moon and the temperatures are in the 60s. Yes, it’s "Indian Summer."   I've always wondered where that name came from.  I thought it was connected to the last days of the season after frost had brought everything to a screeching halt. Wikipedia has shed some new light to that theory. Check that out next time you are "Googling". 

Just the other day I was saying that this time of year is a big tease. The weather is warm, the plants are going dormant and are easily moved, and the maintenance pressure is off. Too bad we don't have 3 weeks of this. Alas, the tides could turn at any minute. 

So, at least for now, we can let our guard down and enjoy the last fading moments of the season.  Here is a sample of what I call the "Last of the Mohicans." 

First, the great grandpa of trees, the 114-year-old weeping beech at Mohonk Mountain House stands formidably against the autumn sky. It's autumnal splendor is breathtaking!

114-year-old weeping beech at Mohonk Mountain House

     

Next, the "Last Rose of Summer," 'Dublin Bay,'  a blood-red climber at the valet entrance, who will not give up.



'Dublin Bay' rose





Brassica



Ornamental cabbage 'Color Up White'

 As always, the ornamental Brassicas color up nicely in the cold and defy the upcomig snow squalls.

Iris 'Immortality'—a reliable “re-bloomer” so popular in gardening today.

Yes, it blooms in May and AGAIN in November!

Iris 'Immortality'

Who doesn't love Japanese Beautyberry?   

This Callicarpa japonica is screaming for attention in the setting sun.



Callicarpa japonica



We'll talk again during decorating season, but for now............

Get out and enjoy what's left of Indian Summer!

Ever met a plant with a Facebook page?

I want you to meet Oscar. Yes, that's his name in the horticulture world.

Does he have friends? Yes, Facebook friends, that is.

In reality Oscar is a member of the butterfly weed family and is endemic in Africa. Gomphocarpus physocarpus is the botanical classification stemming from the Greek words for club and bladder, which are typified in the look of the seed pods. An annual here at Mohonk Mountain House, raised from seed in our greenhouse. Patience is in order as the seeds are slow to germinate and the plant takes 120 days to mature.

Friend him on FB.

Some September Scenes

Alas, we have been quite occupied cleaning up after our three storms.  Irene, Katia, and Lee left us with plenty to do. After the clouds finally drifted away and the rain gauges stopped overflowing, I headed out to document some of the remarkable plants that seemed unscathed by it all.  Over all we look quite chipper. See if you agree.

A second flush from Delphinium  'Pennant White'   always welcome.

The best of the new Phlox  hybrids,  'Flame White' (in my opinion).



Only 2 years old, a Hungarian species of daisy,  Leucanthemella serotina.



Pink ball Dahlias -- still putting on quite a show in the Lollipop Forest
of our Candy Land themed garden.



I always forget we have them and then POW, 

the autumn crocus, Colchicum autumale.




A new planting of Anemone japonica. 
This one is a cup-shaped hybrid, 'Rosenschale'.




New England Aster:

Aster 'Wonder of Staffa' and Artemisia 'Silver Queen' spill over a stone edge.



Clematis ternifolia covers a short rustic arbor and grows into the nearby birches.
Elegant!

I shouldn't forget our sentry, Moe - an immature red-tailed hawk who
moved in to work on our vole population. Job well done!