Winter « The Garden Worm blog

February 7, 2011

Genius loci pars duo

Filed under: Contests,Fall,Flowers,Grasses,Our gardens,Spring,Summer,Veggies,Winter — Judy @ 10:25 pm

I’ve been thinking more about the concept of ‘Genius loci’ and how it relates to my own personal gardens. Currently buried under a sea of white here in upstate New York, I thought that perhaps I could find some older pictures of my gardens to use to convey ‘the spirit of the place’ to others for the Picture This contest for February over at Gardening Gone Wild. I found nothing that I felt was suitable. Why was that? Had I ignored the ‘Genius loci’ when I was creating my own gardens or had the ‘Genius loci’ really left the area!

First of all, location, location, location. Andrea Jones’ photos showed us enticing and gorgeous vistas. I live in suburbia. Granted, we have almost an acre of land, but everywhere you look there is another house impinging on the “vista.” Losing seven mature trees in ice storms over the years does not help! I can’t grow trees tall enough in my lifetime to block out all those houses looming over us.

So what if I thought about the ‘borrowed’ vistas, a time-proven fundamental of landscape design? Hmm! I found this, this, and this.

Yes, but those are not of my gardens specifically and doesn’t everyone have lovely pictures of snowstorms and sunsets and moons? Well, what else could I find that would entice you in and make you want to visit, or at least to convey what makes my gardens special to me?

Nice range of colors, nice sunshine, open gate, feels good to me, but that picture brings up the second major problem – I am not a very good photographer! There’s that pool skimmer and brush in the corner. If I crop that out, the picture just doesn’t have the same feeling. It becomes blasé – all because of a pool skimmer? Ok, so my photographic skills need to be improved on, but surely among all those hundreds, nay, thousands of photos I have taken over the years, there might be a few really good ones of my own gardens. Hah!

At this point in my thinking, I still don’t know whether I had ignored the ‘Genius loci’ or whether it had left when I wasn’t looking (if a ‘Genius loci’ can even do that!). It occurred to me that our little plot of land used to be a cornfield before it became suburbia. But what do they do when they build and build and build? Why, they scrape off all the good dirt and sell it down the river! Yikes! What if there never was a ‘Genius loci’ here?

No, no no! I mean, really, look at that pool picture again – there are some good things going on there! There are some pretty perennials, some great grasses, some shrubs growing into nice specimens, and lots of varied evergreens (both mine and borrowed).

All right, so maybe I need to think more about what I love or want in my gardens. In no particular order then –

Attracting birds, even predators like this juvenile Cooper’s hawk:

A place for children and adults to play – in the pool, in the yard:

A place to grow lots of vegetables and fruit and flowers:

A place for herbs for my cooking adventures:

So, what about the ‘Genius loci’ in my own gardens? Perhaps we created a new one while bringing in new soil and composting and amending and planning and planting all these years, and maybe it is just waiting under the snow to emerge once again in the spring.

Too bad I don’t have the photographic skills to convey the ‘Genius loci’ to you . . . yet!

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February 6, 2011

Genius loci

Filed under: Contests,Fall,Miscellaneous,Parks,Summer,Travel,Winter — Judy @ 3:17 pm

They are running another photo contest over at Gardening Gone Wild, this time having to do with pictures demonstrating ‘Genius loci.’ So, what does that mean?

Essentially, ‘Genius loci’ means “special spirit or atmosphere of a place.” It’s a fundamental principle in landscape architecture and one that I feel strongly about when designing gardens or landscapes. Consider Alexander Pope’s seminal verse:

Consult the genius of the place in all;
That tells the waters or to rise, or fall;
Or helps th’ ambitious hill the heav’ns to scale,
Or scoops in circling theatres the vale;
Calls in the country, catches opening glades,
Joins willing woods, and varies shades from shades,
Now breaks, or now directs, th’ intending lines;
Paints as you plant, and, as you work, designs.

I spend a considerable amount of time acquainting myself with the ‘spirit of a place,’ listening with my heart and my head to what the land tells me, before I begin designing or even dig one iota of soil. I ‘consult the genius of the place’ first.

The judge for the contest, Andrea Jones, has posted several gorgeous, gorgeous photos to illustrate this concept and has asked readers to share the special spirit or atmosphere in their own gardens or special places. This, of course, has made me think about my own personal gardens and I’ve concluded that the ‘Genius loci’ has gotten up and left the area while I’ve been busy creating for others, at least for the moment. Hmmm, can all this snow be the “white-wash” I need to visualize how to invite the ‘Genius loci’ back to my own spaces?

In any case, while examining Andrea Jones’ photos, one gets the feeling that what makes a certain place, or a landscape, or a garden, magical is the innate beauty of the location. Capturing that magical spirit with a camera is inherently difficult. She says, “It’s just a question of feel and intuition.” Yes, lots of experience and maybe luck too? She also says, “Then I wait for the light” before she captures the scene.

The pictures I am sharing with you today, while not of my own garden, are of locations that demonstrate a special spirit or atmosphere of nature to me. The light or situation at the time was magical, and I was certainly lucky to capture the picture when I did. Here’s the background on them:

Fall colors: We were driving down a back road during the fall and this vista magically appeared. Stop the car! Fortunately, I had my camera with me!

Fall colors in Upstate New York

Foggy Fort Niagara: This shot was taken on a September evening as the fog was rolling in off of Lake Ontario onto the Niagara River. Spooky, yet calming at the same time.

Fog rolling in near Old Fort Niagara, Youngstown NY

Mendon Ponds: The little beech tree glows like a beacon in the cold winter light, guiding the cross-country skier around the Quaker Pond loop.

Beech tree in wintery Mendon Ponds Park

Canandaigua Lake: Another wild and wooly rainstorm is beginning its march down the hills and across the lake – watch out! Here it comes!

Rainstorm approaching across Canandaigua Lake

And finally, the picture I have chosen to submit to the contest was taken early in the morning as the fog was beginning to burn off over Mirror Lake. This is a location in the Adirondacks that speaks to my heart, and one that I think of often; that calms me when restless, and that cheers me when sad. We have many fond memories of visiting there. The picture was a film shot from many years ago and I had no idea that it would turn out like this until it was developed. There is one teeny tiny bright spot of color – my daughter wearing her orange life jacket! Serendipitous!

Morning Fog on Mirror Lake

Tell me about the ‘Genius loci’ in your life.

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January 28, 2011

Making tracks

Filed under: Creatures,Winter — Judy @ 5:10 pm

One of the delights of the winter garden is discovering, and trying to identify, all the tracks one finds in the snow. Of course, you can easily tell who made these tracks!

But how about these little ones?

My guess on this is that they were made by a mouse or other small rodent helping themselves to our squash stash in the garage. In researching how to identify various tracks in the snow, I ran across this picture.

Rodents as small as mice or as large as beavers have five toes on their hind feet but only four on the front. On the other hand, the numerous deer that we have in our area leave two-toed prints like these:

Seeing these pairs of deer tracks makes me think about them wandering around leisurely in the middle of the night, conversing with each other in their own way.

And then what about these? Did a predator of some sort scare them so they ran off or were they simply gamboling in the full moon light last week?

I’ve found lots of these tracks around and it is hard to tell whether there are four or five toes. Animals in the dog and cat families leave tracks with 4 toes, with cats leaving no claw marks. On the other hand, raccoons, opossums, and skunks have five toes, but maybe it’s been too cold for them to be hanging around. I’ve seen the red fox lately and my neighbor swears she has seen a coyote, so possibly they belong to one of those critters. My vote is for the red fox!

We have squirrels in abundance, happily eating the seed underneath the birdfeeder – these tracks, although somewhat blurred by melting belong to them. Squirrels, like mice are four-toed on the front and five-toed on the hind feet. They plant their front feet first and bring their hind feet up and plant them ahead of the front feet.

Bird tracks are also fun, but it’s much harder to identify the particular species unless you see them making the tracks first-hand. For example, I know these are the Carolina wren tracks. Although I took this picture last winter, he has been flitting and bobbing around, entertaining me immensely with his antics.

A big old crow left these tracks

after he made a perfect landing with his tail in the snow!

Numerous tracks can be found in our backyard in the “EZPass travel lane” at the edge of our garden fence. Our garden is very large and the critters have to go around to get to the other side. Most of the tracks are the same as can be found elsewhere in the yard, but hoo-boy! there are some biggies here too. Can anyone say, “Bear?” Yes, and it is possible as there have been black bear sightings in our town.

You can read more on animal tracks in the snow at

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January 9, 2011

Pittsburgh! Part 3

Filed under: Decorating,Flowers,Parks,Shows and Tours,Travel,Winter — Judy @ 10:15 am

PHIPPS CONSERVATORY
One of the exceptional parts of this trip was visiting the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Schenley Park in Pittsburgh.

Phipps Conservatory

It was a gardener’s dream place! Built in the midst of one of Pittsburgh’s largest greenspaces, the historic Lord & Burnham glass and steel greenhouses were originally stocked with tropical plants from the 1893 Colombian Exposition in Chicago. The new entrance building built in 2005 is the first LEED® certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) visitor center in a public garden in the United States. Phipps is both historical and looking to the future!

This soaring, writhing, undulating glass chandelier sculpture by Dale Chihuly greets you in the Welcome Center.

Blown glass chandelier sculpture by Dale Chihuly at Phipps

Other glass sculptures by Chihuly like these can be found scattered throughout the plant exhibits too. I found that the ones with more organic shapes and colors and positioned in semi-believable locations were the ones that were more attractive to me.

More glass sculptures by Chihuly

Also at the Phipps were these intriguing glass sculptures by Hans Godo Frabel called “Longfellows.”

'Longfellows' by Hans Godo Frabel

Frabel is a flame-work glass artist and the art he exhibited here takes the form of whimsical clowns, flower goblets, humanistic vines, reptiles and geometric shapes.

Lest you think that all we were attracted to at the Phipps was the art in the garden, I can assure you that were oohing and aahing over all of the plant exhibits. I had no idea there were so many varieties of my favorite type of fern, the maidenhairs. I gotta get me more!

Maidenhair ferns

The Cacti House (now called the Desert Room to reflect the variety of plants there) was added in 1902. Although I’m generally not too fond of prickly, stabbing types of plants, the specimens at Phipps were definitely ones to admire.

Chihuly sculpture in the Desert Room

The most fun of all was the Winter Flower show there. Poinsettias, paperwhite narcissi, orchids, garlands, swags, huge Christmas trees sparkled and enchanted us in many whimsical vignettes sprinkled throughout the Phipps greenhouses.

Poinsettia Display in the Sunken Garden

And look at this! The display in the East Room was wild – purples, pinks, golds, silvers – and this pod of pink plastic flamingos checking out the melted Frosty the Snowman. And it looks like the koi in the pond were doing the same thing!

Holiday display in the East Room

Finally we are back at the Palm Court, one of the original rooms built in 1893 and where we started our tour of Phipps. It is 65 feet tall, the central focal point of the Conservatory, and where all who enter must pass through.