Guest Gardening at Chanticleer, Day Three

This post is the third and final post in a series on guest gardening at Chanticleer. Reflections on the first day can be found here and reflections on the second day here.

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Day 3, Wednesday 22 June 2016

My last day guest gardening at Chanticleer I spent the morning with Joe Henderson. I have known Joe since I interned at The Scott Arboretum in Swarthmore, PA in 2008, and it was great to catch up with him and hear his rich perspective on gardening. Joe is an incredible gardener and artist; his media not only includes plants but also metal and glass as he once apprenticed as a jeweler. He helped make several ornate pieces at Chanticleer like the front fence and gate and the handrail up near the house.

Joe Henderson, a man outstanding in his planting

We started at the rock ledge, a beautiful wildflower planting that connects the gravel garden with the pond below. A narrow gravel path winds through this wildscape. Joe talked about how all the space in a garden matters and how he strives for multilayer interest by planting through time.  He said he once did a presentation on a small part of the garden and how he worked that area to get as much out of it as he could.  For example, he planted snowdrops for color in late winter, ferns for interest in spring, and then colorful perennials for summer through autumn.

Looking down on the rock ledge at Chanticleer

At the base of the rock ledge one looks out onto the ponds at Chanticleer. Only one is visible from this angle.

Daucus carota and other plants catch the morning light on the rock ledge.

A gravel path winds down the rock ledge so that visitors can immerse themselves in the planting

Part of making the garden perform is that his beds are packed with plants.  He enjoys the ever changing nature of the garden and noted that it doesn’t matter what happens with the plants as long as the appearance is nice.  Joe gives the garden free domain and unless what he sees is bad, he works with it.  He noted that sometimes the less you know the better because rules and norms in horticulture confine you.  Joe also shared the wisdom with me that he is never going to make everyone happy. If he likes the planting, he is happy.  

Joe Henderson’s approach to gardening employs the management style over maintenance. He is not interested in preserving a planting as it is. No, he embraces change and steers it as needed.

But, to create a sense of order in his plantings, Joe said he focuses on designing with color and color schemes.  He searches for colors and considers intricate details of even something like the color green.  He asked, “What color green is it?  Red, blue, yellow, etc.”  Paying attention to such details allowed the garden to feel more intimate and connected.  

Notice how this planting of pink Papaver and the golden Pleioblastus near the ponds echoes the pink Tamarix and yellow Verbascum olympicum up on the rock ledge. Attention to such details with color create harmony and repetition in a planting, even though the plants are different.

Note how the salmon-colored Echinacea in the background helps combine the orange Asclepias tuberosa and the pink Echinacea tennesseensis.

I asked Joe about his approach to new plantings.  He said he takes inspiration in the patterns of how plants appear in the wild and their natural distributions.  Then, he emulates nature while taking advantage of horticulture minutiae of space, light, color, texture, foliage, and drifts.  When adding plants on the rock ledge, he tried to tie his planting together with other parts of the garden using color since it can be seen from a distance.  He talked about tying together his rock ledge with the elevated pathway and how he planted more pink and purple in the rock ledge to connect the two spaces. He said once he has a design, he plots out plants in a grid.  On the grid, there is a dot everywhere that a plant occurs.  He puts that species out and then goes back and repeats for other species.  

Verbascum olympicum occur singly or in very small groups in nature. If we crammed hundreds in here, it wouldn’t look right. (By the way, I use this image in my classes to help teach this concept of looking to nature for inspiration.)

Echinacea planted on the rock ledge. In nature, Echinacea tend to occur in larger groups of ten-to-twenty individuals. That’s why you need to plant more Echinacea in your garden!

Joe took me up to the far southwest hillside past Asian woods and we turned and looked back at the rock ledge that was about 500 feet away. I could still make out the Verbascum spears in the distance. He showed me how at Chanticleer they have been working on creating vistas. The idea is that these long views make a place feel bigger and yet more intimate because it appears all connected together. Had one not already visited the rock ledge, just walking up here and seeing something in the distance would encourage exploration. This vista was one, but others including the view from the house and elevated walkway were also important.

I put two of these photos into this post showing the vista from the picnic table. One so you can appreciate the distance…

… and the other so that you can see the detail more clearly on the rock ledge and gravel garden. Having such views makes the garden feel larger and yet more intimate.

And, I couldn’t wrap up this discussion on Joe’s part of the garden without showing this lovely sitting area down near the ponds.

Just look at how simple these bamboo strips demarcate the path.

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After a great morning with Joe, I met up with grounds manager Jeff Lynch around lunch. Jeff and I first met when I keynoted at the New York Botanical Garden the previous year, and during this trip our friendship really grew. I came to realize that we were both organic farming enthusiasts and shared many views on enriching soil for plants. I was so excited to learn about their O2 composting system they had built at Chanticleer.

Jeff Lynch discusses the O2 composting system at Chanticleer. In the background is Nate Pinelli who oversees the composting at Chanticleer. Nate gives a rough scale of the size of their huge compost bins.

The O2 composting system forces air into the compost pile using a greenhouse fan and drilled pipes under the pile. This oxygenation allows them to heat the pile based on how often air is introduced into the compost, and it removes the need for turning, which can be an issue in small spaces with large amounts. Jeff also said they introduced a small amount (~5% by volume) of biochar into the compost. Jeff noted that biochar that goes directly into the soil can make nutrients unavailable. With my background in soil science, I assume that putting it in the compost first fills those binding sites with nutrients.  

Nate Pinelli managed the compost, and he kept detailed records on temperatures and time. Jeff mentioned how ardent they were about making sure that only organic matter went into the bins as soil and soil mix were too stable. Once filled, they cap it with old compost and cover the bins with compost fleece that allows air in but not moisture. That way, they can control how much water enters the pile, too. Once mature, they would sift the material and use it in the garden. I was blown away seeing this simple yet creative system.

Fresh material goes into the compost piles.

Here you see a box housing the greenhouse fan and piping that leads to the bins. Note that some of the pipes in this photograph have been pulled out because those bins are not currently active.

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I saved one of my favorite plantings from my time at Chanticleer for last—the elevated walkway. When I was there in 2016 the planting and pathway was roughly 1 year old, and I so appreciated the design and thought that went into making it amazing. In mid-June it was a floral explosion.

Jeff and I walked the elevated pathway later my last day discussing how the design went through several iterations before planting and how the staff had prepared the ground after construction using augers and air spades to get the soil just right. Jonathan Wright had done the design for the planting. The top of the walkway was planted with an open prairie habitat that faded into edge habitat and finally into woodland. While some plants were the same as I had seen just hours earlier on the rock ledge, the blues and grays created more of a cool-color scheme.

I loved seeing several of my favorite plants integrated together. Color echoes abounded. The glaucous foliage of Rudbeckia maxima and Eryngium yuccifolium. The mauve-to-pink Salvia sclarea and Echinacea species. The fading Allium with Nassella tenuissima. And, then you had things that just popped out like the massive leaves on Silphium terebinthinaceum or the crimson Silene virginica glowing under the quaking aspens from the setting sun. During my three-day guest gardening stint, I kept finding myself returning to this spot in different light and at different times of the day to appreciate its beauty.  

The elevated walkway with porous pavement winds through this diverse perennial planting at Chanticleer. The rusted steel is such a good neutral, earthy color to go with this planting.

Another dazzling display near one of the landings on the elevated walkway at Chanticleer where visitors can pause and rest.

Here’s the view looking down from the upper landing onto the hillside. Notice how your eye flows through the planting.

The rosy-colored Echinacea species and Salvia sclarea create a good color combination.

Here we begin to approach the woodland. I love how massive those Silphium terebinthinaceum leaves are. Note the color echo between the fading Allium seed heads and the Nassella tenuissima.

I enjoyed these fading Allium schubertii infructescences along the elevated walkway.

I love how full and layered this photograph shows this elevated walkway planting to be.

The floor under these Populus tremuloides is lit with Silene virginica.

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So, there you have it. Three incredible days of guest gardening at Chanticleer. If I’m honest, I have been trying to write about my experience for the past four years since my visit. I would start and stop only because I felt it hard to describe three perfect days in one of the best gardens with some of the finest horticulturists I know. And, it is funny because as I have gone through photographs and notes, I see many threads of knowledge that I gleaned during my time at Chanticleer that I’m already applying. I weave experiences I had not only into my own garden but also into stories and inspiration for my students and for my greater learning audience out there.

So, in case you haven’t picked up on it yet, if you’re ever in the Philadelphia area, take a day or two (or three!) and visit Chanticleer. It will enrich your gardening soul.

I hope that you enjoyed my reflections from my three days guest gardening at Chanticleer.

Guest Gardening at Chanticleer, Day Two

This post is the second in a series on guest gardening at Chanticleer. Reflections on the first day can be found here.

Day 2, Tuesday 21 June 2016

The next morning, I woke again before sunrise to get out in the garden and retrace some of my steps from yesterday.  I focused on exploring the teacup garden and the plantings around the main house at Chanticleer.  Often, these displays are full of color, texture, and wow factor to tickle visitors senses when they first enter.

The entrance to the teacup garden at Chanticleer

A close up of the Fagus sylvatica ‘Purpurea Tricolor’ that frame the entryway

Looking down on the teacup garden

This photograph is a wonderful study in texture and colorful foliage. Very few plants are in flower, and yet the scene is so pleasing to the eye.

Emergents like Gaura and Verbena erupt out of the flowery lawn behind the Chanticleer house

An excellent example of color echo between the Crambe, Agave, and pool house roof.

Once the work day started, I met up with Eric Hsu.  While Eric serves as Plant Information Coordinator at Chanticleer, he told me that he wears many hats like overseeing bulb orders.  

Curation of plant names and pertinent information like their origin is crucial for a botanic garden’s inner workings.  Hey, it’s even important for common gardeners like you and me.  Anyone who has ever recorded plant information knows how meticulous and time consuming getting it right can be.  But, it is essential for reference and education.  As I tell my students, plants can’t talk to us (at least not yet!).  So, we have to make sure that we keep good records and information about them to educate and share their stories with others.  

Eric said that plants were accessioned as they arrived at the garden and that only one person had access to editing the data.  Individual gardeners kept seed records and also documented any self sowers that occurred in the garden.

Eric saved this accession note (aka a stem or perhaps a scape) that a gardener brought to him. He said anything that contained plant information was helpful!

I had long wondered about the plant lists at Chanticleer and why labels weren’t plentiful.  Eric told me that there was a fine line between education and the purpose of the garden being a pleasure garden.  Having labels everywhere can detract from the overall presentation of plants.  However, labels were made for plants that attracted frequent visitor questions.   

After I met with Eric, I headed to the gravel garden to help Chris Freimuth, one of the interns for the summer.  The gravel and nearby ruin garden is one of my favorite parts of Chanticleer. I don’t think I realized it at the time, but working in the gravel garden was probably my first good perspective at plants growing in gravel, and spending time in this garden made me realize that gravel was an easy way to force plants to grow under stress to reduce weed competition and increase plant diversity.     

I love the perennial plantings in the gravel garden. Here, Orlaya grandiflora dances around Centaurea macrocephala and Asclepias tuberosa.

Another shot of the gravel garden closer to the ruin. Another common plant that was woven through the plantings was the ever airy Nassella tenuissima.

Such dynamism here between the lines of Consolida ajacis and the curves of Nassella tenuissima. Note their fade as you approach the path on either side, which creates a sense of layering.

Our task for the day was removing Orlaya grandiflora from a bed in the ruin garden.  It’s a self sowing annual.  The volunteers had been left just long enough to allow good seed set for next year, but at some point self sowers become a bit unsightly, and these had hit that mark.  I also have to add there was a bit of whimsy in seeing the planting change over the course of a late morning.

Here’s a photo of the bed that Chris and I worked in to remove the Orlaya grandiflora. Notice there are still blooms to see, but much of it has gone to seed.

I pause from helping Chris Freimuth remove the Orlaya to snap a photo of the process.

Here is the after. With the Orlaya gone, you can more clearly see the other perennials that comprise the planting.

And, I love photographing minutiae like the edge here between the grass and gravel.

In the afternoon I spent some time with Przemek Walczak in Bell’s Woodland, the native plant garden that runs along the creek called Bell’s Run.  We discussed his efforts to channel wilderness through the garden. The entrance to this part of Chanticleer is a faux log bridge covered with vines and other plants to blend it into its surroundings. We also discussed his handwork with wood from structures made in the garden to a simple bee hotel made out of kindling.

The entrance to Bell’s Woodland is a bridge that is designed to resemble a fallen tree. Note the plant list box on the left that resembles a hornet nest!

Along the bridge are planters with sedum and mosses to soften the edges of the hardscape.

This native insect hotel was one of Przemek’s creations. Such an easy project for kids to teach them about the importance of pollinators.

Many have the concept that native plant gardens are all green and ho-hum, but this mass of Spigelia marilandica is certainly something to behold in Bell’s Woodland.

Vegetation hugs the edges of Bell’s Run.

An opening in Bell’s Woodland

We also discussed his approach to growing plants in Bell’s Woodland. One way that he propagates species is that he sows perennial seed on the ground to stratify and then covers it with mesh to keep hungry frugivores away. I thought this approach a clever way to take advantage of nature’s refrigerator. Przemek is also a fan of hugelkultur, the practice of creating garden beds using logs and other debris as a base and topped with growing media. It allows gardeners to quickly create elevated surfaces in their garden as well as hide fallen detritus.

A hugelkulture bed in Bell’s Woodland freshly planted with perennials

The second day of guest gardening came to an end. I was excited to see what tomorrow had in store. Part three is coming soon!

Manicured lawn sinuously flows into wild plantings along Bell’s Runs.

Guest Gardening at Chanticleer, Day One

A few years ago in 2016, I was asked to speak at the Millersville Native Plants in the Landscape Conference in Pennsylvania.  The Keystone State is one of my favorites to visit for its plethora of botanic gardens and natural beauty, and I was excited to return to the area having done a two month internship at The Scott Arboretum in Swarthmore, PA years before in 2008.

But, being half time at the university in the summer, I began to ponder if I couldn’t turn the trip into more.  The Sprout garden at SFA was in the early stages of what would become the Plantery, and I wanted to delve further into the inner workings of a different botanic garden.

So, I turned to Bill Thomas the executive director and head gardener at Chanticleer to see if I could shadow their team for a few days to not only improve our garden but also to be able to teach my students about different perspectives of horticultural craft.  In his reply, I was delighted to learn they had a guest gardener program where they welcomed professionals to learn more about the ins and outs of the garden.

For those of you who don’t know, Chanticleer is regarded as one of the top botanic gardens in the United States.  The way that plants and art and craft are woven together by such a talented team amazes me every time I visit.  Around every corner there is delight.  And, I’m not alone.  Just bring up Chanticleer in a conversation with plantspeople, and there’s bound to be some contented sighs, oohs, and ahhs thrown about.  

So, after my presentations at Millersville, I headed to Wayne, PA to shadow an incredible team of horticulturists.  I’m not going into great detail on the history of the garden because my main focus for the visit was to observe and learn about the minutiae of their craft.  Here are my notes from the first day.  I’ll have more to say in future posts.  

Day 1, Monday 20 June 2016

I started the morning walking the garden around sunrise and relishing the first day of summer.  I had visited Chanticleer a dozen times before, but this walk was different as I began to train my mind to absorb as much as I could since I would be here for a few days.  I had until 7:30 to explore as Bill had invited me to attend their staff meeting that morning. 

I had never noticed the wavy line of Calamagrostis × acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ through the tennis court garden. Here you can see that yellows were a unifying color in the garden.

Calamagrostis × acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ was used as a good foil for other plants to pop against.

Those are some giant carrot skeletons.

I loved this pathway in the vegetable garden. Not a weed to be seen!

We’ve all thrown out the dormant plant (or two). I noted in the cold frames how smart it was to label barren trays so that gardeners still know there’s goods in them.

Their mass planting of Asparagus officinalis ‘Jersey Knight’ never the vegetable garden is sprinkled with flowering poppies.

The combination of sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis) growing through prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis) was one of those simple yet brilliant combinations.

My 7:20 AM reminder on my phone went off, and I scurried toward the staff house. Upon entering, I saw a few friends but many new faces that I would get to know over the next few days.  Bill started the meeting.  It seemed less like he was their reigning authority but more like one of them as he let everyone go around and say something about what was going on that week.  Even the interns were allowed to share, and then they even let me say a few words!  It had a King Arthur and the round table of gardening knights feel to make everyone equals and important.   People discussed attendance and visitors, upcoming events, bulb orders needed to be in soon, how ash trees were being treated, and guests visiting this week.  Bill concluded the meeting by sharing that it had taken 14 years for Yucca rostrata to bloom in the gravel garden.  And, he reminded them with increasing publicity, there was more incentive to make sure the gardens looked good.  (I loved this approach and upon returning to Texas implemented this style of meeting with my students.)

The meeting of the minds that steward Chanticleer

The meeting broke up with people hastening off to their tasks for the day.  I would first be paired up with Dan Benarcik, a friend of mine who I had meet at trade shows past.  Dan is a consummate horticulturist, woodworker, and artist, all with a bit of cowboy flare, and it was great to get his behind the scenes perspective.  

We started with an overview of facilities from their Ventrac tractors that have interchangeable attachments to cover the diversity of work needed in the garden to their use of Kalwall glass to provide opaque lighting in buildings to reduce the need for lit bulbs.  We continued the discussion of sustainability in the greenhouse where Dan shared that water was collected and treated for watering the plants inside save for the propagation material.  The greenhouse was designed tall to allow for large display plants to be moved in and out.  And, for efficient storage of substrate, they had bins built to perfectly fit under a countertop so that they looked like drawers.

These Ventrac tractors were new to me. I very much liked the idea of a multi-tool.

Kalwall glass helps reduce the need for lighting in buildings.

A clever way to hide your potting mix is to make faux cabinets.

The greenhouse was built tall to allow overwintering of large tropicals. Dan Benarcik provides scale for the door.

Dan and I headed to the picnic greenhouse to look at the containers inside.  He noted that since they didn’t want vines actually growing on the walls, they used high tensile fishing twine to allow the Passiflora to grow up.  That gave the effect that they were clambering up the walls.

I don’t even see the fishing line supporting these Passiflora vines.

From there, we took a short walk toward the vegetable garden where he showed me twenty-year-old ipe benches, one of the first pieces he built at Chanticleer.  The wood is incredibly long lasting.  But, one needs silica carbide blades to cut the wood, and the edges must be sanded because the are so sharp they will cut you!  Once we were up at the main house, Dan showed me more of his woodworking projects along the elevated walkway.  

Ipe benches must be moved every so often to allow the grass to get adequate sunshine.

Another one of Dan Benarcik’s incredible pieces. This one features a metal frame with wood panels.

Dan also wanted to show me their workshop where much of the hardscape crafting occurs.  On our way we saw Tim Snyder injecting kelp, fish hydrolysate, and yucca extract into soil to improve growing conditions. So, we paused and chatted with him for a bit about it.  Dan discussed how grounds manager Jeff Lynch had really helped develop the organic approach at Chanticleer and used several of these substances to improve plant growth.   

Tim Snyder is treating the soil with a blend of organics.

Once we were in the workshop, I was able to see where everything from fencing to handrails to chairs and benches were made for the garden.  Dan noted that much work went on during the winter when the garden was closed and the weather less accommodating.  

Dan Benarcik holds a birdhouse built for the garden.

This flora fence was crafted by the gardeners at Chanticleer.

We returned to the entrance where my work began.  Dan asked me to go around and water containers and edit anything I found wrong with them.  I found the hose in a large, empty container, and thought what a brilliant way to hide that in plain site!  He said that he taught his assistants over the years to water every pot every day.  He builds in the appropriate drainage and doesn’t build finicky displays that are water hogs.  To make sure that the pots drain, he noted that he used everything including wooden stands, rubber, and Slovenian hockey pucks under them. Elevating the pots also air prunes the roots so they didn’t grow into the soil.  

The thing that I really took away from him was his spirit of being a great showman.  “We’re not growers; we’re presenters,” “make the magic happen,” and “we need to make it magic and memorable” were thrown out during our conversations, really hitting home his belief of using plants to engage visitors.  

A collection of containers greets visitors to Chanticleer. Note the wooden pot supports that aid with drainage.

A great example of Dan Benarcik’s approach to make the magic happen—cut pieces of Yucca arborea stuck in the ground give the effect of height early in the growing season.

Here’s a great idea on how to hide a hose. Put it in an empty container.

After the day ended, I found Eric Hsu who helps curate the plant collections at Chanticleer walking with the interns along Bell’s Run and looking at the blinding mass of white Astilbe 'Deutschland’.   The staff told me that Eric had started teaching the interns plants with an ID walkabout for this week and an answer-on-the-fly quiz over plants covered last week.  Eric noted that this Astilbe was planted to help brighten this dark spot and provide a burst of color for contrast against the creek’s wilder plantings.  Even I started taking notes from him.  For example, a grass I admired on the rock ledge I learned was Stipa barbata, barbata meaning bearded and likely a reference to its plumes.

Bell’s Run is a creek that runs through the north side of Chanticleer. In the distance Astilbe 'Deutschland’ brightens the dark corner and draws the eye.

A close up of Astilbe 'Deutschland’ en masse

Eric Hsu (left) leads a plant id walk for Chanticleer interns.

The graceful and airy Stipa barbata on the rock ledge

A close up of the panicles on Stipa barbata

After their plant walk, I wandered around Chanticleer as the day came to a close. The day was full and I looked forward to what tomorrow would hold. Day two, coming soon.

The end of my first day guest gardening and one last look at the gravel garden at Chanticleer and the distant white-flowering Yucca rostrata that bloomed for the first time in 2016