Ah, damn! Who made it October already? Frost cannot be far away. It would be a miracle to get another 4 weeks in before it hits. Hopefully we will get at least 2 more weeks of temperatures above 32. Soon all my beautiful tropicals will be gone from the landscape and all that will be left is that hardy crap. Oh, I know. Like Frosty the Snowman they will be back some day. But in the meantime there is the bleak period filled with cold rain, blowing snow, and worst of all, never-ending gray skies. What the ancient ones called the Midwest Winter.
To be honest I am at a bit of a loss for ideas for this week’s blog. Well, not at a loss for ideas really, but at a loss for ideas that the muse can turn into a blog. The muse is being a rhymes-with-witch this week. Some weeks I can pound one of these out in a couple hours. Other weeks are like this one, three days off and on and I’m still not there. And the blog is hardly something I can afford to spend too many hours on. So it finally came to me to describe in a bit of detail this summer’s design for the circle bed in front of the Museum. I can’t let you into my head for the entire thought process however. It is a far too dangerous place. There are things in there that even I’m afraid of.
Each year as I begin designing my gardens I hope for some bit of inspiration from which to build a complete thought. There might be an individual plant that starts the design development. A desire to use a certain color might be the catalyst. I might even copy a design I have seen elsewhere. Probably not copy exactly but use many elements. A comment from someone may be the guide to a plant or plants that the idea forms around. Last year the truly fabulous Pam Stokes asked something and from that question came an entire design. The question? “Why don’t you ever plant those black elephant ears?” No reason. I just had not used them here at the IMA. They were a staple at home and in clients’ gardens. So I decided there was my first plant.
Now, what would look hot with it? I had done containers and small designs using black and chartreuse foliage with red flowering plants. Ideally the flowering plants would also have black or chartreuse foliage. I had all the color elements needed for a design. Now all I had to do was decide which plants (making sure I had a mix of foliage textures) and how to arrange them.
For the black elephant ear I chose Colocasia esculenta ‘Black Runner’. It has a beautiful matte finish to the upper leaf surface (none of the green that often shows in other cultivars) and an equally beautiful silvery gray underside. Plus as the name suggests, it sends out lots of runners with new plants at the end. That sort of thing can kind of knot the whole look together. And the pups as we call them can be used to fill any unexpected gaps. What else could I use? Another plant with good black foliage is an ornamental hot pepper called ‘Black Pearl’ (Capsicum annuum). Even the fruit is jet black before it ripens to red. When the peppers turn red they appear to be lit from within. That adds some of the red I was wanting as well. The smaller leaves also give texture contrast to the large leaved plants in the design. Another good choice for black and red is Canna ‘Futurity Red’. This fairly short (3-4’) plant has good black color to the foliage and arrest-me-red flowers. Unfortunately there are a limited number of plants with true black foliage so for my other dark leaved plants I would have to accept some not quite true black leaves. A just introduced cockscomb (Celosia cristata) named ‘Chinatown’ had promise so I ordered seed. The foliage turned out to be more bronzy than ideal but had that look of stained glass with sun filtering through. The plants also had bright red plumes for flowers. For my tall center element the only plant I could think of was castor bean. They get huge and are available in a very deep burgundy. The palmate leaves would also contrast with the entire-margined plants.
What about my chartreuse elements? I had Xanthosoma ‘Lime Zinger’ and Colocasia ‘Elena’ both on hand. They would be the perfect color contrast and the perfect texture echo to the ‘Black Runner’. Salvia elegans ‘Golden Delicious’ would give me chartreuse foliage and red flowers come late summer. I used to want everything to start blooming as quickly as possible but over time have come to appreciate the later blooming plants. When the same plants have been blooming for months it’s nice to have a new element appear in the garden. What else? I had some variegated ginger. The Alpinia zerumbet ‘Variegata’ had long narrow pointed yellow and green striped leaves making it a texture echo and color contrast for the Canna ‘Futurity Red’.
I had all my major elements so I could start infilling. Some ‘Big Red’ coleus in red and yellow. Duranta ‘Lemon Leaf’ and Talinum ‘Kingwood Gold’ for chartreuse foliage. Musa zebrina with burgundy and green foliage. Alocasia plumbaea ‘Nigra’ with dark slate-green leaves and burgundy stems. Some Colocasia macrorrhiza with plain green leaves but oh-so-tropical. And then because my castor beans were so small I simply had to put something in the center to hold the space. I chose one my largest single stemmed bananas. It wasn’t what I had planned but it did the job. Adapt or die my little future designers.
Despite long weeks of slow growth I finally got a planting I really liked.
In fact one day I got so happy about the results I just felt like celebrating. First I checked to see if the coast was clear.
Sure enough, there went Chad on a death march to another exciting meeting in the big house. He’s so lucky he doesn’t have to work outside on sunny days with blue sky overhead and a breeze in the trees. Then it was grab the pole and express myself. Gotta dance!
October 3rd, 2008 at 9:18 am
Irvin, you are truly, truly outrageous!
October 3rd, 2008 at 9:42 am
Why Despi, I am ever so glad some body finally noticed. Thank you.
October 3rd, 2008 at 10:20 am
feeling with you…thanks for sharing this….I am glad that I found your blog…good art blogs are rare.
October 3rd, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Irvin
As usual, after reading your blog, I’m exhausted, breathless and can’t wait until the next time…
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Irvin, I had no idea you were so multitalented. I think we’ve just found our cover model for the next issue of Seasons!
October 3rd, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Fabian, I’m gald to share. Too much some times. Please visit often now that you found us.
Robin, I can only hope you have oxygen near by next time because….
Laura, I don’t think the Big House will pay my cover model fee. And I don’t do charity work.
October 17th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Great to see you ,,, up a tree. nice plant choices.
Jayne– Minneaplois
October 20th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Irvin, your creative genius has recreated a bit of a colorful tropical paradise in Indiana that beats anything that I saw in Miami, FL when I lived there from 2006 to 2008, that includes Fairchild Gardens which I visited many times! While I don’t see any green parrots, the ‘Gator’ in the background of the first two shots of the banana dance photo sequence adds a great South Florida touch. What is your ‘Gator’s’ name?
November 10th, 2008 at 9:33 am
Jayne. Where have you been? You better get down here and visit.
Sam, the parrots are on backorder. We just don’t name Gators. Only trucks.
November 13th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
1st photo…. drool.
November 13th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I know Paul. I love that thing. I once had a pink canna – the name escapes me a the moment- that had a pendulous bloom. I think it came from Yucca-do and they no longer carry it. Some day I will find it again and plant it with the ‘Orange Punch’.
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