{"id":281,"date":"2011-11-28T05:39:22","date_gmt":"2011-11-28T13:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/garden\/?p=281"},"modified":"2015-11-24T07:32:34","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T15:32:34","slug":"lost-and-found-gardens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/lost-and-found-gardens\/","title":{"rendered":"Lost and Found Gardens"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOST AND FOUND GARDENS
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\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Almost three weeks after the late October snowstorm that created havoc all up and down the East Coast and cost the region thousands of trees, my garden is still a mess.\u00a0 We are waiting for the tree company to come and remove a very large, downed limb that hovers over the still-working cable line.\u00a0 Once the limb is gone, the line has to be cranked back up to its original altitude and the area where it landed set to rights again.\u00a0 With luck we won’t have additional snow before that happens.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The most noticeable thing about the rest of the garden is that butterfly bushes and other shrubs are splayed into pitifully unnatural positions.\u00a0 Perennials that I hadn’t pruned back before the storm are flopped over in all directions.\u00a0 Some individual specimens, like my beautiful Rosa glauca, with its brilliant red hips, have recovered.\u00a0 Taken as a whole though, the garden looks like the morning after a really wild party.\u00a0 The plants are still dealing with a really bad hangover.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Little by little I am tidying things up and pruning the worn out, overgrown, broken and otherwise afflicted.\u00a0 I install spring bulbs at the same time, because that chore is also urgent.\u00a0 While working, I take solace in the fact that gardeners have been dealing with large and small horticultural catastrophes for as long as gardens have existed.\u00a0 I am reminded of the story of a great American garden that suffered near total devastation six years ago and has been gradually returned to its former beauty.\u00a0 The efforts involved were herculean, but the results have been inspiring for the restorers and for the public who have now returned to visit.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Longue Vue, in New Orleans, came into being in the 1930’s.\u00a0 Despite the Depression, Sears heiress Edith Rosenwald Stern and her husband, Edgar, had money to spend on a garden designer and they hired the best–Ellen Biddle Shipman. The lush, eight-acre garden she created at Longue Vue surrounds a large, gracious house that is described as “Neo-Palladian”\u009d or “Neo-Classical.”\u009d\u00a0 Shipman’s carefully designed layout was inspired by European models and incorporated many different themed areas, including an azalea walk, a portico garden with formal parterres, a luxuriously planted wildflower garden, and an entrance all\u00c3\u00a9e of Southern live oak trees.\u00a0 Carefully chosen sculptures served as accents and focal points.\u00a0 Over time the garden evolved, and new areas, like the Portuguese-inspired Canal Garden were added.\u00a0 As labor became more scarce and expensive, the walled kitchen garden was simplified, along with some other parts of the landscape,
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Eventually, in 1968, the property was opened to the public, which visited enthusiastically until August 2005, when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.\u00a0 As everyone knows, the human toll was enormous, with people, property and plants swept away.\u00a0 When the flood waters receded, Longue Vue’s staff found that ninety percent of the perennial collection was dead, along with 200 trees and shrubs.\u00a0 The call went out to garden professionals to come to New Orleans and help save what had become a part of the city’s cultural heritage.\u00a0 The professionals came from all over the country and worked side by side with the staff and local volunteers to resurrect the garden.\u00a0 Incredibly, less than a year later, in July 2006, all the gardens were open once again.\u00a0 Now, visitors once again come to Longue Vue, which in 2007 embarked on a ten-year Landscape Renewal Plan.\u00a0 It has become a symbol of New Orleans’ resilience.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The lessons of Longue Vue are many–some more obvious than others.\u00a0 Too much water is just as bad for plants as too little.\u00a0 Even the worst devastation leaves a few survivors.\u00a0 Restoration is a lengthy process, but is also a perfect opportunity for growth and change.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The message about restoration is probably the most important to those of us with humbler, but equally well-loved gardens.\u00a0 Winter is fast approaching and it is possible that not all the restoration and clean-up chores will be done before spring.\u00a0 For now, do what you can and don’t worry about the rest.\u00a0 The garden is not going anywhere.\u00a0 If the weather truncates your efforts, use the “down time”\u009d to edit your garden plan.\u00a0 After all, every departed specimen provides a space for something new.\u00a0 And remember–not all the “dead”\u009d plants are really dead.\u00a0 You may be amazed at what comes up, renewed and refreshed, in March and April. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOST AND FOUND GARDENS \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Almost three weeks after the late October snowstorm that created havoc all up and down the East Coast and cost the region thousands of trees, my garden is still a mess.\u00a0 We are waiting for the tree company to come and remove a very large, downed limb that hovers over … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-winter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1510,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281\/revisions\/1510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}