Garden Delights from the 2012 Mansion in May

The Gentlewoman's Potting Table - A Living World Awaits

The Women’s Association of Morristown Medical Center has once again done a superb job on the 2012 Mansion in May. My favorites, of course, are the gardens and the landscape designers, have put together some clever and inspirational ideas for visitors to enjoy. While few of us have the space or the purse to reproduce their grand concepts in toto, these visual delights can be used as jumping-off points for even the most humble of gardens.

I tend to favor the moody spaces, such as Back to Nature’s A Living World Awaits and Cording Landscape Design’s Garden in the Glyn, where, in my imagination, I can slip right into the scene before me. But, there’s a garden for everyone here, from the very formal Tudor Rose Garden to the very casual Sports Court.

Don’t miss it. While you’re helping the Women’s Association raise funds for the new Inpatient Hospice and Palliative Care Center, you’ll glean some great ideas for your own backyard and meet some talented folks who can help you put it all together. The 2012 Mansion in May is open through May 31st . Photos are allowed in the gardens only.

The Home as Castle at the 2012 Mansion in May

Photo courtesy of Dan Chomuk of Cording Landscape Design

I missed the press event for this year’s Mansion in May, but am hoping to see it later this month. A designer showhouse and gardens presented by the Women’s Association of Morristown Medical Center, the setting is a spectacular castle near Morristown’s fabulous “Millionaire’s Row.”  Sixty landscape and interior designers have done a superb job and the $30 ticket price goes to support a good cause --- the new Inpatient Hospice and Palliative Care Center. The mansion and grounds, Glynallyn, are open now through May 31st.

Set on seven acres of terraced gardens the estate, named Glynallyn, is a 32,000 square foot manor home modeled after the English castle Compton Wynyates in Warwickshire England, a favorite of the British royal family. Glynallyn is listed on the National Register of Historical Places and is considered one of the most impressive examples of English Tudor architecture in the United States.

It was the brainchild of George Marshall Allen, a wealthy New York businessman His goal of creating a majestic home to resemble a weathered, 400-year old castle was achieved in part through his selection of old, irregularly shaped materials and by his insistence upon concealing anything that appeared modern, including the fire hoses that he hid behind carvings and doors on every floor.

Many of the artistic elements were imported from Europe, and most can still be seen today, including hundreds of magnificent stained glass windows, gargoyles, carved wood mantles and paneling, elaborately carved plaster moldings, and custom wrought iron lanterns crafted to look like London street lights.  Fans of “Downton Abbey” will notice many similarities to the home featured in that TV series.

But I especially look forward to seeing the 17 gardens nestled around the house. There’s always some clever idea that can be incorporated in my own garden, though of course, on a much more modest scale (see http://loisdevries.blogspot.com/2010/08/gardening-resolutions-midseason-check.html ) Hopefully, there will be something to add to my “garden design with spirit in mind” approach…..

It's wonderful to see the progress of the garden elements of The Mansion in May throughout the years. Specific vignettes from past shows have stuck in my mind and I return to them again and again for inspiration. These types of display gardens are a great resource for generating ideas and for finding a designer or landscape architect whose sense of style matches your own.

Thanks to all of the designers, publicists, and volunteers who share their time and expertise with me. For more details, go to http://www.mansioninmay.com . This year, the website boasts an interactive tour that shows “before” photos of each space, so you can plot out your favorite rooms in advance, if you wish.

Rethinking Depression: Tools to Cope With the Ups and Downs of Gardening

Gardeners can tick off a litany of potential reasons to get depressed: A copse of 60-year-old trees destroyed in an ice storm; house and garden vacuumed off the face of the earth by tornado; flooding by hurricane; seasonal drought; bee colony collapse disorder; whole forests decimated by alien insects; extensive flowerbeds destroyed by mold, fungi, or white-tailed deer; an entire season’s tomato harvest infected with blossom end-rot. Then there are the more personal reasons that interfere with our ability to garden: Arthritis, caring for infirm relatives; chronic disease; job loss; increased work demands; kid’s sports practice; volunteer commitments, etc.

Any of these events can generate frustration, disappointment, and sadness -- justifiably so. But there’s no need to let ourselves slip from sadness into depression. Dr. Eric Maisel’s new book Rethinking Depression offers an arsenal of tools to cope with the ups and downs of daily life, so that we will have enough energy and enthusiasm left to get on with our gardening.

Today I’m interviewing my writing coach, Dr. Maisel, a licensed psychologist who works with creative people.

 Lois: Eric, I see that your new book, Rethinking Depression, revisits your Ten Zen Seconds concept, which I have personally found very useful. Can you give gardeners a quick example of how they might turn to this combination of deep breathing and meaning-oriented thought to give themselves permission to garden even when the world seems to be crumbling around their ears?

Eric: The idea is to use a deep breath as a container for a thought and to marry the benefits of deep breathing with the benefits of right thinking. You think “half” a useful thought like “Time to garden!” on the inhale and the remaining half of the thought on the exhale. By using these breath-and-thought bundles (I call them incantations) you produce a simple technique that you can use to center yourself and motivate yourself. Here are a few meaning-oriented incantations that might serve you:

One is the incantation “I make my meaning.” The incantation “I make my meaning” alerts you to the fact that the psychological experience of meaning can arise spontaneously but that it can also be coaxed into existence by the choices you make and by the efforts you engage in; and especially by your value-based and principle-based efforts. You remind yourself of your ability to create meaning by breathing-and-thinking “I make my meaning.”

A second is the incantation “Meaning is a wellspring.” The incantation “meaning is a wellspring” announces that, since meaning is a psychological experience, there is an endless supply of it. For the non-believer, this never-ending source is the self. For the believer, this never-ending source is soul or spirit, a god or gods, Gaia or Universal Mind, or some other entity separate from the embodied self. However you arrive at your conclusion that meaning is available to you, you can remind yourself of your conclusion by breathing-and-thinking the incantation “meaning is a wellspring.”

Lois: Gardeners garden for a variety of reasons. It may constitute their work, as for professional landscape designers or installation contractors. They may want to grow their own food, in order to know where it’s been or what’s been sprayed on it. They may enjoy nurturing or collecting plants, reconnecting with Nature, or having the best-looking garden on the block. Can you suggest how folks with such a variety of motivations could approach negotiating each day? How they can avoid getting down on themselves on those days when the gardening they longed to do just doesn’t get done?

Eric: Regularity and routine are the watchwords for someone who wants to make daily meaning. You turn your gardening into a “practice,” in the sense that you “simply” attend to it each day. If you miss days, then you have the twin tasks of forgiving yourself and getting back on the horse as quickly as possible. Whatever reasons you have for gardening, if they are among your meaning-making activities then you want to announce that they matter to you and attend to them as if they matter to you.

Lois: Gardening is a very physical activity. By accident or age, gardeners can become disabled enough to have to rely on others to accomplish the “doing” for them. They may have to give up gardening altogether, when physical circumstances demand that they sell their home and their beloved garden and move into an apartment or assisted living facility. What advice do you have for gardeners who are faced with such a devastating loss?

Eric: We continue to make meaning by looking the facts of existence in the eye, including the facts of our own existence, and making the changes we need to make in order to continue making meaning. When Matisse could no longer paint, because of painful arthritis, he moved on to the cut-out collages that became as least as famous as his paintings. We do the next “right” thing – we have no choice but to take reality into account as we proceed with our meaning-making efforts.

Lois: Thanks Eric, I’m looking forward to your next book.

You can order any of Eric’s books, in print or Kindle, by clicking one of the links below.

Dr. Eric Maisel - Rethinking Depression

GUEST BLOG: On April 21st I will interview my writing coach, author Dr. Eric Maisel, about his book Rethinking Depression, which was recently released in paperback. It blows the lid off the need to label and medicate oneself as depressed just because life isn’t one continuous bed of roses. Gardening creatives can design a pathway that carries them through tough times by developing the deeper meaning that gardening holds for them.

Rethinking Depression is available in paperback or Kindle.

Tribute To Emma 5B, My Constant Gardening Companion

Our beloved Black Lab Emma lost her battle with Canine Cushing’s disease on February 1, 2012, just one day after her 11th birthday. While all dogs are special, Emma 5B was not your usual dog.

For those who may be wondering, Emma 5A (aka Baby Emma) died of an illness that couldn’t be diagnosed and lived only 6 months. We grieved for 6 months longer. Perhaps we really never got over it, because we named the new pup Emma 5B feeling that Baby Emma had not had enough time to use her number up.

One of my fondest memories is bringing Emma 5B home, with her “kissing” my cheek the entire way. The same ‘kissie’ she gave me on her last day. She was a faithful companion, pure of heart, generous of spirit, and foster mom to four Seeing Eye puppies: Harriet, Okra, Christine, and Odina.

She did most of the heavy lifting with these pups, giving them lots of play time and affection, and going through their paces with them by illustrating each command. I like to say that she was bilingual, since she understood her own set of commands, as well as those of The Seeing Eye. We find consolation in knowing that these four puppies all carry a part of her with them.

Emma 5B was the only dog I ever knew that had a sense of humor, exemplified by her game, “Free Trade.” Puppies learn what you teach them, but not always what you intend to teach them! I had read in a dog-training book that when your puppy steals an inappropriate item, such as a shoe, you should calmly take the article away and hand them an acceptable dog toy, in this case a squeaky frog. Emma 5B caught on quickly.

A few days later, we opened the closet door to find “Froggie” on the floor. Missing in action was one of Dan’s shoes. What Emma 5B had actually learned was, when she wanted to take a shoe, she had to trade her most prized possession for it.

There were many incarnations of Froggie and when I discovered the toy was no longer being made (what WERE they thinking?), I went to all of the pet stores within 25 miles and bought every one I could find. Froggie was there at Emma’s memorial service.

Several weeks after her death, I realized that Emma 5B and I had spent 24 hours a day together for 11 years. Shortly after she arrived, I had returned to working from home. And, just as Emma 4 had been a Daddy’s Girl Carpenter Dog, Emma 5B became Mommy’s Girl Gardener Dog. She ensured that I was never lonely in the garden and moved from place to place with me, found a comfortable spot to lie down, and was content to garden by observation.

Being the good dog that she was, she never dug up plants from the flowerbeds, being happy just to survey her kingdom from the front porch and the back yard. We spent many pleasant hours outdoors together.

In time, the chronic Cushing’s required extra exercise, in order to stave off muscle loss in her back legs. Our gardening together gave way to long walks in the park. Despite her illness, she kept up an energetic pace that I could barely match. I was thankful that I could provide her with an experience that brought her so much joy. On weekends, these walks became a family outing, with Dan and Odina following behind us.

Happy memories still bring tears for the empty space in our lives without her, but we know that our loving thoughts and open hearts light her path home.

While it’s hard to make the transition, we’re looking forward to Emma 6’s arrival over Easter weekend. She has some mighty big pawprints to fill, but we’re sure she’ll be up to the task.

For more pictures of Emma 5B in the garden and The Seeing Eye puppies, or to read about planning ahead for dogs in your garden, go to: http://loisdevries.blogspot.com/2009/02/plan-ahead-for-dogs-in-garden.html

How To Plot The Perfect 2012 Gardening Resolutions - 3

Finally, always keep something in the kitty for unexpected opportunities. Readers familiar with the story of my Kwan Yin statue (click here) will not be surprised to hear that one of this year’s Christmas presents to ourselves was a carved stone entwined fish fountain that I’ve been looking at for three or four years. Now that the front garden is protected by deer fence, the fountain has a major role to play there.

We also purchased a sitting female Buddha made of volcanic rock. Her appearance is so serene that she has yet to make it outdoors into the garden. For the time being, she rests in a spot that I pass multiple times per day, reminding me to meditate, breathe deeply, and relax.

For us, the next big project is an experiment in growing vegetables in the Grow Camp a hybrid between a cold frame and a full-fledged greenhouse. As much as I’ve always wanted one, a greenhouse just doesn’t seem practical and I balk at the idea of having another house to keep clean and bug-free. This should keep me busy, rotating cold-weather and warm-weather “crops” and seeing how far into the fall we can still harvest fresh veggies.

We’ll re-evaluate the spot we initially chose for the new fish fountain and, if it’s the right one, get it up and running.

There are still lots of cedar trees to be moved out of my flower bed and into the woods inside the deer fence, to provide a visual screen. We’ll assess the progress of the roses, clematis, and sea holly that we planted in front of the propane screen and, later in the season, get back to our mass bulb planting project along the driveway.

Seems like more than enough for one growing season.

How To Plot The Perfect 2012 Gardening Resolutions - 2

Brush pile teepee bird habitat

Spring cleaning in the garden can be immensely satisfying and provide a big visual payoff for a weekend of labor. But don’t start too early. You want to avoid compacting the earth by making multiple trips across a soggy lawn or flowerbeds.

This is also the time to build brush pile habitats in out-of-the-way places. This is an easy-to-do project that even the kids will love. Gather up unwanted saplings and fallen branches and loosely pile them up, alternating the direction of the layers. Birds and small mammals will take shelter and feed here. If your property is challenged for space, try assembling the brush pile in the form of a teepee and plant pole beans, squash, morning glories, clematis, ivy, or other vines to make it do double duty. 

Cut up fallen trees and limbs for fences or firewood, and stack them for later use. If it will be a while before you get to the reuse project, be sure to “stick” the wood to ensure air circulation and keep the wood from rotting.

Next, identify at least one project that will have a major impact on how the garden looks, how you use the space, or how you feel when you’re in the garden. This should be the thing that makes your heart sing. It will provide the siren song that lures you outdoors and carries you along when nothing else will.

Start the gardening resolution process by selecting no more than one major project or purchase, deciding whether it can be a diy project, or require hired help, and figuring out a budget. List four or five maintenance jobs and assign a completion date for each. Gather your books and plant catalogs together and start a wish list for trees, shrubs, perennials, edibles, and annuals.

--More next time--