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SAVE THE INSECTS — AND THE WORLD!

July 29, 2019/4 Comments/in Plants & Horticulture, Public Spaces /by mturner

Ok, that sounds a bit cheeky, but it is not an exaggeration. We need a robust insect population to survive. Why am I writing about the importance of insects on a garden design blog? Because the world’s insect population has fallen precipitously in recent years, and those of us who garden can do our part to help restore the balance.

Insects are critical to the earth’s ecosystem in many ways. First, as pollinators, they are a necessary part of food production. At least a third of all agricultural crops are dependent on insect pollination for production. Strawberries, apples, and tomatoes are just a few of the foods reliant on insect pollination.

Perennials that draw pollinating insects are planted alongside vegetables in Gravetye Manor’s kitchen garden.

Second, they are a tasty and essential part of the diets of many birds, fish and animals.

A Great Blue Heron hangs out along the Capital Trees Low Line. Herons eat fish, and fish eat insects.

Third, as Professor Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson writes in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), “among the essential services that insects perform for us and the planet is waste management. As life ends for plants and animals of all sizes, from midges to moose, somebody or something has to break up and eliminate the dead organic matter. It might not be a hotshot job, but the processes of decomposition and decay are critical to life on Earth.”

A butterfly feeds on a rotting fig.

Insects will contribute to the necessary decomposition of the apples that fall to the ground. Rampisham Hill Farm, Dorset, England.

Here are a few fascinating statistics cited by Sverdrup-Thygeson, a professor of conservation biology at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, and the author of the book Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Bugs :

While humans have doubled our population in the past 40 years, the number of insects has been reduced by almost half, according to a 2014 report in the journal Science.
Three quarters of all known plant and animal species on this planet are insects. Those giant quantities help to keep nature in balance, so anything that affects them ultimately affects us.
Herbivores eat just 10% of all plant production. 90% is left lying on the ground — impressive amounts of protein and carbohydrates in need of recycling. Insects eat the rotten remains, which not only clears the ground of dead plants and animals, but also returns the nutrients to the soil. Without it, new life could not grow.

Shrubs, trees, and wildflowers border this field, providing pollinators for the crops, shelter and food for birds and wildlife, and erosion control to protect streams.

WHAT WE CAN DO TO HELP

Plant more trees, shrubs, vines and perennials on your property. Shoot for making a large percentage of those plants native, as those are the plants our native insects rely on. Reduce the amount of mown lawn, and increase planting beds and meadows. Consider planting fewer “double” flower cultivars, as these tend to contain little nectar, and are difficult for pollinators to access. Leave as many wild, undisturbed areas as possible to support wildlife.

Native Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) spread under a Crapemyrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.

This four-season border at Dumbarton Oaks includes native and non-native perennials, and, importantly, provides nectar, pollen, food, and shelter year- round.

Native Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor) and Sensitive Fern (Onoclea sensibilis) are planted in a large swath.

The owner of this Little Compton, Rhode Island garden limits the amount of mowed lawn, allowing meadow to grow along the edge of Brigg’s Marsh, which filters pollutants, limits erosion, and attracts and protects insects.

Perennials and grasses are cultivated in a meadow planting at Sakonnet Garden. Owners John Gwynne and Mikel Folcarelli continuously study and experiment with the best methods of providing a biodiverse habitat for specific species of birds native to the area.

2. Reconsider what it means to have a cultivated garden. For those who love a manicured garden, try to throw a little caution to the wind and become a bit less tidy. Do not cut back perennials and grasses until late winter or early spring,and leave as many wild, undisturbed areas as possible, allowing wildlife to use the plants for shelter, food and nesting material.

Capital Trees leaves the native Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium purpureum) throughout the winter along the Low Line and at Great Shiplock Park in the rain garden.

Members of the Groundworks RVA Green Team cut back the Joe Pye Weed and grasses in the rain garden at Great Shiplock Park in late winter.

Capital One employees volunteer their time with Capital Trees to cut back shrubs and perennials in late winter. Capital Trees leaves most plants unpruned throughout the fall and winter to provide food, shelter and nesting material for wildlife at Great Shiplock Park and the Low Line.

3. Cease or minimize the use of pesticides. Many of you have heard me say that I’m a Darwinist gardener. I began as such because I just didn’t have the time or inclination to deal with high-maintenance plants that could not thrive without my special attention or intervention. As it turns out, my laziness paid off, as this is also the most environmentally sound way to garden. Pesticides are not selective. They kill whatever they come into contact with. Spray a plant to kill one pest (or the entire property to kill mosquitos), and you kill other species that come into contact with the poison, thus affecting the entire ecosystem.

Bees feast on a Poppy in the Gravetye Manor kitchen garden.

Gravetye Manor leaves the fields unmowed throughout the growing season, cutting a path near the water’s edge.

4. For those with larger properties, including farms, offset the monoculture of crops by allowing wide buffers to border the fields, and increase the amount of land dedicated to meadows, hedgerows, verges or tree canopy.

Flora and Ed allow grasses and wildflowers to grow through much of their property in Lasham, England. Flora owns a cooking school on the property and grows some of the food used for her delicious meals.

5. If your property includes woodlands, allow some fallen trees and branches to decay, providing homes for insects.

Woodland plants grow alongside the decaying tree stumps in Sakonnet Garden.

6. Encourage your locality and state to increase conservation and wilderness areas; to plant more shrubs, trees and perennials in public parks and increase the matrix of green spaces throughout the city and region; to join the verge movement, by decreasing the frequency of mowing in roads’ rights-of-way during the growing season.

Native Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia) grows at the edge of the CSX viaduct along the Capital Trees Low Line and Virginia Capital Trail.

Perennials and native trees grow along the Capital Trees Low Line and Virginia Capital Trail in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom.

James River Association’s Amber Ellis leads a group of volunteers planting native woodland perennials at the James River Park System’s Chapel Island. JRA and Capital Trees work with the JRPS Invasive Plant Task Force to restore native habitat throughout the James River Park System.

In England, Plantlife is leading the charge to encourage localities to allow roadside verges to go unmown duirng the growing season. Let’s do the same in our own localities. It saves the government money and increases the amount of public space providing wildlife habitat.

How cool is this insect house at Sakonnet Garden? By using a variety of materials, the insect house (also called an insect hotel) attracts a wide range of insects.

You can just see the wheels turning as Hylah Boyd, who forwarded me the Sverdrup-Thygeson article, surveys the landscape. The Capital Trees Board member has recommended that boy scouts and other volunteer groups build insect houses in Richmond’s parks and public landscapes. Capital Trees is exploring the possibility of building one along the Low Line.

In conclusion, I again quote Sverdrup-Thygeson: “high biological diversity makes ecosystems more resistant and resilient. . . A varied global landscape provides many more opportunities for the flourishing of complex insect life — and everything that depends on it, including us.”

Let’s do our part to make sure that we can continue to enjoy fantastical steel dandelions (at the Royal Horticulture Society’s Wisley Garden) as well as nature’s version.

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AN AUTUMN STROLL THROUGH GEORGETOWN’S DUMBARTON OAKS

December 1, 2015/4 Comments/in Featured Gardens, Landscape Design, Public Spaces /by mturner

Visiting Dumbarton Oaks is always a treat, but last October, a walk through the grounds was particularly special as I got to tag along with Lynden Miller (left, below) and Gail Griffin (right, below). The two long-time friends are icons in the world of American landscape gardening.

New York City public landscape designer Lynden Miller rescued and restored Central Park’s Conservatory Garden, among many other public gardens. I wrote about Lynden’s inspiring work and her influence on the public spaces movement in Richmond in a prior blog post. On this cold rainy fall day, Lynden delivered a fascinating lecture to the Dumbarton Oaks Fellows about Beatrix Farrand, the landscape gardener who designed the Dumbarton Oaks gardens. After her lecture, Lynden and I joined Gail Griffin, Director of Gardens and Grounds at Dumbarton Oaks, for a stroll through the gardens.

After a day spent on the grounds, it was clear to me that Gail is a beloved member of the Dumbarton Oaks family. She values and appreciates the many and varied contributions of her talented staff. Moreover, she deftly balances the sensitive and complex goals of preserving the design intent of Farrand and Mildred Bliss, while embracing the living landscape as it changes through the ages, the seasons, the days.

Under Gail’s leadership, the vegetable garden has been reinstated and enlarged. Over time she and her staff have added new vegetables, and new plant supports for the climbers and twiners.

The cold and rain does not slow down the dedicated gardeners, who keep the garden looking

healthy and vibrant all four seasons.

Japanese Anemone (Anemone japonica, above) blooms prolifically as the leaves fall.

Griffin considers stormwater management and erosion control to be priorities for the Garden in coming years. She would like the pools and fountains to recirculate and she would like to capture and reuse more rainwater.

A seat in thyme . . .

The rain accentuates the intricate branching of this Yew, above,

and the exfoliating bark of the tree (Lacebark Elm (Ulmus parvifolia)?) below.

Thousands of Johnny Jump Ups and Pansies await planting. I learned from Lynden and Gail that

Johnny-Jump-Ups are hardier than pansies.

In her lecture, Lynden noted that Farrand felt strongly that aesthetics are an important part of an intellectual life. Farrand, the Blisses, Gail and scores of others have created, nurtured and strengthened the Garden over the last century for those who come by the thousands to this special place along Rock Creek Park.

The beauty of Dumbarton Oaks speaks to all of the senses on this cool, wet October afternoon. As Gail said in an oral history interview, “People seem to see a spirit here, it’s almost an abundance, a tranquility. It’s a life lifted up to a higher level.” Amen.

HISTORIC GARDEN WEEK 2015: LOTS TO DO

April 22, 2015/3 Comments/in Public Spaces /by mturner

Historic Garden Week, presented by the Garden Club of Virginia since 1927, is underway in Richmond. We’ve ordered up some gorgeous weather, so call in sick, grab a buddy, tie up your mucky shoes and see some fabulous gardens.

Wednesday’s tour is the Hermitage Road area. Most of the homes in this Ginter Park neighborhood were built in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Wrenford, above, was built in 1896.

While you’re out that way, grab a burger at Roy’s Big Burger (make it part of a picnic at nearby Bryan Park), then head down the street to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden to see the Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica), above, and thousands of blooming bulbs, trees, shrubs and perennials.

Also open Wednesday is Westover Plantation, built by the Byrd family in the eighteenth century. If you’re up for a relaxing drive along a country road, head east on Route 5 to see one of the finest examples of Georgian architecture in the United States.
If you loved your drive east to Westover, turn around and head west to Tuckahoe Plantation, the boyhood home of Thomas Jefferson. Tuckahoe is open Wednesday through Friday as part of the Richmond tour. Mr. Jefferson would be proud that the Thompson family has lovingly restored and cultivated the gardens, providing a feast for the eyes and many lessons for nature lovers and experts.

Thursday’s tour is of the homes and gardens on Kingcrest Parkway, just a stone’s throw from the corner of Malvern and Grove. While touring the homes, take note of the spectacular arrangements created by members of the Boxwood, James River, Three Chopt and Tuckahoe garden clubs. I’ll share more of these arrangements in a later blog post. To see some past Garden Week arrangements, visit my prior blogs.

Friday’s tour takes place along the Cary Street corridor. Robin Hill, above, originally was a farm overlooking the James River. Eventually, some of the property was sold off and developed as the Hillcrest neighborhood, but four and a half acres were preserved, and now contain extensive brick and stone pathways, allees, perennial and shrub borders water features and secret gardens.

After checking off all those homes and gardens on your Green Ticket, go grab a beer in Shockoe Bottom, then check out the 15,000 Daffodils (with a river of Bluebells running through them) along Dock Street. Capital Trees planted the bulbs along the Virginia Capital Trail, after working with the Virginia Capital Trail Foundation to renovate Great Shiplock Park just to the East. Stay tuned to hear about more exciting plans for this area in the near future.

HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY’S HERITAGE ROSES

March 11, 2014/1 Comment/in Plants & Horticulture, Public Spaces /by mturner

Richmond’s historic Hollywood Cemetery, renowned for being the resting place for many notable Virginians, is also home to a vast collection of heritage roses, many with fascinating histories of their own. I first became acquainted with Hollywood’s roses in 2011, when I worked with fellow members of the James River Garden Club (JRGC) to update Hollywood’s Notable Tree and Rose Map. James River’s Evie Scott, Hollywood general manager David Gilliam and Van Yahres Associates, a site design firm in Charlottesville that advises Hollywood on its legacy trees, led the endeavor.

Connie believes the Goodall Rose is ‘Radiance’, a hybrid tea.

Fast forward to the summer of 2012, when Kelly Wilbanks, Executive Director of Friends of Hollywood, turned her attention to the roses. Kelly understands both the historic and horticultural importance of the roses to the cemetery. Determined to find someone with rose knowledge to help her at Hollywood, she attended a Richmond Rose Society meeting. Kelly says, “I wasn’t even sure what help meant and had no idea where it might lead or what it might produce.”

‘Cecile Brunner’ climbing rose envelopes the Harrison monument

Happily for Kelly, Connie HIlker, owner of Hartwood Roses in Spotsylvania County, was at the meeting, and immediately jumped at the chance to help. Kelly discovered that Connie had been studying, documenting and propagating Hollywood’s roses for several years (see Connie’s blogs on the Hollywood roses). Talk about a fortuitous meeting! Kelly had found an expert who already knew Hollywood’s roses as old friends, and Connie would be able to continue the work she had begun, but now she would do so in conjunction with Hollywood’s leadership.

The ‘Howe Rose’ is an unidentified Tea rose

Since that meeting, Connie has worked with Hollywood Grounds Supervisor Donald Toney to locate and identify over 100 heritage roses in the cemetery, and devise a maintenance and conservation schedule. The identification includes noting the class, growth habits and present condition of each rose. Connie very kindly took the time to identify for this post several Hollywood roses.

Connie has not yet identified the Larus Rose, but it is one of her favorites.

My next brush with Hollywood’s roses came while touring the grounds of Tufton Farm and Monticello that fall with JRGC. At Tufton (home to the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants), I learned the intriguing history of ‘Champneys Pink Cluster’ Noisette. The name rang a bell, because I had come across the rose while doing the research for the updated Notable Tree and Rose Map at Hollywood.

‘Champneys Pink Cluster’ rose in Hollywood Cemetery

‘Champneys Pink Cluster’ Rose is credited as the first Noisette. I had always assumed that, given its name, Noisette’s heritage was French. Not so! In the early 1800‘s John Champneys, president of the South Carolina Horticultural Society, crossed the white musk cluster rose (Rosa moschata) and the ever-blooming ‘Old Blush’ China rose to produce ‘Champneys Pink Cluster’, with clusters of pale pink flowers that bloomed throughout the season.

‘Champneys Pink Cluster’ rose at Tufton Farm in Albemarle County

Champneys shared cuttings with Long Island nursery owner William Prince (who provided many plants to Jefferson) and with his Charleston neighbor, Pillippe Noisette. Noisette, son of head gardener to Louis XVI (Phillipe came to America to avoid the French Revolution), produced his own seedlings, labeled them ‘Blush’ and shipped some to his gardener brother Louis Noisette in Paris. There, Louis Noisette produced several varieties from the Champneys cross, and this class became known as Noisette. While Mr. Champneys was not credited with the creation of a new repeat blooming cluster class of roses, he will always be lauded by rosarians for initiating the beloved Noisette class.

At Tufton farm, ‘Champneys’ is grown on these good looking, simple, rustic supports

After touring Tufton, we popped over to neighboring Monticello. There, Peggy Cornett, director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants, drew our attention to Rosa moschata, or musk rose (a parent of ‘Champneys’). In 1985, rose rustler Marie Butler discovered the musk, thought to be extinct, in Hollywood’s Crenshaw plot. In 1998, Peggy, Douglas Seidel and Diane Lowe discovered a musk at The Recess at Bremo plantation. The Bremo Musk has since been dated to 1815. The musk now growing at Monticello was subsequently propagated from the Bremo Musk. Extensive research was done by many, including Cornett, Seidel and Butler (recounted in a paper published by the Southern Garden History Association), in an attempt to find a link between the Bremo Musk and the Crenshaw Rose, but no connection has been made. As Butler stated, “the discovery of the musk rose in America retains its aura of mystery.”

I apologize for this woefully inadequate and brief attempt to summarize the complex history of these roses. Meticulous and fascinating research has been done by Cornett, Seidel, Butler and others. That research spans over four centuries, features Jefferson’s pursuit of the musk and follows the trail from Charlottesville to Long Island, Chesterfield, Hillsborough, Charlotte and, of course, Hollywood. For anyone interested in a fascinating example of the intersection of American history and botanical history, I recommend that you begin your exploration with Monticello, the Heritage Rose Foundation and the Southern Garden History Association.

James River Garden Club member Helen Scott Reed inspects the Musk Rose growing near Monticello’s portico.

Meanwhile, back at Hollywood . . . Kelly and Connie took the next step toward restoring the historic roses to their former glory. They held the inaugural Hollywood Rose Volunteer Workshop on a blustery day last March. Connie gave each group of 3 or 4 volunteers a list of assigned roses, a location map and instructions for specific pruning requirements for each plant.

Stephen Scaniello and Anne Call pruning the legendary Crenshaw Rose

Anxious to follow up on our rose mapping project, curious to learn more about the roses, and excited to take part in such an ambitious and worthy horticultural and preservation effort, I came raring to go. I will be forever indebted to Kelly for grabbing me and teaming me up with Peter Toms, the delightful Chairman of Friends of Hollywood, Stephen Scaniello, president of the Heritage Rose Foundation and former director of the famed Cranford Rose Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and volunteer Anne Call.

Stephen, Anne and Peter Toms admire their handiwork on the Crenshaw Rose.

And then the day got even better — Connie assigned our group the task of pruning the cemetery’s most celebrated rose. Yes, the rose Peggy Cornett told us about at Monticello: the Crenshaw Rose! As reported by Peter in the Friends of Hollywood Newsletter, Stephen advised us, “think about what you are cutting and what it will look like when you do. Take your time. Have in mind the shape you ultimately want to achieve, and the height. This is a cluster-flowered rose. In fact, it is the ‘mother of all cluster-flowering roses.’” We tamed that mother on that chilly March day!

My visit to Hollywood in late May last year was a little early to capture the Crenshaw Rose in its peak glory.

Check out the abundance of buds on the Crenshaw Rose!

Hollywood is holding its second annual rose volunteer work day this Saturday, March 15. If you love Hollywood’s history and grounds or are a passionate gardener who likes to roll up your sleeves, I highly recommend spending the day giving the historic roses some much appreciated love and care. Contact Kelly Wilbanks, kwilbanks@hollywoodcemetery.org for more information.

The bright red of this rose, possibly a ‘Crimson Rambler’, stands out against the soft new growth of the Boxwood.

In closing, I’ll leave you with a few pruning tips from Stephen Scaniello’s A Year of Roses:

Remove dead and diseased wood. Canes with unusual dicooration or severe looking blotches should be removed.

Remove weak, spindly canes and crossing branches from the center of the plant to allow air to circulate the plant.

The Doswell Rose is an unidentified ‘Alba’.

Shorten remaining canes, making each cut about a quarter inch above a bud eye (the swelling red point located along the cane). These buds develop into new branches that will produce a flower. Because the new growth grows in the direction of the bud eye, be sure to make your cuts above outward facing buds.

An ‘Old Blush’ rose by Presidents Circle thrives. Some bushes in this area have perished in recent years.

CENTRAL PARK’S CONSERVATORY GARDEN IS A MODEL FOR RICHMOND

August 14, 2013/1 Comment/in Featured Gardens, Landscape Design, Plants & Horticulture, Public Spaces /by mturner

Central Park’s Conservatory Garden in East Harlem (named for the conservatory that inhabited the space from 1899 to 1934) was restored to its former glory, thanks in large part to the vision and tenacity of Lynden Miller. Her work to transform the crime-ridden, overgrown eyesore at the north end of Central Park was so successful that she moved on to restore many other public parks.

Richmond is undergoing an exciting transformation. Richmond legend Mike Hughes wrote a moving and motivational column about it recently in the Richmond Times Dispatch. Artists are transforming Broad Street into an arts district; the design industry is turning Shockoe Bottom into a design destination; outdoor enthusiasts continue to revitalize the riverfront. Capital Trees, a non-profit organization near and dear to my heart, is working with many civic, professional and business partners to support and accelerate this renaissance by tapping into the enormous potential of our parks and other public spaces, with the goal of making them beautiful, inviting and functional urban landscapes.

I blogged a few months ago about New York public garden designer Lynden Miller’s visit to Richmond in January at the invitation of Capital Trees and Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. She galvanized her audience to dream big and join in the revitalization work already underway.

On a cold rainy winter day, Lynden toured some of Capital Trees’ greening projects at various levels of inspiration and completion. We also proudly showed her our beautiful and vast city parks. At every turn, Lynden asked, where are the gardens?

Scott Ukrop and Jill Nolt of 3north show Lynden the plans Jill drafted for renovation of Great Shiplock Park.

She invited me to visit her in New York City to tour the public gardens she has restored, believing those projects would hold lessons for us as we roll up our sleeves in Richmond.

Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) is Lynden’s signature plant. She uses it liberally in her gardens. Its spring and summer blooms, brilliant fall foliage and exfoliating bark give it year-round interest.

Wow, what an opportunity! I called Ashley Wallace — always up for an adventure — and we road-tripped to Manhattan in June. We met Lynden in the Central Park Conservatory Garden’s North Garden, where we found her hard at work with her committed volunteers.

Lynden and the volunteers plant the Conservatory Garden’s North Garden borders with thousands of Korean Chrysanthemums. The Chrysanthemums were first planted in the garden in 1943, and are still propagated — now by the New York Botanical Garden — using a color selection program that yields the masterful blend of colors on display in October.

This post has the twin goals of showing off the beautiful public spaces restored by Lynden and sharing Lynden’s advice — amassed through years of working in the trenches — for how Richmond can succeed in making (and keeping) our public spaces just as beautiful and beloved by our community.

This Magnolia Soulangeana (Saucer Magnolia) is original to the Conservatory Garden, which opened in 1937. The garden was designed by Betty Sprout and Gilmore Clarke. In contrast to the naturalistic style of the rest of Central Park (designed by Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux in 1857), the Conservatory Garden reflected the formal design principles of Europe’s renaissance gardens.

FIRST PRINCIPLE: A BEAUTIFUL PARK IS A SAFE PARK

Lynden’s mentor was urban planner William Hollingsworth (Holly) Whyte, who extensively studied how people use public spaces. He counseled Lynden that making parks attractive to as many people as possible drives away criminals. In her book, Parks, Plants and People, Lynden cites a German study that found that the safest places in cities are beautiful outdoor spaces that are well planted and well maintained. This is, of course, common sense, but it is usually not a high priority for cash-strapped cities.

Madison Square Park has become the centerpiece of the Flatiron District. Danny Meyer, owner of Union Square Cafe, sought out Lynden Miller to help revitalize the park, knowing that a beautiful park would attract lots of people, who would in turn attract and support thriving businesses. If you visit Madison Square Park, be sure to grab a sandwich at Mario Batali’s Eataly and bring it back to the park for a picnic, as we did.

Whyte also insisted that a park will only feel safe if the view into and out of the park is not blocked. Lynden put this principle to work in the parks she restored by pruning overgrown hedges and using “see through” wrought iron fences to invite people in while giving the parks a sense of enclosure and definition.

In the Conservatory Garden, the Stewartia pseudocamellia is underplanted with Lacecap Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) and Shrub Roses (Rosa, spp.). In the background is a wrought iron fence, allowing passers-by on the street to see the gardens.

: Regular maintenance has the same effect. Professional gardeners and committed groups of volunteers, who wear t-shirts identifying them as such, are fixtures at Madison Square Park and the Conservatory Garden. Their day-to-day presence drives out crime.

This member of the Madison Square Staff also gardens at Strawberry Fields, the memorial to John Lennon in Central Park.

Before its restoration, the walls and steps leading up to the Conservatory Garden’s pergola were covered in graffiti. The Central Park Conservancy removes graffiti within 24 hours of finding it. This practice has led to a decrease in vandalism in the park.

Ashley and Lynden stand under the Conservatory Garden’s iron pergola. Wisteria winds through the pergola, creating a spectacular display in spring directly across from the North Garden’s Vanderbilt Gate entrance.

SECOND PRINCIPLE: FILL THE PARK WITH PLANTS

Urban planners often leave out one crucial ingredient to a successful public space: an abundance of lush plantings. Whether the omission is an aesthetic choice or a more practical decision grounded in an understandable concern about long-term maintenance of a garden, it occurs on a regular basis.

Hydrangea, including this Lacecap, form dramatic sweeps in the vast shrub beds bordering Madison Square Park.

Before meeting Lynden, Holly Whyte did not consider plants to be one of the crucial elements of a successful public park. But after witnessing the plantings Lynden installed in her public commissions, he agreed that they are indeed integral. “As he looked out over thousands of flowers blooming, mothers sitting with their babies, lovers strolling, office workers having lunch, and school groups passing through, . . . he said, ‘I should have thought of horticulture when I made my list of elements for successful urban places. You must make it part of the mix from now on.'”

Clematis winds through the branches of a Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica).

The Madison Square Park Conservancy presents contemporary art exhibits in the park. Here, pink Astilbe pops with artist Orly Grenger’s bright blue nautical rope installation in the background.

Intrinsic to the horticultural principle is the importance of increasing the urban tree canopy and incorporating beautiful moisture-tolerant plants to absorb storm water. In every Richmond project, Capital Trees advocates planting site-appropriate trees and capturing stormwater in lushly planted rain gardens, thus protecting our beloved James River from harmful runoff.

view of skyscapers through tree canopy queen's?

Pocket parks like the Queen Elizabeth II September 11 Garden are a welcome refuge from the surrounding steel towers. This garden memorializes the British citizens who lost their lives in the September 11 terrorist attacks. Lynden collaborated with British Landscape Architects on the plant design.

THIRD PRINCIPLE: GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT (AND A SENSE OF OWNERSHIP)

Lynden stresses that the most successful public parks are designed after consulting with the people who will use them. Many city parks sit abandoned and covered with graffiti because they do not offer amenities important to the surrounding neighborhoods.

School and daycare groups visit the Conservatory Garden on a regular basis.

Case in point: The 97th Street Pocket Park. Long ignored because of its location north of the tony portion of Park Avenue, the 97th Street Pocket Park (affectionately referred to as the DMZ before its restoration) was finally given funding for a renovation after neighbors lobbied the city. 97th Street is the only park Lynden restored that does not include a maintenance budget. She relies on volunteers to keep the park healthy and beautiful, and they do, because they fought for it and have a stake in it.

For years, the city placed Chirstmas trees along Park Avenue, stopping short of the park at 96th Street, thus giving residents in Lynden’s neighborhood the message that they were not important. Lynden threatened that she would not work on the park unless the city continued the trees to the park. They complied.

Richmond has had mixed success in addressing its residents’ needs and wants for its parks. The Monroe Park Conservancy has been working with VCU and the City for 10 years to develop a plan that will appeal to students’ everyday use and to groups seeking to hold events, while respecting the park’s history as being welcome to those in need. When building new trails on Chapel Island, James River Parks manager Nathan Burrell took into consideration the many access points used by fishermen, not wanting to discourage their continued use. Byrd Park’s Vita Course is hugely popular with its neighbors, and the Carillon field is frequently used for a variety of games. John McGuire creatively uses all of the Richmond parks for his Sealteam PT workouts, taking advantage of bridges, rocks, walls, trails, and sunrises to give his members challenging and memorable workouts.

However, many parks and public spaces in downtown Richmond (Brown’s Island and the Capitol excepted) sit derelict and unused, just waiting for renovation to provide the thousands of workers overlooking these parks a green oasis amidst the concrete, steel and asphalt. Just think: if the former Reynolds Metals plant at the corner of 10th and Byrd Streets (recently marketed for development as a high rise) was instead purchased by businesses in the vicinity and converted to a park, it would open up vistas from downtown to the canal and provide a green respite, luring workers to the historic canals, and consequently attracting retailers and restaurants and increasing property values for surrounding residences and businesses.

Perhaps developers will see the value in renovating the crumbling Kanawha Plaza, using Holly Whyte’s and Lynden’s principles, creating a park to complement the soon-to-be-built high rise and giving its tenants and the surrounding neighbors a lush green-space to enjoy.

New York has created Business Improvement Districts, where funds are collected from business property owners surrounding (and thus using and gaining enjoyment from) public parks. The funds are used to enhance and maintain the parks.

FOURTH PRINCIPLE: AMENITIES

Wide walkways and lots of seating are essential elements in a public space.

The spectacular Crabapple allee provides plenty of room to stroll and plenty of benches (modeled on the 1939 World’s Fair benches) upon which to relax.

Major walkways should be wide enough to allow ample room for walkers, runners and strollers. Secondary paths should be sufficient to allow traffic to flow with ease in both directions.

Although a small pocket park, the Queen’s Garden gives its neighbors beautiful plants, wide paths, plenty of seating, a canopy for shade and a nod to history. The park in Hanover Square is special to Lynden because her ancestor Susannah Rutgers Marshall, one of the only female business owners in the Eighteenth Century, owned Hanover Square. During a visit to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Lynden was surprised to come face to face with Susannah’s portrait!

One of the most important amenities is also one of the most neglected: seating. Whether benches, seat walls, steps, lawns or chairs, they welcome a visitor to stay.

Large screens are brought into Madison Square Park during the U.S. Open, and hundreds of people gather during the work day to catch some of the action. Lynden sees Madison Square Park as a model for Richmond’s Monroe Park.

Probably the most questioned piece of advice that Lynden gives is to provide parks with moveable chairs. Holly Whyte found that people crave the feeling of control that comes with the ability to pick up a chair and move it to a desired location. He revolutionized urban parks when he introduced thousands of moveable chairs to New York’s Bryant Park. The city found that well-used parks did not suffer many chair thefts (yes there were a few), and the plan included a small percentage of extras to replace those that did go missing.

The sculpture of The Secret Garden’s Mary and Dillon in the center of a pool at the Conservatory Garden is the perfect backdrop for the scores of children who come to sit on the benches for story time. Dillon’s gentle lesson of nature’s transformative power on people is practiced every day in this special place.

While food is not a crucial element to public spaces, its inclusion is a huge draw. The day I was at Madison Square Park, lines at the Shake Shack stretched 100 yards. It’s not always practical for a city park to accommodate a food vendor. However, a bustling park will attract business to the surrounding area, including eateries.

Allium (Ornamental Onion) stand in line at the Shake Shack.

Small cafes, bars and coffee shops have sprung up around the Queen’s Garden. Urban gardens increase property values of surrounding businesses and residences.

We are at a crucial juncture in Richmond. We’ve been named the best river city in the nation, and we will be visited in two years by hundreds of thousands of cycling fans. Are we going to be ready for those visitors? Are we going to ride this momentum and make our historic city a welcoming green urban refuge?

The city is full of talented individuals, committed organizations and engaged businesses. We need to join together with our local government to cut through the red tape, reduce the bureaucratic road blocks and ensure that city ordinances and rules work to aid and entice, not inhibit, the realization of our city’s potential.

Lynden’s visit in January gave us hope that we can succeed as she has in New York. During Lynden’s visit to Richmond, local design professionals, city representatives, neighborhood and environmental groups, college representatives and business leaders gathered to discuss with Lynden current greening projects in Richmond. The meeting was so successful that Randee Humphrey at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden now organizes bi-monthly “Beautiful RVA” meetings with the same constituents to discuss, promote and help facilitate the many projects aimed at making Richmond a more beautiful and livable city.

In the words of Lynden Miller, “Beautiful parks and gardens in a city are not a frill; they are essential to the well-being of its citizens.”

Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia), Otto Luyken Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus ‘Otto Luyken’), Spirea japonica and Variegated Lacecap Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) grow along the perimeter of Madison Square Park.

SAVE THE INSECTS — AND THE WORLD!

AN AUTUMN STROLL THROUGH GEORGETOWN’S DUMBARTON OAKS

HISTORIC GARDEN WEEK 2015: LOTS TO DO

HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY’S HERITAGE ROSES

CENTRAL PARK’S CONSERVATORY GARDEN IS A MODEL FOR RICHMOND

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