when Ed met Bill…

A visit from Rocky Dale founder, Bill Pollard

It wasn’t exactly a surprise visit.  We heard Bill Pollard was coming to VT and we were hoping he’d want to visit Rocky Dale Gardens- his creation along with Holly Weir.

What was a surprise was how great it was to meet Bill and have the opportunity to hang out and walk the grounds.  I can only imagine what it was like for Bill after 10 years.

The closest way to describe the experience for me was to compare it to an adopted child meeting their birth parent for the first time. All the gaps in history were filled in and the mysteries solved.

Take It Down

We’ve been working on a lot of renovations lately and have taken a number of trees and shrubs out, but there were some lingering questions and choices to make. In a way it was perfect timing for Bill to visit. He generously walked the gardens with me while Oliver followed us with a chain saw.  In a way, perhaps I needed permission to take some things down, but the second opinion was definitely highly regarded!

Passing the Torch

Though I’ve owned Rocky Dale Gardens since 2004, last week felt like the passing of the torch.  Bill bought this property with Holly because of the beautiful stone outcrop on the very west end of the property.  I did too and ironically we’re in the process of exposing that beautiful wall.  This is the stone we each bought that happened to come with a house.

The Central Garden

For those of you who we haven’t seen recently, here is a glimpse of what we’ve been up to.  After years of observing and pondering, I decided to open up the gardens and create a central lawn.  The hazelnuts came out and the beds were pushed back.  We’ve been focused on this center the last two years and will move into the outer horseshoe ring that will take visitors through the conifer dell, the arbor and then along the ledges and the pond.  It’s a life’s work and you get to watch!

Friends with a garden in common

 Bill got over the his initial shock of the changes at Rocky Dale and we had a nice chance to get to know one another.  We share a passion for this place and when he left, I felt excited about what I’m doing, and Bill said he was really glad that they sold the place to me.  He knows it’s a labor of love- and hopefully it gets a lot of love for a long time.

ah spring…

The Nursery is looking good!  And the gardens, despite needing so much attention this time of year, are producing bloom after bloom- just gorgeous and fun!

Dahlias

Garden View

Magnolia Elizabeth

Magnolia Elizabeth

Magnolia Elizabeth

Rhododendron ‘Aglo’

Rhododendron ‘Aglo’ and Rhododendron schlippenbachii

Rhododendron schlippenbachii

Rhododendron schlippenbachii

Welcome!

More Photos of Magnolia ‘Daybreak’

Blooming in Bristol Village- the magnificent Magnolia ‘Daybreak’

Amy's hand and the blossom.

Magnolia 'Daybreak' and Amy

Magnolia 'Daybreak' and Amy

May 13th- expecting rain- but oh! what a week we’ve had!

It’s been a gorgeous week in Vermont- a FULL WEEK without rain and plenty of sun.  It has brought out so much growth and made us all very happy!  One of our customers works for Ben and Jerry’s; she brought us some ice cream and we had a nice break in the afternoon on Thursday.

Ice cream break!

Here are some photos of the garden taken today, along with some close-ups of what’s blooming now.

Narcissus and Mertensia with Rhododendron mucronulatum ‘Cama’

Tulip ‘Ballerina’

Honeylocust View

Tulip ‘American Dream’ w/ Ligularia ‘Britt Marie Crawford’

View towards greenhouse

Merrill Magnolia and Narcissus

Rhododendron ‘April Mist’

Rhododendron ‘Aglo’

Magnolia ‘Daybreak’ bud on Main Street in Bristol.

Magnolia ‘Daybreak’ flower on Main St in Bristol.

The last Narcissus

Narcissus

Narcissus

Pieris japonica

Magnolia ‘Elizabeth’

Magnolia ‘Butterflies’

Epimedium rubrum

first week in May- blooms and blooms!

Merrill Magnolia and Narcissus

Merrill Magnolia

Early spring at Rocky Dale Gardens brings on hundreds of daffodil blooms and a gorgeous show from the Merrill Magnolias.  By all rights, they should be done by this time, but they are still lingering with the cold weather.  I can see we’re about to turn the corner and enter a new phase of spring where the yellow magnolias start to bloom along with serviceberries, redbuds and all sorts of small-leaved rhododendrons.  It’s amazing to me-every year, how fast it comes (and goes-sigh).  Our primroses and pulmonarias are putting on a nice show and the epimediums have just started to bloom.  Double bloodroot is blooming off the parking lot, trilliums are popping open, and tulips are standing back-up behind the narcissus.  I’ve only been able to note a few of the plants blooming right now.  In the next few days, I’ll catalog a number more.  Blink and you’ll miss it. It should be a great weekend to get out and enjoy natures bounty!

Abeliophyllum

Cornus mas

Prunus sargentii

Rhododendron dauricum Madison Snow

Rhododendron 'Weston's Pink Diamond'

Pulmonaria rubra

Glaucidium palmatum

Mertensia virginica- Virginia Bluebells

Forget-me-not

Narcissus at Front Entry

Double Bloodroot

Primula vulgaris 'Sulphur Hose in Hose

Epimedium rubrum

here’s what’s blooming in the garden now

Snowdrops under the contorted beech

It’s a late spring in the northeast, but we’re quickly catching up.  Two years ago hellebores and witchhazels were blooming in the 3rd week of March- and this year- they are two to three weeks behind that- still blooming now- and some just started!  The snow piles have depleted with some warm rains and it’s looking hopeful!

Here are some photos of what’s blooming now.

Helleborus purpurascens

Helleborus niger (Christmas rose)

Hamamelis Jelena (we think)

Chionodoxa labitica (Glory of the Snow)

Hamamelis Arnolds Promise

Hamamelis x intermedia Hiltingbury (we think)

Iris reticulata

iris histrioides Katherine Hodgkin

Crocus chrysanthus Cream Beauty

Crocus sieberi Tricolor"

Crocus chrysanthus Blue Pearl

Petasites japonicus giganticus Variegatus

Erica carnea cultivar (Heath)

Pulmonaria- self-seeded. First to show color this spring.

The “Modern” Landscape?

I like to design spaces that rely on basic principles of balance and unity.  I am not a big fan of fancy, voluptuous, flowery and cluttered.  But I see signs of “modern” and “contemporary” design being co-opted, mass marketed and now becoming trite and boring.  Often the result of a “modern” or “contemporary” application is not contextual.

I don’t think it’s enough to use simple materials and it’s not enough to use a limited palette.  It’s not about a retro shape or figure.  Most simple projects are also highly complex.  I find that juxtaposing a complex arrangement of elements within a simple framework and setting up complex frameworks with monochromatic elements can bring a landscape to life.  And I like mixing the two up.

Having a great love for plants helps me with this style.  At my design firm in Minneapolis, Phillips Garden, we’ve  been lucky enough to work on a full lot design/install over the past several years where we have experimented with our design philosophy.  A new home was built on this site- it’s a contemporary design, (think Dwell Magazine), with strong horizontal lines. (I’ve blogged about this project before).

We were able to develop some very interesting beds with a great diversity of plant material in several parts of the yard.  What connects and also separates these beds are long planes of rectilinear surfaces that serve as lawns, walkways, patios, a pool and so forth.  The result is dynamic and inviting.  It’s a landscape you want to explore and it reveals itself as one traverses through it.  Many “modern” landscapes don’t offer such intrigue.

It’s a style that suits my love of plants, my love of Japanese Gardens and my love of simple, elegant lines.  I’d like to work on more projects like this one!