ensata types that flower at the far end, in June. danfordiae blooming in late March to the I. Now he has Narcissus galore, and no mere iris moment, but more than three months of moments, from the first little I. The garden will be better for it, but caveat emptor: You may get hooked. “If there is something that you love, do a little exploration of that genus,” he said, “and extend the bloom time of that favorite plant.” Culp published a follow-up book last year, “A Year at Brandywine Cottage: Six Seasons of Beauty, Bounty and Blooms.” As if to remind himself, and the rest of us, of all 365 days of potential, Mr. Peel back the current scene to recall moments gone by and imagine what is to come. Time is a layer, too - although processing that could take some mental gymnastics. Individual garden beds represent another layer in the larger composition. He observes every plant’s color, texture and shape as distinct layers that can contribute to the success of a design. It’s not just the landscape’s canopy, shrub-zone and ground-covering layers that he takes in. His way of seeing is a layered one, and was the subject of his 2012 book, “The Layered Garden: Design Lessons for Year-Round Beauty From Brandywine Cottage.”
Culp’s quest for insights isn’t sated by basic observations - of the Rudbeckia Herbstsonne that fell over or the lusty Japanese anemone (Anemone tomentosa Robustissima) that’s hogging too much ground and needs reining in. Adding Amsonia to the perennial layer, with its late-season yellow foliage, could provide a link to the changing color of the Princeton Sentry Ginkgo trees above, an all-male cultivar selected for its narrow, conical crowns and lack of nasty-smelling fruit. It’s an obvious takeaway, he acknowledged, but one that we often fail to act on if it isn’t duly recorded, and corresponding plant orders placed.īut most of what he looks for is subtler, requiring a practiced eye - opportunities to enrich the fall garden, for example, by building it around a dominant leaf color borrowed from the changing canopy trees.
(The technique’s name was coined because its timing coincides with the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show, in England.) This will delay bloom time slightly, but promote shorter, sturdier stems.Īlso noted: Which plants really worked? “Plant more of those you work with what worked,” he said. Plants so designated will be cut back by a third to a half late next May or early in June.
His note to self on pruning them: “Chelsea Chop.” Culp might notice a tall, fall-blooming aster or Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium purpureum) that flopped, reminding him that Sedum Autumn Joy or tall garden phlox (Phlox paniculata) had splayed open at their earlier bloom times, too.
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