P
Pam/Digging
Guest
February 26, 2022
You’d expect a garden surrounding an estate house to be formal, restrained, with neat lawns and containers that serve to frame the grand structure. The house garden at Chanticleer, a Pennsylvania “pleasure garden” I visited during my East Coast road trip last October, upends this convention through exuberant plantings that make flora, not architecture, the main attraction.
The big house in the background becomes almost an afterthought. That’s especially true when you come across the colorful meadow — formerly a “turf panel that once necessitated constant maintenance to keep it sharp” — awash with flowering lantana, salvia, and verbena. A pollinator-friendly, ever-changing meadow instead of a clipped, tidy lawn? Yes, please!
Let’s start our tour of the house garden at the other end, though, where a porch layered with potted plants offers a shady place to enjoy the view.
The open-air porch
A romantic vignette around the fireplace. I like the blue ceiling too.
Around the corner, on a long terrace parallel to the house, a lush display of potted plants draws you in.
And in and in, past palms, lion’s tail, and crape myrtle.
At the end, a variegated agave caught my eye.
But you can’t just charge ahead. There’s too much to look at along the way.
Just feast your eyes.
A hidden chair tucked amid golden barrel cactus, aloes, and lion’s tail
The bizarre flower of golden lotus banana (Ensete lasiocarpum)
Across a small lawn you see a golden border backed by a dark hedge. We’ll come back this way.
The long walk widens into a patio, where pairs of blue Adirondacks overlook the meadow garden.
Imagine if more people felt emboldened to do this in their own front or back yards, instead of lawn. The mown strip of grass and stone edging around the perimeter make a green mat and frame for this pretty picture.
Pensive garden statuary. Perhaps she’s pondering, Will my HOA approve?
Behind the blue Adirondacks, a narrow rill trickles past. Twiggy lattice softens the wall and obscures a gate.
The rill is fed by a lion’s head wall fountain enlaced by a jungle of trailing and ferny plants.
Red foliage and flowers add sizzle.
There’s that agave, tucked behind a garden figure.
Velvety ‘Robert Fleming’ hibiscus echoes other reds in this bed.
Across the meadow in the swimming pool garden, a stone rooster crows for the dawn. Chanticleer is another word for rooster, after all. The verdigris roof of the pool house is echoed by blue-green foliage.
But back to that grassy, flowery meadow, with waves of red lantana and purple verbena and salvia.
A long view, with the blue Adirondacks and rill on the opposite side. Looking to the right…
…you see two pool houses with turreted copper roofs bookending the swimming pool.
A rusty Japanese maple makes a silvery potted plant in front of it pop.
A couple of steps offers the opportunity for a creative handrail. This one has ferns and toadstools at its base and a spiderweb at the top.
The golden border runs ahead — a strip of living sunshine punctuated by dark-green vertical trees.
Another semi-secret seating area waits to be discovered near the steps.
In this golden bower you find a chair and vessel of water adorned with floating flowers and leaves.
Beautifully arranged!
A wider view
Furcraea foetida ‘Mediopicta’ adds agave-like form and more golden color in pots along the walk.
Elevating plants in tall pots or atop pedestals engages the eye in a narrow border.
Just as I snapped this photo, a yellow leaf fell from a tree to join its sisters on the lawn — captured in midair.
The croquet lawn and house terrace
One last scene from the house garden: the unusual purple flowers and orange-spined leaves of naranjilla (Solanum quitoense), with a pool house in the distance.
Up next: The elevated walkway, serpentine, bulb meadow, and Asian Woods gardens. For a look back at the theatrical Teacup Garden and Tennis Court Garden, click here.
I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!
_______________________
Need design help with your yard? Hire me as your personal garden coach! Maybe you need replacement plant ideas after the big freeze. Or maybe your landscaping has grown tired, and you want fresh curb appeal. Or perhaps you’re ready to get rid of some lawn and create a pollinator garden, bird habitat, or hangout space for you and your friends. I’m here to help! Contact me to let me know what’s going on, and let’s figure it out together. My range is Austin and suburbs within a 25-min. drive of NW Austin, but I’m flexible and can travel farther with a surcharge, so let me know where you are. Weekday morning appts. only.
Attend the John Fairey Garden’s annual Budding Out Plant Sale & Festival on Saturday, March 19 in Hempstead. Rare and distinctive plants from the garden’s nursery and other vendors will be available, plus art, ceramics, jewelry, food, music, and entertainment for the whole family. Open 10 am to 4 pm. Members get first dibsat the plant sale with 9 am entry (memberships available at the gate). Check the webpage for a continually updated vendor list.
Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. Check out the 2021-22 schedule. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.
All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproductionrohibited.
The post Flowery meadow instead of lawn at Chanticleer’s house garden appeared first on Digging.
Continue reading...
You’d expect a garden surrounding an estate house to be formal, restrained, with neat lawns and containers that serve to frame the grand structure. The house garden at Chanticleer, a Pennsylvania “pleasure garden” I visited during my East Coast road trip last October, upends this convention through exuberant plantings that make flora, not architecture, the main attraction.
The big house in the background becomes almost an afterthought. That’s especially true when you come across the colorful meadow — formerly a “turf panel that once necessitated constant maintenance to keep it sharp” — awash with flowering lantana, salvia, and verbena. A pollinator-friendly, ever-changing meadow instead of a clipped, tidy lawn? Yes, please!
Let’s start our tour of the house garden at the other end, though, where a porch layered with potted plants offers a shady place to enjoy the view.
The open-air porch
A romantic vignette around the fireplace. I like the blue ceiling too.
Around the corner, on a long terrace parallel to the house, a lush display of potted plants draws you in.
And in and in, past palms, lion’s tail, and crape myrtle.
At the end, a variegated agave caught my eye.
But you can’t just charge ahead. There’s too much to look at along the way.
Just feast your eyes.
A hidden chair tucked amid golden barrel cactus, aloes, and lion’s tail
The bizarre flower of golden lotus banana (Ensete lasiocarpum)
Across a small lawn you see a golden border backed by a dark hedge. We’ll come back this way.
The long walk widens into a patio, where pairs of blue Adirondacks overlook the meadow garden.
Imagine if more people felt emboldened to do this in their own front or back yards, instead of lawn. The mown strip of grass and stone edging around the perimeter make a green mat and frame for this pretty picture.
Pensive garden statuary. Perhaps she’s pondering, Will my HOA approve?
Behind the blue Adirondacks, a narrow rill trickles past. Twiggy lattice softens the wall and obscures a gate.
The rill is fed by a lion’s head wall fountain enlaced by a jungle of trailing and ferny plants.
Red foliage and flowers add sizzle.
There’s that agave, tucked behind a garden figure.
Velvety ‘Robert Fleming’ hibiscus echoes other reds in this bed.
Across the meadow in the swimming pool garden, a stone rooster crows for the dawn. Chanticleer is another word for rooster, after all. The verdigris roof of the pool house is echoed by blue-green foliage.
But back to that grassy, flowery meadow, with waves of red lantana and purple verbena and salvia.
A long view, with the blue Adirondacks and rill on the opposite side. Looking to the right…
…you see two pool houses with turreted copper roofs bookending the swimming pool.
A rusty Japanese maple makes a silvery potted plant in front of it pop.
A couple of steps offers the opportunity for a creative handrail. This one has ferns and toadstools at its base and a spiderweb at the top.
The golden border runs ahead — a strip of living sunshine punctuated by dark-green vertical trees.
Another semi-secret seating area waits to be discovered near the steps.
In this golden bower you find a chair and vessel of water adorned with floating flowers and leaves.
Beautifully arranged!
A wider view
Furcraea foetida ‘Mediopicta’ adds agave-like form and more golden color in pots along the walk.
Elevating plants in tall pots or atop pedestals engages the eye in a narrow border.
Just as I snapped this photo, a yellow leaf fell from a tree to join its sisters on the lawn — captured in midair.
The croquet lawn and house terrace
One last scene from the house garden: the unusual purple flowers and orange-spined leaves of naranjilla (Solanum quitoense), with a pool house in the distance.
Up next: The elevated walkway, serpentine, bulb meadow, and Asian Woods gardens. For a look back at the theatrical Teacup Garden and Tennis Court Garden, click here.
I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!
_______________________
Digging Deeper
Need design help with your yard? Hire me as your personal garden coach! Maybe you need replacement plant ideas after the big freeze. Or maybe your landscaping has grown tired, and you want fresh curb appeal. Or perhaps you’re ready to get rid of some lawn and create a pollinator garden, bird habitat, or hangout space for you and your friends. I’m here to help! Contact me to let me know what’s going on, and let’s figure it out together. My range is Austin and suburbs within a 25-min. drive of NW Austin, but I’m flexible and can travel farther with a surcharge, so let me know where you are. Weekday morning appts. only.
Attend the John Fairey Garden’s annual Budding Out Plant Sale & Festival on Saturday, March 19 in Hempstead. Rare and distinctive plants from the garden’s nursery and other vendors will be available, plus art, ceramics, jewelry, food, music, and entertainment for the whole family. Open 10 am to 4 pm. Members get first dibsat the plant sale with 9 am entry (memberships available at the gate). Check the webpage for a continually updated vendor list.
Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. Check out the 2021-22 schedule. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.
All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproductionrohibited.
The post Flowery meadow instead of lawn at Chanticleer’s house garden appeared first on Digging.
Continue reading...