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The Coming Of The Magnolia


I know my holiday season is in full swing when the magnolia arrives. The wreaths that are three sizes, the garlands in two sizes-the branches in three sizes. I am in a gardener’s holiday heaven. I know I live and work in the midwest, and ought not to covet the leaves and branches from a tree that grows so far away from me-but I cannot help myself. I have told Buck, should I ever retire, I am moving where I can grow Magnolia Grandiflora. I am sure everything else will work itself out.


There are no end of beautiful magnolias that grow here. I have made it my business to plant them whenever it seems appropriate. The gorgeous bark and tree shape appeals to me the most. The astonishing and fleeting flowers I look forward to every spring. But all of the magnolias that grow here shed their leaves. The evergreen leaves of magnolia grandiflora are beautiful beyond belief. Please remember I am a gardener whose only source of reliably evergreen leaved plants runs to boxwood, and PJM rhododendrons. The big leaved rhodies do not do well here; the azaleas and hellebores are in ruins come spring.


Each leaf of magnolia grandiflora is securely attached to its stem-it takes real effort to peel one off. No matter if the branch is fresh or dry-be prepared for some resistance. The front/sun sides of the leaves are a leatherly, glossy, healthy deep forest green.  The obverse-a felted cinnamon brown to die for.  These transplanted wreaths and garlands brave the vile Michigan winter incredibly well.  That saturated and deep forest green leaf will dry; that deep green color will eventually become a cross between platinum and pale olive.

I buy the wreaths with all green faces, and a mix of the green and felted cinnamon obverse faces-I like both.  Magnolia is a fairly formal material at the holidays, I admit.  It makes for a wreath not one bit like the bits I collect from my garden, and assemble.  I am a dirt gardener-so why do I so like this rock star from out of town?  All my gardenering life I have been reading about and looking at the holiday decorations at Winterthur.  How they express the holiday is a consummate American expression.  I have faded sheets from magazines, books-I learned so much from looking at how they express the holiday.  This wreath, stuffed with every manner of an expression of green-juicy.  Classic.

Last year I had a client with a 14 foot Christmas tree to decorate.  I of course had not planned and shopped for this a year ago; I was on deck, and needed backup.  I took everything I had in boxes in the basement, and added to them; my collection trimmed her tree.  Don’t begin to feel sorry for me.  I was happy to have an opportunity for big change dropped in my lap.  The result-6 tall magnolia branches stuffed into a pot made for our Christmas tree.  No ornament-just some lights at the base.  These magnolia branches-all and everything I could have hoped for.  Buck and I loved our Christmas tree.


Magnolia wreaths can be tough to decorate.  Plan to skewer all of your ornament through the leaves.  No harm done, no kidding. Evergreen stems in a wreath leave gaps where a pick might slide in.  Magnolia arrives sleek, and flat.  Should you be looking for pockets i n which to tuck the treasure of the garden-let that wreath dry for a week.  Those flat leaved wreaths open up, and curl as they dry.

I buy all of my southern magnolia at the holidays from The Magnolia Company.  They do incredibly beautiful work.  They ship fast.  Should you be really far away from me-you can order on line. They farm magnolia branches and leaves-no kidding.  They sell their stock trees on occasion. Their magnolia at the holidays-a renewable resource.

Over the past 10 years or so, I am pleased to say I have placed no small amount of southern magnolia at the holidays.

Visually rich and compelling-yes. The gold metallic sinamay is a beautiful foil for the leaves.  You may find a much less formal wreath treatment just as beautiful.  The big idea here-people make for compelling-not materials.  This magnolia wreath is a mix of front and back views of the leaves.  The brown green and gold color scheme is very pretty with the door.


It may need to wait until December 23rd, but there comes that day when I hang that southern magnolia holiday wreath on my front door.  I will persist with it-until the end of March.  The magnolia enriches my winter.

Posted on: November 30, 2010 2 Comments
Filed Under: Holiday, Woody Plants, Detroit Garden Works Tagged With: , ,

At A Glance: Night Light

Posted on: November 28, 2010 2 Comments
Filed Under: Holiday, Picture This, Landscape Design Tagged With: ,

Turning Up The Volume

 

I was at market Saturday morning at first light, shopping. The market is full of beautiful greens, wreaths, integrifolia, Christmas trees-and everything else to go with-including these feathered cardinal ornaments.  I ran out of all of the evergreen holiday wreaths I ordered-I needed to shop for more. I was impressed; what was available at market this morning is first rate quality.  The greens are fresh, and each wreath is stuffed full.

There are all kinds of reasons to shop local farmers and merchants-no one disputes that a vital local economy is good for everyone.  Vegetables and fruits that have to be shipped suffer the consequences.  Tomato varieties that ship well are grown more often by farmers dependent on shipping to sell their produce- than tomatoes that just plain taste good fresh off the vine.  I could see that idea at work this morning.  A grower whose materials I shop in the spring  comes to market in early winter with hand made wreaths, roping and greens. 

All of the locally made wreaths had such astonishing volume.  The wreaths I have shipped to me are stacked up and tightly baled in twelves.  This prevents shipping damage.  This shipping process turns my wreaths into wreath pies-they are pressed flat.  A wreath should not be a two dimensional pie of evergreens-it is a three dimensional sculpture.  The shipping process means I have to add greens to restore the volume that once was.  Or perhaps these wreaths are made to be flat-so they occupy as little shipping space as possible, and transport easily.  However, a reasonably priced base wreath that ships economically suits what I do.

I buy wreaths in bulk from my greens supplier.  No one comes to me for a fresh wreath they can take home and hang on a door-end of story.  They come to me for a wreath that has some individual elements added to it. I get a direction, a color scheme, a style idea from a client.  My base wreaths are a foundation, not a road ready green sculpture.  No two that I decorate are just alike.  Some may feature bracket fungus and moss.  Some may glitter in the low winter light.  Others may be just plain fun.  Some are meant to delight kids. 

  

   What I collect from the field, what I buy and glue or wire in-anything goes.  I like any beautiful natural material, and any beautiful not natural material.  More than any other form of gardening, holiday gardening encourages exuberant free expression. My holiday garden is not about life and death-it is about celebration.  If my neighbors choose to have a trio of lighted snowmen in their front yard, who am I to criticize? A wreath is a holiday diorama of a manageable size.

But back to my visit to market this morning.  My pie-faced wreaths-I add more greens to them-after I have glued in all of the other elements.  This is a step I need to take. I like a wreath that comes off the page, and speaks volumes. Never mind that a magnolia wreath has no end of leaves stuffed into it-I always buy bunches, and add leaves where I think that wreath needs more dimension. Not everyone can articulate why this looks good, and that which looks rote-but people have an uncanny ability to discern the difference.  I like being a member of that group, The Differences. This means I may have to go back in, and make subtle changes. 

Dan Prielipp’s concolor and noble fir wreaths at market this morning were sparse, but beautifully volumetric. So much air.  Concolor fir has a big, rangy, open texture-his wreaths capture that perfectly.  I could have taken a bunch of them home, and hung them everywhere.  They would look great wired to the back of a garden bench, or laid over a sundial.  His mixed noble fir-boxwood wreaths are the natural equivalent of an inflated intertube you would feel utterly confident riding downstream.  His greens and wreaths are available in all sizes and shapes, and his range of material is good.  The Oakland County Farmer’s Market-he is there Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  Everything fresh, everything hand made-and local.  Nothing has been smashed flat to ship.

 Do not take this to mean that a pie of a wreath cannot be redeemed.  It can.  That part is up to you.  Hang it up, and put your eye to it.  What is your pleasure?  Build a wreath that talks about that. Welcome to my home-that is what a wreath says.  No matter your persuasion or point of view, I will be interested in what you have to say.

Posted on: November 28, 2010 4 Comments
Filed Under: Holiday Tagged With: , ,

Winter Pots: Old, New, and Favorite


Should you be the person who hybridized the red twig dogwood cultivar “Cardinal”-many thanks for your efforts.  I have just as many thanks to the branch farm that grew this dogwood.  These fiery stems are stout and, and unblemished; these branches are the brilliant red you only get from fresh growth.  I was never so diligent cutting my dogwood back to the ground-mainly as the shrub would look like heck most of the following season.  I like using multiple bunches of professionally farmed twigs, when I have big containers to fill.    


It is tough to go wrong, if your materials are beautiful.  A well grown perennial takes root fast. A big juicy tulip bulb will mean big juicy flowers in the spring.  What fistful of beautifully grown fresh flowers looks bad in a vase? All of the materials in these two pots were beautifully grown; this lends a formal and elegant air to the arrangements.    


The work involved in creating any container garden makes me ask in advance for good materials. This applies to any plant-whether it be a perennial, a tree, a shrub, or a bunch of cut roses. I tell clients all the time that the effort to plant an evergreen with an undersized rootball and dead leader is exactly the same as the effort it takes to plant a healthy plant.  Every spring I see rows of 6 foot arborvitae that deathly shade of orange brown.  If you do buy marginally healthy plant material, then make the committment to baby them along.


This client will not be lounging out much this winter, but that is not for lack of company.  Materials for winter pots especially need to be well grown and fresh-they have a very long winter ahead of them.  Greens cut too early and shedding needles in November-not a good sign. Shake before you buy, or cut at home. Fresh silver dollar eucalyptus fades to a papery taupe fast; it does not hold its fresh blue color.  That is fine for some-but maybe not fine for you. This preserved lilac and purple eucalyptus bravely shrugs off the winter.  Long about February 20 I will like this a lot. 


Stick stacks-how I love them.  It has been several long years I have done without them. The stems are shaved into squares-that process makes them absorb water unequally on each surface-they fan out and curve unpredictably when they absorb water. Every year I hope I will find a source for them again.  I take that back, I don’t hope.  I look long and hard for them.  Ting-those incredibly tough and wiry palm stems-easily survives our winter.  They may not be native, but they obligingly fit into a midwestern winter color scheme. 

I like dressing a summer topiary form in lights for the winter season.  The red faux money plant picks will reflect that light at night.  Some daytime sparkle is good-but nighttime sparkle is more than welcome. The dark red dogwood stems-I do not know the name of this cultivar.  I just know the color seems right.

I don’t know a cultivar name for black twig dogwood either.  But I do know these purple black stems pair well with cut magnolia.  The lead squares, the black dogwood, the dark green magnolia leaves with their rich brown obverse-a striking foil to this house clad in white painted wood.  Should you favor an arrangement made from dark materials, place them in front of something lighter. Dark materials need some lighting. 

RA2, these few sentences are for you.  I know you could barely bring yourself to drain your fountain for the winter.  This does not mean you have to tarp it.  See, this fountain has a winter life ahead of it.  Given its size, the foam that securely holds the cut greens requires a circular support of exterior ready plywood. Curly flame willow provides lots of volume without the need for so many stems.  The lights in the mixed into the mixed evergreen stems-stick around. This will look even better later in the day.


These two Belgian wood planters-still one of my favorites though I did them many years ago. Three stiffly vertical bleached willow bunches are surrounded with an equal number of  giant stick stacks.  How those stacks curved so beautifully, unexpectedly and asymmetrically-I had nothing to do with that outcome-but I sure do like it.  The natural bristle snowflakes-a winter ornament of perfect scale, and completely in keeping with the overall arrangement.  Handsome.

Posted on: November 26, 2010 2 Comments
Filed Under: Landscape Design, Holiday Tagged With: