Gardens of France: Villandry

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Katie Schmidt

I just returned from a trip to France, and amongst my sampling of wine/cheese/bread, I also toured gardens. From the famous Versailles to unnamed courtyards in every small village, French people have a long history with landscape design. Gorgeous gardens are open to the public in every part of the country. This post is the first in a multi-part series exploring design inspiration we can import into our own humble yards. The climate may be different and the grounds palatial, but French gardens offer classic lessons to be learned about the design of a cohesive and pleasing landscape.

First up, Chateau de Villandry.

A Brief History

350,000 people per year visit this UNESCO site for good reason: its meticulously maintained gardens are unparalleled for their use of color and theme. This castle has too much history to recount here, but the short version goes like this: built on a Roman site that later became a medieval fortress and eventually a very refined 16th century family chateau, it has changed hands many times, hosted royal house guests and was the site of the 1189 treaty between England and France. The gardens transformed with each era. Lucky for us they are now restored to the Renaissance style by the Carvallos, owners since the early 1900s.

Divide and Conquer

Contrary to what you might think, subdividing a garden can actually make it feel larger. It leads your eye just around the corner or up the path, fooling your mind into thinking there is always more just ahead. From the elevated platform overlooking Villandry garden you can see multiple layers and divisions. Within the garden, further subdivisions are based on garden theme. Herb Garden, Kitchen Garden, Music Garden, Love Garden, Cross Garden…all featuring different designs and usage, kept visually separate by hedges or elevation difference.

How can I use these ideas at home?

Gardens large and small can benefit from sectioning, creating rooms and the illusion of more space
Use greenery, hardscaping, or natural elevation change to divide a space

Layering the Landscape

To achieve a landscape that has depth and visual movement, you can use layers. You can see in the following example of Villandry’s Sun Chamber, one way to layer is by using height. For a very professional yet unfussy aesthetic, plan for the mature height of your plants to climb steadily from groundcover to tree line. You can also layer with color to create depth, as we see in the photos below.

How can I use these ideas at home?

Think vertically about the layers of your garden, and add any that are missing
Use repeated colors and contrast to draw the eye along and create overlapping layers.

Good Framing

In all of our landscape classes we drone on about framing: borders, edging, and clean lines to contain otherwise “messy” plantings. This principle is not new, and is put to good use at Villandry. Some of their gardens are less formal and very diverse, but neatly contained by tiny boxwood hedges. While boxwoods are not great growers in our area, you can achieve this look with hardscaping for a much lower maintenance option, or use heat-tolerant plants that take trimming well like lavender, rosemary, yew, and St. Johns wort.

How can I use these ideas at home?

for a formal look, greater species diversity must equal defined, well maintained borders
metal edging, rock, or clean mulch lines are lower maintenance than a green hedge border
play around with the contrast between airy/busy/whimsical and clean, straight framing.

Design with Perspective

In this amazing gardenscape, the view changes based on where you stand: at a window from the chateau, from the bottom level of the garden looking out, or from the front entrance. While the area is naturally low, large stone retaining walls give a ‘sunken garden’ effect. This creates closeness and privacy even in such a huge estate but still allows the viewer to take it all in from an elevated viewing point.

*View of Villandry gardens from the terrace. Directly below is the love garden, telling stories of the many types of love through the shape of the hedges.*

How can I use these ideas at home?

when designing your landscape, think about the place you will most often view it from
elevate or sink areas of your garden to highlight certain features

For a deeper look into the gardens of Villandry and a virtual tour, visit their site here. Follow along for more posts coming soon in this series about more famous French gardens and their impact on modern landscaping.

Plant Profile: Pink Muhly Grass

Posted on October 18, 2023 by Scott Vogt

Fall is the best time of year to admire the beautiful regalia of native grasses. During the spring and summer, these grasses blend into their surroundings. As autumn deepens, the wonderful fall color and attractive seed heads of these grasses are on full display.

One of the most talked about grasses this fall has to be pink muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris). A few years ago on the sidewalk in the northwest corner of the Arboretum, we established a couple groupings of these plants. This year, these swaths are topped with vibrant pink blooms.

Pink muhly with Wichita Mountains goldenrod

Pink muhly grass is not only a beautiful ornamental grass, but it is also low-maintenance. We have not done much to keep these grasses going this growing season. It gives you the best of both worlds, a showy plant that doesn’t require much time and attention.

These plants establish relatively quickly, either planted in the spring or in the fall. If you are planting in the fall, plan ahead by getting them in the ground at least a month before the expected initial frost. They are a warm season grass that needs soil at least 60 degrees to continue rooting.

In the spring and summer, the rounded, slender, long shoots of grass are dark green in color. As fall approaches, the plant produces soft, fuzzy flowers in pink or pinkish-red hues, with an appearance resembling cotton candy. As winter grows near, the flowers lose their color, but the dried plumes are still attractive.

Muhlenbergia capillaris grows well in sandy or rocky woods and clearings with good drainage. It is native to Kansas and states south and east. We grow the straight species, but the cultivar ‘Regal Mist’ is another popular variety. Other beautiful cultivars include ‘Pink Flamingo’ and ‘White Cloud’. Planting in large drifts is breathtaking.

While not as well-known as some of the other native grasses, it should be used more in landscapes because of its tolerance to poor soil and dry conditions. It needs good drainage especially during the winter, but is quite adaptable once fully established. As the clumps develop excessive thatch after three or four years, division may be helpful. Perfect for slopes; great in a container; beautiful when tucked into cut-flower arrangements.

Sunlight on pink muhly grass with side oats grama in the foreground.

For next spring, put this grass on your bucket list. You will not be disappointed. The soft watercolor effect will stop you in your tracks.

Walk Bike or Roll? Accessibility at the Arboretum

Posted on October 12, 2023 by Janelle Flory Schrock

Providing accessibility to the simple beauty of the Kansas landscape was central to our founders’ vision for the Dyck Arboretum of the Plains. Harold and Evie Dyck intended for the Arboretum to be a garden for the community of Hesston and the region. They understood that being in nature heals us. Even as they struggled with health concerns in their own lives, they prioritized walking or rolling around the Arboretum pond on a regular basis.

Former Arboretum Director Jim Locklear (left) shows former board member Nelson Kilmer (center) and founders Harold (hidden) and Elva Mae Dyck (right) one of the lower water accessible crossings in 1989.

I recently attended an event hosted by the Kansas Department of Transportation’s Active Transportation Office. The Walk Bike Roll Kansas Active Transportation Summit, held in McPherson in September 2023, was designed to “provide opportunities for attendees to learn from experts in the field, connect with Kansans from across the state, and leave with practical actions for improving walking, biking, and rolling.”

At that event, I learned about the progress being made in communities across the state of Kansas to improve accessibility for those who walk, bike or roll, called “Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs)” in the transportation industry.

At the event, I ran into the folks from the Healthy Harvey Coalition. We chatted about some of the successes and challenges regarding accessible paths throughout the county and agreed that there is much work yet to be done in our region. (Check them out if you live in Harvey County and would like to support progress in the direction of better paths for those who walk, bike or roll!)

*The new path network in the Prairie Window Project connects to existing paths on Schowalter Villa property, as well as to the main Arboretum path.*

The Arboretum is making a contribution to those efforts for increased accessibility this year as well. Our Prairie Window Project is becoming more accessible to a wider audience this fall. Thanks to a generous donation, we are paving the existing network of gravel paths that weave through our prairie reconstruction. We look forward to welcoming visitors to utilize this path, whether it’s to reach their daily step goal, to get from point A to point B, or to take time for relaxation and reconnection with nature.

Our Hesston neighbors seem to be embracing this new pathway almost faster than the project can be completed. In particular, our friends at Schowalter Villa, who frequently visit both our pond as well as the “Prairie Lakes” pond, will have a direct connection between these two destinations.

Another new accessible spot to enjoy: the Karen Hahn memorial bench has room for those who roll to park next to it. Those who sit here can enjoy a view of the Arboretum pond in one direction and the Prairie Window Project in the other.

Although it does not replicate the experience of standing in the middle of a remnant prairie, the Prairie Window Project does, as the name suggests, act as a window to an endangered ecosystem. Be it through intentional or passive engagement, the increased accessibility of these paths will help facilitate the deepening of our community’s relationship with the plants, animals and insects that reside in this developing prairie.

Wonderful Autumn

Posted on October 4, 2023 by Scott Vogt

This time of year a person interested in plants can get very tired and rundown. I certainly have been dragging. The relentless heat and drought has many plants stressed and prematurely going dormant. We have been watering as we can but we can’t water everything. As we wait for rain and hope that our little plants can hang on, there is still beauty happening all around us.

I was reminded of this last week as we hosted several groups of fifth graders. We stopped at some fall blooming asters including purple New England asters that were teaming with hundreds of different pollinators. Monarchs were passing through too and they added to the excitement at what they were experiencing from this landscape. These pollinators were eager to find nectar in this created habitat. It reminded me anew why landscaping with native plants is so important. These children were amazed at what they saw. Their awe and wonder at the diversity of pollinators really impacted me. Sometimes we need to see things from the eyes of children.

We like the aesthetics these landscapes provide for our homes, and businesses, but these patchwork habitats are needed and sought out by many different pollinators. Here are some eye candy for you to enjoy.

Bordered patches are commonly found throughout the southwest US and Northern Mexico, but can be found in Kansas through late fall.

Our landscapes can be frustrating and troublesome at times. These landscape can also be therapeutic and healing. Maybe you need to step back like I did this past week and take in the simple beauty all around us. Even though you may be suffering from landscape maintenance fatigue, you are doing something vitally important both for you and the wildlife that is attracted to you prairie garden. Don’t lose heart.

Monarchs congregating in the Arboretum Amphitheater today. Hundreds of them. This was just one branch. WOW!!