The Edible Landscape

I am a big fan of a landscape that is functional as well as beautiful. Functionality might mean wildlife and pollinator attraction, water absorbing (rain garden) or water conserving (xeriscaping). But it can also mean incorporating human food plants into your perennial garden. This not only provides a healthy snack, but it encourages more interaction and participation. What is the point of a beautiful landscape if you aren’t out enjoying it?

Here is a small preview of some of the plants I discuss in my Native Plant School class, now available on our YouTube channel, all about landscaping with edible plants.

If this topic fires you up, stop by our gift shop to grab a copy of Kelly Kindscher’s Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie, a wonderful plant guide and exploration of ethnobotany on the Great Plains.

Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis)

A personal favorite of mine, Elderberry is as beautiful as it is nutritious. This plant will love a low spot in the yard where water tends to collect after rains, or an area with poor drainage. It can reach 8ft tall, putting on an impressive show in late spring when covered with massive white flower clusters. Berries ripen in July, a perfect time to spend the hot afternoons in the kitchen making jams and syrups. I make a cold remedy from them that has never let me down!

Pawpaw (Asimina triloba)

Persimmon (left) and PawPaw (right) both produce delicious fruit.

Everything about pawpaw seems tropical. Surely this fruit cannot be native to hot, dry Kansas…yet it is! It is an easy growing plant that can grow in full sun or partial shade and tolerates alkaline soil. To get a good fruit set you should plant more than one; though they have both male and female flowers on a single tree they are not self-fertile. The fruit is worth it! A custard-like texture with the flavor of bananas and mangos, it is perfect for pies and homemade ice cream.

Bee Balm (Monarda fistulosa)

Monarda fistulosa flower, photographed by Brad Guhr

If you are short on garden space and can’t add a shrub or tree, never fear. Monarda fistulosa is a wonderful edible perennial much smaller in stature than the previous options. About 3ft by 3ft when happy and mature, the leaves of this plant make excellent tea, with a flavor reminiscent of the bergamot oil used in Earl Grey. It has a long history of medicinal use by indigenous North Americans, for everything from upper respiratory problems to sore feet. The flowers are also edible and add a citrusy, spicy punch to salads.

From persimmon to chokeberry, we have so many native plants to choose from to diversify our diets and add beauty to our home landscapes. Thanks to thousands of years of culinary experimentation by the tribes and nations of North America we have a rich ethnobotanical tradition to learn from, an example of how to learn about, appreciate and interact with food and flora.

Gardens of France: American Cemetery at Normandy

When most people visit Normandy, they aren’t coming for the gardens. World War II historians flock here from all over the world to learn, explore, and pay tribute to the thousands who died here liberating France, and later freeing Europe. I personally love this area of France. It is my favorite by far, not only for its history, but for its beautiful, rugged landscape and friendly people. (And did I mention Normandy is the home of Camembert cheese?)

Of course, no trip to Normandy would be complete without a stop at the American Cemetery and Memorial. And though we aren’t always looking for great garden design, sometimes I can’t help but notice!

Design That Sets the Tone

This is a garden bed at the entrance to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. It surprised me! Modern and understated, blending so well into the blocky, simplistic design of the memorial I almost walked right past it. It is made up of two species: likely Calamagrostis ‘Karl Forrester’ and Gaura lindheimeri, also known as white beeblossom.

This is a perfect example of matching the tone of the place to the design. At such a somber site, it might feel strange to have anything too colorful, jazzy, or disorganized. Instead, the grasses stand tall and stately, the Gaura wispy and low. The combination is perfect here, and when a bit of wind comes through them the planting has wonderful movement, and an ethereal quality. If a garden could whisper, this one would.

Ornamental Grasses

I spotted some familiar North American native grasses as I explored the well kept grounds. Through the memorial and onto the walkway to the cemetery, there is a border of switchgrass and fountaingrass. This combination was repeated multiple times along the way, softening the edges of the walkway – pink and pillowy, and always in motion thanks to the sea winds off the beach. The shrubs and trees behind created a three tiered border – making the walk feel a bit enclosed and sheltered from the otherwise open plain. After a tearful trip through the memorial hall and museum, it is a lovely feeling to be ushered along by this soft texture and gentle swaying movement, mimicking the waves on the beach.

A planting of ornamental grasses at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

Beauty in the Margins

In Normandy, even the parking lots are beautiful! I was impressed by the city planning. In the many small towns in the area around the beaches, there was an effort to create greenspace at every opportunity. Instead of bare, sparse plantings dominated by mulch we are used to seeing in parking lot islands, I encountered lush shrubs and thickly planted perennials. This is simply a choice of good design — choose plants that thrive under harsh conditions, plant thick enough that weeds cannot get through, and stick to mass plantings for the greatest effect.

Landscape vs Landscaping

The genius of the plantings in this region was that they seemed to blend right into the surrounding rural landscape. I can’t be sure whether the plants used were always native to the area or just well adapted ornamentals. But regardless, great care was taken to blend and match the natural shapes and textures of the seaside climate. Sometimes with grasses that bring to mind sandy hues and beach waves. Or even by using dense shrubs planted in layers, to mimic the famous hedgerows of the area. We can bring this lesson back home by taking careful note of the common shapes, colors, and textures in the natural landscape of our area. Using that, we can recreate those things in our residential landscaping on a smaller scale. It is an abstract way of designing, but the pay off is a garden that feels balanced and very much at home.

Gardens of France: Seaside Plants of St. Malo

St. Malo is known as the corsair city; a place of pirates and lighthouses, rocky islands and medieval walls. Besides great history (and excellent pastry!), a botany-minded visitor in St. Malo can enjoy sightings of lichen, ferns, algae, and more. We did not visit one of the “gardens of France” in a traditional sense, but the plants of the city spoke for themselves, needing no formal planting or ornamentation. This was my second visit to the charming town, and because we got to spend several days here lazily walking the ramparts and beaches, I had plenty of time to admire all the plant life!

View from the Ramparts looking out into the English Channel.

St. Malo has fascinating history that includes Roman occupation, British invasion, pirates, and total bombardment and destruction in World War II; it has been a busy place! There is even a Netflix series out now based on the Pulitzer Prize winning book All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, set in St. Malo. The best way to learn all this history is to head immediately to the ramparts that surround the city. These are 20 meter thick walls that were first constructed in the 12th century. The ramparts contain armory platforms for cannons to fire out at unwelcome ships, and below, seawater-soaked kennels formerly (from 1155 to 1770) used for housing rather vicious dogs that enforced curfew.

The narrow streets of St. Malo sometime before 1940. After the war they were rebuilt to look much the same, retaining the charm of the intra-muros district.Rijksmuseum, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Plants and Place

We didn’t visit any botanical gardens while here, but opted to admire the natural landscapes instead. In modern cities we think of plants a bit like infrastructure – something to be built up, planned for, and placed “just so” for a specific use. We call this greenspace. But in a seaside town like St. Malo, there are plenty of wonderful unplanned “plant moments” around every corner: ferns growing on the stone walls, intrepid xeric species sprouting up along the rampart edges, and salt-tolerant wildflowers on the nearby islands, just a short walk away at low tide. The plants allowed to grow in situ certainly give the city an old world charm. Why, in our modern American landscapes, are we so quick to weed whack and spray every little plant that sprouts up in an unexpected place? Maybe we are a bit overzealous in our management techniques, and we could aim to coexist with the native plants in our surroundings instead of control and prescribe.

Favorites and Substitutes for our Region

I loved these plants and want to plunk them into my landscape if possible. But I know my home climate is not suitable. I can, however, achieve a similar look using plants native and/or adaptable to our area, which is easier for me and better for pollinators and wildlife.

Echium vulgare was a favorite of mine, spotted on the top of Grand Bé island. Its upright purple spike reminded me of Liatris of the prairie, but their iridescent quality and bloom shape set it apart. Echium amoneum, known as red feathers, is a related species and grows extremely well in our dry, limey soil. The adorable and dainty yellow Diplotaxis I saw growing along the sidewalks could be replicated with our native Coreopsis palmata. Rock Samphire (Crithmum maritimum) looked so similar to garden sedum in shape and habit, which thrives in our area. All of these plants will be available at our spring FloraKansas event, so I will have my chance to recreate, in a small way, the shapes and textures of this wonderful place.

Unsolved Mystery

This wonderful silvery shrub seen above is still a mystery to me. I can’t pin it down, and neither can my plant identification apps! It was planted in well maintained hedges as well as growing in small town square gardens and bordering rock walls. Possibly in the mint family based on its squarish stems and resemblance to the annual plant known as dusty miller. Perhaps it belongs in the Scenicio genus? Those yellow flowers make me think yes, but I want to hear what you all think it is! Shoot us an email if you have any clues. In the meantime, I will use species like Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian sage), Stachys byzantina (lambs ear) and our native Ericameria nauseosa (rubber rabbitbrush) to mimic that wonderful silver tone in my own garden.

We spent hours walking those chilly beaches, enjoying all the fascinating things that wash up with each new wave.

Gardens of France: Chateau de Chenonceau

Refined, elegant, and dare I say…lady-like? The castle and gardens of Chenonceau are truly a must-see in the Loire Valley. It is known as the ladies castle because of its many famous female inhabitants, as well as the fact that its construction and upkeep was overseen by women. With formal gardens surrounding it on two sides, and an extensive estate with woods, hedge maze, vegetable plot, and a medicinal herb garden, one could easily spent the entire day here. This is one of my favorite gardens of France, but sadly we only had a few hours to admire the grounds and take a few notes on the exquisite landscape designs!

view of Diane de Poiteirs garden and Chateau de Chenonceau
View of Chenonceau from Diane de Poitiers garden, from Wikimedia

A Brief History

Owned by the monarchy, mistresses, government financiers, and chocolatiers, this property has a fascinating history. Straddling the river Cher, it was used as a military hospital in WWI and a secret escape corridor in WWII. But none of its history defined it as much as the rivalry between Catherine and Diane. Catherine Medici was the wife of King Henry II, Diane was his mistress. These women had a famous feud with a lasting imprint on the castle and grounds. Henry gifted the Chateau de Chenonceau to Diane, much to Catherine’s chagrin. Once Henry died, Catherine promptly took the castle back and sent Diane packing. Among the many renovations and additions each lady made, the gardens stand as an obvious example of their contrasting styles and personalities.

View of Chenonceau from the Medici garden.
Hermann Luyken, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Dueling Gardens

On one side of the entrance to the chateau stands the garden of Catherine de Poitiers, and on the other side the rebuttle: the garden of Catherine Medici. Both gardens are built on platforms above the banks of the river banks, and both exhibit the elegant features popular in the 16th century:

  • long straight gravel pathways (French parterre style)
  • small sections of very short shorn lawn separated by low hedges
  • topiary and ball-shaped shrubs
  • all paths leading to a central fountain or pool
Diane de Poitiers garden, one of the famous gardens of France
Garden of Diane de Poitiers, complete with its dwarf fruit trees and carefully manicured scroll pattern made of Santolina.

But they are unique in tone. The Medici garden is orderly, if slightly less symmetrical than Diane’s. It contains more squares rectangles while the Poitier garden is laid out in triangles. Catherine’s garden is modest in size, while Diane’s stretches on lavishly. But, many agree that the Medici garden has the best view of the Chateau, perhaps purposely planned that way due to her great affection and attachment to the residence. The memorable feature in the Garden of Diane de Poitier are the “santolina swirls”: grey santolina, trimmed very low, in delicate scroll patterns throughout the innermost lawns. Diane’s garden is grand, showy, and sprawling, while Catherine’s is elegant and slightly understated. While Diane’s has a flashy fountain in the middle, Catherine’s simply has a reflecting pool.

Catherine Medici's garden at Chenonceau (taken in October 2023), one of the famous gardens of France
The Garden of Catherine Medici, with its dark leaves sweet potato vine and the ornamental grasses (Pennisetum?) bursting upwards.

Formality with Flair

While formal gardens are not my particular taste, I really enjoyed the way these gardeners are playing with color palette. Dark leaf ipomea constrasts with silver santolia and lavender. The grasses rush upwards out of the other ground-hugging foliage like fireworks (which interestingly enough, were used for the first time in France at this very location). Rather than feeling stuffy and boring, the contrast of dark and light keeps it interesting and the winding shapes lead your eye in unexpected directions. On Diane’s side of things, a strict adherence to shades in purple, pink and whites keeps an otherwise very thick, diverse beds looking intentional.

A garden border of hibiscus, salvia, and castor plants in the colors purple, pink and burgundy. Plants range from 3ft to 6ft high, and the chancellory building is in the background.
Pinks, purples, and the burgundy of the caster bean leaves all blend together to create an almost monochrome landscape design.
A low hedge in the vegetable garden area, made of what I believe to be apple trees, in the espalier style.

Grandness, Scale, and Planning for the Future

the long entryway lined with plane trees (sycamore) that leads to Chateau de Chenonceau. This is a very memorable scene from one of the most famous gardens of France.
Chris enjoying the walk to the chateau, lined with massive plane trees.

One of the most memorable moments of Chenonceau is the tree lined entryway. It stretches on for the entire stately avenue and perfectly framing the castle up ahead. The property also has a hedge maze made of yew bushes, as well as a great collection of specialty trees. These types of displays only work with patience. For these grand landscapes to take shape, it takes more than just a growing season. Years, and in some cases, centuries of growth have to be accounted for. So if you have big plans for your own property, perhaps a tree lined driveway of your own or a prairie reconstruction, remember not to be intimidated by big plans! Start now to create something truly spectacular and awe-inspiring for future generations.

A mass planting of Hydrangea along the fence of the vegetable garden and maintenance area. Even the mundane and functional spaces are beautifully kept!

You don’t have to go all the way to France to experience excellent landscape design – implement these lessons into your own garden and get that royal touch of elegance! Keeping a simple color palette, use clean lines and repeating geometric patterns to achieve a timeless aesthetic. And for further inspiration, take a virtual tour of Chenonceau here. There are only a few more posts left in our gardens of France series, so stay tuned!

Choosing Plants for Birds: Be Beak Specific

Bird enthusiasts often flock to Dyck Arboretum to observe birds in our prairie, woodlands, and pond. In fact, Dyck Arboretum has been a data collection site for the Halstead-Newton Christmas Bird Count for 20+ years. Many FloraKansas patrons ask about how to attract more birds to their own landscapes, and the answer is simple: provide food, water and shelter!


The Arboretum is a hot spot for birds because of the density of native plants on our grounds providing excellent habitat. Birds spend most of their lives looking for food, so add plants to your landscape that produce berries, seeds, nuts, and nectar. A birdfeeder is nice, but native plants will provide fresher sources of nutrition at the appropriate time of year. Each bird, with its specially evolved beak, has favorite food sources that fit its skillset. Try some of the food plants shown above to increase the avian diversity of your neighborhood!

Zizia and sumac to attract caterpillars (nesting birds need thousands of insects to feed the young).

Interested in helping birds even more? Join the Halstead-Newton Christmas Bird Count, conducted each year on the Saturday closest to the winter solstice, and help to gather data about bird populations in our area.

And join us and our friends from Kauffman Museum on Saturday, March 2nd, for a spring symposium entitled “Murmurations & Exaltations: Birds & Birding in a Changing World.” We will start the morning with a bird walk, come inside for breakfast and conversation, and then hear presentations from three of our state’s top bird experts!

Flower Bugs: A Book Review

Angella Moorehouse has given us a great new resource for learning about and appreciating the “little things that run the world”. This book focuses on true bugs, a group of insects that don’t get a lot of good press, and their relationships to some of our favorite native flowers. It was published in 2023, by Pollination Press LLC out of Minnesota.

What is a true bug?

Most people can identify a butterfly and bumble bee. Most can even recognize a grasshopper, or praying mantis. But when we encounter a true bug, the common response is, “what IS that?”. True bugs, meaning an organism in the order Hemiptera, are not as well recognized. That might be because there are so many of them (~40,000 species, and counting) or because they lack the good press that pollinators and other crop-benefitting insects have garnered in recent years. Until now!

Biodiversity Heritage Library, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

“This book is intended to showcase the diversity of a misunderstood and under appreciated group of flower-visiting insects and to introduce a wider audience to the diversity of true bugs and the role that they play in our natural areas.”

Angella Moorehouse, Flower Bugs, A Guide to the Flower-Associated True Bugs of the Midwest

To be very simplistic about it, true bugs are identified by their double set of wings and their sucking, piercing mouthparts (perfect for sipping plant juice, or the liquified insides of other bugs…yum!). It is a pretty broad categorization. Perhaps that is why there is so much diversity in this order of organisms.

Contents

Like any good guide book, it has a short section of introductory information to prime the beginner bug enthusiast. Complete with diagrams and taxonomic tables, you will feel like an expert before you even get into the profile pages. It contains tips for how to effectively attract, capture and even photograph bugs, should you wish to catalog your sightings. The book then devotes the next 260 pages to detailed insect profiles.

The Little Details

For each species, readers get a full color photo, seasonality chart, native range map, feeding and behavior notes, and a list of plant species they are likely lurking on. For a beginner with little knowledge of insect classification, it will be difficult to use this alone as an identification guide. But in conjunction with an app, like iSeek, it will be a gold mine. The app can narrow it down to genus or even species, then use this book to get a positive ID. It is a great resource to learn more about the insects encountered in the yard and garden. Identification is key, especially if you are considering using pesticides as a control measure for a given insect in your yard. The downside is that this book focuses on midwest species, and their map does not include the Great Plains. Though Kansas is not on their map, rest assured, many species covered in this book are common in our state. It remains an excellent resource for our area.

Be Kind to the Bugs

The public is finally starting to wise up to the bee crisis, and the pesticide problem. Many folks come to the FloraKansas Native Plant Days asking for pollinator friendly plants. But no one comes asking about true bugs. After all, aren’t these the creepy crawlies that halloween and horror movies tell us to beware of? Aren’t these the pesky bugs that prey on our houseplants and invade our cellars? In a word, no.

This book reminds us that these little creatures play an important ecological role, no matter how under researched or unnoticed it may be. With their fantastic array of colors and great many variations in shape, size, and ecological role, it is hard not to be charmed by the bugs in these pages and to look with ever more wonder the next time I meet one in the real world.

The book is available now in our gift shop, and many of the plants listed in the book as host to these insects can be purchased at our FloraKansas Native Plant Days, coming up soon!

Kansas Shelterbelts

Recently I met a woman walking her dogs in the new woodland path through our hedgerow. She expressed admiration for the long lived hedge trees here, and was concerned that so many farmers are bulldozing their shelterbelts and reclaiming the acres for farming. She asked if we knew of any preservation effort to prevent them from becoming relics of the past. This led me down a rabbit hole into shelterbelt history. I hoped to understand more about why they were planted and what purpose they serve today. Are they actually good for our native wildlife? Are they still agriculturally and ecologically relevant?

The short answer is this: Hedgerows of good quality, and relatively few invasive species, can benefit the soil, provide good habitat, and are a part of the region’s cultural history. But “trees for the sake of trees” is not a helpful philosophy for conserving the Great Plains ecosystem, evermore imperiled by encroachment of woody species.

The long answer? It’s complicated.

Early Tree Planting

In the early 1800s, Kansas had few trees. As European settlements encroached on the Great Plains, newcomers planted shelterbelts for wind protection and privacy around new homesteads. They were useful for delineating property boundaries, keeping livestock contained, and side trimming for firewood. Later on, Franklin D. Roosevelt encouraged the planting of shelterbelts and hedges during the dustbowl years to curb erosion. Of course, as he was from the east coast, he may not have understood that planting millions of trees on grasslands with little rainfall and frequent fires might not be the best solution. Modern ecology has taught us a few things! With the advent of cheap barbed wire for fencing and more erosion-conscious farming practices in place, the need for such frequent tree lines decreased.

What’s in a Kansas Hedgerow?

“Hedge apples” litter the arboretum grounds every year. Bigger than a grapefruit, watch your head(!) as these fall from female Maclura pomifera trees.

The history of the hedge tree, or osage orange species, is inextricably tied to Kansas. These trees are tough and hardy, thorny enough to deter livestock and dense enough to make excellent firewood. But the ‘hedges’ of Kansas are not exclusively made up of osage orange trees. You may find native oaks, elms, hackberry, mulberry, and cedars in a rural shelterbelt, as well as a fair number of problematic and invasive species such as Siberian elm, bush honeysuckle, ornamental pear, and Russian olive.

Planting Trees in the Plains

Willa Cather Memorial Prairie near Red Cloud, NE.

For at least a hundred years we’ve been hearing the same message: trees good, open space bad. The European settlers of the Great Plains, with their wagons headed west, knew trees meant cooking fuel and housing material. At the founding of Arbor day in 1872 planting trees became a patriotic mission and civic duty. In recent years we have seen countless campaigns to save the trees and “plant a tree with every purchase”. But the Great Plains ecosystem relies on all that open space. For example, only one tree per acre is enough to limit the nesting success of the greater prairie chicken. While planting trees in forested areas is much needed, planting them in grasslands and calling it conservation may be misguided. We know that grassland bird species are in steep decline, and that too many woody species on the prairie can lead to a low water table and more volatile wildfires. Grasslands are just as ecologically important, and imperiled, as forests. It is long past time to update the messaging and match that zeal for nature conservation with geographically appropriate solutions.

Over and over, I watch people buy small parcels of prairie and immediately plant trees around the borders. Grassland acreages invaded by eastern red cedars or other trees are often appraised at a higher real estate value than uninvaded grasslands because of their ‘recreation value’.  People who write angry letters about trees being cleared to make way for a shopping center don’t bat an eye when a prairie is plowed under or allowed to be overtaken by Siberian elms. 

Chris Helzer, The Prairie Ecologist The Darker Side of Tree Planting in the Great Plains

To Tree, or Not to Tree? That is the Question

In light of all this, do we really need these well-intended hedgerows disrupting the open spaces of the grasslands? That very much depends on the location, condition, and composition of each hedgerow.

Is the row of trees protecting a home from those rowdy prairie winds? Is it grown specifically for sustainable collection of firewood or does it grow out of control year by year, encroaching on neighboring grasslands? Is it located on a Century Farm or in an important historic area?

Does that stand of trees have native species like oak, walnut, persimmon, and pawpaw or is it mainly non-native invasives spreading their seed into nearby prairies? Is it providing erosion control for a farmed field? Would a restoration of native prairie grasses do just as good a job at holding the soil? Do the trees provide habitat to native birds or is it simply encouraging predator birds to move farther west?

Thinking about these questions can help you decide what trees on your own lands deserve protection and conservation, and which can be safely removed.

Gardens of France: Nantes

Nantes is not one of the more famous locations in France. It has a major port and lots of commerce, and vacationers often pass it up in favor of all the other more scenic cities. But it is full of history, has a walkable city center, excellent public transport, and LOTS of greenspace. It is known as the city of 100 parks, with ample access to free and beautifully maintained gardens and greenways. I got to enjoy several of these places on our three-day stay while visiting friends.

Japanese Garden

In the middle of Nantes is the river Erdre, and in the river there is an island, and on this island is the Jardin Japonais. The island was made with the mud removed from the river in an 1800s canal project, and though it had many uses through the years, today it is home to cherry trees, rhododendrons, and bamboo. Winding paths lead to tranquil ponds, a small waterfall, and pagoda-style architecture. The principles of Japanese gardening are very different from those of classical European styles. These principles include asymmetry, concealment, miniaturization, and “borrowed” scenery, and they were all on great display on this little island.

Jardin Extraordinaire

Set inside an abandoned quarry, this garden is bordered by a river on one side and steep granite cliffs on the other. Because of these south facing cliffs catching the sunlight, the garden stays several degrees warmer, on average, than the surrounding area. A perfect microclimate for exotic plants like palms, hibiscus, and banana trees! These tropicals intermingle with ornamental grasses as well as sycamore trees. The garden is luxurious and bizarre, like something out of a storybook. Nantes happens to be the birthplace of author Jules Verne and there are many elements of this city that feel influenced by his eccentric and active imagination. Or perhaps the city influenced Verne!

Jardin des Plantes de Nantes

Just like in the US, almost every major city has a Jardin des Plantes, or botanical garden, to explore. Nantes had a lovely and unique collection to explore and we had a relaxing stroll through their greenhouses devoted to tropicals, cactus, orchids, and more. The park stretched on through coniferous forest plantings and opened onto placid duck ponds and lush lawns. The horticulturists there even created grass covered mounds and sculpted them into sleeping figures. Maybe I need to try this at the Arboretum!

A wetland exhibit featured a stunning display of Sarracenia species. These are carnivorous bog plants that trap and digest flies in their flutes. Commonly known as pitcher plants, they are native to North America but are grown ornamentally around the world.

By far the best part of my visit to Nantes was getting to see my host family again. After so many years apart, we had such fun catching up. They were razzing me heartily about my mediocre French pronunciation skills, just like old times!

Nantes is truly an excellent city (maybe the best in France, according to City Monitor) and definitely one to visit if you love gardens, as most are free to enter and can be easily reached by public transit or pedestrian walkways. As we only visited a few of the one hundred parks, I hope to visit again soon and see many more!

Gardens of France: Monet at Giverny

The famous painter Claude Monet transformed his acreage in Giverny into his own private paradise. It is the complete opposite of the other gardens we have discussed in this series. Gone are trimmed topiaries and carefully pruned perennials, and there are no great lawns on which to have military marches. Instead it is naturalistic, flowing, and whimsical. With it’s famous lily pond and Japanese bridge, we felt as if we were walking right into a famous painting! We saw some great landscaping principles here that you can apply to your own landscape, even if you don’t have an artist’s eye for design.

This lily pond was the subject of hundreds of paintings by Monet. I can see why he never tired of looking at it!

An Artist’s Garden

Monet was a preimminent painter of impressionism, a style placing emphasis on color, movement and light rather than intricate detail. Impressionist painters used broad strokes of color, and paintings in this style can seem blurry or unfinished. Understanding the impressionist style of painting helped me appreciate the garden design as well. The beds are tightly packed and verge on overgrown, and fine details are mostly lost, but the colors and textures shine through the chaos. Each area transitioned effortlessly into the next as we walked, flowing and natural. The garden was very much like an impressionist composition: seen too closely, it seems unintelligible but step back to see the whole and you are rewarded with a beautiful view!

Color Story

The garden of an artist would, of course, include a careful study of color, and Monet’s estate does not disappoint. Each densely planted row clearly had a plan. Yellows and whites are planted next to an entire row of blues and purples, which visually melt into burgundies and reds. Around every corner were fascinating flower species in row upon row, but always in monochrome or a two color maximum. Consequently, the busy landscape appeared organized and very relaxing.

Wildness Contained

Dozens of narrow paths lead you through the estates gardens. At times you can scarcely see around the corner or over the hedge. With no idea where we were headed, we just enjoyed the walk and didn’t worry about what’s next. Perhaps that the was the artists plan all along! It can feel like a wild place but in fact, from an aerial view, the estate is laid out in neat rows and squares. The staff keep the paths well maintained and very tidy. This helps to carefully frame all that wildness, giving viewers an easier time viewing, interpreting, and enjoying the space. As the garden of an artist, it makes sense to strive for visual balance. This principle of good planning and framing is one we encourage in all of our landscaping classes.

Japanese Influences

Claude Monet devant le bassin aux nymphéas de Giverny
(Monet in front of the water lily pond)

Monet was a collector of Japanese prints, which are on still on display in his home today. His love for this art form inspired him to include classic Japanese elements in his garden. Water lilies are an important motif in Asian art, as well as arched bridges. Accordingly, Monet renovated his countryside property to include these elements, which have become the most recognized subjects of his work. Japanese woodblock art is known for clean lines and flat, unshaded color. Monet mixing Japanese stylistic elements into his garden is a great reminder for us all: don’t shy away from trying new garden styles you like, as great design can be made from unexpected combonations!

Monet’s garden was a much needed break from all the formal, stuffy gardens of French nobility. It was a family estate, and the place felt much more loved and lived in. The artist’s influence was very much still present on the grounds in its naturalistic style and rambling paths. I am reminded that great garden design should be a reflection of your personal style, and can inspire great art…or vice versa!

Learning About Leaves

Every year I learn more and more about how important leaves are for the ecosystem. We have several blogs about leaves already, (including Scott’s best management practices and my sustainable leaf-raking tips) but this information often needs updating and augmenting. The more we know, the better we can do! And that applies to us too here at Dyck Arboretum. Here are some new ideas I am implementing around the grounds to a-leave-iate our leaf problems.

My dog Rosie loves leaves, and so do I! Raking (and playing in) leaf piles was a staple activity of my childhood that I still enjoy with my family today.

Leave them when you can…

I know it is not always possible, but the easiest and best practice is leave leaves were they fall. Here at the Arboretum we let leaves freely accumulate in hedgerows, shrub borders, and garden beds, even though it might not look traditionally ‘tidy’. Many insects use leaf litter for shelter and breeding, and insects are the linchpin to our ecosystem! As E.O. Wilson said, they are the little things that run the world. Their populations are in serious decline across many species, especially the leaf-loving firefly.

Allowing leaf litter to stay undisturbed through fall and winter is an easy way to improve insect habitat. While you might be worried about all those ‘bugs’ snoozing in your landscape, don’t be. Just remember to keep the leaf layer only a few inches thick and not piled high directly up against the foundations of your home.

Fall colors on the west side of the Arboretum. Stunning, but short lived! Soon these leaves will be swirling around the sidewalks and piling up on paths.

Don’t Shred

A light sprinkling of leaves will not harm your lawn, but they can cause damage when too thick, matted, and wet over the winter, so you may have to remove them. Many folks rush to the mower and shredder for this task. We have a large mulching mower that I once happily raced across all the Arboretum lawns with.

BUT – I’ve learned now that many insects have already laid eggs or cozied up for dormancy in these leaves. So shredding likely kills all those beautiful and beneficial insects we are hoping to attract. I am attempting a 60/40 rule this year: remove the bulk of the leaves by raking, shoveling, or blowing, and only mow that last forty percent in particularly important/sensitive lawn area. For an acreage this large it is impractical to do much by hand, but I am hoping my small effort will make a positive difference for the insects that call the Arboretum home.

Thanks to volunteers we are able to rake and redistribute some leaves. Without their help, much more would have to be shred with a mower to save time.

Redistribute

After the wonderful workout of raking leaves, it is time to put them…where? If you have a compost pile, that’s a great start. Or layer them over your vegetable garden. Pile them under cedar trees or in weedy spots you want to smother.

Dyck Arboretum is not accepting community leaf donations this year as our leaf house is deconstructed at the moment, but many cities (including Hesston) have a free drop off leaf compost area for their citizens. For extra sustainability, skip the plastic bags and move your leaves loose with just a tarp and a truck bed. If you must use bags, don’t tie them up so they can be easily dumped and reused next year when the leaves fall again.

Our parking lots accumulate leaves quickly, and they begin to compost as they pile up in the curb. We use a grain shovel to scoop them out, rake them up, and toss them around the trees and shrubs as good mulch and fertilizer.

This time of year I see piles and piles of bagged leaves on the curbs of our neighborhoods and cities. We can certainly do better now that we know what a gold mine of habitat and nutrients these leaves really are. So get out there and jump in those leaves, spend a day in the fall sunshine, and do your part to help those “little things” keep running the world!