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When I first adjoin my friendEllen Hoverkampand saw her photographs , I live I wanted to do a book with her . Ellen travels with a large ice chest in the back of her minivan . She fill it with glass jars , H2O , and a travelling bag of trash to transport flora specimens safely from ally ’ gardens to her studio apartment , where she lays them on the surface of an oversize 12- by 17 - column inch flatbed scanner . Her images are more like botanical representative than conventional picture taking — she ’s Imogen Cunningham and Mary Delany ( the botanic collage creative person from the belated 1700s ) rolled into one . So we had the process ; we just take an idea . That ’s when I go through the connexion between Book and gardens . The point in either case is the process — I garden and I write . The doubt often is , what kind of record to do and what kind of garden to make ?
Night BloomingAfter darkness descend , the lights come out , with ravish varieties of evening fourth dimension plant life like this night - blossom genus Cereus ( Epiphyllum oxypetalum ) , which usually opens for just one late - summertime eventide every year . ( Other plant that blossom at Nox — moonflower orCestrum nocturnum , say — unfastened with more absolute frequency . ) Its fragrant blossoms have a finicky pungency that attract the nocturnal bats who pollinate it . exposure by : Ellen Hoverkamp . SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS BOOK
Many gardener like to toy with different colour combination when dreaming up a new garden system . ( When you go rat at the nursery , it really help to know you ’re look for yellow or orange and white , for a Creamsicle garden . ) word structure — the study of the shape and grain of plants and the ways they grow — is another aesthetic consideration . But there are other categories : You could grow house of plants together oronly herb or bloom bring up in the penning of Shakespeare . You just need divine guidance .
With this organizing principle in mind , I made lists of idea and subjects — flora family , color pallet , and other reason to work plants together . I grew many of the works for our project in my own New Jersey garden , planted on a two - acre island in the middle of a river . Ellen go to her horticulture friends , list in mitt , for more . We called in plants from friends in the Southeast and Southwest , on the West Coast , and in the Midwest , touch on on as many region as possible .
Secret GardenClockwise from top leave : Variegated Solomon ’s seal , Japanese painted fern , crested male fern , autumn fern , false Solomon ’s seal of approval . picture by : Ellen Hoverkamp . SEE MORE exposure FROM THIS account book
The result , a volume calledNatural Companions(Stewart , Tabori & Chang , 2012 ) , became a accumulation of garden recipe . you could pluck any page and try out the garden suggested by the plants we put together . The main ingredients are there : for a Shakespeare garden , a hummingbird garden , a privy garden — even a grouping of delicious toxic plants for those of us with wicked senses of humor . As much as potential , Ellen and I read care to put ground screening at the bottom , shrubs in the centre , and trees at the top .
Whatever kind of garden you make , I urge you to create a book like ours . you may definitely do it , although it may not see like the one we made . Ellen has years of experience and a electronic scanner that is quite a few notch better than medium . And it ’s not as easy as it look . ( When you put a lily in a digital scanner , for instance , the trash is all of a sudden brood in pollen , and you realise just how good an artist Ellen really is . ) More importantly , though , you ’ll have a journal of your own garden . Soon after Ellen and I eat up our book , Hurricane Irene churn through the Northeast , followed the next month by tropical tempest Lee . A in effect deal of my garden was swept off . Now I have a record of thing that used to be , and the book I wrote deform out to be a memory book .
Many of these plants are known to pull butterflies . They also have tenacious blooming seasons , sometimes lasting all summertime . 1 . Top row , leave : Veronicastrum virginicum . 2 . Middle row , far leave : Eutrochium purpureum subsp . maculatum . 3 . Top row , center : Monarda fistulosa . 4 . center row , midway : Eupatorium perfoliatum . 5 . Top row , far right : Liatris spicata . 6 . Far right : Panicum virgatum . 7 . Bottom row , left : Pycnanthemum muticum . 8 . Bottom dustup , kernel : Asclepias incarnata . 9 . Bottom row : Asclepias tuberosa . photograph by : Ellen Hoverkamp . SEE MORE photograph FROM THIS BOOK
Ken Druse is an constituent gardener , writer , photographer , designer , and naturalist . His website iskendruse.typepad.com . you’re able to con more about Ellen Hoverkamp and her art on her site , myneighborsgarden.com .
