FLOWER MAY•JUNE 2020
HOUSE l GARDEN l LIFESTYLE
the MAGIC of OUTDOOR LIVING
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A ROSY OASIS
Stroll Prince Charles’s Gardens at Highgrove A DREAMY NASHVILLE HOME
PHOTO BY LAUREY W. GLENN
MAY• JUNE 2020
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In Harmony with Nature
Contents
When Lorie and Gavin Duke purchased their 1920s house in Nashville, they drew upon Gavin’s expertise in landscape architecture and Lorie’s flair for decorating to create a family-friendly home that blurs the boundaries between indoors and out
“Just living isn’t enough,” said the butterfly. “One must also have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”
–HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
FEATURES
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Plantsville Pines
PHOTO BY LAUREY W. GLENN
When a garden is built on hopes and dreams, there are no limits
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The Cotswolds home of Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, sits surrounded by gardens, meadows, allées, and ancient walls with climbing roses
To create a vibrant home and lifestyle for her family, Australian designer Charlotte Coote remade a house steeped in childhood memories into a place filled with nostalgia and wonder
The celebrated socialite and philanthropist’s house welcomes back her daughter and family to continue their tradition of summering in Newport, Rhode Island
The Majesty of Highgrove Gardens
A Lasting Impression
The Wit & The Whim of Oatsie Charles
ON THE COVER: Rose-bowered arbors, evergreens, and a chorus of annuals and perennials provide year-round color in this 3-acre
Connecticut paradise designed by the homeowners, George Anthony Jones and Dean Delgiudice. Photographed by Kindra Clineff
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Watering can
A Note from the Editor
“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature, and God.” —Anne Frank
are reminded that nature has not been sidelined. As serendipity would have it, this issue celebrates “The Magic of Outdoor Living.” At no time in our history has this been a more relevant and inspiring— even necessary—theme. Our editors offer rare and exquisite experiences for your reading pleasure: Tour the gardens of HRH Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, at Highgrove in the Cotswolds; visit the rose-filled world of Connecticut’s Plantsville Pines; stroll beyond the gates of The Whim, the house and garden of the late Newport, Rhode Island, icon Oatsie Charles; enjoy an inspiring glimpse of the fresh and chic indoor–outdoor lifestyle of Nashville landscape architect Gavin Duke and his family; and attend a swell soirée on the terrace in Savannah, Georgia, hosted by Rebecca Gardner, conjurer of enchantingly unforgettable parties and houses. None of these stories will cure this virus, but they might just flatten the curve of our nerves a bit. And who knows? If by the time you read this, the pandemic is on the decline, you’ll still have all these beautiful outdoor moments to bask in and be inspired by. SDG,
Margot Shaw EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Please send your comments, triumphs, challenges & questions to: wateringcan@flowermag.com OR Letters to the Editor | Flower magazine P.O. Box 530645 I Birmingham, AL 35253 Get the Flower email newsletter! Sign up at flowermag.com/news
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May•June 2020
PORTRAIT BY BETH HONTZAS
USUALLY THERE’S A SPECIFIC MESSAGE I want to communicate when I sit down to write this letter. But the world has changed. By the time you read this, the coronavirus may be on its way out, and I pray that it is. But either way, I must address this surreal season in which we find ourselves. The problem is I don’t really know where we are. This is disconcerting to someone of very strong opinions, such as myself. My uncle used to say of me, “Seldom right, never in doubt.” I acknowledge that may still be the case, but maybe a bit less so . . . on both counts. Ordinarily I would have formulated a position, grounded in stats, observations, and reports from my various news sources. But one thing that this tectonic shift has highlighted for me is that I don’t know, and won’t know for a while, the outcome of this outbreak. And that’s OK. I just have to operate on the basis of what I do know, and I have to love. I can call an older isolated friend, share sacrificially of my paper products, post beauty and humor, cut glorious spring blooms, play with my puppies, cook for my husband (a rare occurrence), try to comfort my children, give to the entities in the trenches helping all those in need, and I can pray. Beyond these things, I— together with the exceptional Flower team—can bring you a little beauty. Interestingly, one of the salutary side effects of this virus is the urge to linger outdoors. It’s easier to be acceptably distant from others in wide-open spaces, vitamin D abounds, fresh air fills our lungs, and we
PORTRAIT BY BETH HONTZAS
What’s Online TIME TO BLOOM. VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR INSPIRATION AND ONLINE EXCLUSIVES Floral design by Destiny Pinson
EXPERT FLORAL TUTORIALS Learn the art of arranging from top floral designers with Flower’s collection of step-by-step guides, full of tips and techniques that you can apply to your own creations. flowermag.com/how-to
Home of Jennifer Amodei
The right blend of creature comforts, fresh air, and nature makes an at-home retreat that you’ll never want to leave. Feather your outdoor nest with ideas from these porches, patios, terraces, decks, and rooftop gardens. flowermag.com/dreamy-outdoor-living-spaces
AMERICA’S MOST RENOWNED PUBLIC GARDENS
Hills & Dales Estate
Celebrate the beauty and horticultural excellence of outstanding public gardens across the country. flowermag.com/ public-gardens
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PHOTOS (TOP TO BOTTOM): SARA ESSEX BRADLEY, TODD TYLER, AND COURTESY OF HILLS & DALES ESTATE
DREAMY OUTDOOR LIVING SPACES
PHOTOS (TOP TO BOTTOM): SARA ESSEX BRADLEY, TODD TYLER, AND COURTESY OF HILLS & DALES ESTATE
PLANTSVILLE PINES
When a garden is built on hopes and dreams, there are no limits By TOVAH MARTIN Photography by KINDRA CLINEFF
The trouble-free antique rambler rose ‘Super Excelsa’ was the perfect athlete to send scrambling over the archways at Plantsville Pines. OPPOSITE: Equally robust climber ‘Super Dorothy’ joins the darker, slightly larger ‘Super Excelsa’ for a long, lush display.
THE SUN TAKES ITS TIME CLIMBING ABOVE THE CONIFERS THAT JOIN LIMBS TO ENCLOSE PLANTSVILLE PINES. But even before the sparkle illuminates a labyrinth of blossoms lapping at walkways and arbors plumped with vines, this garden has a surreal quality. Hidden in a no-nonsense industrial Connecticut town, this is the landscape that happened when two dedicated gardeners dug in and built from their heart on a shoestring. Never for a moment did George Anthony Jones and Dean Delgiudice doubt that making their own paradise was possible, and it shows. Jones and Delgiudice are driven by dreams and propelled by a mutual thirst for beauty. Not incidentally, they both have a strict work ethic. Even when Jones was working full time in computer technology and Delgiudice in teaching, they always dove into the gardens when home.
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The 3 acres of land given to the couple by Delgiudice’s family were deeply appreciated, so the couple plunged headlong into making it home in 2002 and have never paused with their dizzying agenda of projects. While personally building the house (Jones earned his chops from his contractor father), they laid the framework for the landscape and tucked in the first plants. To say that they planted the garden doesn’t really capture the depth of the initiative. The pair propagated the plants from seeds and cuttings to layer in the lushness they envisioned. But this isn’t about blood, sweat, and tears. This is the saga of love, sweat, and no fear. The fact that Jones gleans his ideas from reading books is telling because his tastes are purely European. His vision was a series of cottage gardens joined by seductive rose-entwined arches that feel both mazelike and secret garden– esque. Plantsville Pines welcomes visitors with an entry drive accompanied by a sweep of flowers that run like rivulets in colors that proclaim summer but are simultaneously soothing. Even
CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE LEFT: Jones
found Athena at the Brimfield Antique Show and gave her a commanding position overlooking the parterre garden. • A bench on the cross-axis in the parterre garden is bowered in clematis ‘Jackmanii.’ • The parterre garden leads into a sunken garden where an urn spills over with succulents. • Spruce, chamaecyparis, and arborvitae serve as a backdrop for the gardens. OPPOSITE: When Jones’s grandmother gave him a fountain, he built a room for its setting in her honor.
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before they were given the land, Jones always saw in his future a parterre with flowers hemmed by clipped boxwood. He made all that happen and more. It took considerable savvy. Although many gardeners look back on missed opportunities and sigh, Jones and Delgiudice took smart advantage when options presented themselves. For starters, when the heavy equipment had just finished digging the foundation for their house and earth movers were still on the premises, they asked if the machines could dig holes for 300 pines to surround their land. As a result, they had the parameters laid out for their landscape in no time. Now, the mature pines stand tall and broad as the optical illusion that establishes the sense of slipping into another reality. Simultaneously, Jones was tucking in plants salvaged from his previous garden. Although a couple of years had intervened while the couple was in limbo between homes, Jones had spread plants among friends to transplant to their new home. The initial garden was a rather loud shout-out to the joy of independence and was also a testimony to what could be rallied quickly. “The driveway border was all purple and yellow,” Jones recalls of his original somewhat garish fillers. His vision was a big wave of massed color, but it was initially dependent on whatever he could germinate from seed in a blink. The result was 400 echinaceas and rudbeckias greeting friends when they first drove in. Meanwhile, he had purchased 400 tiny boxwood starters at Home Depot to put in his parterre
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May•June 2020
Pines and arborvitae form a tall hedge to screen and define the property. ABOVE: Jones “combined all the rust” to perch whimsical bird sculptures on top of a weathered sundial. LEFT: A weeping Atlas cedar drapes over the entry to the parterre garden.
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“TO PREVENT THE GARDEN FROM READING LIKE A FREE-FOR-ALL, IT’S TIED TOGETHER WITH REPEATING PATTERNS AND COLORS.” —GEORGE ANTHONY JONES
For more information, see Sources, page 86
LEFT: The sunken garden
stretches beside a corkscrew willow that shades the dining table. ABOVE: An urn dense with plectranthus and Persian shield completes the corner, playing off a bed of ‘Blue Billow’ hydrangea. RIGHT: Potted plants filled with low-maintenance succulents like senecio accent the sunken garden and weave into the scene.
while frantically rooting cuttings to increase that quantity. The first flowers to fill in between the boxwoods in the parterre were white marigolds—another plant Jones could easily produce rapidly from seed. Time and resources allowed the couple to hone their style. They found fountains and hoops to form arbors inexpensively but pulled them apart and rebuilt them to suit their taste. In place of the marigolds, perennial drought- and pest-resistant sedum ‘Matrona’ now fills in the parterre between boxwoods. Added elements tame the borders, though repetition remains their strong suit. Now, foxgloves, salvias, Shasta daisies, lilies, daylilies, and balloon flowers knit them together with spiraea to form a leitmotif. But the main show occurs when the sweet Williams burst into midseason blossom. Propagated by seeds collected from Jones’s mother’s garden, they are a meticulously selected combination of colors that merge beautifully in concert. Every year, Jones plants new seeds just in case his biennials fizzle. Everything about this garden is magic. From the arbors bowered in heirloom roses propagated by Delgiudice to walkways where silene, ageratum, and other self-seeders instill a sense of endless lushness, this is a place where you sink deep into every step. There would be a grandeur about the garden, but the couple is so down-to-earth, it just dazzles rather than daunts. Now, Plantsville Pines is the epitome of everyone’s dreams. Continued on next page
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At regular intervals, in the rooms created by the archways and conifers, benches offer a place to sit, chat, and enjoy the garden. Feverfew and silene line the walkways.
EXTENDING THE BLOOM WHEN MOST GARDENS are in a lull, that’s when Plantsville Pines steps into prime time. Although spring has its charms, the gardens reach their zenith in July. Jones’s affinity for the sweet William that his mother once grew as a cut flower is part of the wave steering that time slot. He became so fond of that midseason performer that he still starts seeds every year to add to the bounty already planted. Coinciding with the rush of sweet William are daylilies, ageratum, and annual rudbeckias. Other annuals raised from seed also join in the chorus, as well as salvias such as ‘Wendy’s Wish’ and ‘Amistad’ that were purchased as small plants. Cuttings of plectranthus fill in the beds. The fact that climbing roses enter the picture later than bush types also plays to the scene’s favor. But Jones’s goal has been to prolong the show even further, and he does that with echinaceas, daisies, sedums, and the silene that self-sows everywhere to lend the garden its rambunctious mood. Hydrangeas line the walkways. And after the roses finish their performance, the intertwined autumn clematis has its day. “It’s a bear to wrestle the clematis from the roses in spring,” warns Delgiudice who painfully prunes the clematis to 4 feet, “but it’s worth it.” Containers filled with succulents also fill in and punctuate the scene. With planning, the display is sustained robustly until autumn. Beyond that, thanks to the conifers, this landscape is evocative throughout the year.