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When I first met my friendEllen Hoverkampand realize her photographs , I knew I wanted to do a ledger with her . Ellen travels with a expectant cooler in the back of her minivan . She replete it with deoxyephedrine jar , water , and a bag of ice to rapture plant life specimens safely from friends ’ garden to her studio , where she lay them on the open of an oversize 12- by 17 - inch flatbed scanner . Her images are more like botanical illustration than formal picture taking — she ’s Imogen Cunningham and Mary Delany ( the botanical collage artist from the later 1700s ) rolled into one . So we had the process ; we just needed an idea . That ’s when I saw the connection between books and gardens . The point in either showcase is the unconscious process — I garden and I write . The question often is , what variety of playscript to do and what kind of garden to make ?
Night BloomingAfter darkness falls , the lights come out , with enchanting varieties of evening time flora like this night - blooming genus Cereus ( Epiphyllum oxypetalum ) , which unremarkably opens for just one late - summer evening every year . ( Other plants that prime at night — moonflower orCestrum nocturnum , say — open with more frequence . ) Its fragrant blossoms have a particular bite that pull in the nocturnal bats who pollinate it . pic by : Ellen Hoverkamp . SEE MORE photograph FROM THIS BOOK
Many gardeners wish to play with different color combination when dreaming up a new garden scheme . ( When you go shopping at the glasshouse , it really helps to know you ’re looking for yellow or orangish and blank , for a Creamsicle garden . ) Morphology — the survey of the shape and texture of plant life and the ways they rise — is another aesthetic thoughtfulness . But there are other categories : You could grow kinsperson of flora together oronly herbs or flowers mentioned in the writings of Shakespeare . You just postulate inspiration .
With this organizing principle in mind , I made inclination of themes and subjects — plant families , color palettes , and other reasons to bring plant together . I grew many of the plants for our undertaking in my own New Jersey garden , planted on a two - acre island in the middle of a river . Ellen went to her gardening friend , list in mitt , for more . We call in plants from friend in the Southeast and Southwest , on the West Coast , and in the Midwest , touching on as many regions as possible .
Secret GardenClockwise from top left : variegate Solomon ’s seal , Nipponese paint fern , crested male fern , autumn fern , sham Solomon ’s seal . Photo by : Ellen Hoverkamp . SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS Bible
The final result , a book calledNatural Companions(Stewart , Tabori & Chang , 2012 ) , became a collection of garden recipes . you could beak any varlet and try the garden suggested by the works we put together . The principal ingredient are there : for a Shakespeare garden , a hummingbird garden , a secret garden — even a grouping of delightful toxic plants for those of us with wicked senses of humour . As much as possible , Ellen and I took tutelage to put ground cover at the bottom , shrubs in the centre , and trees at the top .
Whatever kind of garden you make , I urge you to make a Christian Bible like ours . you could definitely do it , although it may not look like the one we made . Ellen has old age of experience and a scanner that is quite a few notch substantially than average . And it ’s not as easy as it looks . ( When you put a lily in a scanner , for representative , the glass is suddenly covered in pollen , and you substantiate just how dependable an creative person Ellen really is . ) More significantly , though , you ’ll have a journal of your own garden . shortly after Ellen and I finished our Holy Writ , Hurricane Irene churned through the Northeast , follow the next month by tropic storm Lee . A good deal of my garden was swept away . Now I have a record of thing that used to be , and the Scripture I write turned out to be a memory book .
Many of these plants are known to draw in butterflies . They also have retentive blooming seasons , sometimes lasting all summer . 1 . Top dustup , left : Veronicastrum virginicum . 2 . center row , far left : Eutrochium purpureum subsp . maculatum . 3 . Top row , mediate : Monarda fistulosa . 4 . Middle rowing , middle : genus Eupatorium perfoliatum . 5 . Top wrangle , far right : Liatris spicata . 6 . Far right : Panicum virgatum . 7 . Bottom row , left : Pycnanthemum muticum . 8 . Bottom row , marrow : Asclepias incarnata . 9 . Bottom row : Asclepias tuberosa . photograph by : Ellen Hoverkamp . SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS BOOK
Ken Druse is an organic nurseryman , writer , photographer , designer , and natural scientist . His internet site iskendruse.typepad.com . you may learn more about Ellen Hoverkamp and her artistic production on her site , myneighborsgarden.com .
