Wet and Wild
There is nothing like water in a garden for 
its unique contributions: the sound, the light, the view, the power, and the threat. Those of us who garden next to lakes, streams or rivers, however, know that there is a trade off for having this force nearby.
Barbara Tiffany is a garden artist and designer who specializes in foliage, and genera such as Hosta, of which she has one of the Country’s premier collections, as well as Polygonatum, Tricyrtis and woody plants like flowering dogwoods (Cornus 'Eddie's White Wonder', right) and other trees with unusual foliage in shades of red and gold, variegations, distortions, contortions or miniature leaves. (The “Miracle Mile” with hostas and small variegated and golden trees, below.) There is color from flowers too, arranged by hues and time of bloom on pink shrubs like azaleas, for example, herbaceous salvias in a blue area and tropical plants in the "Black Border." 
There is a fountain that nestles against a mature weeping Katsura and shoots a jet of water into the sky. Another liquid feature of the garden is borrowed scenery: a wide creek that runs along the side of the eighteenth-century mills Barbara and her husband Robert, an industrial designer and engineer, converted into their home.
On September 8, 2011, Hurricane Irene changed the course of the creek and the garden efforts to follow. (The rains from Tropical Storm Lee a week later caused the most destruction to my garden.) Barbara Tiffany also suffered the effects of the waters and shares her experiences and feelings with us.
Click on the small black arrow at the left on the bar below to start listening, or click on the MP3 link to download the show into Windows Media Player or iTunes:
Leave a Reply