A Garden of Its Time
By Svetlana Fotinov
The concept of the EcoGarden that we have cultivated on our property has its roots in the philosophy of the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, yet it has the flavour of a totally different era. We call it the Arts and Crafts garden of the new millennium, the garden of its time — the time of global warming and rapid climate change, when ecosystems are under stress.
The Arts and Crafts movement championed the unity of the arts, in which the house and the garden were considered a whole and the garden harmonized perfectly with the surrounding landscape. The Arts and Crafts garden was not a horticulturally driven garden like that of the Victorian era with its formal appearance, stiffly planted with brightly coloured annuals. The leading architects and garden designers who shared the philosophy of the Arts and Crafts movement created gardens in harmony with nature, using local materials to construct architectural components, emphasizing local plants and celebrating regional rhythms and materials.
It is not possible to define the Arts and Crafts garden in terms of a unifying style, because the movement was based not on style, but rather on ideals. We see our EcoGarden as part of the surrounding landscape, part of the natural ecosystem. In the best traditions of the Arts and Crafts movement, we utilize local materials for various garden objects. They look natural in the garden and they are in perfect harmony with the surrounding landscape. We use boulders hollowed by water as bird baths, and we place rocks and flat stones for butterflies and dragonflies to bask in the sun.
Our EcoGarden is a garden with a purpose, a garden of its time. Over the past five years my husband and I have created the structure of the garden by planting various indigenous trees and shrubs that provide food and shelter for wildlife. When choosing plant material we emphasized perennials and used only a small number of annuals as fillers around slow-growing perennials. I love conifer trees, and “baby” conifers are my favourites. They establish well and it’s fun to watch them grow. These tiny trees, in time, will provide shelter and food for squirrels and birds, and will protect them from harsh winter winds.
With nearly all structural components (trees and shrubs) now in place and areas well defined (bird garden, butterfly garden and hummingbird garden), it is time to replace the greater part of the remaining lawn (a huge area) with meadow grasses and perennials that are appropriate for local conditions and useful for local wildlife. We have already begun this work. We planted goldenrod and New England asters that we rescued when road construction crews were widening rural roads. Goldenrod, asters and Joe-Pye weed are beautiful additions to any garden, and butterflies and bees find them irresistible in late summer and fall.
I want to talk briefly about Gustav Stickley (1858–1942), who was the most influential proponent of the Arts and Crafts movement in America. Stickley explained that the Arts and Crafts movement represented “the restoration of the people to the land and the land to the people.” The popular appeal of Stickley’s furniture often obscures his many other activities, which included starting a magazine, called The Craftsman, in 1901. The Craftsman, which was published for 15 years, frequently carried articles on regional landscapes and plants. Itcelebrated the natural beauty and garden potential of countless native North American plants, including goldenrod and asters. Echoing the philosophy of English gardening writer William Robinson (a proponent of the Arts and Crafts movement, 1838–1935) regarding naturalized wild gardens, The Craftsman suggested that “the flowers native to the place are not only the most appropriate, but take care of themselves accommodatingly, seeding themselves at the proper time.”
Emphasizing ecological fit is important for any wildlife garden. Wildflowers are part of the local ecosystem — they represent a community of plants that have evolved side by side and flourish in the prevailing conditions. Their ecological requirements match those of a given site. Monitoring ecological fit will be more and more important at a time of rapid climate change. And that is what we intend to do in our EcoGarden.
We live in a very windy location and we have noticed that some trees tolerate gusty winds better than others. For instance, the white ash seems to be a better choice for a windy site than the ashleaf maple. Both are valuable trees for wildlife, yet the ashleaf maple splits and breaks easily, especially during ice storms. Knowing that the ashleaf maple is a valuable resource for wildlife we planted young trees in areas well protected from winds, at the very edge of the woods, far from the house. We also created windbreaks: we planted groups of cedars, maples and birches to create a natural windbreak in an open and very windy area.
Later on, we added a few conifers and shrubs. The composition looks natural, has several layers of vegetation and provides food and shelter for wildlife in all seasons. The slow-growing conifers that we planted in front of each group look charming in this environment. For a rather wet area we chose the red maple since it is a moisture-loving tree. The several red maples that we planted have established quickly and grow well.
Our bird garden consists of several components and is located in different areas of the EcoGarden. One area features the highbush cranberry, the black chokeberry, hawthorns and dogwoods. In another location we planted a group of cherry trees and a crab-apple. Various berry bushes are scattered throughout the garden.
We noticed that hummingbirds love salvia and we always plant various salvias (annuals in our Zone 5) for these tiny, flying jewels. The blue-black salvia is their favourite. Hummingbirds also like various types of bee balm as well as the stunningly beautiful cardinal flower and catnip. Nothing much to look at, catnip is a huge success with every flying creature! This only proves how important it is to include not only aesthetically pleasing plants, but also functional plants that wildlife needs.
The key plants in our butterfly garden are purple coneflower ), butterfly bush, Joe-Pye weed,black-eyed Susan, valerian and, of course, milkweed — the food source for the monarch butterfly in its caterpillar stage. We have noticed that monarchs are also attracted to flowering amur maples in late spring and they love to roost in the huge white ash in front of the house in the summer months. Butterflies adore lilacs, but they are very selective. To them, not all lilacs are equally attractive even if they are all very fragrant.
We made an interesting discovery in our EcoGarden. We found out that the most useful plant for butterflies from spring to fall is … the humble dandelion! Is it because this “weed” produces nectar even in cool weather? Migrating monarchs depend on dandelions in the fall. That’s why you should spare the dandelions in your garden; they are the most useful of weeds!
Another so-called week is a staple for the monarchs: the milkweed is food for their lovely “cats” — caterpillars. An egg-laying monarch attaches her exquisite egg, as beautiful as a jeweller’s masterpiece, to a milkweed leaf. She lays only one egg per leaf, sometimes two or three per plant. And then the female monarch searches for another suitable milkweed. The well-being of the monarchs in Eastern Canada, at a time of intensive farming, depends on common milkweed,a weed we encounter often in rural areas. Why not add a couple of plants to your garden?
Sounding very much like the present philosophy of conservation, The Craftsman magazinesuggested in the early 1900s that by cultivating native plants “a step is taken toward preventing the vanishing of wildflowers.” We like to think our EcoGarden takes that step a little further.
Banner photos: Svetlana Fotinov
Banner background illustration: Geopaul/istockphoto
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