grey gardens
has anyone seen the photographs of grey gardens? the movie was just recently on HBO. sally quinn and ben bradlee have owned the property since 1979 and victoria fensterer was the landscape designer. i was wanting to know the names of the plants in the photo with the turquoise blue chair. i have found seeds for the white holly hock. i am having trouble defining the other plants. i thought maybe someone else was inspired by this garden. it is truly magnifi ent. please help, if you can. thank you. lana
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(post #15401, reply #1 of 12)
I didn't see the HBO special, but I was inspired to search using Grey Gardens and Victoria Fensterer and found the NY Times slide show. It is not in real good focus, though throughout.. One of the plants is Joe Pye Weed, near and back of the chairs. In another angle though I don't see the Pye Weed at all, but do see white valerian (a native garden heliotrope), a day lily (maybe Bama Music?), what could be verbena hastata, and possibly a white snakeroot related to the Pye weeds (not the bugbanes), a light yellow daylily,
In other sections near the chair I thought I saw Miss Kim lilac, yews, possibly phlox and delphiniums. From the slide show:
What I thought was verbena hastata could have been loosestrife in that other area. I guess I would go with the verbena...less invasive and edible by wild creatures.
(post #15401, reply #2 of 12)
thank you so much. i am thrilled.
(post #15401, reply #3 of 12)
My favorite grey perennial is a Lambs Ear - Helen Stein I think. It has larger leaves than common Lambs Ears, and does not bloom.
It will make a really large clump about 2' in diamter within 3 years. Divide it in the fall, since it seems to dislike spring dividing. Put it in a well-drained place....otherwise it might wilt when rain is heavy.
Pat/Lunaria
(post #15401, reply #4 of 12)
That's one of my favorites too, though I prefer 'Silver Carpet'; it stands up to our prolonged rainy season without as much "melting".
Marty
"The plants have been good to us." Lester Hawkins
Marty
"The plants have been good to us." Lester Hawkins
(post #15401, reply #5 of 12)
I like the blooms on the plain species. I like them because the bees like them.
North Carolina - zone 7
North Carolina - zone 7
(post #15401, reply #6 of 12)
I have the plain species, too. I also discovered that cut while in early bloom and hung upside down they dry very well. Made a nice grouping of these and dried yellow yarrow one year. PAT
(post #15401, reply #7 of 12)
I like the bees too. There is an odd assortment of them here this year, some I have never seen before. They are enjoying what is blooming. And the hummingbirds are here again, zooming and chirping.
There was a thunderstorm 2 days ago, so we may be working up to some kind of weather later in the summer. My garden is wonderfully soaked right now.
New Mexico home organic gardener
Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience. Emerson
(post #15401, reply #8 of 12)
Yes, the bees and hummingbirds LOVE the lamb's ear blooms. They must be incredibly sweet. I use it for a border at the edge of one bed that curves, and got tired of how it looks in bloom. I trim it now a couple times a summer to keep it low, so to compensate I planted lamb's ear in a couple other places I can let go.
(post #15401, reply #9 of 12)
Trimming lamb's ear blooms....reminds me that last year I stopped at a McDonald's for a "Senior" coffee for a few cents. Their landscaping includes some Siberians and daylilies, and a huge carpeted bank of Lamb's Ears. I could not believe it, but a ground service was cutting down all the blooming stems! When I asked why, they said the management did it to prevent bee stings of its customers. As if any of their "customers" bothered to stroll among the Lamb's Ear as they went through the drive though. .....There were some unhappy bees that day, I bet. :D Pat
(post #15401, reply #10 of 12)
That's sad. They may have gotten tired of the seedlings also.
(post #15401, reply #11 of 12)
I didn't know that seedlings can be a problem, but then I have never had a very big batch of them at any one time. Anyway, I gotta tell you a whole carpet of this plant on a very large area bank is quite a sight and certainly a grey garden. Obviously, the restaurant management left the plant choices to the yard service, and they went with easy and fast spreading. Bet they didn't know they would be expected to "groom" all those plants. :D Pat/Lunaria
P.S. One of my funny (and slightly loopy) garden buddies here at the complex gave me a motion sensor owl today that she had in her garden (which she has now given up.) She got it for the deer problem. That darn thing fooled me a long time..I thought there was an owl out there in the woods nearby. I think it is an actual recording of an owl sound because it even has that "in the woods" sound....kind of echoy. She got a real kick out of the fact last year that for a while I thought it was a real owl with a curiously "regular" hooing pattern. ..... This morning I told her to leave it to me in her will.....and this afternoon she brought it over to give to me. She said it was driving her husband crazy now that it is right by their patio. :D Oh, yes, and its eyes glow in the dark!
I don't think it had any affect on the deer. This morning saw Mom and the twin babies she had last year....all grown up and hungry. I am going to take the own out to the garden in the morning...for fun with garden visitors. :D
(post #15401, reply #12 of 12)
That sounds like fun. I'm not sure why anyone would expect deer to be worried about an owl. More likely it was intended to scare birds away from the corn patch or squirrels away from the bird feeder.