Those flowers show dream gardens I see each year in March fascinate me.
Bursting with flowering bulbs, dainty primroses, running brooks, and colorful native shrubs, they spur me on in my adventures in gardening.
It is easy to understand why the brook that briefly crosses a corner of our property has been a constant stimulus to me to attempt to build such a flower show type of spring garden.
With Boundaries And Background
Fortunately, the brook garden site was already provided with boundaries and background.
Although this was not immediately apparent through the tangled mess of elm saplings, choke cherries, and witch grass.
The lichened stone walls that are an integral part of the garden’s natural charm were built by many plowmen through the years.
For it was here in these fields at Peach’s Point, Marblehead, Mass., we are told that the Gregory Seed Company first developed Hubbard squash- and raised seeds to send worldwide.
Hidden Brook Garden
To complete the pleasing rhythm of these stone walls and to carry the eyes skyward, a neighbor’s handsome stone garage surmounts the brook garden with all the ancient beauty of an Irish cottage.
From it, a rude path of stepping stones eventually wound down to the garden’s end, where the brook disappears under the road.
One of its most attractive qualities is that the brook garden is by the side of a main road and can be enjoyed by any passerby.
In the beginning, however, no one would have guessed that a brook was hiding behind such a thicket.
The actual planting of the garden took little more than two years, but the preliminary work of clearing took much longer.
Choke cherries and old apple trees hid the brook from the house and the road.
Hurricanes and northeast storms took care of the apple trees, and my husband struggled with the wild cherries.
Ideal Place For Low Borders
Each year the lawn area was extended until, finally, it reached the retaining wall on the south side of the brook.
Here was the ideal place for a low border of rock garden plants. There was shade for the shade lovers, sun for the sun lovers, and perfect drainage for both.
The soil was sandy loam. It was enriched with decayed manure, bonemeal, and leaf mold.
It kept slightly acid except where mountain laurel, leucothoc, and rose daphne (Daphne cneorum) were planted. These were given half-loam and half-leaf mold.
Rock Garden Favorites
Such rock garden favorites as dwarf basket-of-gold Alyssum saxatile compaclum and A. s. cilrinum, mountain rock-cress Arabis alpina.
A. alpina fore pleno, ground phlox Phlox subulala (pink, white, and lavender), and sky-blue Veronica rupestris, were planted where they could overspread the rocks.
Wherever needed, the sharp accent of the Siberian iris (Iris sibirica) was supplied, also the woolly foliage of mullein pink (Lychnis coronaria).
Baltic ivy and polypody fern were given footholds in the face of the wall. Clumps of early daffodils and poets’ narcissus were added. Deep purple Viola nigra seeded itself in the empty spots.
Some rock garden plants, like aubrieta, were too finicky for my casual treatment, but those mentioned have been effective and non-demanding for several years.
At this point, the brook was in full view of the house. In fact, it was the view from the kitchen window.
Cooking, dishwashing, and designing a garden went on simultaneously. Much of the chokecherry had disappeared.
Elm Saplings
The elm saplings had become long-legged trees useful in providing high, cool shade in midsummer on the southerly slope.
The loss of a storm-torn black willow made room for a golden weeping willow. One large Austrian pine was planted near the stone garage to fill an empty corner.
This and the willow seemed small and unimpressive, dominated by a fat old swamp maple and waist-high witch grass.
For a season, I alternated between delight at the progress being made along the brook itself and despair at the seemingly impossible task of accomplishing anything on the slope.
Ferns Make The Setting
The brook bed was cleaned of tin cans and broken milk bottles. Loose stones were used to build up niches for planting below the retaining wall.
Cinnamon and royal ferns, sensitive and narrow beech ferns from nearby woods and swamps were planted naturally along both sides of the brook.
Iris pseudacorus (sometimes called the fleur-de-lis of France), rescued from a field where it had taken refuge from the muskrats, was planted in clumps along the water’s edge.
The muskrats found it again, but we learned how to handle them.
Winter Hardiness In Usual Garden
Cardinal flowers, closed gentian, and marsh marigold were purchased from a wild flower nursery and planted with their feet near the water.
A hunch that there is more to winter hardiness than one can find in the usual garden textbook led me to experiment with polyanthus primrose, alpine forget-me-not, and the azalea hybrids Hinodegiri and Pink Pearl.
Nature and I worked together successfully along the brook, but witch grass and a greedy old maple reigned supreme on the main slope.
The tree warden took care of the swamp maple, and my husband and I fought it out with the witch grass.
Soil Was Carefully Prepared
A load of loam, two bales of German peat, several wheelbarrow loads of pea stone, and bonemeal to the season were used to fill the low places and give the proper grade.
Leaf Mold, bonemeal, and dehydrated manure were used generously overall because the soil tested low in nitrogen and phosphates and, in addition, needed to be maintained at the proper degree of acidity.
The brook garden was beginning to emerge amidst its made-to-order setting of stone, water, and southerly slope.
Business Of Planting
Next began the fascinating business of planting a spring flower show kind of garden.
With frightening innocence, scarcely knowing one variety from another, I bought and planted according to color, texture, and shape — the way one decorates a room.
A clump of gray birch was settled near the Austrian pine, and a Hatfield yew provided more mass in the corner.
A pyramidal arborvitae, two dwarfs — a graceful juniper and a chamaccyparis, Pieris japonica and P. floribunda, and a tall white dogwood (to queen it overall) then took their places.
Rhododendrons Varieties
For rhododendrons, we chose the catawba hybrids, pink, lavender, and red; two husky Boule de Neige to bring the dogwood to earth;
- Rhododendron amoenum for spots where it could not clash;
- Rhododendron indicum in shades of white, pink and red;
- Rhododendron mucronulatum to bloom with the early daffodils and
- the lovely Carolina rhododendron, as well as the brilliant torch azalea.
Euonymus Fortunei Varieties
Euonymus fortunei in several varieties was planted where it could climb over the stone wall.
A Chinese wisteria was given the job of glamorizing a poorly shaped elm. Vinca and pachysandra were planted under the pine, and ajuga was placed in the hot, dry spots.
On the same high ground were planted lady fern, marginal shield fern, and hay-scented fern in drifts with Virginia bluebells.
Iris For Accent
Crested dwarf iris (Iris crislala), Siberian iris (Iris sibirica), and Blue-flag (Iris uersicolor), were put in spots needing the sharp accent of their foliage.
In marshy places went hosta and Trollius. There was a cranny for viola Jersey Gem and several places for groups of red English daisies.
In other spots were planted giant Solomons-scal, lily-of-the-valley, bleeding-heart, blue phlox (Phlox divaricata), and violets.
Alpine And Forget-me-nots
Alpine and perennial forget-me-nots had seeded themselves everywhere. They were thinned to form a background of blue for the bulbs.
The polyanthus primroses, given a trial by the brook, had responded so lushly that they seemed unquestionable due to inheriting the whole brook garden.
The palest ones were divided and planted in drifts near groups of Merlensia sibirica. The more brilliant primroses were planted singly between rocks along the brook.
Primula Varieties
Gradually, wide other primula varieties were added:
- P. acaulis in shades of blue, pink, crimson, and yellow;
- the auricular, candelabras, julianas, denticulatas;
- hosein-hose, Primula sieboldi, and the bell types.
To give an effect of spaciousness, it was decided to plant a limited variety of bulbs, but to plant these in quantity.
Five hundred crocus, winter-flowering, and the giant were scattered all over.
Daffodils and Tulipa Varieties
Several hundred daffodils — early yellow, Beersheba, and Mrs. R. 0. Back-house — were planted in colonies along with two hundred jonquils (single and Trevithian), 200 grape hyacinths, and 200 giant Scilla campanulata, both blue and salmon pink.
I could not resist tucking in here and their groups of Tulipa clusiana,
- T. kaufmanniana and T. kaufmanniana Elliot, and
- the dwarf daffodils, February Gold,
- N. canaliculotus, N. minimus, and N. triandrus albus.
With love like Pygmalion’s for Galatea, I await the new spring season and the rebirth of the brook garden. Building it has been great fun. Maintaining it is fun, too!
44659 by Margaret March Batchelder