Renovating the Ladies' Border: Planting is Complete
More than 1,500 plants are now in the ground and are quickly filling in the border
by Jennifer Brown
Lynden B. Miller, the border's designer, was on hand to help with planting perennials.
In May, 2002, Lynden B. Miller was on hand to help with a major planting of perennials in the Ladies' Border at The New York Botanical Garden. Mrs. Miller, the designer of the new border, has worked closely with the staff of NYBG to track down unusual plants for this restoration project. Because the border faces south and sits in a protected spot, Mrs. Miller chose plants that are not represented elsewhere at NYBG and, in fact, are not typically grown in USDA Hardiness Zone 6. Plants like hebes, crepe myrtles, Spanish lavender, and camellias punctuate the 300-foot-long and 30-foot-deep border and are part of an experiment to push the boundaries of plant hardiness in New York City. See the full plant list.
Salvias, rosemary, and snapdragons are among the plantings in the new gravel-amended areas along the front of the beds.
Mrs. Miller is particularly excited about the special gravel-amended areas along the front of the beds, where salvias, rosemary, snapdragons, and other plants have been planted in hopes that they will overwinter because of the excellent drainage. The border will also be the site of several more experiments over the winter as plants of the same species are treated differently to see how they will react. For example, some rosemaries will be protected with burlap, some will be mulched, some will be left untouched, and others will be dug and brought to the greenhouse. Then, in the spring, they will be evaluated to see which method provided the garden with the happiest plants.
Design strategies for a long border Mrs. Miller admits that designing a border this long and this deep was daunting but says the key was to repeat planting patterns. Walking the length of the border, I could feel that the rhythmic nature of the plantings helped move me along through the design. It also served as a signal that I was still in the same garden even though I'd been walking for several minutes.
A river of silver sage now trails from the back of the border toward the front.
The other technique she uses is to run sweeps of plants into the border diagonally, stretching from front to back. A mass of Bowles' golden sedge (Carex elata 'Aurea') pulled my eye into a shady area, forcing me to notice what was planted at the back of the bed. Similarly, a wave of undulating silver sage (Salvia argentea) creates a riverlike effect as it trails down from the slope at the back of the border reaching toward the front. And the great thing about working with a botanical garden, says Mrs. Miller, is the ability to start with plants that are already a decent size. Because of this, there's no need to wait for this border to fill in; it looks spectacular already.
In January 2002, The New York Botanical Garden broke ground on the restoration of the Ladies' Border, a 260-foot long bed on the southeast side of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. Fine Gardening will be visiting the project from time to time this year to watch the progress of the new garden and to share it with you here on our Web site.
