Enjoy Your Visit — WALK THE GARDEN

A Walk through the Crescent

PHOTO: crescent There is a tingling feeling of anticipation among Garden visitors as they cross the Greene Bridge and step into this botanic world of beautiful, distinctive plants. What do you see first? What’s blooming over there? Oooh…what is that? Just wait. Just wait till you see this!

Once across the bridge, the initial views of water, lakes, fountains, and islands in the distance give way to a magnificent display space known as the Crescent. Here, in high summer, plant jewels (primarily annuals) are massed together in a tapestry of texture, form, and show-stopping color combinations. This garden area was created as an extension or echo of the circular Heritage Garden, which sits to the south. Both share a similar design scheme of crescent-shaped beds filled with seasonal plants you’ll want to try yourself.

In the Crescent, eight curving garden beds gradually terrace down to the water’s edge, increasing in size as they descend to the lake and the cooling spray from the Smith Fountain. PHOTO: crescent While visitors’ eyes are naturally drawn to the bright, and often quite unusual annuals, there are other solid trees and shrubs that define this captivating garden space and give it a sense of permanence and form, especially when frost claims the last of the autumn annuals. Note the signature weeping willows, the green pillows of cloud-pruned boxwoods, and the fastigiate beech trees that stand so straight, forming vertical columns that command your attention. Evergreen yew hedges line the western border, and with the Glencoe boxwood shrubs, provide greenery in all four seasons.

Brick walkways lace through the beds, encouraging visitors to step close to the plants for photo, as well as educational opportunities. For these annuals offer gardeners a chance to break ground in their own gardens by using new cultivars in novel combinations. The Garden achieved this summer’s winning display by following good design principles and not being afraid to use a creative, personal style. PHOTO: crescent

They anchored the beds by interspersing annuals with one specimen woody plant, which they repeated throughout the design. By choosing the Golden Spirit smoke tree, they achieved more than one goal. The smoke tree will continue to grow taller and wider throughout the entire season, grounding the gardens with height and structure. Its unusual chartreuse leaf color beautifully matches the overall color scheme, bouncing back a green yellow hue to the other yellows in the garden. See how it echoes Soiree Yellow sea lavender, New Gold lantana, Margarita sweet potato vine, Yellow Peruvian zinnias, and the similar chartreuse foliage of the fantastic Limon jewels-of-Opar plant.
A basic color pattern was determined for all eight beds, but a little excitement was thrown in to keep the design interesting, unpredictable, and never boring. As the beds increase in size, the extra space allowed new plants to suddenly appear and new color shades to materialize, eliminating any worries about an overly repetitious format. What does appear, after a long look, is that corals, blues, yellows, and pinks seem to form the basic palette of the garden, with an unending variety of tones or shadings. Raspberry, lemon, cerise, purple, and rose are all riffs on the basic color plan, and what a fresh difference they make when paired with other flowering companions.
By introducing one entirely new color to the planting beds (never randomly chosen, but carefully calculated), a series of unexpected interactions occurs among the plants. The new color here is silver — the familiar dusty miller. Silver is not only a color most other tones will accept, but the choice of lacy-leaved dusty miller emphasizes another necessary design element — texture.
Consider how different this garden would look if every coral- or raspberry-colored flower had the same heft as the dahlia. Compare the dense, weighty Bearn Bounty dahlia with the see-through delicacy of the seedlike flowers of jewel-of-Opar. Note not just the royal purple flowers of the Brazilian spider flower, but also its fine textured foliage. Asparagus fern may appear to be a common houseplant to some gardeners, but what a welcome relief this frothy green foliage provides when surrounded by all the intense tropical hues of annual flowers.
Electric blue is an unavoidable, dynamite color. Flowers in this hue catch your eye first and pull you into the garden. Everyone wants to know the name of that plant, how it can be used, and what goes with it. True blue is truly a magical flower color, and fortunately, there are a number of examples here that will provide inspiration in a home garden as well as a botanic garden. Wildcat blue pimpernel is surely a new plant to even veteran gardeners, while Blue Angel gentian sage is a bit more familiar. Want a lighter blue? Try Cambridge Blue gentian sage. You’ll find it here, too. Looking for a blue-flowering creeping ground cover? Try Blue Daze evolvulus; it’s perfect in or out of containers. Need more height in royal blue? Do you see those brilliant blue cape leadwort clusters? The questions and their answers are all here.

Springtime in the Crescent blooms with color blocks of thousands of tulips. Fall features chrysanthemums in warm harvest tones. But summer in the Crescent is a treat. As the plants fill in, tumble against each other, weave throughout the beds, or send up surprising seedpods, they create a changing kaleidoscope of pattern, color, and amazement — a very special gift both to Garden visitors and gardeners everywhere.