Background
YEW DELL GARDENS HAS RECENTLY UNDERGONE A BEAUTIFUL RENOVATION. Dr.
Paul Cappiello is the Director and provides some background info.
Theodore and Martha Lee Kline bought this property which was about 35
acres in 1940 or 1941. At that time it was essentially a big pasture,
there was nothing out here. Over the years that they lived and gardened
here Theodore was responsible for designing and building their home,
the castle, and all the other things that are here today. He also
designed and built the gardens and amassed an amazing plant collection.
He had a vast network of friends both around the country and the world
and he traded plants with those folks which provided the opportunity to
bring new plants here. This access to many and varied plants then
provided Theodore the ability to determine what plants would work best
in this climate.
Dogwoods
SINCE WE'RE TALKING ABOUT DOGWOODS WE START WITH A FEW OF THE
SELECTIONS at Yew Dell. Oftentimes we think of only the traditional
white Dogwoods, but there are many exciting and diverse colors and
flower forms. We're next to a beautiful pink form, a great selection.
It is Red Beauty Cornus florida 'Red Beauty.' It was developed by Dr.
Elwin Orton from Rutgers University. Paul was fortunate as a student
and took a plant propagation course from Dr. Orton who is a wonderful
plantsman and a great plant breeder. Red Beauty is one he developed for
its saturated, rich color. It has good staying power in the garden, it
blooms over a long period of time and is a precocious bloomer. Even as
a young plant it provides color in the garden.
Helleborus
PAUL AND HIS CREW HAVE BEEN WORKING ON HELLEBORUS. They're great plants
because they work so well in a wide range of gardens. They're known for
flowers that add to the garden in the early season, from January,
February, into March, even April. They have evergreen foliage, very few
pest problems, the deer don't bother them, once established they're
bomb proof plants that people just don't use enough in their gardens.
Eric notices a lot of diversity, different flowers and different
foliage. Paul especially likes Helleborus foetidus because one doesn't
expect to see green flowers in the garden. A couple of seed strains
that he likes are Pine Knot strain Helleborus xsternii 'Pine Knot.' The
Pine Knot garden hybrids have done well. One of the Ashwood Garden
hybrids, Helleborus 'Ashwood Hybrids' have shown excellent vigor,
excellent form and good, heavy flower production. They are fantastic.
Ferns
YEW DELL ALSO HAS A GREAT COLLECTION OF FERNS and there is a great
story behind those. Paul loves the cast of characters Yew Dell has
attracted from staff and board to volunteers. One of the volunteers in
particular is Ralph Archer who's helped with the Fern Collection. He is
a local expert in ferns, is incredibly knowledgeable and has a great
network across the country of other fern collectors. Ralph has signed
on as Volunteer Fern Collection Curator, which means he keeps track of
how they perform in the garden and he has done a great job. He comes
out, talks to them, measures them and generally just checks how they're
performing. They have so much diversity and so many different types.
Paul would recommend several Ferns. One is Japanese Painted Ferns
Athyrium nipponicum 'Pictum' and there are many varieties. They're
tough plants, perform well, they multiply nicely and they're great
bright spots for a dark part of the garden. Another is Ostrich Fern,
Matteuccia struthiopteris which is great if one has moisture and a
shady spot. Another of his favorites is Japanese Tassel Fern,
Polystichum polylepharum. It has bright green, very, very glossy
fronds. It's a nice surprise in the garden. Ferns, in general, are
great for the shade garden.
Dwarf Hostas
THEY INHERITED THE COLLECTION OF GREAT LITTLE DWARF HOSTAS. These are
great to collect but hard to use in a garden. This is a perfect place
because they're elevated allowing one to see them and see all their
different features. Here they don't get lost in all the other plants,
as they would in a more traditional bed. If these were placed on a flat
plane, it would be hard to see the differences from one selection to
another but on a vertical plane they're able to tuck them into little
pockets in the rocks, they're easy to see and they look fantastic.
Rock Garden
WE NEXT LOOK AT THE ROCK GARDEN. Oftentimes when one thinks of a rock
garden one thinks of really difficult to grow plants that are Alpine
plants. There are some of those here but as well they've mixed in a lot
of plants that are great performers in Kentucky. Paul thinks its a good
mix and it has been a fun project. This rock garden went through many
iterations while Kline was here. With Paul they wanted to bring it back
as a garden and try to grow some true Alpines but also create a
successful garden that gives the look of an Alpine area. Thus the
mixture is about 1/3 Alpine plants, 1/3 plants that are good, tough
reliable Kentucky plants that may be dwarf varieties or creeping
varieties to add to the Alpine look and about 1/3 of the plants are
really plants that they probably shouldn't even be trying to grow here,
but they're gardeners and can't resist.
Serpentine Garden
THEY'RE KNOWN HERE FOR THEIR SERPENTINE GARDEN, it's one of the
signature gardens at Yew Dell. It's a beautiful collection of Conifers
that's been worked into a really neat creative design that provides a
wonderful opportunity to see all the plants and how the textures and
colors work together. Paul feels many would plant them out as
arboretum plantings which by now would have looked disorganized and not
as unified as it does today. Because it is located along the main
entrance to the farm and property Kline wanted something that looked
more like a garden, more so than an arboretum. He took the great
diversity of Connifers and elegantly tied them together with a ribbon
of Yews.
Take Away
PAUL TO TELL US SOME OF THE LESSONS HE'S LEARNED AT YEW DELL. How might we have a design instead of a nursery? Paul thinks Yew Dell is a great example of that. One of the things he likes about this space is it helps people see that one doesn't have to landscape and design everything as one big space. Instead break it up into smaller spaces.
In this episode Garden Smart visits Yew Dell Gardens, in Crestwood,
Kentucky, the home of Theodore Kline. Many of the new plants in this
wonderful garden have resulted from his breeding legacy.
Duane Murner is the Judge, Executive of Oldham County, Kentucky. There
is a long, rich tradition in Oldham County. There are 55,000 people in
the county, which is located along the banks of the Ohio River. It is
adjacent to Louisville and has a nice rural tradition, which has been
preserved over many years. Although the horse industry has a presence
here, it is only 25 minutes from Louisville. Oldham County is the most
affluent county in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and has the best
schools. As an example, Duane lives in Oldham Cty., in a house built in
1805 which is on the Historic Register They raise cattle and horses. He
feels it's an extraordinary experience to be part of Oldham County. Yew
Dell Gardens also has a rich tradition. Because of the legacy of
Theodore Kline Yew Dell has become a jewel within a jewel.
YEW DELL GARDENS HAS RECENTLY UNDERGONE A BEAUTIFUL RENOVATION. Dr.
Paul Cappiello is the Director and provides some background info.
Theodore and Martha Lee Kline bought this property which was about 35
acres in 1940 or 1941. At that time it was essentially a big pasture,
there was nothing out here. Over the years that they lived and gardened
here Theodore was responsible for designing and building their home,
the castle, and all the other things that are here today. He also
designed and built the gardens and amassed an amazing plant collection.
He had a vast network of friends both around the country and the world
and he traded plants with those folks which provided the opportunity to
bring new plants here. This access to many and varied plants then
provided Theodore the ability to determine what plants would work best
in this climate.
Paul has had a long and interesting career in the horticultural
industry, although Paul considers it sort of a twisted road. He grew up
outside of New York City and went to Rutgers as a landscape
architecture student. He eventually did his graduate work at Illinois.
It was when he was at Illinois that he learned about the Louisville
horticulture area and all the horticulture history in this region. He
went to the Univ. of Maine for about 10 years as a teaching assistant
and did some plant evaluation work and a little plant breeding as well
as teaching classes in horticulture and plant propagation. All this was
before he relocated to Kentucky. For the past 5 years he has been at
Yew Dell. He came here when the ball was just getting rolling in taking
this place and turning it into a public garden.
Paul is also an author of a great book on Dogwoods. Many think Paul is
making it up but the first tree he planted as a little kid was a
Dogwood. He dug it out of the woods behind his home in New York and
transplanted it. Eric feels it is a fantastic book, a collection of
all the different selections of Dogwoods. But it is also a very
accessible work. It easily and effectively communicates the information
in a format that is understandable to the average gardener. The book
was a joint effort with Don Shadow who is a living legend in the world
of horticulture. To Paul it was a great project and a great
opportunity. It was a great project for a number of reasons. First,
working with Don Shadow, a legend in the business, was great. Don knows
more about Dogwoods than anybody Paul knows plus he has lived the
experience. He grew up during the heyday of the development of many new
varieties and he's incredibly knowledgeable. Paul also wanted to be
involved with the project because it was a great chance to tell the
many stories behind Dogwoods as well as highlight the characters that
make up the gardening and nursery industry and how they worked and
developed the new varieties and the background stories. To Paul it is
sort of garden sociology. To him that information is what makes
gardening, gardening, rather than just dropping a bunch of plants into
the ground. It's what makes people connect with the garden and their
plants.
Dogwoods
SINCE WE'RE TALKING ABOUT DOGWOODS WE START WITH A FEW OF THE
SELECTIONS at Yew Dell. Oftentimes we think of only the traditional
white Dogwoods, but there are many exciting and diverse colors and
flower forms. We're next to a beautiful pink form, a great selection.
It is Red Beauty Cornus florida 'Red Beauty.' It was developed by Dr.
Elwin Orton from Rutgers University. Paul was fortunate as a student
and took a plant propagation course from Dr. Orton who is a wonderful
plantsman and a great plant breeder. Red Beauty is one he developed for
its saturated, rich color. It has good staying power in the garden, it
blooms over a long period of time and is a precocious bloomer. Even as
a young plant it provides color in the garden.
There is a lot of confusion about the actual flower color of a Dogwood.
Paul will de-mystify that for us. The true flowers are either yellow or
green. The flowers are actually in the enter of the display. What most
people typically think of as the flowers are actually just the
protective bracts that are either white or pink. Thus the correct
answer is yellow or green.
There is a lot of diversity in the foliage on Dogwoods. Generally we
think of the flat green, kind of rounded leaves but there are some
beautiful variegated and gold leaf selections. One is cornus kousa
'Wolf Eyes.' It was the 2006 recipient of the Theodore Kline Award. The
Kline Awards started a number of years ago to help promote superior
plants for the garden, plants that would work well for gardeners. The
committee doesn't look for the oddest or the rarest or the strangest,
but rather plants that will work well for people and give people good
options in the garden for different forms and different foliage and
flower types. Wolf Eyes was a great selection because in addition to
the wonderful flowers that one typically has on Cornus kousa, these add
great foliage. Paul loves to look at plants and use plants in the
garden that have great foliage because they add interest all season
long. Flowers are great, but he refers to them as the "sneeze" in the
landscape. They're mighty impressive, but gone in hurry. But foliage is
there all summer long. Wolf Eyes has great variegated creamy white and
green foliage, it lasts all summer, works well either in shade or a
fair amount of sun. Thus it's a good selection. It adds a stunning
splash of color.
Cornus alterniforlia "Gold Bullion' is a little different than most
Dogwoods because the leaves are born alternating on the stem, rather
than in pairs. It's a great naturalizing plant for the edge of the
woodland and a little shady light. Gold Bullion is a brand new
selection that has bright chartreuse, yellow, green leaves. The siting
is important. It needs to be in just the right amount of shade. If
placed there it's very vigorous, has fabulous layered branching and
brings beautiful texture to the garden.
Cornus angustata Empress of China is one of Eric's favorites. It's an
evergreen Dogwood, which isn't seen much in this part of the world.
It's closely related to the Cornus kousa, so it blooms later than the
native Cornus florida. It has typical blooms of Cornus kousa but the
leaves hold on through much of the winter, especially in southern
zones. It's one of the most heavily blooming Dogwoods. When in full
bloom it has a massive cascade of white and the nice dark leathery
leaves provide a nice foil to the flowers. It's evergreen and it blooms
its heart out. It's hard to beat.
Yew Dell has had many changes the past few years. This place was
literally a day or two from the bulldozer before the Garden
Conservancy, a group dedicated to preserving America's exceptional
gardens stepped in. It is 1 of 13 American gardens designated
Partnership Gardens. Combine that with the fact that Yew Dell has some
400 plus volunteers that do everything from pulling vines out of trees,
to moving plants and reclaiming the grounds garden by garden. It's an
amazing story of the community getting behind something that's a really
special piece of local lore and helping turn it into an amazing place.
Eric is also interested in seeing and talking about the plant
evaluations at Yew Dell. At Yew Dell they're always looking at a number
of different plants and groups of plants, trying to figure out which
ones are the best for this region by looking at performance, flower,
form, etc. They do look at a wide range of plants. Here they pick out a
particular species or a particular genus, then try to bring in as many
varieties as can be found around the planet, plant them in the garden
and see how they do. One of the things they do differently from others
is all of the trialing is done right in the gardens, rather than
performing the trials in the back forty, behind a fence. Thus visitors
see the good the bad and the ugly.
Helleborus
PAUL AND HIS CREW HAVE BEEN WORKING ON HELLEBORUS. They're great plants
because they work so well in a wide range of gardens. They're known for
flowers that add to the garden in the early season, from January,
February, into March, even April. They have evergreen foliage, very few
pest problems, the deer don't bother them, once established they're
bomb proof plants that people just don't use enough in their gardens.
Eric notices a lot of diversity, different flowers and different
foliage. Paul especially likes Helleborus foetidus because one doesn't
expect to see green flowers in the garden. A couple of seed strains
that he likes are Pine Knot strain Helleborus xsternii 'Pine Knot.' The
Pine Knot garden hybrids have done well. One of the Ashwood Garden
hybrids, Helleborus 'Ashwood Hybrids' have shown excellent vigor,
excellent form and good, heavy flower production. They are fantastic.
Top
Ferns
YEW DELL ALSO HAS A GREAT COLLECTION OF FERNS and there is a great
story behind those. Paul loves the cast of characters Yew Dell has
attracted from staff and board to volunteers. One of the volunteers in
particular is Ralph Archer who's helped with the Fern Collection. He is
a local expert in ferns, is incredibly knowledgeable and has a great
network across the country of other fern collectors. Ralph has signed
on as Volunteer Fern Collection Curator, which means he keeps track of
how they perform in the garden and he has done a great job. He comes
out, talks to them, measures them and generally just checks how they're
performing. They have so much diversity and so many different types.
Paul would recommend several Ferns. One is Japanese Painted Ferns
Athyrium nipponicum 'Pictum' and there are many varieties. They're
tough plants, perform well, they multiply nicely and they're great
bright spots for a dark part of the garden. Another is Ostrich Fern,
Matteuccia struthiopteris which is great if one has moisture and a
shady spot. Another of his favorites is Japanese Tassel Fern,
Polystichum polylepharum. It has bright green, very, very glossy
fronds. It's a nice surprise in the garden. Ferns, in general, are
great for the shade garden.
Top
Dwarf Hostas
Eric likes the diversity in this garden and sees a spot that has one of
the most wonderful planting solutions he's seen. This was an area that
was completely overgrown. They didn't even know all the stones were
here.THEY INHERITED THE COLLECTION OF GREAT LITTLE DWARF HOSTAS. These
are great to collect but hard to use in a garden. This is a perfect
place because they're elevated allowing one to see them and see all
their different features. Here they don't get lost in all the other
plants, as they would in a more traditional bed. If these were placed
on a flat plane, it would be hard to see the differences from one
selection to another but on a vertical plane they're able to tuck them
into little pockets in the rocks, they're easy to see and they look
fantastic.
Eric notices the little copper labels and likes their look. Paul says
they stumbled upon them. Local gardeners were using them and they're
commonly available. They're simple wire markers, they then use a little
label maker that makes a clear ribbon or black print. It lasts 4 or 5
years, they're easy to read and they don't overpower the plants because
they're so small. They're elegant, very easy to read, really nice.
Top
Rock Garden
WE NEXT LOOK AT THE ROCK GARDEN. Oftentimes when one thinks of a rock
garden one thinks of really difficult to grow plants that are Alpine
plants. There are some of those here but as well they've mixed in a lot
of plants that are great performers in Kentucky. Paul thinks its a good
mix and it has been a fun project. This rock garden went through many
iterations while Kline was here. With Paul they wanted to bring it back
as a garden and try to grow some true Alpines but also create a
successful garden that gives the look of an Alpine area. Thus the
mixture is about 1/3 Alpine plants, 1/3 plants that are good, tough
reliable Kentucky plants that may be dwarf varieties or creeping
varieties to add to the Alpine look and about 1/3 of the plants are
really plants that they probably shouldn't even be trying to grow here,
but they're gardeners and can't resist. Thus the little Lewisia
cotelydon and things like that that are plants that are not well
adapted here. To do this they've dug out all the wonderful heavy
Kentucky clay that existed between all the rocks and replaced it with a
very well-drained mix, allowing these plants to have a fighting chance
to try to perform well here. We look at some of the selections in this
garden. Paeonia tennuifolia 'Rubra Flora Plena' is a little sweetie.
Paul loves it because they're not only beautiful in flower but have
great foliage through the summer. It has a nice lacy texture. The
little dwarf Epimedium diphyllum is in flower now. It's a super little
creeper, spreads slowly but its a good dependable performer and one
that Paul thinks adds to the whole rock garden feel. They've tried a
couple of Daphnes, variegated Daphne x burkwoodii 'Carol Mackey' which
is a great plant. It can be a little temperamental at times, but seems
to be doing quite well here. The Pulsatilla vulgaris 'Fringe Petals' is
beautiful, it has early, heavily pubescent, little flowerscapes and it
too is super in this garden.
Serpentine Garden
THEY'RE KNOWN HERE FOR THEIR SERPENTINE GARDEN, it's one of the
signature gardens at Yew Dell. It's a beautiful collection of Conifers
that's been worked into a really neat creative design that provides a
wonderful opportunity to see all the plants and how the textures and
colors work together. Paul feels many would plant them out as arboretum
plantings which by now would have looked disorganized and not as
unified as it does today. Because it is located along the main entrance
to the farm and property Kline wanted something that looked more like a
garden, more so than an arboretum. He took the great diversity of
Connifers and elegantly tied them together with a ribbon of Yews. It's
a bit of insight into the pragmatic side of Kline because he
undoubtedly had fields of Yews and it made business sense to use those.
This garden allows us to see what proper scale planting looks like in a
garden that's now 30 or more years of age. Many of us would have
planted these much closer together, but Theodore spaced them apart, he
gave them room to grow. Thus one can see the natural form of these
plants. The Yews are a unifying theme through this garden and one
really gets to see the natural form of these plants. There is rich blue
foliage next to bright golds, there is columnar, dwarf, weeping, just
incredible diversity. It's hard for Paul to select a favorite because
there are many great choices. The Dwarf White Pine, Pinus strobes, is
great. It has beautiful soft, bluish, green texture and is a great
scale plant for gardens. It doesn't tower over the other plants like a
Straight White Pine would, because the Straight White Pine can grow to
more than 100 feet tall and can eat small gardens. The Silver Whispers
Pinus cembra 'Silver Whispers' is a very nice upright columnar form,
very deep, rich color and, again, not a tree that will grow 90 feet
tall. This will grow to 35 feet tall and works nicely. For different
texture at the end of the garden the Tsuga canadensis "Weeping Canadian
Hemlock" are beautifully graceful. They add a nice texture to the
overall garden and can be used in many different ways.
Take Away
Eric thanks Paul for the tour, he knows there is much to see but
wonders if Paul could provide some thoughts on gardening and how we
might make our own gardens at home better. HE ASKS PAUL TO TELL US SOME
OF THE LESSONS HE'S LEARNED AT YEW DELL. How might we have a design
instead of a nursery? Paul thinks Yew Dell is a great example of that.
One of the things he likes about this space is it helps people see that
one doesn't have to landscape and design everything as one big space.
Instead break it up into smaller spaces. Number one, this approach
makes the space not as overwhelming, number two it provides an
opportunity for different approaches in designing all the spaces in the
garden. Eric feels they have done that well in this garden. All of the
gardens provide a focal point for people's eyes to be drawn into the
garden. As one goes out of one garden they are then looking towards the
upcoming focal points as they're going to the next garden. An example
would be the allay of Hollies or the Yew espaliered on a wall, all
really draw the eye into the garden and provide focal points. As well
they have borrowed views out beyond the property. Here they look into
the countryside, which is a nice thing to be able to do when designing
a garden. Moving through the garden with color repetition is a great
idea. The all gold Hakonechola macra Variegated Hakone Grass in the
wall garden repeats the gold of the little honey Hydrangea quercifolia
'Oak Leaf' Hydrangea. This is a great way to keep motion in the garden
so one doesn't look at something and see it all at once. They have come
up with many different, fascinating solutions like the Hostas planted
on the little rock embankment, which is a wonderful way of displaying
those kinds of plants. Theodore was the driving force in much of this.
An overriding theme is don't fight the site, work with what you have,
take advantage of the opportunities that are present.
Eric thanks Paul. It's been a wonderful experience, we've truly enjoyed
Yew Dell Gardens.
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