Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. If I may revisit a remarkable garden design story from a handful of years ago for Morristown Airport and lessons learned from how white flowers in gardens glow.
Our not good enough button
Do you recall waiting until the last minute to finish your homework as a kid? As adults, it’s not about waiting but more about not having a minute to spare—rush, rush, rush. You know the drill. Last on the list is my garden. Making the time brings joy but frustration, too, as I focus on what could be better if I could only keep up. I’ll bet you know that drill as well. It seems most of us are equipped with a not good enough button.
What an honor to be invited to help Morristown Airport (NJ) with its beautification program. The site’s industrial characteristics and low maintenance requirements felt overwhelming. How do you make a massive facility of macadam, runways, buildings, chain-link fences, heat, and drying winds beautiful with little effort? Then, of course, there’s the dilemma of deer.
Hosta glowing at dawn
To the rescue comes a colleague with a depth of plant knowledge and a gift of combining them beyond the ordinary. (My modest mentor and friend Marty Carson will blush when I mention her name.) I shared the assignment, and she willingly slogged in the heat to help take measurements while we brainstormed ideas.
A few days before the ‘homework’ was due, we met again and pow-wowed over the site’s challenges, which require large-scale, consecutive plantings to connect each area with a consistent style. My colleague came up with the most luminous idea. A green & white color theme will be fresh and visually cooling; the white blooms and foliage will glow at dusk and dawn.
White Flowers and Foliage in Gardens Glow
She suggested horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) to set the stage, with companion plants of kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa chinensis), bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora), and butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii’ White Profusion’) to offer a sequence of blooms through the growing season. Variegated Japanese silver grass (Miscanthus sinensis ‘Variegatus’), salvia (Salvia verticillata ‘White Rain’) plus white potentilla (Potentilla fruticosa ‘Abbotswood’) will be the icing on the cake.
My garden spoke to me, “It’s about serving others to help light up the world.”
At 5 AM, the light barely breaking, I rose to put the finishing touches on the presentation and glanced outside. In my garden, the Shasta daisies glowed in their glory. Next to them, the husky leaves of oak leaf hydrangea and the refined elegance of variegated silver grass. I marveled at the vignette of perfect plant companions. At that moment, my garden spoke to me.
“I’m glorious enough. It’s not about being perfect. It’s about learning, growing, and serving others to help light up our world.”
Thank you, dear friend, for sharing your glow.
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone@gmail.com and your favorite Podcast App.
There’s more to the story in the Garden Dilemmas Podcast (a soothing 10 minutes):
Comparing Garden Hands of Ken Druse and Marty Carson
Related Stories you’ll enjoy:
Two Best Gardeners of the Garden State featuring Marty Carson and Ken Druse
An early podcast episode also features the story recorded during my dear Miss Ellie’s last days with a reflection on my brother Bill’s heart-shaped stones. Since then, there has been much growth in my garden of life, and I hope in yours, too:
