The Ruin in the Culp Garden, by Rob Cardillo
Id never heard of perennials expert David Culp until his long-awaited book finally came out and I started seeing raves everywhere. Then I learned that garden centers up and down the East Coast have long been fans of David through his work for Sunny Border Nurseries, a respected perennials supplier. A story I wrote for one garden center reveals their perennials buyer to be a particularly ardent admirer of not just David s plant expertise but of his garden outside Philadelphia, having seen it in person. And now we know what to call the kind of stunning, plant-packed garden that David created Layered.
Layered gardens are beautiful at all levels, from groundcovers to trees, and during all seasons. But that term hardly conveys the utter gorgeousness of the book about his garden, packed with photographs by the fabulous garden photographer Rob Cardillo.
Photo by Rob Cardillo
I swooned over The Layered Garden when someone loaned me a copy and knew I HAD to have one of my own. Thats because David Culp is the kind of gardener I aspire to be expert in his plant choices and growing techniques and inspired in his design visions. His book teaches and inspires us to choose the correct plants by understanding how they grow and change throughout the seasons. It teaches us how to design and maintain a complex, layered garden.
Examples shown and described include woodland gardens, perennial borders, kitchen gardens, shrubbery, and a walled garden. The book concludes with a collection of signature plants for all four seasons.
More than simply a how-to book, The Layered Garden includes Davids personal thoughts and experiences about creating his garden, so its my favorite kind of garden book. I pretty much devoured it in one sitting.
So I love the book but more than that, I love this type of complex, interesting, lush garden and now wish I had more space in my new garden for more-more-more. But thats a la ment for another day. Meanwhile, Im on a tear to see Davids garden in person, which will happen on April 27. (Its open to all that day, so yall come!) Its just two hours from me, so a do-able day trip AND the plants that work for him will work for me. One hopes.
The rest of you poor souls will have to content yourselves with photos of his glorious creation, which thankfully are fabulous. Click here for lots more, all by Rob Cardillo.
Via: Loving David Culps Layered Garden. Scheming to see the garden.
