Earlier this week I posted about Catskill Native Nursery in Kerhonkson. The best part of my recent visit was finally getting to meet Diane, nursery co-owner, in person. (This blogging and calendar business is a very solitary gig, I tell you.) Finally – a face to put with all those emails! She kindly agreed to play along, even though it’s busy season…
1. What is your favorite Hudson Valley garden to visit?
We don’t get to visit gardens now that we have a nursery, but previously we have enjoyed Montgomery Place, Olana and Stonecrop Gardens. We’ve also been lucky in that we have also seen many spectacular private properties in our role as consultants.
2. What book should no gardener’s library be without?
Bringing Nature Home by Doug Tallamy
3. If you were a tree, what would you be? N/A
4. What new (to you) plant do you have to have this year?
We are focusing less on the big crazy sterile hybrids and going back to using and selling more straight species. For years we’ve been offering many of the new echinaceas, coreopsis, and helianthus that the plant breeders and the garden industry are always hyping, but in our experience we find they do not perform well and people end up disappointed. We want people to have plants that thrive and look better year after after without any special attention. We find using straight species are the best way to have a garden that stays healthy and keeps coming back in a reliable manner.
5. If you were to plant a 3 genus garden… too plant geeky even for me.
6. Garden tool you can’t live without?
I buy tools from Lee Valley, Felco and Bulldog, but I don’t have a favorite. I just believe in using the appropriate tool for a job and it makes me nuts when people try to use garden forks as rock bars or dividing knives as pruning saws.
7. Gloves or no gloves?
Yes, Atlas brand made from Nitrile. We sell them so I can buy them wholesale.
8. Favorite place to shop for plants in the HV?
I no longer have to shop retail for plants, it’s the perk of having a backyard full of plants for sale.
9. If you could spend the day gardening with anyone, who would it be?
I assume you mean a gardener and I can’t pick Eleanor of Aquitaine or Emily Dickinson. (Of course you can!) Thus I would pick Lancelot “Capability” Brown. Capability Brown moved away from the formal style of gardening common in the 18th century as he sought to ‘improve’ nature not rework it. Brown wanted to remove the ‘roughness’ of a landscape and perfect it but once finished it should be almost indistinguishable from a landscape created entirely by nature. I’ve been meaning to write a Facebook post about him.
10. Any garden outings planned for this season?
Francis and I are planning a trip to The Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in the early fall. We want to see what Bill Cullina has been up to since he left The New England Wildflower Society.
11. I’d like to learn more about _________.
Buying stocks on margin, but if you mean gardening I would say I really need to work on my Latin pronunciations. I’m pathetic, mostly because I’m prone to malapropisms.
12. What project, plant, idea, etc. are you most excited about this season?
I have a client who wants to turn a few wet acres into a large pond and bog to attract bird life and make a private nature preserve. We love projects like this. It gives us a chance to use our knowledge of plants, birds and reptiles and really make a difference ecologically. It’s like creating a little bio-diverse world that should be here long after I’m gone.
Visit Catskill Native Nursery this Saturday, May 19th, for the annual Wildflower Festival. The 2012 festivities include lectures on Wild Mushrooms, Embracing a New Forest Aesthetic and Native Azaleas, over 20 varieties of organic, heirloom tomato plants for sale and professional gardeners on hand to answer your questions. Admission is free!
Catskill Native Nursery, 607 Samsonville Road, Kerhonkson NY 12446
(845)626-2758 | info@catskillnativenursery.com | http://www.catskillnativenursery.com/
Open Thurs – Monday: 9:30am-6pm (CLOSED Tues. & Wed.)
Cash or check only, credit cards not accepted.
Catskill Native Nursery also offers ecological landscaping services and consultations, working closely with the environment to create beautiful gardens that are both a natural extension of the area’s dynamic scenery and beneficial to the local ecology.
