Crazy Quilt Garden: A Revolutionary Way to Create a Tapestry of Color - Gardenista
Photography by Doreen Wynja, unless otherwise noted.
My mother’s grandmother, Nettie Bailey of Dividing Creek, New Jersey, died when I was a very young child. The scraps are a hodgepodge of many colors and textures.
Taken individually they don’t seem to harmonize but Nettie was not only skilled with a needle, she had an artist’s eye and the elements of the quilt are quite pleasing together.
Spring blooms of Mount Fuji cherry (Prunus ‘Shirotae’) and Rhododendron pseudochrysanthum. Although both the O’Byrnes are credited as writers of this book, we seem to be seeing the garden from Marietta’s point of view.
A bridge leads from the driveway into the shade garden. There are plenty of details about the evolution of the property, which she purchased with her first husband in 1972 as a 70-acre farm with a ramshackle circa 1918 farmhouse.
A wisteria-covered bridge leads to and from the long shady border. Interspersed among the chapters about the garden’s diverse landscapes are informative sections on specific plants such as Arisaemas; trilliums; bulbs, corms, tubers, and rhizomes; and hellebores.
Helleborus ‘Anna’s Red’. Wishing to spend more time working on their own property instead of in the gardens of others, they opened a nursery to sell unusual plants.
A view of the patio, past an attractively contorted filbert tree in the shade garden. But even after you know that they employ a small staff and make use of machines, such as leaf blowers and wood chippers, their dedication and energy are still mightily impressive.
The entrance to the garden in spring.
When a painting is finished, it stays as is, but a garden canvas gets repainted with every growing season.”
A Tapestry Garden: The Art of Weaving Plants and Place by Marietta and Ernie O’Byrne is $24.67 at Amazon.