"Les Quatre Vents;’ a Far-Northern Garden

Francis H. Cabot

Seizing opportunities presented by cool, moist summers and deep winter snows has been the key to success in this northern outpost of Zone 4

A detailed map of the plant-hardiness zones of North America shows Zone 4 sweeping east from Lake Superior to the northern-tier states of New York and New England, thence north through New Brunswick to Newfoundland. As one follows the St. Lawrence River northeast from Montreal, Zone 4 appears to peter out on the north shore of the river a few miles north of the windswept Citadel of Quebec City, which overlooks the river at a point where it suddenly changes into an ever-widening inland sea that ultimatelv seven hundred miles to the northeast, becomes the Atlantic Ocean. The view to the northeast from the heights of Quebec over the thirty-mile-long Ile d’Orleans shows the southern shore of the St. Lawrence receding into the distance as it veers slightly to the east. The view of the north shore, on the other hand, is limited by Cap Tourmente, a stark, eighteen hundred-foot-high headland that curves sharply down to the roiled gray-green salt water. At this point, just beyond the northern tip of lle d’Orleans, the granite mass of the Laurentian Mountains, clothed in the spruce and fir mantle of the boreal forest, meets the salt-water coastline for the first time. From here on, these two elements-boreal forest and salt water-are the norm until one reaches the tundra and permafrost of Labrador. They dominate the ecological and horticultural life of the region. In the following article, Francis H. Cabot, who has been gardening in a small, far-northern outpost of Hardiness Zone 4, shares the horticultural insights he has gained over the course of the past twenty years.

The departure of the greater snow geese in North Carolina to its breeding grounds on late May and their return in early October Ellesmere and Baffin islands. The seven have special significance at La Malbaie, hundred-mile flight from the Middle Atlan- Charlevoix County, Quebec, for their migra- tic coast lasts two hundred hours. No one tion flights bracket precisely La Malbaie’s knows how long the second leg of the flight, gardening season, which is seven or eight from Cap Tourmente to Baffin Island, lasts. weeks shorter than those of zones 5 and 6. Virtually the last farming area of any size For six weeks each spring, the great flock along the northern shore of the St. Lawrence, stops to feed on the sedge Scirpus amencan- La Malbaie, thanks to the tempering effect us that grows along the brackish marshes of of its fourteen-mile-wide stretch of the river, the St. Lawrence River to the south of Cap Overleaf: Part of the terraced vegetable garden at "Les Tourmente. The flock, now estimated to Quatre Vents." The beds were constructed from trees number over 250,000, thanks to its protected killed by the spruce budworm Potatoes growm the bed m the foreground. The bed m the center contams sweet makes this one in its status, only stop 2,500- peas, that at the left, red currants. All photographs are mile journey from the coasts of Delaware and by the author

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Astilbe, delphimums, Cimicifuga racemosa, and Achillea taygetea m the perenmal border.

Allium chnstophm (center), Primula flonndae, P. alpicola var luna, Lilium martagon var album, and Meconopsis betomcrfolia m bloom m shade garden Bed No 3, mth asulbe and Aruncus dioicus m the bed m the background. 22 ,

enjoys a microclimate of Zone 4 in an area of the quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), of some twenty-five square miles surrounded which the French Canadians call les trem- by a relatively thin band of Zone 3 that soon bles, and several kinds of Amelanchier, whose becomes Zone 2. In the best of years La Mal- burnished-orange autumn foliage comple- baie enjoys both the cool summer evenings ments the tints of the red and sugar maples. and the fog and mists of a maritime climate Acer spicatum, the ubiquitous mountain (its portion of the St. Lawrence warms to 48 maple, needs to be constantly weeded out of degrees Fahrenheit in late summer), as well woodland areas, and A. pensylvanicum as the deep early snows of the boreal forest. (moosewood) to be encouraged. If the snows arrive before the ground freezes While Betula lutea (yellow birch) can be and last throughout the winter, the horticul- found in the forests, far and away the best of turist can proudly display plants that usually the native trees is Betula papyrifera, the thrive only in the Himalayas or in Scotland. paper birch. Invariably decorative at all stages In the worst of years, when the snows don’t of its life, the paper birch enchances its sur- come until it is too late, or even when an roundings whether it is used as a lawn spec- atypical winter thaw destroys the snow cov- imen, in the garden, or as an allee. I cannot er, it is another story, and a humbler horti- decide whether its bark is more beautiful in cultural outlook prevails. Most years the early youth, when it has fawn-like spots; in results are in between and are horticulturally adolescence, when it develops coral and satisfying. peach tints; or in maturity, when it takes on a pristine whiteness. In this northern setting the paper birch seems to be whiter than it is Limitations to Northern Gardening farther south and is hard to improve upon in The principal drawback to gardening in the landscape. northern zones is the limited choice one has Many non-native species love the North of trees and shrubs, yet this limitation does also. The Lombardy poplar (Populus nigra simplify the landscaper’s task. At La Malbaie ’Italica’) achieves impressive heights at La the wisest course often has been to use native Malbaie, for example, as does the Carolina (or naturalized) species for the backbone of poplar (P. canadensis). The former’s relative- the landscape plan. On the whole, the native ly short life span and pruning needs at matu- species are a useful and appealing lot. rity give one pause, however, but, used as an The conifers are represented by the spruces accent or as a specimen, there is nothing Picea abies, P. glauca, and P. nigra; the bal- quite so effective or so appropriate for French sam fir (Abies balsamea~; the American Canada. The Carolina poplar is far less larch (Larix laricina); and the pines Pinus demanding, it would appear, and longer lived. strobus, P. resinosa, and P. banksiana. Thuja Undistinguished in its early years, the Caro- occidentalis thrives near the shores of the St. lina poplar achieves dignity and grace with Lawrence, growing to majestic proportions, age and can be a useful part of the landscape. and Juniperus communis var. depressaa The Amur maple (Acer ginnala), the ear- abounds. There are a few shoreline speci- liest maple to take on color in the autumn, mens of juniperus horizontalis, and Taxus is also useful. Hardy to Zone 2, it forms a canadensis is prevalent in the forest. graceful, medium-sized tree but requires Sorbus americana, the mountain ash, is pruning and thinning as it matures. It is everywhere, enlivening the late-summer and worth the trouble, though, for its brilliant autumn landscape with its abundant clumps scarlet foliage in September. Along one of the of red berries. There are groves and hillsides farm roads we have planted an allee of Amur 23

maple that is becoming increasingly colorful A Botanical Ramble in the Boreal Forest as the years pass. While a few of the hardier species of Malus An English friend of mine, walking through can withstand the winter temperatures of the woodlands surroundmg the gardens at La Zone 4, the diversity of blossom color avail- Malbaie, was struck by the number of great able in Zone 5 and points south is missing, botanists and plant hunters who were com- as are the flowering cherries. Apple trees are memorated in the flora. Not only the great close to their northern limits at La Malbaie. Linnaeus in the twinflower (Linnaea boreal- They grow very slowly there, but it is worth is) that carpets the woodlands, but John the wait for their crisp and flavorful fruit. Goodyer in the three species of Goodyera ’Fameuse’ is one of our favorite varieties. that abound (Goodyera oblongifolia, G. Plums do beautifully at La Malbaie and seem repens, and G. tesselata~, Sir Joseph Banks in healthier and more productive there than the stands of Pinus banksiana, and John Bar- they do in more-southern climes. Our crop tram in the serviceberry, Amelanchier bar- of ’Mirabelle’ and other small varieties of tramiana. plum is abundant. The serviceberries are edible but not par- The Zone 3 and Zone 4 climatic limita- ticularly interesting. The best of the lot are tions on trees are felt equally severely among the oval fruits of Amelanchier bartramiana, shrubs, but there are sufficient species of which are larger and more succulent than Rosa Syringa, Spiraea, Berberis, Viburnum, other varieties. It seems strange that this Philadelphus, Neillia, Lonicera, Caragana, most garden-worthy species, which is found Cornus, and the like to make do and to fur- in the Laurentians and at the higher eleva- nish the garden adequately. tions of the Appalachians, is not more widely It is when one comes to herbaceous plants used in horticulture. The white flowers are that one forgets about the lack of diversity in the largest of the genus, comparable to those trees and shrubs and begins to chortle over of Potentilla fruticosa and borne in a very the salubrious northern maritime climate. similar fashion. The leaves, as they emerge Aside from the Pacific Northwest, it has to in the spring, vary from bronze to pale green be the best spot on the continent to raise and turn to burnished orange in late Septem- perennials. While the Atlantic coast from ber. Amelanchier bartramiana is a shrub Maine north shares a comparably cool and rather than a small tree. It grows slowly, damp summer climate, it does not enjoy the attaining a maximum height of five to six heavy snow cover that is characteristic of the feet, and is compact and stoloniferous. The Laurentians. largest specimen I have seen was five feet in The sensible gardener at some point stops diameter and had a most sympathetic and fightmg his climatic limitations and sticks slightly irregular outline such as one finds in to what will do well for him in the habitats specimens of ancient English box. Why, and microclimates that he is able to create. then, is it not proffered by the trade? The joy of gardemng in a northern maritime The answer lies in the propagation records garden is that it widens his horizons consid- of the Arnold Arboretum, which show that erably. Of course, those plants that depend every effort to propagate Amelanchier bar- on heat units to live up to their promise will tramiana from seed or cuttings over the not fare so well. But then life is a series of years has failed. It can be mtroduced suc- compromises; the gardener will have to cessfully into the garden by transplanting choose between the delights of harvesting small, stoloniferous offshoots severed from sweet corn and raising exotic primulas. the main root in early spring. Princeton Nur- 24

Peomes, thahctrum, Amsonia tabemaemontana, and Aruncus dioicus hne the Goose Allee. The hedge is hawthorn. series has successfully grafted bud-wood of nuses, puffballs, and a wonderful nutty-fla- branches cut in the autumn to scions of vored, bright-orange parasitic fungus, Amelanchier canadensis, and it should be Hyphomyces lactifluorum. An experienced propagable from root cuttings, given its sto- mycologist could probably identify scores of loniferous nature. [Alfred J. Fordham descnbes other edible varieties among the hundreds the technique for doing so in Arnoldia, vol- that proliferate in the woods. We are slowly ume 28, numbers 4 and 5 (May 17, 1968), expanding the repertoire, and cautiously, too, pages 36 to 40]. I hope it will find its way into for there is little room for error. more widespread horticultural use. In July, August, and September our every spare moment is taken up with the harvest- ing and preserving of berries, from the delect- able des far to of the Boreal Forest fraises champs (so superior Gustatory Delights the fraises des bois of France), through all A botanical ramble through the boreal forest the garden varieties of strawberries, raspber- in late summer has many gustatory rewards ries, gooseberries, and currants to the low- as well. One can nibble the tiny, delicious, bush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium). and fragrant creeping snowberry (Chiogenes Berries, in general, have a superlative flavor [or Gaultheria] hispidula/, and the noisette and spoil one for their counterparts down (Corylus americana/, the local hazelnut. One south. can bring home baskets of mushrooms: If one hikes to the higher elevations of the chanterelles, cepes, russulas, clavarias, copri- Laurentians one finds Rubus chamaemorus, 25

the exotic, buff-colored cloudberry, so prized northern flank of the setting. To the south by the Scandinavians, along with mountain- one looks down across the bay of La Malbaie tops of the brilliant, scarlet mountain cran- to the villages on the far shore. berry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea var. minus/, the We use Pinus sylvestris, P. cembra, and P. lingonberry of Sweden and the Preisselbeer- mugo extensively, and Tsuga canadensis en of Germany. The French call them airelles (Canada hemlock) can be established in shel- rouges, and the local Indians call them ataca. tered spots. Other conifers grow well, although Whatever they are called, they make the best we have not tried a wide variety of species, of all tart preserves to accompany game, and probably because the surrounding forests are their glossy, dark-green, prostrate mats are of spruce and fir. It would be interesting to an exhilarating sight, particularly when they establish an experimental planting of coni- are interspersed with shrubby Cladonia fers to determine which of them would grow. lichens in the cracks of a lichen-covered Unfortunately, nurseries in Quebec have a rock-the perfect setting for the scarlet ber- limited number of species from which to ries. Inedible or less-edible berries abound as choose. Thuja is invaluable for hedging and well: the gray-blue of Vaccinium uliginosum shaping, as is the local Crataegus, C. foetida. var. alpinum, Empetrum nigrum, the black The native species can easily be dug from the and dark-purple crowberry, and, of course, surrounding woodlands and incorporated into the bright-red bunchberry (Cornus canaden- the landscape plan. There is ample material sis/, which sheets the ground in the right with which to create a framework and back- habitats. ground that fits in well with the natural set- ting. An entrance allee of Lombardy poplars a Cultivated Landscape at La Developing in 1926 is now in its last of Malbaie planted stages decay. What was once a dramatic feature of Our garden and house were built over the the landscape has become a spotty and past sixty years on a part of a seigniory grant- decrepit line of hangers-on. Every year their ed in 1653 by Louis XIV to Jean Bourdon, remains are cut down and removed, and Surveyor General of the Colony of New native paper birches planted between the France. The lay of the land has dictated the stumps so that in time a new and more per- development of the landscape from quite manent allee will take the old one’s place. modest beginnings to a series of gardens that A lilac hedge bordering the entrance allee now cover approximately twenty acres. The of Lombardy poplars was installed to frame cultivated landscape is still growing some- a sloping vegetable garden that runs down to what but is approaching its logical limits. a garden shed with breezeway and weather- The growth and development of the garden vane, and on to a small greenhouse. The east- make interesting study, especially because ern view is dominated by the St. Lawrence, no professional landscaping expertise has whose southern shore, some fourteen miles been brought to bear on the matter. In 1926, away, forms the horizon, and where indis- a house was built in a bare field and a small tinct villages glint in the settmg sun. perennial garden created to the west, where One’s first hesitant efforts to create a gar- the view leads over a meadow, across a den are often obliterated as one learns more stream-filled gully, to pastures, distant about garden design or about the shortcom- woodlands, and the muted cordillera of the ings of a site, or if one takes to heart the Laurentians. A steep, wooded hillside that counsel of those favored with architectural merges into sloping pastures marks the wisdom. This has been my experience. At La 26

Malbaie, aggressive winds sweeping down from the 1930s. It is only when one walks from the Laurentians (we have called the down the terrace steps towards the gardens place "Les Quatre Vents") dictated the con- that one realizes there are cross axes that struction of tall wooden windscreens. An lure one away from the tapis vert. architect, in the process of adding a guest wing to the house, installed a terrace with reflection where the had been pool garden A Tbur of the Garden and decreed a "tapis vert"-a long, narrow carpet of lawn running from the terrace to The new developments in the garden are best the edge of the stream gully. The tapis vert explored in tour sequence. An entrance in was flanked by a sunken blue garden and a the hawthorn hedge, to the right, or north, of raised white garden inspired by Vita Sack- the tapis vert, leads into a narrow perennial ville-West’s writings, centered on an oval lily allee flanked by a matching hawthorn hedge pool. A double hedge of hawthorn and bar- that finally is getting tall enough to give the berry in due course replaced the windscreens desired tunnel effect. The allee, known as on both sides of the tapis vert, and the west- Goose Allee because of frequent visitations ern view now flowed gracefully from the by the denizens of the lake at its foot, runs house to the mountains, unfettered by any parallel to the tapis vert and is about one horticultural distractions, the shallow reflec- hundred feet long. At its upper end is a seat tion pool enhancing the spectacular sunsets from which the visitor can enjoy the many of that northern clime. tall and spiky perennials planted to enhance It wasn’t until some twelve years after I the tunnel effect. The "tunnel" directs the had inherited the house and garden in La eye to a conveniently centered paper birch, Malbaie, when I had been increasingly exposed by the water’s edge, which ends the vista. to the gardens of Britain and the myriad of The visitor is still not conscious that a lake landscaping devices and plant relationships is there. they display, that the grounds’ potential as a The Goose Allee beds are terminated by horticultural tour de force became apparent. clumps of Daphne mezereum underplanted It soon became clear to me that a number of with Primula abchasica, P. vulgaris ssp. sib- gardens could be added to the basic frame- thorpii, and Scilla sibirica, a felicitous com- work, gardens that would make the whole bination of purple, mauve, and blue to start more interesting, and result in a more diverse off the season. They are followed closely by horticultural experience. There was space in Doronicum interplanted with Brunnera and, which to expand, an unlimited supply of ultimately, a succession of Aconitum, Cim- water from the stream, and a variety of dif- icifuga, Delphinium, Ligularia, Rudbeckia ferent habitats for new plants. Over a period maxima, and Thalictium providing the tall of ten years, I have filled the space and hab- accents amid Astrantia, Centaurea, Penste- itats one step at a time, without any partic- mon, Paeonia, and Trollius in variety, among ular forethought, but each step leading to the others. next. The gardens developed during this ten- A high Thuja tunnel leads off to the right year period supplement the good original and draws one across the Goose Allee, into landscape setting. Looking across the reflec- a dark-green channel to an alcove adorned tion pool and tapis vert, between the white with a statue of one of the Four Seasons. The and rose gardens and the frame of the haw- statue looks west through a rondel of Thuja, thorn and barberry hedges, toward the moun- over a millstone converted to a sundial, then tains, one is not conscious of much change down to the lake and across to a somewhat 27

battered bust of Antonia, the half-sister of and happily cross the stream over the Chinese Augustus Caesar, arising from a clump of bridge and meander around the lake, where Clematis recta and other perennials on the they catch a good view back over the lake far shore. In the background, at the edge of and up the tapis vert towards the house. the fields, a Lombardy poplar (a kind of living The visitor then crosses the top of a high obelisk), has been planted as an exclamation dam that separates the lake from the deep point. The Thuja rondel is set within a Thu- woodland ravine into which the stream falls. ja-and-hawthorn square, with Betula papyr- The banks of the dam have been planted with ifera and Acer ginnala planted in the spaces the white-flowered form of fireweed, Epilob- between the two. At this first glimpse of the mm angustifolium forma albiflorum. By lake, one’s curiosity is aroused. avoiding the tapis vert after crossing the dam Turning away from the vista through the and bearing right, along the edge of the rondel and continuing along the Thuja tun- woods, the visitor enters a new world. nel, the visitor suddenly emerges and finds The garden setting not only had fine views himself crossing the middle of a string of six of the mountain and the river, but also had rectangular lily pools, with the water cascad- a handsome grove of young spruce when the ing and stepping down the gentle slope to the site was first developed. My father could lake. The pools are flanked by Thuja planted remember jumping over them as a boy in a quincunx pattern and by occasional around the turn of the century. Thirty years matching clumps of three decorative rhu- later, they were indeed a mossy fairyland. barbs. Looking to the right, the visitor looks One of the natural tragedies of our part of up the watercourse to a dolphin at its head, French Canada has been the destruction, by the source of the water. the spruce budworm, of the spruce and bal- Crossing over the watercourse, one emerges sam fir forests that constitute 90 percent of into a longer, broader vista, again flanked by the conifer forest. It has been a nightmare to Thuja in a quincunx pattern whose size watch beloved, dark-green hills turn, first increases as one descends the slope. The vis- brown, then a ghostly gray. It has taken fif- ta slopes from the garage court down through teen years to do the killing, and millions of a rhubarb allee to the north end of the lake. acres have lost these two species. Our place A Chinese bridge (made of plywood) that was no exception, and since our spruce had crosses the stream entering the lake in the been allowed to grow to climax-forest matu- distance is the focus this time, and draws one rity, the loss is all the worse, for there is to the lake’s edge, which is packed with nat- nothing but brambles and alder scrub left to uralized perennials situated so as not to cover the Cornus canadensis, Linnaea bore- obscure any vistas. As one skirts the shore, alis, Pyrola, and other delights. Happily, the ducks and geese keeping a wary distance, regeneration has started with a vengeance, there are agreeable glimpses through branch- and the budworm cycle is terminating, but es and flowers of the bust of Antonia. it will be twenty-five years before the coun- The visitor now has two options. The tryside regains its former character. energetic visitor will bear right and walk The spruce budworm wreaked its havoc on through a ten-acre stream garden planted to the grove of spruce near the garden. Slowly native trees and hardy shrubs. but surely the trees died. As they were Since the stream garden is planted with knocked down by the wind and the light was young trees, and it requires some imagina- let in, thickets of wild raspberries and eld- tion to visualize what it will be like in the erberries ensued, and the grove became year 2000, most visitors are spared the hike impenetrable. 28

The Shade Beds combination of Lilium martagon var. album and Meconopsis betonicifolia interspersed It was at this that three shade- point large with the yellow form of Primula alpicola. garden beds the of the woodland along edge But then two specimens of Acer spicatum were made out of what had been a mixture that had shade after the of weeds and lawn. The which provided adequate scruffy beds, loss of an ancient and have been and several spruce suddenly replanted rearranged mexplicably died, and the sunlight streamed times over, now contain a profusion of shade- in. In 1985, this bed was converted into a loving plants that are at their best in early grass garden with varieties of Miscanthus, when the are "tak- August, perennial gardens Molina, Panicum, Pennisetum, and other ing a breather" before the autumn show grasses, interspersed with mauve delphin- Astilbes have been used to a begins. great iums. The Primula alpicola is still there, extent, large and small, and early and late along with Trollius ’Alabaster’, Astrantia car- bloomers. In one of the beds have been they niolica var. rubra, Allium Pri- intermixed with three of christophii, species Aruncus, mula florindae, and Primula sikkimensis. four species of Cimici f uga, and the native red The meconopsis appear to be grateful that and white baneberries (Actaea rubra and A. they were moved deeper into the woodland. pachypoda, respectively). In addition, lilies have been used liberally. The bed is divided roughly in half, and when everything works The Woodland Garden as it should one half is filled with white and The shade beds lead toward a grassy clearing astilbes which Actaea rub- pale-pink among at the end of the main perennial allee. The ra and red lilies are thrusting their stalks, far side of the clearing is one of the entrances while the other half is the Astilbe reverse, to the woodland garden and is the spot where ’Fanal’ forming a background for Actaea the first experimental species of Primula and pachypoda, Campanula persicifolia ’Alba; Soldanella were tried, with such success that and a white In and the bed is lily. June July moderation was soon thrown to the winds. a mass of green and little else, but it foliage For some reason, the spruce in this corner is worth the succession of bloom forgoing have withstood the ravages of the budworm. and for the moment of waiting glory. The earth consists of rich forest duff, rich A second bed consists of softer colors: the enough to stick one’s arm in to the elbow. mauve and astilbes rose-pink interspersed The experimental plantings grew so rapidly with a the buff tints of Lil- pale-yellow lily, that they could be divided twice, and some- ium Lilium marhan, rose-pink martagon, times three times, in the summer. In the the white form of Meconopsis betonicifolia, spring the soldanellas bloomed profusely, and the occasional blue of spikes Campanula something that doesn’t happen at points persicifolia. This bed has been changed again south. and again, principally to take out lilies that, Clearly, this wretched and impenetrable to the turned despite representations contrary, woodland held promise, and over a six-year out to be a color I have a difficult orange, period the dead trees were felled and the time with in the garden. The interplanting brambles and other trash cleaned out. It of the astilbes has also involved considerable turned out that there was an underplanting so that the succession and combi- thought, of young Betula papyrifera, Amelanchier nation of color works to advantage. canadensis, Sorbus, and Acer spicatum. These The third bed has undergone the most were thinned out and transplanted so as to changes of all. In 1984, it was a successful spread their valuable shade throughout the 29

rest of the copse. To provide the essential Planting the Ravine moisture, a two-inch plastic pipe was laid The stream and ravine curve in an arc of from the stream to the edge of the woodland, about While I was with the result that there now are four arti- seventy degrees. visiting the beautiful Glen at Wakehurst ficial streams that moisten the woodland Himalayan Place, its director, Tony Schilling, remarked floor, and a series of twenty-five overhead that he hoped someday to install a Nepalese sprinklers that are operated for an hour or across the top of the glen so that vis- two each evening. bridge itors could look down at the rhododendrons Not surprismgly, primulas love the habi- and other It wasn’t tat. We have been able over time to increase Himalayan species. long before that excellent idea manifested itself the number of species and the size of the over the ravine at La Malbaie in the form of plantings to where the little streams are now two rope from a sketch in Roy planted to great quantities of a given species bridges copied Lancaster’s Plant Hunting in Nepal. The and grouped by color variations where appro- are at about sixty feet over priate. For example, one stream is flanked bridges suspended the streambed and are just over one hundred with Primula sonchifolia and Primula rosea, feet mixed. Well over one hundred species are long. The ravine has been with grown, including a number not often seen in planted mostly eastern North America. Primula vialii flour- large-leaved species that will provide easily noticeable textural for the nervous ishes, as does Primula nutans (now called appeal cast down them. The stream Primula flaccida). Primula nutans is truly glances upon bed has been lined with Petasites perennial and has the most captivating scent. japonicus var. since there is room for it to Primula reidii var. williamsii, and Primula gigantea, and since it seems that it will reinii from Japan, grow well along with Pri- romp unlikely climb the banks. mula reptans, the smallest of the lot, which up steep five different of behaves like a ground cover, its large purple Large colonies of species laid out on the lower blossoms resting on its tiny, prostrate leaves. Rodgersia have been Primula sapphirina and Primula primulina slopes and ravine floor, and Bergenia cordi- from to also thrive, as do the petiolarids (with the folia sweeps down diagonally top exception of Primula aureata, which has yet bottom. The cirque formed by the arc has to be wintered over successfully). Of course, been planted to Rhododendron yakusiman- um the small the easy Auriculata, Candelabra, Efarinose, exclusively. When plants and Sikkimensis sections flourish, so much mature, it should be a splendid sight if there A manicata so that we have just barely been able to find is not too much shade. Gunnera places for the seedlings by diligently clearing has survived its first (and rather bad) winter new areas each summer. This work has prov- under extensive wraps, and it promises to fill a between the two en exciting because of the nearby ravine, hollow in the ravine floor which is now cleared and being planted, and bridges with its dramatic foliage. which affords an especially protected habi- Not that everything is perfect, of course. tat-one reason the petiolarids and other The hillside of Primula pulverulenta ’Bartley plants collected in the Himalayas survive. Strain’ seedlings, planted so carefully last The steep ravine slopes and deep snow cover summer on a very steep slope, succumbed to are not unlike their habitats at home. the lack of snow cover, and to the ice and What is good for Primula is good for Gen- subsequent erosion in that unfortunate, tiana, Cardamine, Glaucidium, Rodgersia, windswept spot. But the hillside of Mecon- and others of their ilk. opsis betonicifolia intermingled with Pri- 30

mula alpicola var. luna x var. alba (which great many spruce logs and have elected to we have dubbed "Ivory Tower," for want of a use some of them to convert the vegetable better name) is in fine shape, as are the plant- garden into a series of terraced beds, building ings of Heracleum on a steep and sunny spot. one bed a year. After six years, the project is (We grow some ten species of Meconopsis in finished, and the vegetable garden, now one part or another of the woodland.)/ mixed with annuals and perennials for cut- The next step will be to embellish these ting, has a new lease on life. ravine slopes with bulbs. One slope is yearn- Here again, there was no detailed plan ing for a mass of Erythronium revolutum when we started. The configuration of the intermingled with Anemone blanda ’Atro- beds was dictated by the degree to which the caerulea’ to sweep over its brow. The other land fell away on a given slope. As a conse- slope would prefer Corydalis ambigua /or quence, no two beds are the same, and each perhaps Corydalis cashmeriana or Corydalis bed’s shape conforms to the underlying con- solida var. transylvanica/. Woodland garden- tours. Some of the terraces within the beds ing is heady stuff and, in this easy habitat, as are small and some quite large, but the whole good a way as any to spend the time. provides an ample area in which to grow just A plantsman’s inspection of the woodland about everything that could be grown. In garden-or sous-bois, as it is called locally- time, as we figure out how best to use and can take longer than is necessary at this junc- combine the vegetables, annuals, and per- ture, but one of the paths leads out of the ennials within it, this garden should yield a woodland, past a gazebo where one of the lot of horticultural pleasure for all con- rope bridges terminates, and to where all cerned. Terracing is probably the only logical orange plants of whatever genus (Lilium, solution to the problems of gardening on a Primula, Trollius, Ligularia, and others) have slope. been exiled. They bloom harmoniously, There is nowhere left to walk but back without competition, against the green back- towards the house through the lilac hedge ground. (A similar corner is filled with every- enclosing the vegetable garden. There is a thing magenta.) The path joins a carriage small meadow garden here, crisscrossed and drive that skirts a snake fence with good formed into a series of more or less geometri- views of the bay and the river until it comes cally shaped panels by a series of paths. Every to the vegetable garden. autumn a hefty contingent of bulbs is plant- ed within it, and every summer new peren- nials and biennials are added to it in The Terraced Vegetable Garden hopes they will take hold and establish colonies. It In its original state, the vegetable garden con- is a long but worthwhile process. A mosaic sisted of two long beds bracketing the path of Crocus chrysanthus in sweeps of blue, from the house down to the weathervane. cream, and white appears in early May and The beds sloped both downwards and side- expands as the years go by. They are followed ways and were not particularly satisfactory. by daffodils, which in turn are underplanted The spruce trees killed by the spruce bud- with Scilla, Muscari, Puschkinia, and Chion- worms came in very useful at this juncture, odoxa, each panel with its own combination since one can salvage the value of the timber of colors. There is a moment when pissenlits and clear the land of what promises to (dandelions) seem to be the only plant in evi- become an impenetrable barrier of fallen dence, but lupines soon assert themselves trees if one cuts within three years of the and put on a grand show m June and July, trees’ death. Thus, we have had access to a along with Oriental poppies, Achillea ptar- 31

mica, Filipendula, Campanula, and Rud- could see the black tips of their wings, bisect- beckia. The trick is to extend the flowering ed the blue sky, framed for an instant in that season until the meadow is cut in early Sep- incomparable setting. tember. Later that afternoon the weather suddenly deteriorated and became threatening. I had been planting the last of the bulbs in the Return of the Snow Geese woodland garden when it began to snow Perhaps the happiest time of the garden cycle quite heavily. In a matter of minutes snow in La Malbaie is early October-the horti- covered the ground, and I could imagine what cultural evensong, when the season is over it was like to be a petiolarid primula on the and our work done. The days are brisk, the flanks of a Himal. The storm was sufficiently nights cold, and the colors of the foliage intense to cut visibility way down. All I exhilaratmg. The garden has been put to bed, could see were swirling snowflakes. Again I the bulbs planted, and notes taken on what heard snow geese, only this time there were to move the next spring to improve a given thousands of them, and I rushed to the edge planting. It is a time to cut trails, to build of the woodland to try and see them. The bridges, to make lakes, as well as a time to snow was so thick by this time that a tree sketch plans and ideas for the future. twenty feet away was barely visible and I One crystal-clear October morning in 1984, despaired of catching even a glimpse of them I had time to wander at length along the var- when, suddenly, from all sides, hundreds of ious trails and to explore rarely visited geese descended out of the clouds-on the byways that had been cleared. Along one front lawn, in the woodland garden, on the byway, down a gently sloping, moist gully, tapis vert, and in the fields beyond, which the forest had escaped any damage, and there were just becoming visible again. I wondered were still many fine ancient specimens of red if this was what heaven was like. It ended as and white pine. Partridge, woodcock, and quickly as it had begun. The snow geese, hare flushed from along the trail, the mosses appropriately wrapped in the swirling cloud and mushrooms glistened, and the whorls of of snow, and over their apparent disorienta- Cornus canadensis were deep purple. As the tion, lifted off the ground (had they ever trail came to a cul-de-sac and I was beginning touched it?) and disappeared. to explore how it could be blazed on, the What did it mean, I wondered. Did it mean unmistakable sound of the snow geese call- it was time to stop gardening for that season, ing in flight broke the stillness. I hurriedly to reflect upon the mysteries of Nature and struggled out of the thicket and back up the gather strength for the coming spring, when trail to a point where I could look up at the the snow geese would be heading north, and sky. There was only one opening, a small the gardening cycle would begin again? Was one, and it was framed by the autumn colors it a message confirming that we were fortu- of the maples, Amelanchier, and paper birch. nate in our earthly paradise, that we could Disappointed that I couldn’t see the geese do worse than to keep gardening in that through that small, baroque window of blue northern woodland until our day was done? sky, I was nonetheless struck by its beauty, a perfection worthy of Tiepolo, an intensity and combination of colors, backlighted by Francis H. Cabot, of Cold Sprmg, New York, and La Malbaie, Quebec, describes himself as a horticultural that were I at it the sun, breathtaking. gazed enthusiast. He is treasurer of the Amencan Rock Gar- for a while and was about to stop when five den Society and past chairman of the board of managers snow geese, m formation and flying so low I of the New York Botamcal Garden.