Now and Then; Stipa tenuissima - Mexican feather grass

Babies under the snow today - and September shade!

Now and Then… 

Whenever I think it would be great to live in a milder Italian climate where frost wouln’t kill all those fantastic tender perennials I can’t keep here, I have to remember there’s also much to be said for living four full seasons - from the ice and snow of a Bologna winter to the heat and humidity of this flat but fertile plain… Here’s a “now” photo from today and a “then” photo from the summer… I love them both.

The photo is from here, but that pinecone sure isn’t! That’s a cone I picked up in Rome from under a magnificent old Pinus pinea - Italian stone pine… If we had one of those growing at Galeazza, we’d have pinoli for free… Maybe it’s time to plant one! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Pine View high resolution

The photo is from here, but that pinecone sure isn’t!

That’s a cone I picked up in Rome from under a magnificent old Pinus pinea - Italian stone pine… If we had one of those growing at Galeazza, we’d have pinoli for free… Maybe it’s time to plant one!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Pine

A Snowy Galeazza Garden

Snow on the bridge and down the poplar allée, Galeazza Garden Watch your step, Clark! With no handrails on the bridge and hands full of buckets of corn and hot water for the goats, this could be tricky! View high resolution

Snow on the bridge and down the poplar allée, Galeazza Garden

Watch your step, Clark! With no handrails on the bridge and hands full of buckets of corn and hot water for the goats, this could be tricky!

Snow! It’s normally a once-a-year treat to have a storm like this. Last year no snow to speak of, and a few years back way too much - maybe 5 storms - but on an average it happens once a year in this part of Emilia Romagna… and because it snows so seldom, it’s a real treat. The novelty doesn’t wear off, and in a few days it normally warms up and it’s gone… We’ve had such a mild and dry winter we really needed this… And it hasn’t come too late, like when the daffodils are just about to open in March. Perfect fluffy white blanket at just the right time of year.  Thank you, winter gods, for making magic! View high resolution

Snow!

It’s normally a once-a-year treat to have a storm like this. Last year no snow to speak of, and a few years back way too much - maybe 5 storms - but on an average it happens once a year in this part of Emilia Romagna… and because it snows so seldom, it’s a real treat. The novelty doesn’t wear off, and in a few days it normally warms up and it’s gone…

We’ve had such a mild and dry winter we really needed this… And it hasn’t come too late, like when the daffodils are just about to open in March. Perfect fluffy white blanket at just the right time of year. 

Thank you, winter gods, for making magic!

Monday’s Mistake - Part One

This year I’ve decided to regularly post photos of some stupid things that I or people here before me have done in the Galeazza Garden. Sometimes the mistakes might even be bad choices made many years ago, illustrating how we, as gardeners, leave more of a long-lasting mark than we might imagine!.

I’d rather not make this theme too specific, because it would limit the scope of the argument as well as the fun. A “mistake” might just be a tacky or unsuccessful design decision, trees planted in the wrong spot or pruned improperly, seeds sown at the wrong time, the wrong materials or tools used to do a job, and so on. I could probably post one a day and still have thousands left over, but I’ll try to keep the mistakes for Mondays only.

Warning: The photos might be ugly, but they will usually be funny or educational. My hope is that you and I will both learn from Galeazza Garden mistakes so we don’t make similar ones again - I here, or you in your garden. Once is enough!

I’m beginning with this photo of wood wrapped around a metal fence because even the Fallopia aubertii grown around the metal looks like a big M for Mistake…

What was I thinking? My friend Claudio Baldazzi gave me this plant a few years ago, and I knew it was a climber, so I just grabbed the nearest junk at hand and started to weave the slender stems of the vine up through the plastic-covered wire fence. Big mistake.

Why start with ugly materials when you’ll have to live with them for years? Having a low or no budget is no excuse. Be inventive, and don’t act too quickly out of desperation or enthusiasm to get something done. An old branch and string would have held the plant up a couple years ago when I started to train the Fallopia aubertii up the castle wall. The branch also would have allowed me to save more of the plant today. In this case it wasn’t only a bad idea aesthetically, but for the plant, as well… a huge mess. Today I had to chop nearly the whole thing down to the ground, removing all the metal wire. There’s still one long vine I can use to start over. Lesson learned - I’m going to use something a bit more natural and pleasant to look at this time.

“

Snowdrops! You can call them “milk flowers of the snow” if you want…

Because that is their proper scientific name: Gàla is “milk” in Greek, and Anthos is “flower”… nivalis is Latin for “of the snow” - so there you have it: Galanthus nivalis.

Galanthus nivalis; snowdrops All of the other snowdrops I planted other years are either under the leaves and winter debris and still waiting to pop up, or gone - maybe eaten by mice or dead from extreme heat and dry summer conditions… This clump was a gift from Giorgio Cesaretti, and definitely indicates what a mild winter we’ve had…  View high resolution

Galanthus nivalis; snowdrops

All of the other snowdrops I planted other years are either under the leaves and winter debris and still waiting to pop up, or gone - maybe eaten by mice or dead from extreme heat and dry summer conditions…

This clump was a gift from Giorgio Cesaretti, and definitely indicates what a mild winter we’ve had… 

And this lovely lad is definitely Japanese! A stunning Shamo from Italian breeders Paolo Paltrinieri e Paola Bortoli.

So there aren’t only Japanese plants in the Galeazza garden, but Japanese fowl, too! Thank you Paolo and Paola. I love this guy. He might look scary, but we know better!

His sexy lady friend was a gift from another Shamo breeder - but this one in Belgium - Frank Brusselman. Thank you Frank!

So what do you get when two Shamo stars meet and mate at Galeazza? Well, we don’t know yet, but we might by this spring!

Sarcandra glabra (Senryo)?  Ardisia crispa (Hyakyuro)? Juryro? Manryo? This little plant IS very Japanese, though, and I doubt I could have found it around here very easily. It was in almost every Japanese garden that I visited in November, showing off some very glossy green leaves and bright red berries. It grows to about 3 feet tall, but I have no idea how long this little pup, only a few inches high at the moment,  might take to flower or fruit. It seems to be doing well here, but it also looks like a slow grower. Any idea what it might be in Latin? And the final word is… the Japanese says Manryo, and I’m going with some kind of Ardisia… View high resolution

Sarcandra glabra (Senryo)?  Ardisia crispa (Hyakyuro)? Juryro? Manryo?

This little plant IS very Japanese, though, and I doubt I could have found it around here very easily. It was in almost every Japanese garden that I visited in November, showing off some very glossy green leaves and bright red berries. It grows to about 3 feet tall, but I have no idea how long this little pup, only a few inches high at the moment,  might take to flower or fruit. It seems to be doing well here, but it also looks like a slow grower. Any idea what it might be in Latin?

And the final word is… the Japanese says Manryo, and I’m going with some kind of Ardisia…

Cyclamen coum I’m starting to realize that many of the plants I brought back from Japan aren’t native to Japan… this little silver-leaved,  eastern mediterranean cyclamen is no exception. I like it anyway. It was new to me, and I didn’t have it in the garden, but it’s kind of stupid to be buying an eastern Mediterranean plant in eastern Asia, and then flying it half way around the world to add to an Italian garden. Oh well, it’s here now and it seems to be happy in the Galeazza woodland. I guess that’s what counts.  Look carefully: There’s a tiny bud on there already! View high resolution

Cyclamen coum

I’m starting to realize that many of the plants I brought back from Japan aren’t native to Japan… this little silver-leaved,  eastern mediterranean cyclamen is no exception. I like it anyway. It was new to me, and I didn’t have it in the garden, but it’s kind of stupid to be buying an eastern Mediterranean plant in eastern Asia, and then flying it half way around the world to add to an Italian garden. Oh well, it’s here now and it seems to be happy in the Galeazza woodland. I guess that’s what counts. 

Look carefully: There’s a tiny bud on there already!

Galeazza Goats!

Drawing of the Castle of Galeazza dated 1846. This plan shows how some time in the 17 or early 1800s the 16th century villa which was attached to the 14th century tower (and visible in the plans of 1692) was demolished, and the medieval tower stood alone toward the southwest corner of the castle courtyard. This means that most of the section of the castle I currently live in (between the tower and the carriage house/barn area) was re-built after 1846. It probably dates from the big re-building phase the Falzoni-Gallerani family started after they purchased the property “just before 1870”. That would make sense as most of the paintings and sculptures that have remained here are from the late 1800s.  This map comes from the “Fondo Archivistico Pepoli, serie III, cartella N°22 - Archivio di Stato di Bologna - The photo I have of it came from the 2008 senior thesis of two freinds of mine who studied architecture at the University of Ferrara: Lorenzo Masini and Barbara Mantovani. It is entitled “Brani di Città.” Without them, we would all know a lot less about this place. Their floorplans and drawings of the entire structure as it stood in 2006/2007 are the only modern, accurate plans that exist.  View high resolution

Drawing of the Castle of Galeazza dated 1846.

This plan shows how some time in the 17 or early 1800s the 16th century villa which was attached to the 14th century tower (and visible in the plans of 1692) was demolished, and the medieval tower stood alone toward the southwest corner of the castle courtyard. This means that most of the section of the castle I currently live in (between the tower and the carriage house/barn area) was re-built after 1846. It probably dates from the big re-building phase the Falzoni-Gallerani family started after they purchased the property “just before 1870”. That would make sense as most of the paintings and sculptures that have remained here are from the late 1800s. 

This map comes from the “Fondo Archivistico Pepoli, serie III, cartella N°22 - Archivio di Stato di Bologna - The photo I have of it came from the 2008 senior thesis of two freinds of mine who studied architecture at the University of Ferrara: Lorenzo Masini and Barbara Mantovani. It is entitled “Brani di Città.” Without them, we would all know a lot less about this place. Their floorplans and drawings of the entire structure as it stood in 2006/2007 are the only modern, accurate plans that exist. 

The Castle and Gardens of Galeazza, 1692 This drawing shows quite a faithful plan of the castle courtyards and gardens as they were in the late 17th century. They were probably like this for centuries. The drawing is entitled ‘Pianta et misure delli giardini et corte… del palazzo della Galeazza” and is kept in the historic archives of the Crevalcore library.  Check out the moat that surrounds the entire property! and the tower standing alone in the top right corner? I think what is left of it can currently be found in the new goat area. We’ll soon be able to see the foundations as the goats clear away all the brush and brambles! I know there is something under there because the ground is very uneven, and it looks like it could be the foundations of an antique wall… View high resolution

The Castle and Gardens of Galeazza, 1692

This drawing shows quite a faithful plan of the castle courtyards and gardens as they were in the late 17th century. They were probably like this for centuries. The drawing is entitled ‘Pianta et misure delli giardini et corte… del palazzo della Galeazza” and is kept in the historic archives of the Crevalcore library. 

Check out the moat that surrounds the entire property! and the tower standing alone in the top right corner? I think what is left of it can currently be found in the new goat area. We’ll soon be able to see the foundations as the goats clear away all the brush and brambles! I know there is something under there because the ground is very uneven, and it looks like it could be the foundations of an antique wall…