Date: Fri 22-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A-12

Quick Words:

Stambaugh-Secret-Garden-garden

Full Text:

Gardens Created By A True Plantsman

(with photos)

By Amy D'Orio

A walk through Mary Stambaugh's garden is like no other.

When the afternoon sun hits, a golden hue is cast over the sloping field,

which leads to a small private pond.

Autumn's yellows and mauves are mellowed by the last rays of the day, others

are illuminated by the bright light behind them.

The picture is taken slightly out of focus, and the wildflower extravaganza

takes on an otherworldly sight framing a view of the Berkshire mountain

foothills.

The height of the field - not having been cut all year - diminishes one's own

stature, and walking down the path that cuts through it only exaggerates this

effect.

Rudbeckia maxima bend to create arcs over the path, and smaller flowers pop

out the sides to catch the light.

Many gardeners share a common fantasy of having a large field of wildflowers.

However, it seems once the Queen Anne's lace realizes you are trying to

cultivate it, it shies away. Once the golden rod figures out you actually like

it, it moves on incredulously.

For most gardeners, the fantasy of a field of varied wildflowers stays just a

fantasy, but Mary Stambaugh has had the desire, stamina and help to make her

field of flowers a reality.

She said she continually "combs through its hair," weeding out the saplings,

keeping back the vines and maintaining a balance between the vital and the

delicate.

As she strolls down her hill, she stops in front of a plant, strobilanthes ,

and is completely amused with a bee searching for pollen. The bee's weight

causes the flower's pointed tip to flip over, as if to give the insect

privacy.

Mrs Stambaugh walks further and picks out the three varieties of joe-pye weed

in her field. She describes each one like a mother blind to where her children

fall short.

Mary Stambaugh is a true collector of plants, finding them all interesting and

worthwhile. Her extensive gardens have everything from polygonum pensylvanicum

(which many consider to be a common weed) to ramonda myconii , a relative of

the African violet.

The small plant exists only in alpine conditions, and Mrs Stambaugh has

therefore taken the necessary measures to make her Taunton area property seem

more like the Swiss Alps.

Many of Mrs Stambaugh's plants have been passed on from generation to

generation, like the giant Solomon's seals she has in the front of her home.

Many of her hostas and the hesperis also have the family pedigree; the seeds

coming from her grandfather's woods in Ohio.

The 26-acre property is diverse enough (and Mrs Stambaugh's taste is broad

enough) to support many different types of gardens. There is the sunny field

and pond; the woodland area with its fantastic bulb display; the rock garden,

the shade garden, the bog garden and a formal garden that was once a swimming

pool.

Not a swimmer, she filled in the pool with soil and created a perennial bed

bordered by annuals. A path of crushed stone leads to a small fountain that

shoots water into the air. It falls with a humorous "plop" onto large, flat

river stones.

Mrs Stambaugh could not possibly care for her gardens by herself. She has two

long-time helpers: horticulturist Laura Evans and landscaper Emil Racenet. She

has also had the finest help in creating her property: mentor Karl Grieshaber,

the former director of the New York Botanical Garden rock garden. Mr

Grieshaber built her rock garden, and his skill is evident; not one stone juts

out unnaturally.

A pinus densiflora pendula covers the top of one stone like a hat, and Mrs

Stambaugh is now training a picea abies inversa to create an arch over one of

the paths. The rock garden includes a pinus cembra , daphnes, and a golden

chamaecyperis pisifera filifera aurea .

The bog garden has primula japonica , rodgersia , and kirengashoma palmata , a

late-blooming woodland plant.

Near this garden is an allium bed featuring the very fickle allium shubertii .

By her side door, Mrs Stambaugh grows in pots scented geraniums, fuchsias,

heliotropes , corydalis lutea , and, over the side door, aristolochia durior .

In the field, Mrs Stambaugh has filled this large expanse with invasive

plants. Her vigorous wildflower display includes helianthus mollis , joe-pye

weed, linaria , ironweed, thistle, thermopsis , thalictrum , golden rod, tiger

lilies and ornamental grasses.

She has flanked both sides of the field with flowering trees, and the small

trees are flanked by large, stately tulip trees.

Mary Stambaugh has been cultivating her property for 23 years. She was first

attracted by the view and the woodland. Many gardeners ignore the woods, but

this is where Mrs Stambaugh first learned to garden.

She has cleared the underbrush from her woods and introduced rhododendron,

azaleas and viburnum. She has also planted thousands of bulbs.

Shade is not a condition that will intimidate this gardener. Underneath a

maple, she has planted hostas, Solomon's seals, ferns, and in the spring,

carefully-planted blubs produce a tapestry of color.

It seems there is not a garden medium this artist does not use, but is there a

favorite?

"I couldn't say. When I get in one place, I say, `This is the best,' but, then

I get in another and say the same thing," she said.