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Raymond’s principles of design run counter to those of most New
ngland gardeners. He says August and September are the peak of the
garden season here, not April, May, and June. And he contends that color
is most easily brought to the landscape by foliage, not flowers, which he
regards as simply “icing on the cake.”
It is tropical foliage plants that keep his garden lush long into autumn,
ll after most hardy perennials and flowering shrubs start shutting down.
Tropicals, he explains, don’t know winter is coming, so they hold nothing
design decisions
The Consummate Host
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dinner part
Not only does the ever-meticulous Louis
Raymond document on his computer
every plant in his rambling Rhode Island
garden, he also keeps spreadsheets of his
ies. “It’s easier to keep track of who’s invited
for which dinner, who came to which, what the menu
was,” says the landscape designer, whose company,
Renaissance Gardening Ltd., is based in Hopkinton,
Rhode Island, and New York City.
After eight years of twice-monthly summer soirees,
aymond and his partner, Richard Ericson, have the
alfresco routine down pat. If the menu is complex, they
hire help. “There is nothing as nice as appealing young
people who handle passed hors d’oeuvres and drinks,”
says Raymond.
And although a garden needs sun, guests need
hade. “No one wants to sit in the hot sun. Buy the
largest, most luxurious umbrella you can. It captures
the candlelight after dark to create a magical private
dinner space.”
For the proper ambience, timing is critical. Dinner
t Raymond’s is never served before dusk, and he plans
for people to have an hour or so to roam the garden
and chat beforehand. So he staggers arrival times
around the summer solstice. In late September, when
days are shorter, guests come early in the evening to
admire the doomed dahlias backlit by the setting sun,
then, if the night air is too chilly for outdoor dining,
they cluster around the giant fireplace inside
Raymond’s old farmhouse and balance plates of food
in their laps.
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for garden aficionados itching to see the space in
person, reservations can be made for group visits
between July 1 and October 15 on the Renaissance
Gardening website
RGardening.com. Guided tours are
$25 per person, and Raymond will happily
accommodate groups as small as two and as large as
30. However, if it’s Raymond’s unique perspective on
gardening in New England that you’re after, his blog,
dirtonthekeys.blogspot.com, combines his horticultural
know-how with his high-spirited humor.
;
ho
back, growing and glowing until the first hard frost turns them into mush,
like a dirty trick. Lucky for Raymond, he has a barn and rents a commercial greenhouse for wintering over his treasures.
Raymond’s garden is complex and physically grueling and full of
rticultural experiments that need attention. “People are always stunned
by it,” he says. “To have a garden of this intensity is freakishly rare. I can
only do it because it’s my business. I don’t have to hire myself. It’s a big lab
to figure out what we can grow.”
