It was my very great pleasure to hear Darrell speak at the North American Rock Garden Society's Eastern Winter Study Weekend in January. It is also my very great pleasure to feature his nursery as the first of my 2002 Online Nursery series.
Garden Vision is online, but primarily as an image gallery for the many lovely Epimediums the nursery offers. From the web pages, you can email Darrell with your snail mail address to receive their free print catalog, which features even more plants, with descriptions, as well as additional images. You can also, call write or fax Garden Visions to be placed on their mailing list. There are plans for turning the online photo gallery into a full-fledged web site as soon as time permits.
Garden Vision
63 Williamsville Road
Hubbardston, MA 01452-1315
Phone/Fax: (978) 928-4808
History
In its fifth season, Garden Vision developed from Darrell's interest in Epimediums, one of the few plants he found surviving in abandoned gardens; tough, yet delicate as Darrell's wife, Karen, puts it. Karen, who is closely involved in the nursery, says that they like to put plants through stress tests to determine their survivability at Cobblewood (their garden). Darrell began searching for sources and people with private collections (many of whom, he discovered, were loathe to share their plants). He met the late Harold Epstein, of Larchmont, NY, considered to be one of the foremost collectors and promoters of the genus; they became friends and Darrell visited him annually until Harold's death to study his plants.
Darrell began creating his own collection to try to sort out the confused nomenclature and learn more about the genus. Karen notes that "He does his own hybridizing and has introduced several cultivars. He also makes crosses to determine which described species are actually species, and which are inter-specific hybrids that have come together over their ranges."
His collecting trip to Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces in China in 1996 reinforced his enchantment with this genus and the country. In 1997, he traveled to South Korea and Japan searching for new cultivars and species. He returned to China in 2000 and 2001. Darrell says that "seeing the plants growing in the wild is invaluable in helping to determine the best garden conditions in which to grow them". It's also been helpful in sorting out the nomenclature.
