Gardening guru P. Allen Smith shows how French style builds great U.S. landscapes

The Society of the Four Arts, in conjunction with the Garden Club of Palm Beach, recently hosted P. Allen Smith’s interesting and informative lecture about his Moss Mountain Farm in Arkansas.

This ferme ornée, or ornamental farm, has its roots in the natural landscapes of the English era of Capability Brown, when the formal vernacular of the William and Mary period was replaced with the curvilinear features of the pastoral movement. Quite simply, the essence of ferme ornée is the marriage of functionality and beauty: combining farming techniques of vegetable and livestock production with the beauty of pastoral gardens.

Smith personally retraced the steps of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson when they explored the “must-see” English gardens of the 1780s. Jefferson was the ambassador to France at the time and Adams was serving as diplomatic envoy to England. Jefferson was looking for innovative ideas from the great gardens of the era for Monticello (Adams was basically just along for the ride).

At the time, the formality of great gardens such as Hampton Court was being replaced by the more idyllic, pastoral landscapes of Woburn Farm, Paine’s Hill and Chatsworth. “Garden rooms” were being created to bring the indoors out, and the famous English herbaceous borders of mixed native perennial plants were just being created. All of these features had tremendous influence on Jefferson and he would later replicate them at Monticello.

Smith's organic farm

Smith visited these same gardens 200 years later and decided he could also create pastoral beauty combined with the function of an organic working farm at his 600-acre Moss Mountain in Arkansas, near Little Rock. He set about to do just that.

Combining innovations from the past with the needs of today’s world, a ferme ornée is precisely the answer to our requirements for sustainability and function fused with our innate desire for beauty. At Moss Mountain, Smith combined spectacular views of the Arkansas River with winding perennial borders and sweeping meadows of daffodils that would later be mown for hay and serve for sheep pasturage.

Using only locally produced organic soils (“never underestimate the power of manure”), he created beautiful vegetable gardens combined with flowering plants, and fruit orchards including espaliered pears for on-plane effect. Not satisfied with chicken “coops," he built stunning “palaces” for his numerous chicken and turkey collections and added ponds for ducks and geese.

He is particularly enamored with his chickens; these beautiful, curious, friendly creatures have wonderful character variations. From the handsome pale orange/red buff Orpingtons to the white Japanese silkies and the gold and silver penciled Hamburgs, his collection provides constant interest and an overwhelming production of eggs.

We can’t all have a 600-acre ferme ornée, but as Smith points out, we can all have honest gardens, using native, authentic plant material instead of relying on exotic species. Additionally, he decries how our increased use of technology has lessened our connection with the natural world. Current farming techniques using genetically modified seed and chemical additives devastate our soils and make them dependent on an increasing cycle of more and more chemicals.

A single handful of organic soil contains a universe of microbes, all of which are essential to our survival. Organic soil provides all the nutrients plants need: toxic chemical additives and salt-laden fertilizers destroy these natural nutrients. The disastrous carcinogenic effects of glyphosate and neonicotinoids, both of which are widely used in Palm Beach, have been well-documented for decades.

Too many pesticides

We cannot continue to use pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides at the current rate if we are to provide sustainable landscapes for our insects, pollinators and all the creatures (including humans) that they support. As the great naturalist E.O. Wilson said, if humankind was eradicated from the earth, the environment would revert to a lush, verdant landscape. But if all insects were eradicated, the earth would implode on itself.

Smith encourages us to let the grass grow – just mow a pathway through it – and don’t add fertilizers. The salt they contain is lethal to the microorganisms essential to the health of the soil. If we stop or at least reduce the wholesale use of chemicals, we could reverse the steady decline of insects, birds and wildlife that we have witnessed over the past 50 years.

Smith’s message resonates in Palm Beach, although most of us don’t have the open space he is able to maintain. What we do have is a community of concerned residents who, I believe, want the best for their community. We cannot regulate the state and federal laws regarding the use of chemicals – but we can make our own decisions on whether or not to use those chemicals on our gardens and landscapes.

Too many landscape services tout the importance of retaining a monthly chemical contractor to fertilize your plants and handle the insects and “pests” in your yards. Nothing could be further from the truth. If your soil is healthy, your plants will be healthy, and the insects and pollinators they support will provide essential food and habitat for birds and other wildlife. We truly are at an environmental tipping point, and Palm Beachers could lead the way in showing how communities can band together to do the right thing.

Better native choices

I recently saw some plantings of native dune sunflower (Helianthus debilis) mixed in with the omnipresent alien green Island ficus along North Ocean Boulevard. The bright spot of yellow was almost like a beacon of hope – this tough native plant makes a perfect specimen in any sunny spot, tolerating drought, wind, sand, salt, and just about any adverse conditions you want to throw at it. It blooms year-round, is a host to butterflies and hummingbirds, and a fun fact is that the bright yellow flower heads follow the sun throughout the day.

Although this grows naturally on dunes providing a beautiful, tough ground cover, landscapers always seem to choose green island ficus. Sure, green island tolerates harsh conditions, but it provides no environmental sustenance for anything – you might as well just plant plastic. Cocoplum (Chrysobalanus icaco), wild coffee (Psychotria nervosa), buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus), sea lavender (Heliotropium gnaphaloides) or beach creeper (Ernodia littoralis) are far better native choices for similar situations.

Florida has a vast number of ornamental native plants that will add beauty, color, variety, interest, and sustainable habitat to your landscapes. Smith quoted Henry David Thoreau’s famous phrase that “in wildness is the preservation of civilization." We have all become too disconnected from our agrarian past and need to rediscover the joy that comes from a beautiful garden where there is always something new to discover.

The other morning I found a bright yellow cloudless sulphur caterpillar on my Bahama senna; I’ve never seen one before and it is stunning. Beauty is, of course, in the eye of the beholder, but we could perhaps learn to love the less formal, more natural landscapes that require less chemical assistance and offer more environmental sustenance.

Smith’s overwhelming message was one of working together as responsible citizens: we each must play a role in making changes to better ourselves, our families, our communities and our planet.