Louis Bauer of Wave Hill on Garden Advice - A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach - December 16, 2019

Garden Design Ideas: A few of the gardeners I've learned the most from over my career have one thing in common: They've worked at Wave Hill, the exceptional public garden in New York City, perched above the Hudson River with world-class views and much more.

Even though my own garden is put to bed, the wheels in my gardener brain are still whirring. I'm looking for the seeds of ideas for the year to come, so to that end lately I've been rereading a book published just a few months ago, "Nature Into Art: The Gardens of Wave Hill" and from it and its current Director of Horticulture, we'll get some practical inspiration. Louis Bauer is just the third director of horticulture in Wave Hill's history, though the garden in the Riverdale section of the Bronx was founded in 1965.

In our latest interview, he shared tips on upcycling prunings into plant supports; how easy hedges can create serious architecture; how to encourage desirable self-sowns like poppies, larkspur and others to flourish; how repeating shapes (not just colors) can strengthen your designs; and why we each need one blank bed to "play" or experiment in each year.