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Yankee Magazine focuses on legendary and local
horticultural business
 Green
Giant
Once there was no more famous horticulturist than Allen
C. Haskell. His family continues his legacy.
by Lisa Palmer Reprinted from Yankee Magazine October
2006
Small stones crunch beneath David Haskell’s boots as he
strolls along a shady path amid Allen C. Haskell
Horticulturists in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Son of
the late genius plantsman Allen Haskell, David now
presides over the seven-acre retail nursery and
landscape design business created by his father over the
past 50 years. The nursery, which draws plant lovers
from all over the world, includes the city’s oldest
house, a Colonial structure dating back to 1725.
Cardinals whistle overhead as David walks past a
handsomely crafted aviary and onto the stone patio of
his father’s private garden and former home at the north
end of the nursery. David ticks off a long list of
distinctions heaped upon his father over the years,
including being named a Great American Gardner by the
America Horticultural Society and inducted as a
permanent member of the Smithsonian Institution – a rare
tribute. Haskell was called variously “the kind of
topiary,” “an epic figure in American gardening,” and
“an American treasure.”
At 6’6”, David stands with sturdy confidence but without
the slightest hint of pretentiousness as he talks about
filling his father’s role in the horticulture world.
“This life is all I’ve ever known. He taught me my
trade,” David says, sweeping one of his large hands in
the direction of the impeccable, lush landscape where he
worked alongside his father ever since he could walk.
“For 40 years, I was exposed to his standards.”
The Haskell’s family’s exacting standards have attracted
diverse patrons, from Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis, Martha
Stewart, and Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands to local
do-it-yourself gardeners. David says this breadth of
clientele is the nursery’s greatest strength. “People
tell us it’s like a museum. It’s one of the most
flattering comments we get,” he says.
Allen C. Haskell Horticulturalists is a salmagundi of
beautiful gardens and resembles an English country
estate. Twelve greenhouses, including four classic Lord
and Burnham glass structures, teem with exquisite plants
not found elsewhere. Dispersed among them are some 3,000
orchids; tropical plants; scores of flawless myrtle,
ivy, and rosemary topiaries that Haskell’s nursery made
famous; 30 types of coleus; and rare camellias, among
many others.
On this day, David walks among the several garden
buildings that are located throughout the grounds. Each
one is distinctive. Espaliered trees rest on some of
them; statuary, planters, and pottery fill the others.
On the eastern edge of the property, near David’s
office, a hardy jasmine shrub releases its fragrant
scent as he passes by. Along the shady, meandering paths
that link the brick buildings, David points out the
nursery’s enormous collection of hostas, including the
largest hosta hybrid, ‘David Allen Haskell’, which his
father cultivated. On the west end, laid out with
geometric precision, dozens of raised beds showcase
masses of nursery stock (such as shrubs, trees, and
perennials) in a gardenlike setting.
Except for the four years when he studied plant science
at the University of New Hampshire, David has worked all
his life in the family business. Before his father’s
death in December 2004, he handled the landscape-design
end offsite during the week and pitched in at the retail
nursery on weekends. These days most of his time is
spent at the nursery. During peak landscaping season
(April through June, plus September and October), he
splits his days between the garden center and his
clients’ sites. David’s mother, Ellena Haskell, and
sister, Felicia Cruz, are among the nursery’s 12
year-round employees. “None of us are in the business to
make the most money that we can,” David says. “It’s a
lifestyle. It’s what we do – gardening and greenhouses.”
David says his father’s lasting legacy is garden design.
He’ll wager that enthusiasts can pick out a Haskell
garden from among others. A strong focal point is one
quality; masses of under-plantings are another. “My
father was uncompromising and unyielding in his tastes,”
David says. “He was discriminating. He had strong
opinions on a selective use of one plant, but he would
also back it up with why he would be in favor of a
plant. We’ve all developed that awareness. He was a
great mentor.”
David Haskell’s Picks
One of David’s fall favorites is an unusual plant called
Heptacodium miconioides (seven-son flower). It is a
shrublike tree with green leaves during summer, but it
puts on a command performance come fall. First, it
produces panicles of star-shaped white blossoms in
September and October. Then, its calyxes, which are
green when flowering, ripen to a rosy red in October and
November. In late fall, the plant drops it’s leaves to
reveal showy, shaggy brown bark during winter months.
David says another fall knockout is the daisy
Chrysanthemum ‘Sheffield Pink’, which produces
silvery-pink flowers. “It stays flowering through
November,” he says. “It’s a true perennial and is very
hardy. It will come back year after year, unlike a lot
of mums that don’t reliably survive the Northeast
climate.”
David likes the look of berry-producing plants, too. In
autumn, he favors the bright red berries of the Ilex
verticillata (winterberry holly). Also consider
Callicarpa ‘Profusion’ (beautyberry), a fast growing
shrub. “Its purple fruit is quite stunning,” he says,
adding that the berry clusters remain on the plant long
after the leaves fall.
Allen C. Haskell Horticulturists, Inc., 787 Shawmut
Avenue, New Bedford, MA 508-993-9047.
www.haskellnursery.com |
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