The gardens of Saratoga Springs

When I worked in news and sports at the station formerly known as CHCH, the cameramen used to say the most important part of the word "reporter" was "porter". This was as they handed the "porter" a 30-pound tripod to carry.

I still consider myself a reporter, a term I find less highfalutin than "journalist". It's a license to be a busybody. And it's almost universally true that all people like to talk about who they are or what they do.

That's why I felt right at home strolling into the lobby of the Adelphi Hotel in Saratoga Springs, New York recently, and asking about their splendid landscaping.

The real mission of this trip was to attend a jazz festival and hear the incomparable Herbie Hancock. The setting was outdoors under a canopy of oak trees - but you remember how I said people love to talk about themselves. Well, rather than hear Herbie play 'Round Midnight', I heard instead the woman sitting next to me talking about spider veins, recipes for pork and the price of composted manure.

So the jazz festival was better to anticipate than experience, like so many things. But this left us plenty of time to poke around Saratoga Springs.

It's a curious place. The resident population is about 30 thousand, but it triples in the summer when the thoroughbreds move in for a five-week race meet at the track. There are throngs of tourists in plaid shorts, wobbling around on legs that look like uncooked chicken. The many bistros and restaurants and hotels are staffed by college kids who take over the town after 1 a.m. On every block there is a different bar with a different band, packed with kids dancing and generally getting smashed. These bars don't close until 4 a.m. But it all seemed rather genial and energetic like a scene from the 60's.

In the middle of this frantic fun is the cool, green, oasis known as the Adelphi Hotel. It is flanked by the usual, generic trappings of urban America: Starbucks, Borders, the Gap. But there is nothing blandly predictable about the Adelphi.

In front, the wide sidewalk (which, in many towns, is usually covered with gum and spit) narrows down pleasantly with sharp hedges of boxwood. Within the hedges are generous plantings of ivy, hostas, daylilies and hydrangeas. There are urns with ferns and urns with spikes. It is Victorian landscaping in front of a very Victorian hotel. The hotel was recently restored by an owner, I was told, who can make an orange juice can and a weed look good.

The lobby doors are propped open so that the outdoors and indoors are united. Giant palms and bananas in oversize containers divide the large interior into cozier spaces.

I wandered up to the front desk where the clerk greeted me with, "You look Canadian." How odd, I thought, and how untrue, since I was born in Hammond Indiana. But she recognized me from TV, so I left it at that.

I asked who was responsible for the landscaping and was given the name of Jeremiah Bain, a lifelong resident of Saratoga Springs.

"I guess I have a knack for green things. The magic part of this garden is if you let things go, they take on their own form." Indeed, vigorous native grapevines cover a pergola that is reflected in the hotel pool. They grow fast and lush and make the pool look like something out of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Another Jeremiah favorite is the native ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris, Zones 3-6) with fronds up to five feet, and an aggressive spreading habit, they quickly form stands that soften paved surfaces near the pool. The ostrich fern also makes a fine background for other perennials like hosta, pulmonaria and helebores.

Jeremiah describes the Adelphi gardens as simple and reflective using tried and true plants from the turn of the century. Because their growing season is short (May to September) he feels he needs to help the plants to look fresh and vibrant quickly. The secret for that is foliar feeding.

"I use a water wand and inline feeder, and spray the foliage with fertilizer twice a month. It responds very quickly." On the annuals, vines and shrubs, he uses a 15-30-15 mixture.

Life seems very relaxed at the Adelphi, where the simple gardens encourage sitting and reading and reflecting. There's no pressure to march around with a notebook scribbling down the newest, perfect plant.

Saratoga Springs is a logical launching pad for other explorations. The owner of the Saratoga Arms, where we stayed, encouraged us to visit Sharon Springs, another town built around the so-called healing powers of mineral springs.

Saratoga basically put Sharon Springs out of business at the end of the nineteenth century. Fickle New Yorkers decided Saratoga was the more fashionable place to go.

Consequently, in Sharon Springs you find a collection of fantastic Victorian hotels, spas, baths and boarding houses in various states of disuse and decay. It is a photographer's dream. Most of these ghostly buildings with their remnant gardens are located on side streets. On the main street there are hotels being restored, and the revival of an artists' community.

It was hotter than a pot of boiling corn in Sharon Springs, discouraging garden prowling. So we nipped out of town, discovering on our way, Adelphi Paper Hangings - one of just a few places in the world where traditional hand-blocked wallpaper is made.

And just twenty minutes from the poetically disheveled town of Sharon Springs is the perfectly preserved village of Cooperstown.

There, the gardens were crisp, the houses freshly painted, and the lineups for the baseball hall of fame were long. It would be a fine place to walk away from the baseball hubbub and dream about life in a village, free of the craft and clutter of the big city.