“Looking for inspiration and relaxation? It’s all in your own backyard.”
Garden Reports And Rejoicing – December 31 Just a note to say Happy New Year to all. May the coming twelve months be filled with good growing things. I wish you all flowers, tasty food and environments cultivated in a style you love.
Garden Reports and Rejoicing – December 29 I was going through some photos to post on Pinterest and came across this picture of a Poinsettia. Five or six years ago the garden center carried blue and purple Poinsettias…all spray painted. I loved them. Yes, I who frequently bad mouth fake-looking things such as mulch that’s [...]
Garden Reports and Rejoicing – December 28 Good design is always a plus, but a garden should have just a bit more, I think. Most people have at least some personal touches inside their houses, for example. Why not outside? Even a landscape that is designed by others can contain groups of plants, containers, ornaments [...]
Garden Reports and Rejoicing – December 27 Berms or Burial Mounds? Here’s the general idea: dump a load of loam on the property, mound it up into a completely arbitrary shape, and plant a scattering of shrubs, trees and/or perennials on top. This is commonly passed off as landscape “interest” or design. Although these piles [...]
Garden Reports and Rejoicing – December 26 Lining up the Usual Suspects Here’s a mystery: Why do people with perfectly attractive homes settle for unattractive foundation beds? And why do those with less-than-appealing houses not use foundation plantings to improve the dwelling’s appearance? Most don’t realize that a line up of the usual suspects (evergreens) [...]
Garden Reports and Rejoicing – December 24 Hacked Plants This pruning style makes shearing (see 15 Things #1) look artful. In fact, you can’t really call this pruning at all. This isn’t even renovation cutting…hacking or butchering is more accurate. A renovation pruning is when a shrub gets cut down near the ground. On some [...]
Garden Reports and Rejoicing – December 23 Plant and Forget Perennial Gardens Perennials come up every year, so they’re really low-maintenance, right? Wrong. Terribly, horribly incorrect. Yet this is not only a commonly held belief, but a widespread practice as well. Many people treat perennial beds as plant-and-forget gardens. All too often from the second [...]
Garden Reports and Rejoicing – December 22 Edged Out No doubt about it, a freshly edged bed can make a garden look spiffy. There is something about having distinct borders between lawn and beds that is attractive. Sometimes that line is made permanent with a material such as cobblestones. In other cases the grass that [...]
Garden Reports and Rejoicing – December 21 Upholstered Shrubs Yes, slip-covered shrubs and, oh dear, even trees get wrapped for the winter. The motive here is usually good. People want to protect their plants from cold and desiccation. The results of this desire for shelter are mixed at best. First of all, these plants are [...]
I’m pausing my usual blog routine tonight in remembrance of a dear woman who died yesterday. Wendy Clark was a good friend and a second mother to my kids when they were little. On most days we would speak during that early evening time when the kids were both tired and rambunctious…she called this period [...]
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