Tag: New England Summer
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Irene’s Storm Tossed Combinations
Monday, August 29th–the day after Irene gusted, blew, and poured–I snapped this photo of my back shade garden. Storm tossed, but still intact and lovely, the flowers of the hosta (lavendar) and the ligularia dentata ‘Othello’ (yellow)– are lovely in combination. Yet it’s the foliage of all the plants–ferns, hostas, daphne, ladies’ mantle–that really makes…
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Back Yard Retreat
My clients really like to entertain outside. These photographs show the newly installed landscape design with multiple entertaining areas –pergola, patio, lawn and a flower garden that will look good in four seasons–plenty of plants for winter interest.
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Clouds and Biophilians
Photo: Maria von Brincken copyright 2011 Sometimes clouds add an awesome dimension. Here in this landscape created by beavers, herons rear their young, while birds sing, frogs croak, and humans, if they are lucky enough to encounter this world, rediscover wonder. Biologist E. O. Wilson coined the word “biophilia’ to express the idea that “we have…
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Late Summer & Early Fall Welcoming Combinations
I took this photo when I returned from vacation in late August. Today’s the first day of fall and the same blooming combination welcomes me daily. The only change since then are the mums I planted in the lower containers. The purple alliums, dark pink sedums, and pink roses are still going strong! That’s the…
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My Favorite Deck Planting
Every year I plant summer annuals on my deck, I think this is my favorite combination. In the right corner note the dark pink petunia. It surprised me as it just popped up out of the side drain hole of the back right planter. Who knew it would survive, prosper, and add the missing element I didn’t know…
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Green Fronds and White Trunks on an August Afternoon
Is it the oxygen in a fern woodland that makes it feel so special? Do the fronds soften and reflect sound to offer a ‘soothing silence’? It may be a combination of silence, oxygenated air, or the relief one gets from leaving an open hot sunlit field to enter a shady woodland. Whatever ever it is, as…
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Oregano and Mint Underated Flowering Groundcovers
Part of what makes this garden space and path wonderful is the lavender spikes of mint that have been flowering abundantly all summer long. See them at the bottom of the photo. The white flowering oregano spills onto to fieldstone step (out of view) so that I brush past them and release their fragrance with each descent. The…
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Gaillardia and Allium, August Stars
The yellow’s the long flowering Gaillardia ‘Lemons and Oranges’ and the Allium is a August blooming ornamental onion. The variety’s a mystery to me. I tried to identify it on the web, but the photos chiefly display the round flower head without reference to scale. Reading text descriptions on other websites, I’m at a loss for this plant’s…
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Prettiest Tree Stump You’ll Ever See
Best looking rock , stump, and plant combination ever! While wandering the charming grounds of the amazingly good Jacob’s Pillow Dance in Becket, MA, I found this shady corner. The perennial geranium (probably a geranium macrorrhizum) meanders and cascades throughout the bed to showcase the stump as a special and sculptural object d’art. A couple of hosta and good sized rocks…
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Slow Dance of Sky and Water
While Willie was singin’ ’bout ‘being on the road again’, was he having wine in the late afternoon in Boothbay Harbor? Probably not, I’m glad I could watch the early August sky and the water slow dancing over the hours. The deck’s railing felt like being on the bow of a ship and just as…