-
Book Review: ‘The Bartlett Book of Garden Elements’
‘The Bartlett Book of Garden Elements: A Practical Compendium of Inspired Designs for the Working Gardener’ by Michael Valentine Bartlett & Rose Love Bartlett David R. Godine, Boston 2014 $40.00US ISBN 978-1-56792-426-8 When I think of garden elements, images of containers and benches come to mind. The Bartlett’s expanded that notion immediately. In over 1000… Read more
-
Sweet Autumn Splendor
The starry mass of the late blooming “Sweet Autumn’ Clematis welcomes visitors to Carlisle Center Park. It’s a great example of vertical gardening with the clematis’ amazing span across the fence. The planting also creates one ‘wall’ of the “outdoor room” I created for the conversation area. The massed plantings flank the benches and create the… Read more
-
Autumnal Pink: Alternate Palette
Orange, vermilion, scarlet, burgundy, and yellow–they’re the colors we usually associate with the fall garden palette. We rarely think about pink. As I walked within my garden this morning less than twelve hours from the Fall Equinox, I realized the predominant flower color is pink. And… Read more
-
Come to my One Day Workshop in Perennial and Shrub Design
It was a beautiful summer to study the unfolding color of MASS HORT’s Bressingham Garden . The summer ‘s four- session workshop (Perennial and Shrub Planting Design for Seasonal Color taught by Maria von Brincken) was held at Elm Bank. This advanced seminar, developed for students with some horticultural expertise/background, included lectures, practice exercises in… Read more
-
How to Deadhead Perennials.
Ask the Green Thumb Garden Tutorial Series: Latest Short video answering a common gardening questions posted by readers in the Boston/Metro-West area. How to Deadhead Perennials? frequently asked by gardeners–especially new ones! When you remove spent blossoms your garden instantly looks better. A bonus is that many plants will bloom a second time if deadheaded. Plants… Read more
-
Making a Bird and Fish Pond
Pictures tell the story of making this bird and fish pond and waterfall garden. It took a team of contractors, machines, a pond expert, and myself as the designer directing the placement of every stone and every plant. The concept was to build a natural looking pond. It was important… Read more