Decluttering Your Garden
Marie Kondo’s method for decluttering your house works for your garden too. While Reading her book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up I realized I’ve been using my own version for decades for designing landscapes, coaching gardeners, and teaching classes. Turns out that the word “clutter” easily replaces the word “chaos” . Chaos created from “one’s and twos” of a particular plant, miscellaneous forms in random associations, and a myriad of colors that fail to flatter each other or...
read moreModern Farmhouse Gardens
The style, Modern Farmhouse, could be described as a mix of old and new. Textures, comfort, natural materials from antique to industrial, yet spare on accessories describes both the interior design and landscape design style. Wooden arbors, regional stone used for fieldstone steps and walls, and contemporary planters create the elements. Plant color palette honed to a set of complimentary hues paired with one more enhances the chosen focal color. Contemporary planting interweaves drifts of color and texture and form. Plant material inspired...
read moreQuick Fall Harvest/Halloween Containers
Welcoming Fall Harvest Entry Container Arrangements That frosty morning “did in” the flowering annuals in my front containers. I had procrastinated and now dead leaves greeted me. Time to make fall themed containers! The Containers You See are Quickly Made. You can fill your fall and winter containers with branches found in your yard (or the friendly neighbor’s!). Gather the material and shape the shrubs at the same time. This time of year I shape a large rhododendron to gather material for my fall pots. I pick branches that...
read moreFlower Portraits
Flowers draw us in. Closer, so we can see the details and enjoy our senses awakening. These flower portraits share what I see. The textural variation of color, form, light, and shadow pleases our tactile and visual senses. Fragrance, birdsong and leaf rustle, activate smell and hearing. If you eat the daylilies, taste. The following flower portraits engaged my attention in my home gardens and ones I designed. Experiencing these plants took me into the realm of awesome....
read moreMaking a Dream (Plan) Real
The dream starts at the first client meeting. And the landscape plan maps it. Then the installation begins to make the dream real. Below are some images from a landscape I’m working with. Last fall we constructed a curving perimeter stone wall with an arbor entry and installed the Knoll and Rock Sitting Gardens. Now the fieldstone steps were just installed yesterday. The stone foundation Veneer earlier. Working on the patio. Meanwhile the planting were delivered this morning. Here’s some random images from the...
read moreBUILD Magazine Award for Best Residential Landscape Design
BUILD Magazine has announced winners of the 2018 Landscaping and Gardening Awards. Maria von Brincken Landscape Garden Design Best for Residential Landscape Design 2018 – Middlesex County The 2018 Landscaping and Gardening Awards pays homage to those who create the picturesque vistas and accentuate nature’s beauty through thoughtfully designed gardens, parks and outdoor spaces while protecting inhabitants and the eco system alike. Discussing the awards, Kaven Cooper, Awards Coordinator commented: “As the seasons...
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Images from the Boston Flower & Garden Show
Wandering among the exhibits before I speak today on “Color Gardens”, I snapped some images of design elements that illustrate concepts for my clients. Here are a...
read morePlaces to Inspire
Whatever your daily trek, we all need places to inspire us. Places that ask us to pause, breathe deep, and rediscover our connections. Nature leads me to that place of discovery. And, a direct inspiration for my work. It’s the patterns, patterns of interconnection, that most interest me. Shapes of plant colonies intersecting with others catch my eye. Or the color shapes of light and shadow on water–whether pond or puddle. It might be ice sparkling in sun or the color of shadow created by trees or rocks. It’s always in the...
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