Tag: Beauty
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Marsala Colors my Day
Aren’t these peonies luscious? The burgundy wine pink Marsala, Pantone’s 2015 color pick, is embodied in these peony selections. These yummy visions are from “Peony’s Envy” collection. I can envision them growing in my garden and enlivening my vases. I need such feast for the eyes and soul this freezing Mid-January day. The wind chill factor creates…
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Masses of Yellow: Antidote to a Gloomy Day
Winter seems to be dragging along. It’s late April, but feels and looks like March. The antidote to the gloom appears to be the bright yellow of the massed planting of the Forsythia shrubs. It adds a glow to these driveway gardens that I designed when one psychologically needs it most–in the drab days of…
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Winter Festival in my Garden
Every year I find magic right in my garden after a snowfall. Saturday’s snow was just the right consistency for creating “snow flowers” that last awhile. A little wet so it lingers and when you shovel, you have to pause. What are “snow flowers” you ask? I learned about this concept in a novel I…
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A Leaf Lover’s Fall Foliage Combinations
I’m loving our New England Autumn. The leaves have been turning one by one– here and there– for weeks. Now it’s clumps of yellow, orange, and scarlet, and green gearing up to an amazing crescendo sometime soon. Here’s a few photos taken from my back garden. The garden’s fall foliage design shows off. Enjoy. And…
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Dianthus Joy
The large mass of pink dianthus greeted me recently. The first photo shows it as part of the garden as a whole–notice the way the green Japanese maple foliage and silvery green nepeta foliage masses balance the spread of the dianthus. Also, the bit of purple foliage of the heuchera echos the red side of the color wheel…
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Work in Progress–Transformation Almost Done
We’re waiting for the lighting and railing contractors. When the lighting’s installed, the mulch can be applied. But in the meantime, this brand new landscape works its magic. The wall, walkway, large ornamental stones, landing and steps refurbish, and the plantings all just installed.
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Muted Tones of Early Spring Woodland
Driving around and thru local towns, I notice the brown and grey theme of the local woodlands–nothing wrong with it, but I’m winter weary. It’s always this way in early spring here in New England–uninspiring native landscape and my own cultivated land a mess. But I find if I look to the places with water…
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Ochids & Witch Hazel-Two different Winter Flowering Plants
An unlikely combination, but the welcoming cheer of early blooming Witch Hazel ‘Arnold’s Promise’ greets me outside, while the white orchids inside provide a note of grace. Note that the green leaves of the broad-leaf evergreen Rhododendron provides contrast so I can “see” the wonderful yellow flowers of the Hamamelis. In earlier winters,…
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Freezing here in New England while Roses in bloom in San Francisco
Visiting family in San Francisco over the weekend I took this image of the gorgeous park planting at the Golden Gate Bridge Park (not the official name–too jet lagged to look it up). Here in New England I return to making winter arrangements in containers, decorating for the holidays and trying to ignore the garden clean-up chores…
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Savoring Creative Play
I had fun Thanksgiving morning creating the table arrangement. Dashing outside (brrrrr) to clip leucothoe (a native New England broadleaf evergreen) from the garden to expand the grocery store bouquet, down to the storage room to find the gourd/leaf synthetic garland I used in the window box last year, and adding green candles found in my candle…