Tag: Flowers
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Along the Garden Path
Always something to delight along the path. Texture, shapes, flowers, colors all reward the garden journey.
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Jewels of the the Journey
Did the Thalia narcissus blooming with the pink hellebore enchant me more than the European ginger with the emerging fern? Or the amazing smell of the lilac scenting the garden fully 2 -3 weeks earlier than usual?Or the textures of allium, cerastium, granite, and geranium foliage? Or the wonder of the sun lighting the varied array of…
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Hummingbird Story
Hummingbird visits to my garden are always a treat for me. I don’t have a feeder, but one passes thru the flower garden now and then. My hairdresser, Suzy, told me a lovely story. She places a feeder in her garden every year about this time (late April-May) and eagerly awaits the visits. Over the years,…
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finding the soul of the place
“Spirit of site”, a loose translation of what the ancients called the ‘genius locii’ , leads the designer to find and reveal ‘the soul’ at a piece of earth commonly called some body’s property. I think tapping into the spiritual energy of a place essential for the design process to create a beautiful, functional, and earth-friendly landscape that…
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flower hunt
Millions of children hunt brightly colored eggs this morning. Not to be left out, my child within hunts the new spring flowers that daily appear in my garden. The lovely witch hazel that provided so much delight and hope mere weeks ago in cheerless March now wears her petals as bright yellow carpet. The pounding rain of Monday and…
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It’s Witch Hazel, Forsythia blooms later
Early March forty five minutes west of Boston, witch hazel brightens the late winter landscape. This year it’s adding its cheer in early March–other years it appears in February.Wherever possible I use this native in planting combinations as the first blooming shrub. The small newly planted rhodies in the background will grow to create a contrasting backdrop…
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Using the Colorwheel to Create Beautiful Plant Combinations
When most gardeners think about plant combinations, they rarely refer to a color wheel. And they should. It’s a tool that can be vastly helpful. Maybe you saw one in kindergarten and remember the primary colors of red, blue, yellow. Secondary colors–the ones between. Those terms are useful but not important for the designer. A…
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Bloom Garden a Gem at Massachusetts Horticultural Society at Elm Bank
Seeking images for a lecture in development I journeyed to several Boston area public gardens. By far the best and most inspiring is the Adrian Bloom Garden at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. MHS can be found at Elm Bank in Wellesley, MA . See http://www. masshort.org . Great planting design and awesome combinations. Go see it and apply its…
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Dragonfly Visits Favorite August Plant Combination
July’s carnival of Daylilies and Astilbes partying in my garden segues into a quieter reverie. August blooming Daylilies combine with Hosta, Phlox, Beebalm, Veronica, Joe Pye Weed, Astilbes, Hydrangea, Geranium, and more. My favorite combination just now is the tall lavendar scapes of Hosta ‘Krossa Regal’ dancing with the scapes of the yellow Hemerocallis ‘Autumn Minaret’ and the…
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Shredded Umbrella Plant
Or Syneilesis aconitifolia. How is that pronounced? Try, Genus: Syneilesis (sin-eel-ES-is) Species: aconitifolia (a-kon-eye-tih-FOH-lee-uh). I confess to plant collecting. Like many gardeners I cannot resist some impulse buys. However as a designer I know to tuck these experiments within well-organized plantings so I can evaluate them. This plant turns out to have better foliage than flowers and…