I’d like to introduce you to my new obsession , which my husband lovingly calls my Foxtail Lily Frenzy (aka: eremurus ‘Oase’.) I’ve wanted to write about these for months, ever since I bought the tubers at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show this past February. But every time I sit down to write, I […]
Side yard makeovers are some of the most popular posts on my blog, and for good reason. (you can see why here and here)! First, though, for those who aren’t quite sure what a side yard is – they’re the long and narrow sections of your garden that flank one or both sides of your […]
I love a good Top 10 list, don’t you? Well, here’s one from me – my favorite Top 10 deer-resistant, spring-blooming plants for your garden! Limiting this post to only 10 of my favorite spring-blooming plants was certainly a challenge, especially considering they also needed to be deer resistant to survive the hungry hordes […]
Lavenders for all four seasons? Yes! (Though winter-blooming varieties are best suited to milder climates.) After designing gardens for over 25 years, I can confidently say that lavender appears in at least 90% of my garden designs, and for good reason. Many varieties of lavender are long-lived, thrive on neglect, and offer beauty well beyond […]
It’s been pouring rain for days now, which is the perfect time to talk about creating a rain garden. Even though many plants are still deciduous, patiently waiting for warmer weather, there’s still plenty happening right now to talk about its late winter-early spring charms. Besides, if you’re like me, I love taking a peek […]
While there aren’t any camellias that bloom non-stop from fall through spring, I know of an easy way to have months of wow-factor blooms as early as September and ending in April (and maybe even May). It’s simple – make sure to plant a combination of tried-and-true sasanqua and japonica varieties. First, I have a confession. […]
Hello again everyone! I hope you’re ready for some pretty fantastic small space gardens, and some pure FANTASY! Here’s Part 2 of my Northwest Flower & Garden Show Recap (click here for Part 1.) Every year, I look forward to one of my favorite garden show displays – the City Living Patio Gardens. In this display, TEN […]
WOW – what a whirlwind week it was at Seattle’s Northwest Flower & Garden Show! For several years now, I’ve flown to Seattle to speak at this event, and without a doubt, it’s one of my all-time favorite garden shows. Inspirational demonstration gardens, tons of top-notch vendors selling things I can’t find anywhere else, […]
There’s something pretty special about visiting a garden in the dead of winter. Why? Because in the winter, a well-designed garden allows one to get a peek behind the curtain, to study the bare-bones of a garden. The curtain, of course, being the attention-grabbing flowers of spring and summer. San Francisco’s Japanese Tea Garden just […]
Planning and planting the roses in my garden has been more therapeutic than I ever could have imagined. While sitting with my father in the hospital during the final weeks of his illness, I spent hours quietly reading plant and seed catalogs while he slept. Those pages, filled with roses, perennials, and garden dreams, became […]
As I wrote about in my last post, time is a critical element in the garden. When planting a new garden, it’s understandable to want your plants to hurry up and GROW. But, you just can’t rush it no matter how big of a plant specimen you buy, or how close you plant them together. Time is needed to let […]
Happy New Year, Everyone! Being the first day of a new year (of a new decade, no less!), I feel it’s the perfect time to acknowledge the importance of time in the garden. As most of you know, gardens need a solid 2 to 3 years before they begin to fill in and come into […]
