A noun. A verb. A blog.
Creating a site plan is one of the first steps in the process The first stage in planning our makeover was knowing what we wanted. Our wish list was small: We wanted to stop water, soil, mulch and, especially, people from sliding down the steep slope along the driveway. We needed to get people or groceries […]
Just the planting yet to come in the finished project, from above. Sorry, I’ve been AWOL. One thing that waylaid me has been a major phase of our front yard transformation I’ve called our Grand Simplification. Rather than building to a climax in the retelling, I prefer to start at the end, showing you the […]
Ricki Pierce, aka The Rock Pirate, a mason and a Mason, grins at the entrance to the home, garden and little Utopia on Wambold Street that he and his wife, artist Damaris Pierce, have created in West Asheville, NC. They call it Wamboldtopia. There are many, many doorways in this garden, and doors are symbols of hope, […]
Grand simplification in progress, May 2012 A couple of years ago, I embarked on a garden project I called my Grand Simplification. My goal was to make my gardening life less complicated by rethinking the space. Simple is hard, as any designer will tell you. While the process is nowhere near finished, this is my […]
Lesson one: Always have a good place to sit and enjoy the garden. When Sarah & I started our blog over five years ago (last month; we missed our blog’s birthday!), we said we wanted to write about real gardens by real people. None of that garden porn stuff for us. Ha! Well, we’ve learned. […]
Imagine waking to this view I’ve been inspired to take a backward look by Barry Parker’s posts, sharing his trip to many wonderful Welsh gardens this past September. These include, by coincidence, the Cowbridge Physic Garden and the National Botanic Garden of Wales. Barry reminded me of our UK trip in 2008, including a visit […]
Here’s the inspiration I promised when I wrote about concrete garden projects last week: works of imagination – all of them carefully crafted of concrete – by Victoria, B.C., sculptor, Birgit Piskor. And here’s the bonus. Not only is Piskor a gifted sculptor, she is also a gifted gardener. In July, I enjoyed a guided tour […]
The Microgarden, in all its Fall Frowsiness If you have a busy life, you can’t afford a busy garden. Take it from M.I.A.-me. My garden this fall is payback for a neglectful summer. The beds that looked charmingly cottage-y back in June could now be used in a dictionary to illustrate the word frowsy. I’m […]
A tapestry of pastels. Arrestingly beautiful. Can a garden work without blooms? Of all the things I could say about Seattle’s Dunn Gardens, this question floated to the top as I reviewed my many photographs. What happens after the flowers fade? But, first, the Dunn Gardens deserve an introduction. Originally, they were an early 20th-century […]
The Black Garden at VanDusen Botanical Garden, Vancouver, B.C. Black plants are trendy at the moment. So I thought the Black Garden might be a good entry point into a post on an amazingly diverse botanical garden such as Vancouver’s VanDusen garden. Actually, it’s a bit misleading to call this a black garden. First, there are […]
You are about to come with me on vacation for the next few posts. I hope you’re up for a little travel. We’re going to the West Coast – to Vancouver and Victoria, B.C., and to Seattle, Washington. And we’ll be visiting a lot of gardens. Ready? Our first stop is the Nitobe Memorial Garden […]
Sculptor, Marilyn Walsh, with her work I’ve really enjoyed seeing art by local artists showcased on recent garden tours. In one of the gardens, the owner told me that the goal is to match the right piece with the right place. In fact, the placement in the garden sometimes feels so natural, it’s only after noticing similar […]