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Structure in the Winter Garden
So here we are in early December, one snowfall already behind us. This creates all kinds of havoc for the landscape design firm where I work. You can’t blow frozen leaves, or easily extract them from...
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Plant Combinations, Part 1
When I talk to new garden design clients about what they want, nine times out of ten they say, “Color! I want lots of color!” It’s understandable. Who doesn’t like color? But where I live, nonstop...
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My Favorite Thing
As I’ve been known to confess to fellow landscape designers, I would probably rather photograph gardens than design them. It’s my “favorite thing.” And in most of my blog posts, photographs occupy as...
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Heavenly Hydrangeas (Part 2)
Last week I wrote about “mophead” hydrangeas that I grow in my garden. This week is let’s look at some “lacecap” varieties. From a design standpoint, I love using this kind of hydrangea in...
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My Favorite Floribunda Rose, Our Lady of Guadalupe
As most of my friends know, I wasn’t a big fan of roses in the garden until I visited England in 2003. My tour’s stop at David Austin Roses’ headquarters will be the subject of another post, I promise,...
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Camellias for Fall and Winter
Let’s begin 2011 with a look at one of my favorite solutions to a frequent design problem. Creating shade gardens where you need evergreen shrubs can be a challenge. One quickly tires of the ubiquitous...
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Red in the Winter Landscape
It’s cold and snowy and a little icy outside my door. First power outage is behind me, and spring seems very far away. I’ve almost finished redecorating the upstairs bedroom (although it still needs...
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My Determined Daphne
About ten years ago, when I redesigned my front yard, I planted a winter daphne (Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata’) in front of the seating area under my now-departed crabapple tree. I planted it because I...
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Goodwin’s Montrose Garden
One of the first famous gardens I visited after becoming a gardener myself was Montrose Garden, in Hillsborough, North Carolina. It was part of a weekend trip that included a visit to the J.C. Raulston...
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The Gamble Garden, Redux
In mid-June, I found myself back in Palo Alto for my younger son’s graduation weekend. Since my body was on East Coast time the day after I arrived, I decided to head for the Elizabeth Gamble Garden,...
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The National Sculpture Garden
Recently I ventured into downtown DC (something I hope to do more frequently next year when I take early retirement), camera in hand, to visit the East Wing, the National Gallery, and the National...
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New Year, New Horizons
A new year stretches ahead. I’ve shifted gears again. In late December, I left my position as a landscape designer at Landscape Projects, where I’d worked for almost twelve years. Taking early...
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High Summer at Green Spring Gardens
It’s high summer. Hot as you know what. Here in the metro DC area, gardens are starting to struggle (including mine). So recently I decided to venture out to Green Spring Gardens, in Alexandria VA, a...
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The Guests That Won’t Leave the Garden
Now that I can work in the garden again, I am overwhelmed. Spring’s abundant rains here have encouraged lush new growth not only of hydrangea buds (which were sadly absent last year) but also of what I...
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The Guests That Won’t Leave the Garden
Now that I can work in the garden again, I am overwhelmed. Spring’s abundant rains here have encouraged lush new growth not only of hydrangea buds (which were sadly absent last year) but also of what I...
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Perfect Gardens in Virginia’s Piedmont Area
In mid-October, the Association of Professional Landscape Designers held their national design conference here in Washington, DC. In addition to a full day or more of sessions on sustainability in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Guests That Won’t Leave the Garden
Now that I can work in the garden again, I am overwhelmed. Spring’s abundant rains here have encouraged lush new growth not only of hydrangea buds (which were sadly absent last year) but also of what I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Perfect Gardens in Virginia’s Piedmont Area
In mid-October, the Association of Professional Landscape Designers held their national design conference here in Washington, DC. In addition to a full day or more of sessions on sustainability in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Visit to Kenrokuen Garden
Last month, I took a photography trip to Japan led by the incomparable Sam Abell. Our itinerary was unusual since most of the cities we visited were off the beaten track for most tourists, and I didn’t...
View ArticleA Visit to the Smithsonian Gardens Greenhouses
Last year, I had the honor of becoming a docent (a volunteer museum tour guide) at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (which we fondly call SAAM) in DC. One of the first things I noticed about the...
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