Landscape Overhaul
Sometimes it’s time for a fresh start. And for this project, we knew it was that time. Our client, a member of the local garden club, was frustrated with the old, tired overgrown plants that were not contributing to the landscape and wanted to completely renovate her gardens. The area around the home had become overgrown, threatening to obscure its classic Royal Barry Willis lines.
So where did we start?
While some designers might favor a “blank slate” approach I prefer not to destroy material that is viable. Maybe it’s my frugal Yankee nature. If a plant doesn’t work where it is we can often move it and give it a second chance. After a thorough plant assessment, decisions are made as to what stays and what goes. When it comes to the “what goes” part all I can say is THANK GOD FOR A GREAT CREW.
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Petunias Stopped Blooming? It’s Not You, It’s Them.
I recently received this email from a client with a roof garden in Boston:
“Just got home . Garden is beautiful!! Thank you.
In contrast, our Cape containers look terrible. They (mostly petunias ) were pretty good all summer. Then all of a sudden they stopped blooming. I had been using a fertilizer in solution weekly. The product is supposed to stimulate blooms. I did it weekly for about a month—the last time I doubled the dosage.
Do you think that I over-fertilized? Any thoughts? Can you do magic on Cape Cod?”
While I am more than happy to do magic on Cape Cod I, unfortunately, cannot do magic with petunias. I have never succeeded with them long-term. Perhaps I am doing something wrong but it’s one reason petunias made my lecture “The 10 Most-Popular Container Plants – And Why You Shouldn’t Use Them.”
Petunias peter out, let’s be honest. They look gang-busters when you buy them in May and I think that’s why so many of us are seduced by their vibrant, brightly-colored little faces. We don’t look down the summer months and see that those same faces will resemble Grandma Moses. You can whack petunias back in July and hope that your hard-pruning will put the fear of God into them so they will bloom for your anticipated graduation/christening/bridal shower/first communion get-together. But that doesn’t always work. As I get older I get less sentimental. I am not interested in a plant that requires constant deadheading to look its best.
As my friend Kerry Mendez says “plants are not children or pets” we can get rid of them without guilt.
Which is what I do with petunias.
Out they go and are easily replaced with another colorful annual that will look even BETTER in August than it does in June. Are you wondering what that annual is?
Read More»Garden Quote: The Glory of Gardening
“The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.”
~ Alfred Austin
A Fond Farewell
Every once in a while, the perfect client comes along. One who trusts you, gives clear direction as to what he/she wants, allows you to stretch the limits of creativity, and pays the invoice on time! I have had the privilege of working with just such a client for the last five years.
I met this client, let’s call him “Mr. X”, when he and his family moved into the neighborhood and were referred to The Captured Garden by another client of mine. He asked me to give him a quote on 9 extra- large Campania stone planters. The planters were at the front of the home, at the side door and on the back patio. I sent him my proposal and it was a go.
His only direction was “I don’t want them to look like everyone else’s”.
Music to my ears.
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