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Don’t Do This: Horrible Landscaping Blunders
This post might get a little ugly. Scratch that. It’s definitely getting ugly. Today, I’ve got a quick round up of some of the worst offenders I’ve seen in professionally installed landscapes. Roving bamboo, landscape fabric stifling tree trunks, unhappy plants suffering a variety of maladies. . . and all of it easily preventable. Want…
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2012 Garden Trends: What the Cool Kids are Planting This Year
I have a weakness for all the trend reports that come out at the start of each new year. While I have my own ideas about what’s going to be hot, I love to pore over these reports and alternately nod my head or think (hope!) the writer is crazy. Trend reports are a fun…
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Drumroll Please: 2011’s Garden Trend Award Goes To. . .
Succulents! Forget the “Year of the Protestor“, 2011 was the Year of the Succulent. From green roofs to succulent spheres, these low-maintenance, year-round plants have been everywhere. With Debra Lee Baldwin’s classy instruction in her books, we’ve been using succulents in rose gardens, container plantings, and some creative people have even used them as Christmas…
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Perennial Plant Pick for 2012: Jack Frost Brunnera
I have mixed feelings about the Perennial Plant Association’s plant pick of 2012. I mean, I love it and all. Jack Frost Brunnera (Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’) is one of those shade plants that seems to thrive wherever you stick it, looks elegant and classy in a variety of gardening themes, and is unusual enough…
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The Color of the Year, Adapted for Deer: Tangerine Tango in the Landscape
Pantone’s just released their top pick for 2012 color of the year – Tangerine Tango – so given the Garden Designers Roundtable topic for the month is deer – it seemed a perfect excuse to talk about Bright! Orange! Plants! for the deer-resistant garden. While selecting a color of the year is an obvious marketing…
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The Proven Winners Garden Gurus
Today, I’m totally excited to get to announce that I’m one of the eight new Proven Winners Garden Gurus! I’ll get to have a sneak peek at some of the latest Proven Winners plants (and share photos of them in action), as well as write an article each month for their website. Edited to add:…
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Holiday DIY: More Gifts to Make, Not Buy
Last week, I gave a few gift ideas for all you DIY types, and since then, I’ve seen more and more inspiration for fun crafts to do as Christmas or holiday gifts, or just for yourself for the heck of it. Starting us off, Debra Lee Baldwin over at Gardening Gone Wild shares her technique…
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Lined Goatskin Gloves Keep Hands Warm For Winter Gardening
Us pro gardeners are pretty tough. Even so, every year I’m surprised at just how cold winter is. When you go out at 9 am to get a spot of pruning in, and find your breath catching in the cold, you start to appreciate all the little design elements in tools that keep you warm…
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Great Gift Idea: Canvas Print of the Garden
I’m always on the lookout for really special gift ideas for gardeners, because we sure get stuck with a lot of decorative-but-mostly-useless trowels (I mean, does anyone even use trowels anymore? I’m a hori-hori girl myself!). So when Easy Canvas Prints offered me (and you!) a free canvas print to try out, I immediately saw…
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Dirr’s Encyclopedia a New Industry Standard
***Timber Press is holding a giveaway for the new Dirr book! Details below.*** The internet has removed the need for so many types of book. Between the online nursery descriptions and search engine image searches, you can find basic information on many types of plant, and that’s often good enough. However, things become tricky when…
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Monday Miscellany: DIY Holiday Gifts
Finally! Thanksgiving has passed, and I can talk about the holidays without incurring the wrath of Nordstrom’s and everyone else who is tired of seeing the holiday décor turn up in August. Woot! I don’t know about all y’all, but I’m feeling a major push towards simplicity and homemade gifts this year. I mean, a…