garden Archives - Page 7 of 8 - Linda Nelson

MY LITTLE GARDEN PLEASURES AND CURIOSITIES

July 10, 2014

©Linda Nelson 2014

I took some time to photograph the little curiosities now happening about my garden. Though I am naturally an early riser, it is these very things that pull me outside to inspect, examine and delight in first thing in the morning, albeit right after pouring my coffee.

©Linda Nelson 2014

Last year I salvaged some drumstick allium bulbs that were growing in my compost pile. I’m not sure how they got there, but I thought the shed siding would make the perfect backdrop for these little globular beauties.

©Linda Nelson 2014

And, speaking of globular, here are last year’s leeks decorating my vegetable garden. Organic pompoms.

©Linda Nelson 2014

My collection of cacti and succulents are loving the outdoors after being cooped inside the house all winter long. The one in the foreground, pictured just above, will bloom for the very first time. A spectacular event, as my son propagated that one from seed about twenty years ago.

©Linda Nelson 2014

Here are a few more of my “indoor plants” enjoying the warm, outdoor weather.

©Linda Nelson 2014

Are you familiar with Houttuynia cordata ‘Chameleon’? If your garden is shady and your soil is dampish, I strongly suggest that you do not get too familiar with this plant, if at all, as it is highly invasive under those ideal conditions. If you absolutely love and must have it, grow it in a container. However, if, as for me, your soil is sandy and on the dry side, you’re probably safe from invasion. Here, I interplanted it with Alchemilla mollis, also grown mainly as a leafy groundcover. I just love the contrast these two beauties create.

©Linda Nelson 2014

I hope you enjoyed this post of little garden curiosities. Do take some time out to observe the curiosities in your own yard. Every day.

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EVERYTHING IS JUST PURFIKT.

July 5, 2014

©LInda Nelson 2014

This small project, for a particular client couple, entailed making use of and rearranging existing plant material, adding some new plants, and incorporating their mobile sculpture into the design. I suggested that they purchase some additional props for the garage wall. Fantastic! Now, if only the beach was actually in the opposite direction. No worries. We found the purfikt solution.

Humor is always in fashion. It’s perennial.

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A GARDEN IS LIKE A DELICIOUS NOVEL

June 1, 2014

I have been working, it seems, round the clock since early April, as the intensity of preparatory gardening tasks fall into a certain window of time. Punch lists still exist, but I foresee things leveling off in the near future. I’ve managed to steal a moment to just enjoy the beauty in my own garden, and timing it with the peak of my German irises in their glory. Sweet. I’m so grateful that gardens do not perform all at once. I need the intermissions. I embrace the anticipation. A garden is like a delicious novel that can’t be read all at one sitting, and I love the flirtatious unfolding of a story that grows.

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TAKE A STAND AND FACE YOUR GARDEN….

March 31, 2014

….literally, that is. When discussing design ideas with my clients, I bring to their attention that a garden bed may have more than one face. Pictured is the view I enjoy leading up to and away from my home office. The ability to appreciate areas of my yard is effortless, and that’s what I seek to deliver to my clients.

Below is a garden bed I designed for a client a few years back. Whether pulling up into the driveway, entering and exiting the front door, or looping around with a vehicle, the visual appeal of this bed is balanced. Planted directly behind my clients’ beloved Checker Cow are the tallest plants; behind them the plantings drop down in height again. Eyes from all directions have a vantage point.

Put your wellies on, stroll the yard and start visualizing. Be sure to consider and include vantage points from inside your home; the birds-eye view from the window of your attic turned study counts as a face, too. This is the ideal time of year for garden revamping and tweaking. Why should all of your invested and prized plant material be laid out in such a way that only street cars driving by can appreciate it, or only when you are sitting in that particular patio chaise lounge? A garden bed has the potential to strike many poses if given a little forethought.

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