Detroit Garden Works | Deborah Silver & Co.

Once A Year. This Is It!

We have been slammed at the shop since this past Monday. Detroit Garden Works conducts one sale a year. From the day after Christmas until January the 8th, we put every holiday item on sale for 50% off-and everything and anything else in the shop at 20% off. Should you be a gardener interested in a bit of a bargain-once a year, we oblige. This is it. Jenny has plenty of pictures posted; www.detroitgardenworks.com. After the 8th, we are open by chance or by appointment until March 1. This gives us some time to travel, shop, repaint, clean, and plan. So should you have a mind to drop by after January 8, email us, call ahead, or knock on my front door.

Gardening might be best defined as a “this is it” pursuit. Should I neglect to plant crocus in the fall, I will have plenty of time regret it, come spring. Should I not take the time to see and enjoy my March crocus, I might miss them. A two day span of exceptionally cold weather-those flowers will vanish-until next year. There are times when I might turn back the clock, or ask for an extension-but time waits for no garden. Tune in to the crocus, or wait until next year.

The hellebore flowers are not nearly so fragile. They stay with me for a while in late March and April. I make it my spring business to look at them every day. Planting them on the driveway was no accident; I have two chances every day to enjoy them. How the flowers emerge from the ground, mature, and dry right on the stalk is a process that takes weeks. But once those weeks pass, hellebore heaven will have to wait until next year. I leave the flowers be, hoping some seed will mature, drop and grow.

I may photograph the tulips outside my office every day. Like the hellebores, observing their manner of emerging from the ground and growing is a yearly treat. The flowers are glorious. They come in an extraordinary range of sizes, colors and forms. For my pots in the garage, I bought smaller numbers and as great a variety as I could. Why not try as many as possible? I was caight flat footed by the early cold this fall; the pots were outdoors a little too long. Every time I look at these pots filled with dirt, I search for signs of a bulb-fest to come. Nothing doing. I’ll have my this is it moment, for better or for worse, months from now.

With the exception of double bloodroot, no flower is more fleeting than the magnolia. Really cold spring weather can shut down the show before it even opens. No matter than you have a valid ticket. Should I be so fortunate to have a good show from my Galaxy magnolia, I can be assured it will not be a long one. I have 2 chairs and a table on my upper deck. They are placed to take advantage of the aerial view pictured above. I may need a coat and hat, but I am out there. The ephemeral beauty of everything that blooms in my garden has much to do with why 2011 will be my 33rd gardening season.

I cannot remember another year when the roses were this prolific. 2010 provided spectacularly great growing weather from early spring through June. This John Davis rose of Janet’s was smothered in flowers for weeks. Wherever I saw roses, they were glorious. Janet, who devotes her summer gardening life to her roses insisted that I come and spend some time with hers. I am so glad I did. On both of our minds-is this it? Is this the best the roses will ever be?

Even the Queen Anne’s Lace in the field was lush. Regular rain early, and a very hot and dry July made the meadow next door look dreamy. This was nature at its weediest best.

The sunflower season is one of my favorites. I buy them at market as often as I can. There is not a form shape or color I do not like-although the orangy brown varieties seem a little silly. I like my sunflowers to remind me of the sun, and sunny summer days. I like to have bouquets of them throughout the season. These stems I stuck into a large brick of oasis taped into a clear floral dish. Sunflowers are big, heavy and unwieldy. Worst of all, the water fouls quickly, and needs frequent changing. I set this dish on top of a glas vase full of water which I tinted yellow with food coloring. Amazingly, sunflowers last for days out of water altogether.

By the time my Honorine Jobert anemones start blooming, I know the end of the season is not long off. The cooler nights make this once a year display go on for quite some time. But once the nights turn very cold, the flowers vanish-until next year.

The fall color on the Boston Ivy was short lived this year. Some leaves dropped from cold before they turned. The color-not so great as it was in 2009. But I had no complaints. Once a year, I have my chance to enjoy it.

Posted on: December 30, 2010 2 Comments

In Case You Missed It

My heart goes out to all of those people on the east coast who are up their proverbial armpits in snow. I have never experienced 20 plus inches of snow at one time; this I cannot imagine. I remember a storm in the late seventies while I was living in Ann Arbor. I was young, unprepared, and had few options except to go home. It took a week for me to be able to get there. I still remember the 6 inch thick ice patches on I-94; the trip home was very, very slow, and very bumpy. Not so many years ago we got a foot of snow in one fell swoop. I stayed at the shop, ordered in pizza, and worked on a project during the five days it took for the neighborhood to get shovelled out.

The snow that just buried New York and New Jersey goes far beyond imposing an enforced time out on the people who live there. They have serious trouble out there. I am only lucky that weather that threatens lives comes my way only once in a blue moon. Most of the time, should I be forced to change my schedule to accommodate the weather, I have enjoyed the show. The winter holiday of 2005 was one of my favorites. This is not to say that I did not work hard on my end. The giant grapevine spheres and hickory bark strips Rob brought back from Europe needed a home. He has this idea that I will figure out what to do with materials he likes. I can be challenged by this, but I am not shy about taking on trouble. Four thick 10 foot long bamboo poles buried in the concrete pots captured those spheres. I cannot remember now how we managed it, but each grapevine sphere had a starlight embedded within. The hickory bark strips were stiff and ornery-they had to be wired on with concrete wire. They may look graceful, but the installation was anything but. A finishing and thick nest of white pine at the bottom; we had a winter holiday going on.

Rob had lit all the trunks of the lindens with garland lights. Light strings that have the bulbs spaced close-we like these. More light, less wire-this makes for a very good winter look. He always hangs something in the trees. Who doesn’t have a tree in their yard that could use a winter outfit? Simple flat gold stars, and red plastic sputnik ornaments-jazzy.

We looked good at night-which means we looked good at 4:30 in the afternoon. All the winter blue sky and snow and black trunks were just asking for a little electricity. Among other things, Rob is incredibly good at designing with light and dark. 2005 was no exception.

Upon reflection, I think these three dimensional lighted north stars had plastic arms that could be unscrewed. Once the light knob was inside the sphere, we could reattach the arms. Any material that I can break down is a material that gets my attention. I may only need half of it, or a wisp of it. When in doubt about any material, cut it up, and put it back together in your own way.

The front of the shop was subtly lit; the lights on either side of the front door did the lion’s share of the work. The warm yellow of the spotlights on the pots-the resulting blue and yellow-we were pleased.

I was not much prepared for what nature thought to deliver- a substantial snowstorm. The snow fall was fast and steady. I went to bed in one world, and woke up in another, ala JB Priestly. I think we had 10 inches in all of a wet snow that stuck fast to every surface it touched.

What I thought was a fine holiday display was transformed overnight in a way that took my breath away. I had no hand in this whatsoever. I was nonetheless thrilled it came my way, for me to see.

My shop has never looked like it did this day-not before. Not since. Very few photographs do justice to an experience, but this is the best record I have for that night. Moments like this account entirely for my belief that nature rules my roost.

Don’t be fooled by this picture-it took hours to dig out the front door to the shop. This branchy linden roof of snow-the finest it has ever been my privilege to witness. My advice? Be convinced by what you witness. Once you have done that, enjoy.

Posted on: December 29, 2010 Leave a Comment

Filed Under: The Natural World, Holiday, Detroit Garden Works Tagged With: winter lighting, winter gardening, holiday containers

The Front Door: The Holiday Edition

I am sure you can tell that I have finished my winter and holiday work for clients. I am able and back to writing regularly. I took the better part of one day to photograph projects-a luxury day. My crews do such beautiful work-every place I went, I was pleased with what I saw. This season was particularly difficult for them. Early temperatures in the single digits meant they were chiselling the top 5 inches of frozen dirt out of client’s containers, so we could install. Spending the day outdoors hanging garland and sinking centerpieces when it is 8 degrees-not so much fun.

I never heard one complaint from my crew. I complain loud, clear, and often over troubles in my own garden. My personal issues-personal. I have a different idea, on the job. A professional comes and does the work well without angst or commentary, cleans up, and disappears. This is what I hope gets engraved on my headstone-no kidding. I respect every one of the professionals I have close contact with in my field. Gillette Brothers Pools. Albaugh Masonry. GP Enterprises. Frank Cervi Irrigation. M and M Flowers-their pruning is superb. Their maintenance is superlative. Each and every one of them-professional in the true sense of the word.

How we approach the season professionally has evolved over the years. We spend the majority of our construction time in the studio-this garage space we heat to 60 degrees. A warmer construction space means the work progresses efficiently. Frozen fingers do not move so quickly. Work generated in the studio means next to no cleanup on site. We breeze in, install, and move on. I hope no client has any evidence that we were there-just a look that pays a generous nod to the changing of the season.

My winter front doors are not the only the front doors in town. I actually do a very small number of them. I see beautifully decorated front doors everywhere I go. Each one I may like better than the last. And I may like them better than a professionally done door. A sincere expression counts for so much-I promise you. The community to which I belong makes for a very large and diverse landscape-Part of my holiday is enjoying what other people do.

This does not mean I do not thoroughly enjoy the work I do. The holidays encourage me to think about how lucky I am. The chance to do what one really wants to do-not so ordinary. Astonishing creativity counts for little, unless you have a client who has a mind to get hold of that, and run with it. My clients make it possible for me to work at what I like to do.

I know I have gone on and on about magnolia at the holidays in a zone that permits little in the way of magnolia reality-please humor me. Those giant green southern magnolia leaves with their brown felted backs-a staple of my idea about a swell Michigan holiday. Does this garland and wreath not look great?

I have clients with mid century modern homes. Given their committment to that moden aesthetic-do they not deserve a holiday look to go with?

A restaurant front door expresses the holiday in a different way than a home. The redtwig stems in contrast to the lavender eucalyptus-do I have your attention? The Avenue, in Royal Oak, is open Christmas Eve, and Christmas day. Anyone needing a Christmas dinner has the option of dining there. They have great food! Check them out, when you have a chance. My idea of holiday decorations for them-energetic.

I am fast and furiously decorating my house for the holidays. I have but one day left before Christmas Eve. Buck and I celebrate the holiday, Christmas Eve. My front door-I think it looks good. I am on the inside now-working. I am sure all of you are as busy as me. Happy holidays; Deborah