Blue Pansy
Hydrangea
Pansy
Lobelia
Blue Pansy
Crocus
Blue Pansy Mix
Blue and Yellow Pansy Mix
Lobelia
So, Where Are You Going Today?
Buck asks me this every morning. Some days the answer is simple, as in, “I don’t know yet”. It’s usually 5:30 am when I get the question-so not knowing where I will decide to be at 8 is not so hard to believe. But today I am in the thick of a large annual planting we do every year.
Thank heavens it has a different color scheme and feeling every year. My clients like tinkering with this as much as I do. Its plenty to plan-how many of this, and how many of that. Despite a fleet of trucks, we have plant material delivered. I invariably forget something, or think I have something reserved that’s not there. So we make changes.
This works for us-photo copies of last years pots and beds have the new scheme written on them. I don’t need to do much for Diana after all her years, except list the plants. Should I leave something out, or have too much, she knows how to adjust.
My client’s love of dahlias always presents transport troubles. This year Carlson’s greenhouse grew all the tall dahlias from cuttings. This makes the plant bushy from the start-as opposed to tall dahlias started from tubers. These short and chunky plants are easy to ship, and easier to plant. Let the sun and rain do the job of getting them tall, with those dinnerplate size flowers.
Giant wirework urns are mossed and planted at the shop; these get delivered, finished, and ready to place. As they are tall, and some are viewed at a distance, I plant simply, and with good contrast.
We plant beds backed up by mature and formal yew hedges with a low mix of annuals. The yews are not a backdrop; they are the feature. The little babble of trailing verbena and alyssum, heliotrope and angelonia is in stark contrast to those massive dark green yews.
We plant mandevillea vines, tropical hibiscus trees on standard, zinnias, New Guinea impatiens, and the dahlias-all in response to my client’s love of big flowers.
For years we have planted the vegetable garden in giant fiber pots. This year we have a formal vegetable garden under construction-the highlight of which is a European beech arbor 14 feet tall.
We are in the thick of it.
Posted on: May 29, 2009 1 Comment
Tour Preview
Every gardener on this year’s tour is passionate about their landscape. How they choose to express it is individual-nothing surprising there. My lot and one half garden is multi-levels, much to the delight of my corgis. I have carved openings in the boxwood for them, and installed bark racetracks; the garden is friendly to them. My landscape is orderly; my pots are anything but-this is how I like it. So serene, with my favorite plants-and some unexpected surprises and punctuation marks. The day of the tour, Fred and Jean are my docents. English born and bred, educated in England in horticulture despite the second World War, they guide guests with their Shitz Tzu’s Oscar and Beckett in tow-just meeting the two of them is a treat. I plan this year to open my shell grotto/reliquary enclosed porch by popular demand-.
Another garden of size is organized around some large sculptural elements carved into the earth. one comtemplative space features old evergreens, beautifully pruned. A wild flower slope, a rose garden-there is so much to see.
One small urban garden reveals a modernist taste and crisp green and white plant palette. Their old tudor home takes to this surprisingly well. Every inch is thoughtfully tended to. A driveway lined with tomatoes and herbs is a happy surprise. This small property is jam packed with good moves. 
Another garden is as colorful and engaging as its owner in the private spaces, and coolly formal in its public spaces. This gardener tells me she likes to feel like she’s on vacation when walks in her rear yard-you will see why. I have every reason to stay home now-she tells me.
Every garden has water in one form or another-fountains, a pool; two properties are on lakes. Water-what a great thing in a garden..
One garden on the tour I have a special relationship with. These two committed gardeners design and plant on their own. My involvement in their garden has to do with pots, and sculpture, and miscellaneous advice-but the two of them have put it all together in their own very distinctive and lively way. It will enchant you. 
Their taste is eclectic, atypical-but it all works, with its own language and style. Their gestures are big and warm. I so admire their confidence and their range. They make it easy to understand the process of taking your voice in hand, and making something of it that is beautiful. 
Each gardener’s love for the garden and all that represents, extends to a respect for the work of the Greening of Detroit, and my request that they put their garden on tour. They are all busy planning for company July 19. I am amazed, and so pleased how seriously they all take the prospect of like minded visitors. By Wednesday next, our web site, www.thegardencruise.org, should have the descriptions of all the gardens posted for those of you would might want to check out a more thorough description of those gardens on this year’s tour. We all hope you can make it.
Posted on: May 28, 2009 1 Comment
Garden Tour
The noted and very fine architect Michael Willoughby has long been a member of the board of the Greening of Detroit. Who knew this group has been planting trees, sponsoring urban education and farms, in Detroit since 1989-this year is their twentieth anniversary. Michael has been asking me to join this group for a long time-I finally told him, in exasperation, that I had no patience for groups or committees-but I would do what I could do. So I went to their website. www.greeningofdetroit.com WOW. These people have done a lot for our city, and they keep on doing it, in the most serious way. I understand their sentiments exactly. Plant trees in big cities, in as big a numbers as you can manage. Teach people to grow plants, grow plants that are food. Rehabilitate urban spaces. Clean up and plant. Foliate as best you can. Soften urban spaces with plants; teach people about the planet Earth. They have been at the issue of greening for a very long time; they did not get to this concept via popular culture, fashion or trend. They have been at it in a big and quiet way for twenty years. They impress me-their administrators, their board, their teachers, their volunteers. I taught a class for them downtown on growing vegetables in containers. The group was lively, smart, and willing. I had the best time.
So last July, trying to get Michael Willoughby off my plate, I sponsored a tour of 7 gardens of my design, to raise money for this group. Our top end ticket included a little something to eat, and a little something to drink. I have to tell you, the 10,000.00 we raised for them from the sale of those tickets was a very important accomplishment in my life. The Greening of Detroit planted a tree in Detroit in my name, as a thank you. I can’t explain how this made me feel, except to say these people made me feel that my efforts made a huge difference. They won me over.
So now I am a commissioner for the Greening of Detroit, and we are planning our second garden tour July 19. I promise you will see beautiful gardens, and what you spend for your ticket will go directly to a group intensely committed to the ecological well-being of our city. If you live within a stone’s throw of Detroit, I would invite you to participate. If you live far away from me, I would urge you to support your local green group. Green groups, world wide-I like the idea of this.
Tomorrow’s post-pictures of this year’s gardens. Again, www.greeningofdetroit.com. Look at them. Help them, if you can. Spread the word, if that is what you do best. Meet up with all of the rest of us-July 19, 2009.
Posted on: May 27, 2009 3 Comments