There are those qualities that Rob is known for; his dry sense of humor, his razor sharp eye, his formidable knowledge of garden ornament, his patience. Any garden, anything related to the garden gets his interest. He rarely shifts out of first gear, but he is ready and able to run his first gear up to better than 10,000 rpms-he can furthermore sustain that level an amazingly long time. Though he spent countless hours engineering this holiday, I can count on him to disappear for a few days while the store is being outfitted for the holidays. I know where to find him. He’ll be parked in the garage, surrounded by lights, forms and natural materials. It just looks like mayhem. He stuffs his space with materials, tries lots of various combinations. He finally makes peace; the materials and his creative process make for something you do not want to miss. He not only has ideas about how to light the garden for the winter, he has a mind to translate those ideas into sculpture.
This year, the plant climber, tuteur or topiary form that supported a mandevillea over the summer will have a second life at the holidays as lighted sculptures. The tuteurs-we design, and manufacture them. He is happy for you to load one up in the trunk of your car so you can take it home, find a great spot in the garden or container, and plug it in. But he also makes sure to have the materials available for anyone who wants to make their own. This means light strands with brown cords, light strands with bulbs in varying sizes and colors. Red berry LED lights. Strands of clear C-9’s. C-7’s in interesting colors. Garland lights-these strands have the lights close toether on the wire-perfect for lighting a tuteur. Pearl lights, snowball lights-LED battery operated flower lights. Blanket lights and intermittently twinking lights. I am sure there are lights I have forgooten to list. Light covers, and lots of weatherproof decorative garlands help make for a great daytime look for the lighting.
What he imagines and creates from a simple strands of lights is truly original; no where else do I see anything like it. Part of the best of what Detroit Garden Works has to offer at the holidays are his light sculptures. He is doing his best to have plenty on hand for our holiday open house, this coming weekend. As much as I wish he was in a display-making mode, lighting is a critical element in the holiday and winter garden-so I am patient about the time he puts to it.
Light strings are readily available almost everywhere now. My interest in holiday lighting was fast forwarded at least 15 years ago-by a breathtaking display in Washington DC. Rob and I were there to look at doing flowers and props for an event. A series of trees on the water were densely and completely wound with mini lights; every trunk, and most every branch was ablaze with light. The terrace in the center had no snow whatsoever; there were so many lights, the heat melted the snow. Hanging from the branches, light spheres. At the end of the long drive back from Washington, we stopped and bought a truckload of mini-lights. We spent the following 2 days doing up one old apple tree in my orchard in similar fashion. That tree was a lighthouse-it directed my course all winter long. Unlike the tree wrapping, these light bars of Rob’s are simple and fast to make. A galvanized pipe from the hardware is wound round with lights, and slipped over a piece of steel rebar sunk in the ground. Simple, and beautiful.
Another year, Rob would wrap farm augurs with varying sizes of round lights, and hang them from the big branches in the lindens on the drive. A steel hook was welded to one end of the augur, and wrapped with foam to prevent injury to the bark of the trees. Overscaled light ornaments read well from a distance, and most of the work of it can be done indoors. The late fall weather has everything to do with how many people light their gardens. No one wants to stand outside when it is 20 degrees, trying to put up lights. If November is mild, I know there will be plenty to see in the neighborhood come December.
Gold and platinum plastic ball garlands were zip-tied to a light garland of clear and white mini lights. This looked festive draped over the shop gate. It can be tough and forbidding to navigate the winter dark-holiday lighting can make it easier for guests to find the door. Even just a small but concentrated amount of lighting can make an entrance walk and garden look inviting.
This wood bench stands out at night, thanks to the light garland. Red berry LED lights look great paired with chartreuse and opaque white mini lights. I have had excellent luck finding mini lights in every color and size imaginable-including chartreuse- at English Gardens. Their holiday lighting and ornament shop at the Royal Oak location on Coolidge is great. When I have a last minute or unexpected holiday decorating job, I can count on them to help me out with materials.
One year Rob wrapped styrofoam topiary forms with lights-they are easy to secure with fern pins from a florist supply. This pair went home with a client; their front porch, door, and entry gardens glowed all winter. When I came in March to put them in storage for the summer, they were not really ready to let them go. Funny, that.
Light garlands and bars in containers means you will enjoy them long after the winter daylight fades. This sounds like an excellent idea to me. Should you live in my area and have the chance, stop by over our holiday open house weekend-November 13 and 14 and see what Detroit Garden Works has to offer for the holidays. This includes what Rob has put together in the way of lighting. Stop by; I think you will be delighted.
The raindrop pots got their topdressing yesterday. I decided a mix of noble fir and fresh silver dollar eucalyptus would be just the thing to set off all that glass. The eucalyptus wavers in the slightest breeze-just like that glass. The color is bright-not a bad choice for weather which is predominately overcast. A little morning rain gave everything a fresh look.
Eucalyptus stems are wiry, but slight. Sandwiching them between the stiff layers of the fir gives them some much needed support. Up close, the red stems repeat the red/brown crabapple trunks-this a visual bonus. The network of stems need to resist the weight of the snow that is sure to come. Much like arranging a vase of flowers, we cross stems over one another. Under the green, a woody nest.
Pam made quick work of this phase; the fact that she is a great gardener endows her work with a natural and graceful feeling. The greens were stuffed slightly wider that the dripline established by the glass. The dry foam form into which all of these greens are stuffed are bricks that have been glued together, and wired with concrete wire. We have only to come by some sunlight to get some sparkle going on. 
Rob decided to light the pots with strings of clear c-9 bulbs. We set them well into the foliage; the green cords are not a good look. This warm light is in contrast to all the attendant blue, makes much of the warm brown of the trunks, and the olive orange winter color of the boxwood. 
Late in the day, the drops start picking up light from the bottom. The eucalyptus discs repeat the round shapes of the drops.
I do so enjoy decorating the front of the shop for the winter. Ideas start surfacing in October, as it may take me six weeks to make up my mind. November first I planted these six crabapples in my pots-a first step. I took my further cue from Rob, and his client Claudia, this year. She has been collecting prisms for years; she hangs them from the branches of her trees in the winter. Glass lightcatchers. Her idea enchanted him such that he loaded the shop with all manner of chandelier prisms, raindrops and icicles. 
I fell in love with the idea of the glass drops. The 30 boxes of inch long glass drops I needed to dress these Coralburst crabs sold out in a matter of days. Most holiday ornament is manufactured to order; we place most of our orders in January for the following winter season. No one had these little glass blobs available, in spite of my idea to organize my winter pots around them.
The only drops I could find after days of searching were nine inches long. At the moment I was willing to give up, a supplier had numbers of these very long drops in stock-I fretted for an hour about the long length; would they blow around and break? I fretted another hour, and then ordered a case-432. Funny how the only ornament available can sometimes turn out to be just the right thing. We attached 410 glass drops to these six trees; it was my job to cut off the tags, and attach long wires. Four of us spent three hours getting those raindrops up there. 
How they caught the late day light was beautiful. We did try to place them such that a big wind would result in not so many losses. Some design involves risk; who knows what nature might send my way. Should we loose some, so be it. 
At 4:30 in the afternoon, these black and blue drops have my attention. At my request, Buck fished my Mom’s tripod out. The idea of a tripod for my camera bores me beyond all belief, but I knew I needed one now. A photographic record of how the available light would endow these drops would need a hand steadier than mine. 
By 5:30 pm, my clear skies have gone blue. The drop stalks are almost invisible; the bulbs have gone a curvy black. What I am paying so much attention to outdoors now is singular to this time of year. I would suggest that if great design is on your mind, first and foremost,tune in to what is around you, and be persistent with what you see; something will come.
