Deborah Silver is an accomplished and experienced landscape and garden designer whose firm first opened its doors in 1986.
green garden
boxwood
boxwood hedge stitched together with potted boxwoods
window boxes with grapes, scented geraniums, figs,mint, parsley, and showy oregano
lavender and Cuban oregano
Bird’s nest fern and bicolor torenia
window box
Chicago fig and variegated sage
panicum seeding
boxwood topiary
cassia, green and gold plectranthus, and yellow scaevola
Deborah Silver is a landscape and garden designer whose firm, Deborah Silver and Co Inc, opened its doors in 1986. She opened Detroit Garden Works, a retail store devoted to fine and unusual garden ornament and specialty plants, in 1996. In 2004, she opened the Branch studio, a subsidiary of the landscape company which designs and manufactures garden ornament in a variety of media. Though her formal education is in English literature and biology, she worked as a fine artist in watercolor and pastel from 1972-1983. A job in a nursery, to help support herself as an artist in the early 80’s evolved into a career in landscape and garden design. Her landscape design and installation projects combine a thorough knowledge of horticulture with an artist’s eye for design. Her three companies provide a wide range of products and services to the serious gardener. She has been writing this journal style blog since April of 2009.
Copyright © 2025 · Deborah Silver & Co. · Detroit Garden Works
Sooooo nice. Thank you for the soothing pictures.
Is Cassia the tall yellow flower? Annual? It must be in the nurseries. Though I usually don’t shop for annuals, yellow would fit in my color scheme. I garden in Seattle, zone 8 I think.
Cassia, or popcorn plant, is annual for me. The crushed leaves smell just like popcorn.
I love the grapes! In my home garden, I have a lot of flowers that bloom late. I can see hardy ageratum and a NOID late-blooming hosta. These look good together, although neither plant is particularly well-behaved. One plant I keep killing is lavender. Do you keep it outside in the pot in winter? If it does better as a potted plant, I may give it another try.
I don’t grow lavender, unless it is in a pot. I keep them in the garage over the winter.
There are various varieties of lavender – some very hardy – but ALL require the very best drainage. We have plants in a raised bed which have remained outside for over 20 years – with max cold minus 8 F. Normal winters can have one to two weeks below freezing all day with lowest at the 0 level. This is zone 7 northern Virginia foothills of the Blue Ridge. We have another variety which has been in an unwatered planter for over 15 years. Only water is given June-October during real droughts. Over winter, nothing – a few winters have gone for 6 weeks with no precipitation. Often plants will die due to frozen soil around the roots and inability for plant to draw water from frozen ground, but we have not had a problem with the lavender.
Peter, many thanks for this letter. I winter my lavender in the garage, as it is the only way I guarantee that it will be dry over the winter. I have had some plants 4 years now, this way. When I did grow lavender outside, I would trim back hard after the first bloom, and then let it go until the following spring. But eventually they would succumb to a wet fall/winter. I much appreciate you writing in detail about your experience with lavender. Deborah
I’m just gettign the hang of growing boxwood. Have a “hedge” of 10 that I just pruned for the 1st time this year. I like the look of the boxwood in planter. Do you have to winter pots in garage in Pontiac?
I have grown lavender ‘Munstead’ in a raised bed for 4 years without loosing a plant. It’s been mulched with Turface in the fall, never watered, never fertilized, cut back in spring at bud swell. The top soil was amended with some compost at planting time. I live in Lapeer county is Zone 5. However, the past few winters have been quite mild.
Dear Nancy? No water? Wow-I may give this a try. The Farmer’s Almanac is saying we are in for a blockbuster winter-say it isn’t so! Thanks for writing, Deborah
lovely as always. two questions: do licorice plants respond well to being cut back? do you do public speaking at symposiums and such?
Mario, I have never tried cutting back licorice, so I don’t know what would happen. I have done public speaking-but only locally. Deborah
There is nothing like boxwood; I love it any shape and any season. The landscaping at the shop looks beautiful even if you are not happy with the pots at home. I think the variegated boxwood in the next post wants to be the star and needs lower, calmer companions.