Detroit Garden Works | Deborah Silver & Co.

Ringing In The 2025 Winter Season

It is probably close to 15 years ago that Rob wrapped a vintage steel tractor tire hoop with a string of incandescent holiday lights, and hung it in a tree. On a whim, I might add. A hank of ten ends jute attached to the top of the ring at one end, and a stout branch of the tree on the other end, also provided cover for the electrical cord at the end of the light string that would run across the top of the branch and back to the main trunk. Once that cord dropped to the ground, an extension cord would deliver the electricity needed to light up that ring. So unexpectedly beautiful -a lighted circle effortlessly suspended from a branch of a tree. With no apparent source of electricity. Magic, this. And not to mention simple. One lighted ring 3′ in diameter would speak loud and clear to the holiday and winter season ahead – every day and all through the night.

In its most basic form, a circle is a powerful and compelling shape. It has no beginning or end. The history and importance of the circle in art, engineering, music, mathematics, astronomy, design and so on dates back centuries. There is much more to the symbolism and meaning of a circle than its geometry. Very little of human endeavour does not touch on or recall the circle in some way. Every circle I design in to a landscape recalls all of that history. A circle has an aura that comes with it. Every lighted circle displayed over the winter and holiday season makes that aura visible.

That first lighted hoop gave way to a channel steel version designed by Rob in various sizes, and manufactured for Detroit Garden Works. Later came his rather brilliant design for a spiked hoop held aloft by a steel rectangle whose four long rod steel legs could be inserted into the soil in a pot or in the ground. Lighted hoops featured in winter and holiday pots and container arrangements delighted my clients. They have become a mainstay of our winter season. Soon we were shipping the lighted rings all over the country. I was so pleased to see our gardening clientele coming to Detroit Garden Works to shop for materials for that 4th season. The winter.

Those original hanging light rings from years ago did a brave job of keeping the dreary part of the winter at bay. The dark part, that is. Having moved the design and construction of our winter container arrangements indoors means we have time to study on the design and construction. The time constraints of the winter container season is an invitation to hurry. Hurried work can look hurried. So we have had some time to study on those light rings, and think about how else we could use them. Or what we could add to them.

It was inevitable that given enough time and exposure, we would start to tinker with that basic light ring. Maybe a different style of light would change things up. Perhaps the ring could be a structure – an armature upon which something else beautiful and sculptural could be built. For this project, the lighted ring was lined with a diminutive evergreen garland that would connect that steel circle visually with the evergreens populating the box. The circle is stronger, and is a more important part of the composition, given the additional emphasis that the garland provides. The trio of over scaled steel pine cones that Rob had sourced overseas anchors the ring to the ground plane of the box.

Each of the four light rings are immersed in alternating rows of red bud pussy willow stems. Two fingers between each branch is how we space them. That thicket softens the geometry of the circle. It provides some mystery. The mass of them soften the light shining back into the windows. The twigs, and greens surrounding them suggest a garden environment – similar to and reminiscent of those places outdoors that gardeners treasure. Needless to say, I have clients that keep their light rings powered up all year round. Given how little power the LED lights draw, there is no reason not to enjoy them all winter long.

Whether the weather obliges with one inch or 10 inches of snow, the rings will keep beaming.

Posted on: January 2, 2025 55 Comments

Filed Under: garden sculpture, Winter, Lighting, Holiday, Garden Ornament, Detroit Garden Works

The Garden Cruise July 23, 2023

Detroit Garden Works hosted its first Garden Cruise to benefit the Greening of Detroit since 2019. I feel an intense satisfaction in being able to write that sentence. Perhaps some background for those readers who are not familiar with this event should come first. The Garden Cruise is a celebration of a lot of events. The landscape design that has been my life’s work. The extraordinary relationships created with clients culminating in the building of a landscape project. The selection and placement of beautiful and appropriate landscape ornament that physically centers and metaphorically organizes the landscape in question. And those steel boxes, benches, ornament, fountains and pergolas designed and manufactured in steel by my company, The Branch Studio. The wild shade garden portion of the landscape pictured above, which is part of the upcoming tour, features all of these things. It was designed and planted almost 10 years ago. The rod steel sphere fabricated at Branch Studio is fixed on top of a repurposed 19th century English stone lawn roller set on end – minus its steel armature – as a rather contemporary pedestal. That piece was sourced and purchased in England by Rob Yedinak, and shipped to Detroit Garden Works and offered for sale. The wild garden features shade plants that beautifully represent and thrive in Michigan-so hellebores, sweet woodruff, pulmonaria, brunnera, hamamelis-and hemlocks. The big old spruce had seen better days, but why remove plants of such majestic scale and presence?

These clients are extraordinary people. They have diverse interests, but to the last they are united in their love of this house which is turning 100 years old, their love of nature and the natural world, and their commitment to preservation and restoration. The bricks and limestone slabs were part of a wall in such disrepair that it had to come down and be rebuilt. Those stone and brick elements featured in the walk above were the original wall materials they felt were too beautiful to throw away. They asked me to design something around them. We call this path from the back yard to the front yard “the history walk”. There was story telling. History and artistry. In all my years of designing and installing landscapes, this photograph of my client in his surgical scrubs touring his garden late in the day is one of my favorites. Gardens are good for people.

They also have a big love for entertaining outdoors in the summer. I drew a 20′ diameter circle on the site plan, and wrote the word POOL in the center. Ha! That ignited a firestorm of discussion, most of which had to do with not wanting a round pool. I was able to persuade them that round entertaining spaces are so friendly. And that it would fit handsomely in their oddly shaped lot. I was able to persuade them, once the shock of the suggestion had faded. A final design featuring the change of grade between the house and the rear lot line looked exactly like who it was for.

That is an essential part of a successful landscape design – a relationship that enables work that looks like it belongs to the client and their property. This landscape has been on the tour before, but the way in which it is evolving and maturing makes it well worth another visit.

These clients have invested 25 years in the landscape and gardens on their 7 acre property. They went so far as to purchase the house next door, as it would complete and make whole a natural feature of the land. What an extraordinary thing to do! The property is packed with gorgeous mature trees – some usual fare, and some rarely seen outside of an arboretum.

In recent years I have been involved in the landscape design of those areas adjacent to both the main house and the getaway house. This portion of the landscape has a distinctive contemporary feel that is quite formal. The allee of columnar hornbeams pictured above is at the beginning of a very unusual trimming protocol. The outsides of the trees will be pruned flat, and the interior will be a celebration of the natural arching branches of these trees.

Adjacent and perpendicular to the broad gravel pathway which connects the main house to the other is a 50′ diameter circle of liriope spicata. The texture and mass generated by this single plant is stunning. On a breezy day, it is constantly in motion. What is perhaps the most amazing is that these clients maintain virtually the whole of their property themselves. I am not sure how many containers they have filled with seasonal plants, but that number is big.

In additional to small seating areas sprinkled throughout the gardens, there are plenty of places near the house to leisurely sit and enjoy the out of doors. They have devoted considerable effort to providing a large terrace, pergolas, and furnishings to host friends and family comfortably for meals, parties and celebrations. Plan to spend some time exploring this landscape.

My landscape and gardens have been on the Garden tour every year since they began in 2008. A visit was mostly about how plants had grown. The only substantial change from year to year was the container plantings. This year is not so much different, except for the deck and fountain garden.

I do have new furniture, and a mix of of pots. French glazed pots from Terre Albine so enchanted me that I had to have some at home. All of these particular pots were broken from a series of unrelated mishaps. One of the fabricators at the Branch Studio was able to piece them all back together. I like that these beautiful pots still have a place in a garden, and I love them in my garden.
I am not posting any pictures of the fountain garden. Better that you see it in person. It is completely and shockingly different than it once was. Everything has a life span, including a landscape and garden. This part of my landscape has only been in 2 years.

This client has always had an interest in plants and flowers, but he has a fairly new and more substantial involvement. I was able to redo areas of the landscape to feature more ornamental plants and containers. He is watering his pots when they need it, and keeping his eye on all of the plants.

He is thoroughly enjoying what pleasure the outdoors can provide to people.

A large scale pool which is an entertainment focal point for his family and friends now has the ornamental gardens to go with. A mature hedge of Green Giant arborvitae provides a gorgeous backdrop and lots of privacy to the pool deck. In the immediate foreground is a series of three steel planter boxes fabricated at Branch. A section of a boxwood hedge was removed and planted elsewhere in favor of a seasonal flower display.

This landscape features a formal front yard composed of masses of spherically pruned Green Gem boxwood, boxed smaller scale Green Gems, and Venus dogwoods. A hedge of limelight hydrangeas encloses it all. This pattern of planting encloses a spacious drive court. The house sits high on a rather steep hill, so parking near the house was a landscape priority.

The back yard with literally no flat space has been transformed by a 3200 square foot wood deck made from Ipe. The far end of this deck is 11 feet above the existing grade. Inset in the deck is a three sided infinity edge pool and waterfall. At the far end, a large scale pergola designed with louvered roof panels for shade by Branch Studio provides a shady spot for lounging and dining. The surrounding landscape is informal and lush.

I do hope as many of you as possible who are reading will attend this Garden Cruise on July 23, 2023 from 9am to 4:30pm, and the cocktails and pizza dinner reception to be held at Detroit Garden Works afterwards. So many have asked me to sponsor a tour again, and to write again. I am doing both. It will be an excellent tour well worth the time of any person for whom the garden is a way of life.

All of the proceeds of the ticket sales – 40.00 for the cruise, and 55.00 for the cruise and reception – go to benefit the programs of the Greening of Detroit – an organization whose work I think is crucially important to the City of Detroit. For further information www.thegardencruise.org Tickets can be purchased over the phone or in person at Detroit Garden Works. 248 335 8057.

Posted on: July 11, 2023 35 Comments

Filed Under: Deborah Silver and Co Inc, Parties and Events, Detroit Garden Works, Good Design, Landscape Design

Lighted Rings For Winter Pots

The centerpiece for a winter container will be all the better with the addition of light. After all, we have 12 hours of darkness this time of year. Nothing warms the winter landscape like lights glowing. Years ago it was a source of endless frustration, trying to arrange and suspend incandescent light strings in the air-so as to illuminate a twig based centerpiece. LED lighting devices are readily available now, making the job of getting winter containers to glow an easier one. Many of them so faithfully mimic a natural twig that they are invisible during the day. But no device is as beautiful, sculptural, effective, and simple as Rob’s light rings. A steel circle welded from steel channel is wound round with LED light strands that are attached every few inches with small zip ties. The rings have a base with 4 prongs that can be inserted into the soil of a container, or in the ground. The winter container pictured above was done by a good client of ours, whom we loosely coached on the finer points of our method of winter container construction. It did not take much time for him to grasp it all and run with it. This 54″ diameter bowl is home to a 5′ diameter light ring. The effect, even during the day, is spectacular. A light ring of this size needs additional ballast in the form of steel rebar, which is pounded down in to the soil, and attached to the light ring armature with concrete wire.
This picture reveals the look of the light ring from the side. We frequently make a separate foam form for the light ring, which will sit on top of the form that holds the greens. This makes for an easy installation of the light ring. Barely visible at the bottom is the triangular steel armature for the ring. This form is incredibly strong and stable.

This particular construction features ball shaped lights attached to white faux branches. As the container has white faux berry stems, the lighted sticks are readily disguised. Making the lights in a container as invisible as possible during the day is a mark of thoughtful construction. Once this container is installed, no one will see the cords, transformers and electrical strips. What will shine the brightest is that all over glow.

The light ring is first and foremost a circle. That geometric form has no end of symbolic meanings, many of which have significance to gardeners. The lighted ring is a symbol of hope to me-the hope for the light at the end of the long tunnel coming up called winter. And the banishment of the winter dark. If none of those descriptions prove to be appealing to you, there is also the simple beauty of the form, and how it can organize and add visual and emotional heft to a winter pot. I am personally fond of an arrangement that keeps the complete circle visually intact. We either cut the greens below the lights on the ring, or install short pieces.

When Birdie adds greens to an arrangement, she is always watching the effect of her placement, and not her hands. This is a difficult concept to put in words. The hand will find the spot to insert a stem when the eye finds the spot where the stem should be. It takes imagination and confidence to work like this. The dry floral foam is very forgiving of a placement that needs to be changed or tuned up.

Though the twigs, picks light sticks look wonderfully chaotic, the process of assembling them so all the elements are evenly and brightly lit asks for a focused hand.

I can tell by the relaxed look on Birdie’s face that she is about to sign off on this pair of arrangements.

They look fiery in the shop. They will light the front door and portico of our client’s house in a dramatic and welcoming fashion.

The finished winter box has a sculptural presence, even during the day. It is evident in this picture that all of the lights in the ring will be clearly visible at night. Tougher to spot are the lighted white stems integrated into the dogwood branches. They will help to illuminate those branches at night.

pair of lighted pots

Snow flurries and a garland finishes the winter warm up.

See what I mean?

Posted on: December 1, 2021 31 Comments

Filed Under: Lighting, Winter, Garden Ornament, Detroit Garden Works

The 2021 Winter Pots: Take Your Pick

Amassing a collection of beautiful materials for winter and holiday containers and home decor at our place usually begins at least a year in advance of the season in question. Behind the scenes, ideas are tested, and those great ideas become prototypes. Orders are placed from the prototypes, and manufacturing is based on orders taken by the manufacturer’s reps from shop owners like us. This is a highly simplified sentence describing a very complicated and labor intensive process known as commerce. The big idea is that any gardener wishing to persist gardening into our winter season will have the materials to do so. This means potted hellebores and cyclamen, and a substantial variety of amaryllis bulbs. It also means fresh cut branches, mostly dogwood and willow. But the floral picks, the likes of which are pictured above, make it possible to create winter arrangements for containers. Pots placed on a front porch or at a side door asked to be filled, no matter the season.

Rob handles all of the buying for Detroit Garden Works, and he buys beautifully. Everything he purchases for his seasonal collections bear witness to his astonishing eye for fine design, beauty, utility, and serendipity. There may be those who would suggest that seasonal containers and decor have little to nothing to do with the garden or the landscape, but I disagree. The process of designing/creating and fabricating winter and holiday containers has everything to do with a need for an individual expression of appreciation of the beauty of nature. Creating winter container gardens have their roots in the living landscape, and those who garden with a passion – no matter what materials are chosen. Rob makes sure every gardener so inclined to garden on through and past the holiday and winter season has plenty of materials available to express that inclination in beautiful detail. If you shop at Detroit Garden Works, you can take your pick.

Rob’s work as a buyer has been defined by his travel both in the US and abroad – for decades. The event of the past two years made it all but impossible to travel to shop anywhere in person. But the steady and sincere relationships that he developed over the years with suppliers, product reps and manufacturers was the saving grace of this winter season. Rob was able to shop person to person, door to door, and from one continent to the next – over the phone, and via email. Amazing, this. Most all of our materials came late, and some materials never materialized. But what we have available now is terrific. As in lots and lots. By and large, this is the most product rich winter season we have ever had.

Ordering materials for containers on line or from a print catalogue is incredibly difficult. I have tried it, and I have had plenty of materials delivered that were not great. As in, did I buy this, no kidding??? I have tried to avoid shopping on line. I shopped the holiday and winter materials in person with Rob for 5 or 6 years. I liked being able to hold a pick in my hand. I could see the color. I could assess what its durability would be in a container. I could see the finished height-and the width. I could see how it would read. I could see how the shape, mass, and color would work with other elements under consideration. I could see what picks would be investment caliber, and which would be a one season fling. My shopping days are over now. I am happy to turn over the shopping for the winter season materials to Rob and Sunne. I have confidence that their choices will work for a wide range of my projects. And I respect and am intrigued by what materials they chooses from their own individual aesthetic. It is up to me to put what they buy together in such a way that my clients feel their taste is represented. If you are thinking that my design for holiday and winter container arrangements is fueled by beautiful materials- you are right.

In person buying was not possible in January of 2021, so Rob did the next best thing. He bought very long and very wide. He bought what seemed perfect and appropriate, and he also bought unusual materials. Everything he spoke for he hoped would be great. That is how he works. He crossed his heart and hoped to die. OK, just kidding – but how he buys is a serious business. Consider this. There are numbers of blueberry picks from his buying from which to choose-each one different. Some capture the texture and the color of blueberries honestly. Other picks describe the color of blueberries in more poetic ways. Deep purple muscadine grape berries, or blue speckled bird egg berries. Some picks are spare. A few berries sparsely populate long stems. Still other blueberry picks feature berries that are short and chubby and not at all like how blueberries grow. It is astonishing how realistic some faux materials can be now. But the idea is not to attempt to reproduce nature. That is not possible. The purpose of the materials is to allow gardeners to create seasonal arrangements that represent their individual interpretation of nature and its forms. The intent is not to fool the eye, but rather to appeal to one’s love of the garden.

These chubby wine red berry stems do not replicate any plant that I know of. But they are indeed reminiscent of the bounty and largess of nature. They would be beautiful, paired with pale sage green picks. Or noble fir. They would be lovely, encircling a stand of pussy willow stems. They would provide a rich and warm addition, punctuating a fresh evergreen garland. They are the berries-ha. They represent the lush scenes in the garden of my imagination. You get the idea.

Good looking and good quality materials can suggest a scheme for an arrangement. These picks have the lush green color and texture of broccoli. The stems look good enough to eat. Some winter arrangements do indeed have the aura of a feast, at a time when the landscape provides only the barest visual sustenance.