Detroit Garden Works | Deborah Silver & Co.

Garden Designer’s Roundtable: The Details

When I first met Buck, he was head of technical design at Rossetti Architects. Though his usual gig involved sports stadiums and office buildings, he had designed, and was project managing a very large and involved residential project-some 5 years in the building. I had occasion to meet him, as I was responsible for the design and installation of the landscape.

I was also involved in the design of the conservatory, which was built by Tanglewood. There were a number of garden elements and ornament that got built over the course of three years. What I learned from Buck is that careful attention to the details makes the difference between an acceptable project, and a project that turns heads.

Most every day I would get an email from him-do you have a drawing for this detail? I did more drawing for him those three years than I have done before or since. But what I really learned from him-the devil is in the details. In designing this fall arrangement, I began with a great plant. Kale “Glamour Red” is the first All America plant selection in 78 years- the first new kale introduction since 1932. This is a detail that suggests this is a plant worth planting. Sometimes construction details can tell whether an idea will work, or not. I like my fall pots to look lush and sumptuous-after all, this is the season we associate with the harvest. The construction of a strong and sturdy fall container involves much more than the planting.

We may assemble a centerpiece of twigs and dried seed pods. That centerpiece gets zip tied together over a stout bamboo stake. A fall container centerpiece listing out of vertical detracts from the overall effect. Our bamboo stakes go way down into a container. The soil around that centerpiece gets compacted-with a mallet. Straight up and down-a detail that makes for a good result. We spotted a clump of green milkweed pods on the side of the road-they would make a great addition to this container arrangement.

A centerpiece may need lots of elements-especially if you are going for that sumptuous look. I like fall pots with loads of visual detail. Dried or preserved materials surrounding that centerpiece need a construction detail that enables you to place them wherever they look good. And most of all, a detail that helps them to stay put throughout the season.

The eucalyptus and butterfly weed seed pods-we attached each stem to a bamboo stake with a pair of zip ties. Natural materials are beautiful, but their stems do not have near the strength of a stake. Attaching natural stems to bamboo stakes is time consuming-but this construction detail makes the end result look more natural, and last longer. The frilly cabbage leaves cover the working part of the arrangement.

Preserved eucalyptus does have very strong stems. Should I strip off the lower leaves, I have a stem that I can stick into the the soil, at the angle that seems best. A detail worth noting here- preserved eucalyptus will keep its shape and color a very long time-even outdoors. The variety of colors and textures available can add so much to a fall arrangement.

Faux fall grasses-I will confess that I buy them and have them available. The palette of plants that thrive in cool fall temperatures is somewhat limited. Adding roadside weeds, pumpkins and gourds, preserved materials, dried sticks and seed pods, and even plastic grass stems in a fall pot is much like adding a little jewelry to a black dress.

I looked over this fall planting a number of times. I kept coming back to it. Is this the best I could do? The best always involves attention to the details. Finally, I decided the faux grass seemed a little to heavy. A container planting should never drag the eye down. It did give a sense of warmth and drama to the arrangement, but would something else be better?

Individual stems of ting with capiz shell circles-not a choice that would instantly come to mind. But why not try it? The stems have the grace and texture of grass. The whole arrangement looks looser, more airy. The green of the capiz shell discs brings out that luscious green in the kale.

Any move made by a gardener is all about the details. Personal details. This gesture, or that-very personal. The little details can transform an idea into a party. From a distance, the overall impression is generous in scale and harmonious in color.

At this point in the making of a fall arrangement, a single detail added or subtracted can dramatically change the visual effect of the whole. A detailed construction means the pot will look good throught the fall. A visual detail says much about what you personally think is good looking.

I am sure that the other member of the Garden Designers Roundtable have interesting and individual ideas about the role that detail plays in good design-check them out!

Susan Cohan : Miss Rumphius’ Rules : Chatham, NJ

Lesley Hegarty & Robert Webber : Hegarty Webber Partnership : Bristol, UK

Debbie Roberts : A Garden of Possibilities : Stamford, CT

Christina Salwitz : Personal Garden Coach : Renton, WA

Scott Hokunson : Blue Heron Landscapes : Granby, CT

Rebecca Sweet : Gossip In The Garden : Los Altos, CA

Posted on: September 24, 2012 14 Comments

Filed Under: Fall, container planting, Detroit Garden Works, Good Design Tagged With: fall materials, fall container planting, elements of contruction, fall container plantings, fall pots, fall materials for pots

At A Glance: First Signs

last rose of summer

pumpkin “Long Island Cheese”

ornamental kale

pumpkin in the gourd patch

fall container planting

gourds and pumpkins

ornamental kale

pansies

fall container materials

carving pumpkins

broom corn

twig pumpkins

fall pots

Posted on: September 24, 2012 Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Fall, container planting, Plants, Detroit Garden Works Tagged With: pumpkins, fall plants, fall container plantings, cold tolerant plants, gourds

The Super Nova Stage

In 1996, I had a shop devoted to fine and fabulous objects for the garden- newly opened for business. Of course I had lots of ideas, not the least of which was a scheme for a landscape out front. Gravel paths, and a slew of buxus koreana from Canada. Marv Wiegand gave me 6 months to pay for these boxwood-this was a huge help to a business just underway. This 1997 view of the shop-the word gawky comes to mind.

This past week tells a different, more recent story about the shop garden. The years of work show. Time is a enormously important design element in the landscape. You may be able to cut in line other places , but any landscape needs some age to represent well. Some new landscapes may be charming and bright at first-this is a super nova stage. But how they look fifteen years later tells the design tale. Great landscapes are about the long vision, and faithful maintenance.

Unlike a landscape, annual pots are a celebration of a single season. They start with small plants that take hold slowly-the spring weather in Michigan can be cold and unfriendly to plants native to tropical climates. It seems as though every plant is the same size, no matter whether it will eventually stay small, or grow 6 feet tall. New plantings are almost always out of scale with the container.

This same pot in late September is just about as good as it will get. The fall equinox-tomorrow. Cold nights will have an adverse effect on the coleus and sweet potato vine. But just before the cold weather begins to bring the annual season to a close, the plants seem to take on a robust appearance. Perhaps the cooler weather, or the sun lower in the sky, makes the color appear more saturated.

In any event, the annual season is brief and sweet. It takes no time at all to find out whether an experiment in color and form is satisfying-or not. Better yet, there is a new season ahead-for those containers that need a better idea.

This is my best effort ever in these two small pots. It took years to figure out one simple thing. Large growing plants do not prosper in smaller pots. Plants that mature at a size proportional to the size of the container put on the best show.

I am always pushing that size restriction with these two urns. One year I grew nicotiana mutabilis in them-hilarious, the outcome. Last year’s coleus-much too big a grower for the volume of soil in this pot.

Today the plantings are as lush as they will ever be. That lush look compliments the urns without overpowering them. The succulent in the front never grew large enough to obscure that Italian goat face.

This Tuscan square was vastly larger than its plantings in June. The steel plant climber that keeps the red mandevillea aloft is a major feature.

Yesterday, the lemon grass was every bit of 7 feet wide-all this from 4 4″ pots planted the first week of June. I have taken lots of pictures of all of my pots this summer-I like keeping a record of how they do. But I will not photograph this one again. This is as good as it gets.

3 6″ pots of swallowtail coleus were planted in this pot. It’s a bushel basket full of green and yellow highly textured leaves today.

This pot might be my favorite of the year. The plectranthus is falling over from the weight of its branches. The variegated miscanthus grass in the center is emerging in a way I never anticipated. The community which resulted from my planting is courtesy of mother nature.

I am very much enjoying this moment.

Posted on: September 21, 2012 9 Comments

Filed Under: container planting, Detroit Garden Works Tagged With: annual plants, container plantings

The Fifth Annual Garden Cruise

Should you be so inclined, you can get up tomorrow, and go. Our fifth annual garden cruise-a tour we sponsor to benefit the Greening of Detroit, starts at 9, and ends at 4:30.

We put on a reception afterwards-a light supper, summer style beverages as in gin and tonics, and French white wine, and the lively company of other garden afficianados.

100% of the proceeds from the sale of the tickets goes to the Greening. That money helps fund their educational and summer employment programs. They have an idea about a better city, and we support that idea. 100%.

All of the 7 landscapes on tour are very different-each the product of a person with a passion for the garden. Each is chock full of interesting moves, and delightful decisions.

It is one of my most favorite days of the garden season. It is the only summer day I am home all day. I like seeing and talking with the people who tour. I like hearing what they have to say about my garden, and I am happy to share anything I know about the plants, or the design.

Afterwards I will join lots of other people at the shop-the seventh garden on our tour-to talk about what everyone has seen. The nicotiana garden in the front is unbelievably beautiful-and fragrant.

Each gardener puts their best foot forward-and their best effort into creating a garden experience. Should you decide to go, I feel confident you will be glad you did.

We will be at the shop at 8 tomorrow morning, for those who want to get up and go. A cruise ticket is 35.00. A ticket with the reception-50.00. We can take your payment info by phone, and email you the ticket. Or you can stop by.