Deborah Silver is an accomplished and experienced landscape and garden designer whose firm first opened its doors in 1986.
the tapered Hudson planters
oak garden bench
Steel table in four sections
Pergola
Breakform V-pot and sphere
event tents
bus stop pergola with oak bench
conservatory table
spheres
sculpture/fountain
steel and concrete bench
oak and Valders stone garden table
firebowl
I have no idea whether you are enjoying the Buck week posts-but I know he is. It is tough when you make things, and never see what becomes of them. The finish of a box is not really the finish. The placement in a garden, the plants-there is a whole other melody to come once they leave Branch. Any garden box asks for planted material-he is seeing that relationship in some cases for the first time. Some boxes are one of a kind, but have no name-as they are much more about what gets planted inside, than their aesthetic appeal as objects. These galvanized and painted sheet metal boxes are a vehicle for a planted expression. Sturdily made, and held by substantial steel brackets, they are a forum for a planted discussion on a garage wall. The garage wall-not so prominent now.
This giant box at the end of this driveway has a purpose. Drive an additional three feet-you and your car would be presented with the prospect of a steep ravine. This box is a not only a stop sign, it will stop you should you be coming down the drive on icy pavement. The boxes and plants are so much window dressing-who would guess they are more importantly a substantial safety feature. 
This home is paved right up to the front of the garage and house-not much opportunity for landscape to soften all this hard surface. These boxes on the second story are galvanized sheet metal-with a sanded and painted finish antique like finish. The color is much more punchy up close-at a distance the color is soft and unobtrusive. This makes the view much more about plants, than about boxes. They also make the house look warm.
A corner sun porch just 3 feet from the lot line makes an in ground garden all but impossible. The wall hung boxes permit a garden to be viewed from inside, and do not obstruct traffic from the front yard to the back. The square footage of soil is considerable; my first complaint about most boxes like this is that they are too small. It is not long before the planting virtually obscures any mention of the word box.
This box I did name-but Buck only made four, and they are gone now. I call this the Charisse box, as in Cyd Charisse. A dancer whose long legs were a legend in the entertainment business; this box has legs I like. The flared bell flower shapes on those legs-a beautifully decorative detail. The scroll arms and handles were time consuming to make; I never hear Buck ask when we are making them again. But I have not forgotten them. They went to homes not known to me-I have never seen them planted. They do indeed make me smile-they are so light on their feet. Not every space asks for a handsome box-some spaces call for pretty.
These massive boxes are also contructed of galvanized sheet metal-this is a much less expensive material than 18 inch or 1/4 inch steel. A second story balcony terrace was completely exposed to view from neighboring buildings; this client needed big boxes, and lots of them. The first year, we planted them as a meadow. In recent years, they have done a good job of providing a permanent home to a hedge of arborvitae. The trick to maintaining evergreens year round, above ground-as big a soil mass as you can manage. This minimizes the effects of freezing and thawing that ejects plants from pots, and exposing their roots to the air. This client has a completely private outdoor terrace, thanks to this wall of boxes.
Some less than visually thoughtful builder installed a giant downspout dead center in an alcove on this client’s rear balcony terrace-unsightly. One of our two extra balcony boxes was modified and placed here. Buck made a steel stand for the box, which includes an armature on the back which bears most of the burden of supporting this substantial decorative iron panel. A morning glory, and a pair of cherry tomatoes will help to obscure the drain pipe from view.
The last of the balcony boxes landed on the ground-in a bed. I like this unexpected treatment; flowers at the bottom of the box look great. The bed is too narrow for any garden of size; the wall behind it is very tall. A little change of level provides some interest in a tight space. In retrospect, I probably should call these boxes the Solver boxes.
It helps me to define something, should I be able to give it a name. I could write a book about places, landscapes and their names. Detroit Garden Works-I named the shop by making a list of all those words that I thought best described what I had in mind. My city, my love of what goes on locally, the garden-of course, and works-as in works of art, in the works, working garden, work it out-you get the idea. My garden-Rob named it Corgi Run. It is a perfectly apt description of a landscape designed to accomodate two boisterous dogs of very short stature without looking like a dog run with decoration. The flowers are up high-as in roses, or containers, and the boxwood has corgi doors carved in their favorite entrance and exit spots. I have grass-and only the most rugged groundcover on the ground plane. My beloved beech ferns are on an intermediate level; the hellebores are outside the fence. Corgi Run-the name says it all. I wanted to design a handsome box with rugged good looks that would be equally at home in a contemporary landscape as a more traditional one. Subtle, stately, engaging. Naming it after Rock Hudson seemed just right. The Hudson River landscape paintings-handsome, and distinctly American paintings. OK, so I have an active imagination. Hudson-what does that word suggest to you? Try naming the place before you design and plant it-who knows where that might take you.
The Hudson box has but a few details-a generously large molding at the top ordinarily used in the construction of iron handrails, and two smaller and simpler moldings, my obscure nod to a classic Italian terra cotta double rolled rim pot. The simplicity of the design lends itself to the construction of lots of different shapes. This particular rectangle fits the spot in a satisfying way. Spots that need square containers, or rectangular containers seem to need just the right size-not just any size. For years I had two round matching Italian terra cotta pots in this spot. The round worked fine,I like the fitted Hudson box better in this space.
These squares were made to fit a specific space on a flight of cypress stairs. The boxes are in lieu of a handrail-a simple be careful on the stairs. The box in the background is home to an espaliered apple tree. We lined the box with styrofoam insulating sheeting; the tree has lived over the winter in the box for three seasons now. In this case, a very large box, capable of holding a considerable soil mass, seemed like a good idea for the health of the tree. The cypress deck is large and sparingly furnished-a big box works just fine here.
I rarely buy window boxes for the shop-what size would I pick? No two windows are the same. I like window boxes that go wide of the windows, so it looks like the window has something substantial to sit on. This variation on the Hudson box with associated brackets were made for this specific window-and they look like it. There are actually three separate boxes. Part of this has to do with not placing too much stress on the wall when we hang them, but part has to do with the galvanzing process. A zinc bath of some 800 degrees can warp steel that is not adequately captured by a frame. Long boxes are particularly subject to damage. Now we build long or large boxes from a thicker steel.
This Hudson box was outfitted with plumbing, and makes a fine fountain. The box has legs, so the boxwood skirt does not obscure too much of the detail of the bottom of the box. This year the boxwood covers the legs altogether. Hudson boxes make beautiful fountain cisterns.
Not every design looks so great in a very large size; this box is still graceful when it is large. It anchors this side door entrance garden with ease. My client plants for all four seasons; there is always something interesting going on. Driving up, she has a seasonal garden going on-dead ahead. The driveway garden-I have written before about the importance of the landscape that marks your arrival home. I may not get to every garden every day-but I do indeed drive up every day. I want to like what I see, when I come home.
The largest of my Hudson boxes to date-a cistern 4′ by 8′. It was designed to be placed in an overscaled drivecourt. Without going into any detail, my client shares a driveway with two other homes; a big drivecourt was needed to handle family and friends. The size of this cistern breaks up a giant paved space, with a garden object of interest.
This big red SUV has nothing on this Hudson box cistern -does it? Exactly my intention. Stately, handsome, graceful, bigger than life-this is how I remember Rock Hudson. Buck’s construction is true, square, level. This cistern, though the planting is yet to come, shows no signs of him wrestling this 1800 pound object as he welded it. It is a garden ornament of grace and dignity-I cannot wait to see the three fountain jets, representing.
This Hudson box is set in concert with a long and low window. It features an ever so slight bow front. Pictures of the summer planting to come. The Hudson box-I am pleased with it. Every one of these Hudson boxes were fabricated by Buck. A Buck week-he deserves it.
I was remiss in one very important regard concerning the development of the Jackie boxes a few days ago. They would not have been possible without Buck. A Saarinen scholar in architecture at Cranbrook Academy of Art in the 70’s, a licensed contractor, and an architect and Director of technical design with Rossetti Architects for years-he agreed to come on at Branch. He makes it possible for me to make the idea of beautiful objects for gardens a reality. Though he has lived in Michigan for over 30 years, he is Texas to the bone. He still has the accent; his southern style language can be better than colorful. He loves anything that goes fast or makes lots of noise; this makes him a Harley guy. Outside of this, he is a very talented CAD designer, and an exactingly precise and formidably talented fabricator. He informs all of my design with a construction process that is solid, durable, true and square. And he is famous with me for having infinite patience, as I struggle trying to put a good design together. I thought I should take some time to talk about some of the things he has made, and how he makes them.
The Jackie box is by no means the only box we manufacture. This lattice box with a diamond medallion and button is a complex box to make, though the general construction is very much the same as the Jackie box. He contructs the size of the lattice based on the overall size of the box. The idea is to represent as many complete diamonds as possible, with no awkward shapes on the frame edges. You can see in this three quarter view that all the partial diamonds match all the way around. The liner in this case is extira board varnished with marine varnish. I like the contrast between the solid steel diamond, and the open latticework diamonds. It is a detailed yet elegant box. Best of all, it is so perfectly contructed no one would notice the construction. Buck has no interest in a slip that shows.
This lattice box, custom made for a client, has a copper liner. The look is much more formal than the extira version, but much the same warm color. Special request from clients, he handles them like the professional that he is. He personally sees to every detail. Every box is tig welded-by Buck. He shepards them through the hot dip galvanizing process. He acid washes them himself. Every box we make-made by hand.
We did make the tall lattice box with the panel at the top; the intricate detail of the lattice welcomes and supports the plain rectangle at the top. This rectangular shape does a great job of making a considerable statement at the front door.
One season a client requested a cream yellow extira board panels. I followed suit with a planting that celebrated that yellow. In late fall, the extira boards got a coat of dark chocolate paint. What made by hand gets you is the ability to update by hand. This I like.
Our tall lattice boxes now sport extira panels in a dark blue grey. This color so celebrates the color of the acid washed steel. A dark base color lends importance to the variation in the steel finish color. Acid washing is more than unpredictable. No matter how many tests we make, each run has its own character. Should you like the variability of the color of lead, you will like this finish.
My Jackie box-I hope it is as reserved and beautifully formal as Jackie K. Buck saw to all of the details. The lattice box makes much of every gardener’s love of lattice, and then some. Every single box we have at the shop comes from Buck’s hands. This week-I plan to celebrate that. Buck week.