Good Design | Deborah Silver & Co.

The Deck Pots

Every year I think I will be able to finish planting annual containers for clients before the beginning of July. Beginning of July? I do have clients who plant their pots for spring-they have no need of a summer planting until late June. There are some clients who call the first week of June for pots. It is late June until I can get to them. I am hoping to finish all of my private clients this week, leaving a summer commercial installation for next week. The container plantings I hope to have done by the 4th of July. Given our cold and off putting spring, It is still taking all the time I have and then some to do the work I have booked. But no matter the work load, I make time to plant my pots at home.

I do plant lots of containers at home. Coming home to planted pots is a good thing indeed. Part of my end of the day routine is to tend to the watering and maintenance of my pots. Just an hour ago I finished planting the last pot. Given that I am planting into warm soil, that last pot should show signs of growth in just a few days. Looking at them and after them is relaxing for me.

I do plant my pots differently every year. That is part of the challenge, and the anticipation of the summer season. My trees are in the same place, doing the same thing, every year. My perennials and roses and groundcover-I do not move these plants around, or change them regularly. Though I may waffle away the early spring planning for my containers, by the time that June comes, I have to commit. I like that deadline.

I like that pressure. Too big a time frame gives me too much room to fret. A short time frame encourages me to make decisions, and plant. I am pleased with this year’s deck plantings. Certain things influence my decisions. I have a 1930’s home with Arts and Crafts details that features a brick cladding that is a mix of yellow, cream, and pink. White looks too chilly here. Silver foliage, as in gray, looks good here. I will admit that after the consideration of scale and mass, I am very drawn to a discussion of color. Pink and orange, and all the versions thereof, may not interest you. But those colors suit both me and my space.

I went on occasion far afield from a pink and orange scheme. The Persian Shield in my Italian terra cotta squares faced down with variegated pepperomia and variegated tradescantia seemed appropriate to the color of the brick, and the color of the Italian terra cotta pots. I had no problem introducing some dark purple to my scheme.The pennisetum whose name I cannot remember, and the orange coleus works with the color and the design of this pot. I did entertain many other plantings for these terra cotta urns. Pictured above-my decision. No one else has to be pleased about this decision but me. That is half the fun of it. I like this messy head of hair in contrast to the formal and classical style of the urn. Once the coleus gets to growing, the look will change.

My terra cotta pots from Mital have loads of detail. I try to plant them with an eye to that detail. I try even harder to not to over think it. I am a big fan of graceful. All the plants in this pot are quite ordinary-petunias, geraniums, lime licorice. The terra cotta nicotiana is new to me-I like that brick orange color.

Pink and orange-I will admit my choices for my containers this summer were much about lively color. The nicotiana “Blue Ice” is an interesting color variation I had not seen before. I have planted this oval pot all green, with green nicotiana, for many years. This year is different.

As for what I have planted in my deck pots this year, I like the relationships generated by color. Not quite so obvious are my sun issues. This space does not sit due east. It sits southeast. This particular spot gets incredibly hot and sunny for about 6 hours a day. The brick, once it gets really hot, radiates more heat. I have to pick plants that are happy in this environment.

This pot full of orchid pink new guinea impatiens looks swell. Like the geraniums in the previous picture, this impatiens likes the heat, and a good amount of sun. The pot is large enough that I am able to keep the soil at the proper moisture level. Dry New Guineas will flop over dramatically.

The 1930’s English snake pot is a prized pot. It does not need all that much in the way of dressing up. The creme brulee heuchera leaves are big and simple, and compliment the shape of the pot. I can see over it into the garden beyond. The pot has a setting.

At the bottom of the stairs off the deck, one of the first boxes that my company Branch ever produced. I love this box every bit as much as my Italian terra cotta pots. The color scheme is a mix of yellow, orange and brown. There is a lot going on, texture and color wise, as the pot sits in front of a big section of brick.

I would share anything I could about my process for planting containers with any gardener. Why wouldn’t I? That said, I did not think much about my process until the pots were done. My container design has everything to do with the place- the architecture of that place. Color. Scale and proportion. Rhythm. Texture, mass and line. And of course, the maintenance. What can I plant that will be a pleasure to maintain?

Posted on: June 25, 2014 25 Comments

Filed Under: flowers, container planting, Summer, Good Design Tagged With: summer container plantings, summer container planting, annual container design, annual color, annual planting, container plantings

Garden Design Magazine

The new Garden Design Magazine just came out. The original magazine, which was greatly appreciated by aficianados of great landscape and garden design, quit publishing a few years ago. The rights to the magazine were eventually purchased by Jim Peterson. What he has created comes from a vision all his own. The 132 page publication is more book than magazine. Everything about it is beautiful, including the paper it is printed on. If you have a strong interest in landscape and garden design, I would urge you to subscribe.

We have another reason to be thrilled with this premier issue. A feature article about my work, and the evolution of my group of companies, is a very special moment for me, indeed. Most important to me is being part of a group of great designers from all over the country whose work is detailed here. Thank you, Jim. If you are local, we do have copies available at Detroit Garden Works.

www.deborahsilver.com

Deborah Silver and Co, Inc container design

www.detroitgardenworks.com

Detroit Garden Works

planting workshop at DGW

the shop

www.thebranchstudio.com

pergola fabricated by Branch Studio

the branch fountain

box and derrick topiary form by Branch Studio

elliptical fountain by Branch Studio

My deepest thanks go to landscape and garden designer and writer Susan Cohan, whose article is a gift of a most perfect moment to me.

Posted on: May 21, 2014 37 Comments

Filed Under: Garden Design, The Branch Studio, Detroit Garden Works, Good Design

Who’s Choosing Whom?

Shopping for anything is one part fun, two parts research, and 5 parts anxiety. The anxiety is the toughest part. Is this avocado ripe enough to serve tonight? Will these tennis shoes be comfortable? Will this washing machine handle all of my needs? Is this tennis racquet appropriate for my level of play? Will I like this sweater next year? Is this the right choice? You get the drift. If you have a mind to plant containers for the summer season, the first order of business is choosing the containers.

Containers first and foremost need to be of proper proportion to their placement. Little pots belong on a garden dining table. Mid sized containers are fine on a terrace. Container that flank a front door need to have a size appropriate to the front porch. Proper proportion is to my mind the single most important design element. Galvanized buckets on the stoop of a cottage or an apartment balcony are appropriately sized for the occasion.

Giant galvanized containers next to the side door may overwhelm that secondary entrance. That same container in the center of an herb garden is a properly sized anchor for the garden.

Once the issue of scale is determined, there is the issue of style. A cottage style house does well with informally designed pots. A very formal house asks for formal containers. An Arts and Crafts style house has its own language and vernacular. Containers that fit answer the architecture. A home is the largest sculptural element on a property. The pots need to follow suit. Breaking the rules can be effective. A large pot in a small space can be very effective. A traditional home complimented by contemporary pots can present an unexpected visual pleasure.

Containers are available in all sizes. Tall and short. Tall urns can sit on the ground. Short urns can be elevated off the ground with pedestals. Narrow containers can dress up a tight space. Wide containers can hold down a big space. The tall and the short of it depends on what you want at eye level. Tall containers, or urns on pedestals, can be seen from the sidewalk. Low and wide planters can warm up a pool deck. Small planters can dress up a garden table. Medium height planters can put the flowers at eye level on a dining terrace. A big tall planter, planted big and tall, becomes a screen warding off bad views. A fabulous antique stone urn planted with a dome of moss focuses attention where it should be – on the urn.

Antique stone troughs come with lots of history attached. Planted with succulents, they are great for those moments when a gardeners looks downward. They can be filled with water and water plants. Any container properly sited will look good, even when it is empty.

No container does face to face better than an urn on a pedestal. Face to face is good at the front door. Or in the center of a beautiful garden. Or as a focal point in a landscape. This English concrete urn in the classical Italian style has a considerable presence, and could organize a fairly large space. This urn features detail such that the planting would need to acknowledge rather than cover it.

Fiberglass planters are light weight. They are perfect for water gardens. Spherical planters are especially effective in contemporary and geometrically organized landscapes. They are great next to a lounge chair, or a bench. A well planted bowl will keep you company.

The material of a planter says much about style, period, and architecture. Formally designed and fabricated wood orangery boxes recall an age centuries old. French formal, for sure. Four wood orangery boxes could organize a formal landscape with ease. One casually fabricated or vintage wood box stuffed with herbs at the center of a cottage style vegetable garden is all about home. Great meals. Fresh food. When the wood starts to deteriorate, no cause for alarm.

Belgian stoneware containers are subtly textured. They are solid, simply modern in shape, and frost proof. Any contemporary home and garden would be happy for them. That said, the simplicity of their shapes make them easy to fit into any scheme. Galvanized metal buckets and tubs are an alternative idea. Once you have sorted out the proportions, the style, and the size, and the aura, you may have the idea to go way wide. Or way unexpected. Have at this. I find that no matter what containers I would choose for my landscape, the container usually chooses me. The containers that would work well for you will choose you, if you listen. This can make a decision much easier to come by. What container would your home, terrace or garden choose?

Every home and garden has an identity all its own. What gets contributed by the gardener in charge makes that presentation all the more beautiful for being personal.

Who’s choosing whom? Good container choices depend on a lively interaction.

Posted on: May 19, 2014 9 Comments

Filed Under: container planting, Garden Ornament, Detroit Garden Works, Good Design Tagged With: urns, garden containers, garden pots, container planting

The Shape of Things to Come

As Susan Cohan, a very talented and skilled American landscape designer would say, a great landscape design is about making a space work. It works for the client. It works for the plants selected. And it solves problems. No where is that more evident than designing for a very small space. A very small property means every square inch needs to work. This very small front yard needed a decently sized driveway, and a graceful way to get to the front door from both the sidewalk, and the drive. It needed to ground a house that was very tall. It needed to provide a place to watch young children playing on the drive. It needed to provide ongoing visual interest – every bit of which was exposed to the street. It needed to accommodate a client’s interest in a fountain in the front yard. I thought there needed to be a single strong shape which would organize every other element in the landscape. An ellipse seemed a natural choice. The shape of the front yard was a very shallow rectangle. An ellipse would make the most of that natural shape in a more interesting way. An elliptical shape that touched the north side of the driveway, and reached across to the south side would provide a means to reach the front door. It would also permit a way to walk the garden that had no beginning and no end. From the driveway, one ring of the ellipse would be a gravel path that would lead to the front door. That path would also encourage walking through the space. The gravel ellipse was wide enough to accommodate a bench, wherever the client might want one. An interior ellipse of grass would make it possible to view the garden, and the fountains from a number of different vantage points. The fountain Buck built was actually a pair of fountains. Each was fabricated as a half-ellipse. Anyone approaching the front door would walk through the fountains. Anyone coming to the front door from the driveway could follow the gravel path, or take the fountain view route. Rows of boxwood and yews matching the curve of the ellipse would give the garden some winter interest. As for the perennial garden, there are but a few plants. The inner ring is a collection of peonies, faced down with alchemilla mollis. Once the peonies mature, they will form a lustrous large leaved interior hedge taller than the boxwood. The fountains are the center of interest to the design, and they are front and center. We did eventually move them back off of the sidewalk a bit, just so the space would breathe better. The interior garden would mature at the same height as the fountains. This height was a direct response to the height of the house. I planted yews in the ellipse closest to the house-who would want to block the views from inside out with anything taller? Eventually we would plant a DeGroot Spire arborvitae on either side of the from facade of the house. The lower step to the front door needed to describe that ellipse that governed the shape every other landscape element. Scott Albaugh from Albaugh Masonry did a great job of this. In a very small space, the details matter so much. Our shapes were by no means perfect. But they were accurate enough to be convincing. At this stage in the installation, the ellipses read in a graphically strong way. Once the landscape was planted, that shape became much more subtle. The day a landscape is installed is just that-the first day. Given some time for the plants to mature, that ellipse describing the horizontal ground plane will be softened by the height and the sprawl of the plants. This design looks different from different vantage points. Changing the visual channel is easy; there is a path. Any guest getting out of the car in the driveway could find their way to the front door. They might take the long way-or the short way, in bad weather. This design is intended to make the garden accessible and friendly to people. Though just about every idea can be seen from the drive or the street, the elliptical path invites a stroll through. What can readily be seen now will not always be the case. The outer ring of this garden will mature at a height of 4 to 5 feet. Roses, shasta daisies, Russian sage, Little Lime hydrangeas-the height of these plants will provide a little mystery and privacy to the inner ellipse. The border on the sidewalk-moss phlox and lamb’s ear. I will be very interested to see this garden when it has a few more years on it. Hopefully it will be a small space that has something interesting going on.