Holiday | Deborah Silver & Co.

Come Early

I am well aware there have been a conspicuous absence of posts the past few days. The week running up to our holiday open house is an intense work experience that starts early in the day, and ends late. Not that I mind this. The past fews days have been unseasonably warm, so we have had spectacular fog at dawn. The umpteen numbers of glass icicles we hung in the lindens are a frost white at 5:30 am-it was worth been up this early to see them. I like a project that has a deadline. This is in sharp contrast to that garden which is always changing, and hopefully evolving.

Bunches and more bunches of stick stacks of various twig arrived last week. Cardinal red twig, yellow twig, and black twig dogwood in three heights comes to us from a stick farm. Copper willow, fan willow, pussy willow-the salix family and its hybrids have beautiful twigs. I would not mind farming sticks one bit. Coppicing twigs is a very old art; twigs are judiciously harvested, leaving the plant to grow new twigs. They provide lustrous, linear and colorful interest in winter containers.

The yellow twig is an especially striking yellow green color. In mass, they have a graceful and rhythmic appearance that belies their strength. They will still look great come next April, when most else is the garden is still dressed in winter drab. We do strap our twigs to a bamboo or metal pole that is sunk deep into the container. A stick stack out of vertical is not a good look.
That said, these wire containers of red twig listing by design is exciting visually. A composition fueled by confidence and deliberation means the rules do not necessarily rule. The gardening world’s most prominent rule breaker-nature. Snow in early June, the datura in ground that survives the winter, the hen who raises an abandoned kitten-there are lots of examples.

I am an early person by nature. I like time, peace and quiet to get ready for the day. I am not a day dreamer-I am a dawn dreamer. The prospect of completely redoing the display in the shop puts me to work very early; this is no different than in the spring. In spring I am thinking about making things grow. This time of year is about making something of what I have.

Fog has a way of saying hush hush. Saturated colors are subdued. The wet quiet is muffles sound. The sharp edges of everything are blurred. No telling where this observation might take me once I take it inside. Creating an atmosphere in the absence of weather-difficult. Arranging an interior space-I admire people who do this well. They take a series of objects and create an atmosphere in which everything lives well together. A person who can generate atmosphere- no doubt you know a sun maker, a rain maker, a trouble maker. A well designed landscape is poised to wear the weather well.

The fog has me thinking about how to soften the sticks-with picks, and preserved and dyed eucalyptus. As much as I like the masses of one color, what would happen if I mixed the sticks? Maybe three colors.

This is the last early morning before our holiday open house weekend. My list is not nearly as long as it has been, but it’s long enough to get me going first thing.
We are almost ready.

Posted on: November 12, 2010 4 Comments

Filed Under: Holiday, Detroit Garden Works Tagged With: willow twigs, winter gardening, ornamental twigs

Miss Sparkle

All spring and summer long, Buck will refer to me as Miss Dirtiness. He will suggest with alacrity that I just might want to leave my work clothes in the laundry room before coming up stairs. Would I like to wash my hands before dinner? If I threw radish seeds in the back of my Suburban-you get the idea. I don’t mind dirt much. It has been a source of great pleasure-growing things. It allows me to make a living. I do not believe I have ever become ill from the dirt I have no doubt ingested over the years. This week my crumbs are of a distinctly sparkly material. Oh, the glamour of glitter. High chroma silver is the most sparkly glitter of all; it reflects 98% of all the light that touches its surface.

Winter light and bright can come from materials that reflect the available light. These glass and metal snowflakes are indeed sparkly. A mirror hung in a garden can be surprisingly and unexpectedly effective. It can create the illusion of greater space, or reflect light in a dark corner. A tree in the yard that has shed its leaves can be dressed up considerably for the winter with some similarly reflective ornament.

I like my winter pots at home to have a holiday element. Glitter picks reflect sunlight when I am so fortunate to have it. At night, the landscape and holiday lighting are are the more festive with some extra sparkle. Decorating the shop for the holidays is a bland phrase that doesn’t convey the fact that all of these glittery objects are at one time or another in my hand. This means I have glitter in my hair, under my fingernails, and in my socks-for weeks.

I am by no means the only fan of sparkle. Martha is posed in front of a pink/gold/purple and silver glittering wreath- wearing a silver sequinned jacket on the cover of her holiday issue. Lots of really dressy winter outfits come encrusted with sparkle. If I did ever decide to wear makeup, I might go for a little dusting of glittered powder in the winter.

Pine cones are just one of natures most beautiful objects. Sparkly pine cones are good fun. A sparkling garland can pick up and magnify whatever light you can muster on a Christmas tree, winter container, or in my case, dress up my jeans and fleece. All this glitter talk may seem a little incongruous coming from this dirt girl. I look at it this way: Sunlight sparkling on the water of my fountain pool surface-one of the best parts of the summer season at home. With the pool drained, I need to get my dose of sparkle from other sources.

The papery seed heads of the money plant are beautiful-but I would never plant it in a garden unless I wanted to look at it everywhere. The same goes for thistles. I like them much better in this form. This company makes shiny money plant stems in a variety of metallic colors. These are easy to spot from a long ways away, and I can store them for next year’s holiday.

This silver filigree wreath is studded with natural cloves; the combination of materials and surfaces is beautiful. The art of making holiday topiary and wreaths with silver wire and cloves is an old German art. A company in New York still makes them, by hand. I know which box holds these topiaries long before I open it; the smell of the cloves had permeated the box. The fragrance of cloves is to the holiday season what lavender is to the summer season. The silver wire sparkles.

These vintage glass ornaments have that softer sheen that comes with age. One of the best parts of the holiday-the tree that comes inside, and gets decorated. The combination of natural evergreen and some holiday sparkle-a tradition growing up that I still practice.

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Paper leaves encrusted with sparkly bits-I am thinking about them for my winter garden. They help me to be far less grumpy about the winter on the way.

Posted on: November 10, 2010 Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Holiday, Detroit Garden Works Tagged With: Detroit Garden Works, holiday containers, holiday lighting

Holiday Lighting

There are those qualities that Rob is known for; his dry sense of humor, his razor sharp eye, his formidable knowledge of garden ornament, his patience. Any garden, anything related to the garden gets his interest. He rarely shifts out of first gear, but he is ready and able to run his first gear up to better than 10,000 rpms-he can furthermore sustain that level an amazingly long time. Though he spent countless hours engineering this holiday, I can count on him to disappear for a few days while the store is being outfitted for the holidays. I know where to find him. He’ll be parked in the garage, surrounded by lights, forms and natural materials. It just looks like mayhem. He stuffs his space with materials, tries lots of various combinations. He finally makes peace; the materials and his creative process make for something you do not want to miss. He not only has ideas about how to light the garden for the winter, he has a mind to translate those ideas into sculpture.

This year, the plant climber, tuteur or topiary form that supported a mandevillea over the summer will have a second life at the holidays as lighted sculptures. The tuteurs-we design, and manufacture them. He is happy for you to load one up in the trunk of your car so you can take it home, find a great spot in the garden or container, and plug it in. But he also makes sure to have the materials available for anyone who wants to make their own. This means light strands with brown cords, light strands with bulbs in varying sizes and colors. Red berry LED lights. Strands of clear C-9’s. C-7’s in interesting colors. Garland lights-these strands have the lights close toether on the wire-perfect for lighting a tuteur. Pearl lights, snowball lights-LED battery operated flower lights. Blanket lights and intermittently twinking lights. I am sure there are lights I have forgooten to list. Light covers, and lots of weatherproof decorative garlands help make for a great daytime look for the lighting.

What he imagines and creates from a simple strands of lights is truly original; no where else do I see anything like it. Part of the best of what Detroit Garden Works has to offer at the holidays are his light sculptures. He is doing his best to have plenty on hand for our holiday open house, this coming weekend. As much as I wish he was in a display-making mode, lighting is a critical element in the holiday and winter garden-so I am patient about the time he puts to it.

Light strings are readily available almost everywhere now. My interest in holiday lighting was fast forwarded at least 15 years ago-by a breathtaking display in Washington DC. Rob and I were there to look at doing flowers and props for an event. A series of trees on the water were densely and completely wound with mini lights; every trunk, and most every branch was ablaze with light. The terrace in the center had no snow whatsoever; there were so many lights, the heat melted the snow. Hanging from the branches, light spheres. At the end of the long drive back from Washington, we stopped and bought a truckload of mini-lights. We spent the following 2 days doing up one old apple tree in my orchard in similar fashion. That tree was a lighthouse-it directed my course all winter long. Unlike the tree wrapping, these light bars of Rob’s are simple and fast to make. A galvanized pipe from the hardware is wound round with lights, and slipped over a piece of steel rebar sunk in the ground. Simple, and beautiful.

Another year, Rob would wrap farm augurs with varying sizes of round lights, and hang them from the big branches in the lindens on the drive. A steel hook was welded to one end of the augur, and wrapped with foam to prevent injury to the bark of the trees. Overscaled light ornaments read well from a distance, and most of the work of it can be done indoors. The late fall weather has everything to do with how many people light their gardens. No one wants to stand outside when it is 20 degrees, trying to put up lights. If November is mild, I know there will be plenty to see in the neighborhood come December.

Gold and platinum plastic ball garlands were zip-tied to a light garland of clear and white mini lights. This looked festive draped over the shop gate. It can be tough and forbidding to navigate the winter dark-holiday lighting can make it easier for guests to find the door. Even just a small but concentrated amount of lighting can make an entrance walk and garden look inviting.

This wood bench stands out at night, thanks to the light garland. Red berry LED lights look great paired with chartreuse and opaque white mini lights. I have had excellent luck finding mini lights in every color and size imaginable-including chartreuse- at English Gardens. Their holiday lighting and ornament shop at the Royal Oak location on Coolidge is great. When I have a last minute or unexpected holiday decorating job, I can count on them to help me out with materials.

One year Rob wrapped styrofoam topiary forms with lights-they are easy to secure with fern pins from a florist supply. This pair went home with a client; their front porch, door, and entry gardens glowed all winter. When I came in March to put them in storage for the summer, they were not really ready to let them go. Funny, that.

Light garlands and bars in containers means you will enjoy them long after the winter daylight fades. This sounds like an excellent idea to me. Should you live in my area and have the chance, stop by over our holiday open house weekend-November 13 and 14 and see what Detroit Garden Works has to offer for the holidays. This includes what Rob has put together in the way of lighting. Stop by; I think you will be delighted.