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Once A Year And This Is It

  Once a year we have spring in Michigan, and this is it. Ha. Let that big talk on my part sink in a little.  I am not at all sure we are having spring yet. Maybe what we have now is just a cold, rainy, and off putting version of pre-spring. Maybe I missed it – could our spring be just about over? Or is the real spring due here any minute. There are always caveats that come with any discussion of the change from one season to the next. Especially our spring. It was 35 degrees at my house this morning. It can safely be said that the interminable winter has shown some signs of moderating,  and there have been tantalizing albeit brief instances of remarkably warm weather and blue skies. Nothing decisive yet. A cautious assessment is prudent. Nature can have a very hard time deciding to finally let go and get on with it. But all of the fits, starts and stalling make for some adult fun. Delayed gratification, they call this.

The hellebores are blooming emphatically, as they always do. They shrug off bad weather. Many of the small spring flowering bulbs have appeared, bloomed and already vanished. The eranthis, galanthus, chionodoxa, scilla, crocus, adonis, puschkinia, muscari, and a considerable cast of others, appear on their own schedule, and brave the stormy weather for better or worse. Some years the flowering is stingy, and other years profuse. You don’t know which way that world will turn until the day before.

One of my favorite spring moments are the magnolias. Their habit of growth is quite architectural, as are the branches, bark, buds, flowers, leaves, and seed pods. Visually stunning in every aspect, in all the seasons. They make a beautiful specimen tree. There are a number of magnolia soulangiana in my neighborhood – a community which dates back to the early 20th century. It was a popular tree then, and the old trees I see now are still beautiful and healthy. But their flowers can be a victim of a bumpy spring season. A late frost can can damage the blooms, or worse yet, reduce them to puddles of brown mush. A flash frost can leave brown petals dangling from the tree branches. This is a very unattractive and disappointing outcome.  Magnolia Stellata is another victim. Mine blooms generously and over a goodly number of weeks only one year out of three or four.

I have three magnolias in my yard which are surely 20 years old by now. The cultivar is named “Galaxy”, which is a National Arboretum plant introduction. The following is from their website:    ‘Galaxy’ is an F1 hybrid selection resulting from a 1963 cross between Magnolia liliiflora ‘Nigra’ and M. sprengeri ‘Diva’. ‘Galaxy’ first flowered at 9 years of age from seed. The cultivar name ‘Galaxy’ is registered with the American Magnolia Society. Released in 1980. Magnolia ‘Galaxy’ is unique in form and flower among cultivated magnolias. It is a single stemmed, pyramidal, tree-form magnolia with excellent, ascending branching habit. ‘Galaxy’ flowers 2 weeks after its early parent M.‘Diva’, late enough to avoid most late spring frost damage. Adaptable to a wide range of soil conditions”  The late flowering is almost an essential condition for a good choice of magnolia in my zone.  The other condition this tree favorably adapts to is its upright habit of growth.  I live on a very small city property without the room necessary for a wide growing tree.  Even the neighborhood shade trees in the right of way look unhappy, having been  jammed into a space that is too small.

As for the flowers, when they are good, they are glorious. The oversized multi petal blooms are the showgirls of the tree flowering world. No other tree can compare, no matter which cultivar you plant.  This year, the flowers are beyond fabulous. Not only are the flowers large and robust, the branches of all 3 trees are covered with flowers. They started to open 3 weeks ago, and I could watch that process unfolding day after day. The chilly weather played a big part in creating a lengthy blooming season. Much like cut flowers held in a refrigerated room, cool air temperatures prolong flower life. Once the flowers have been in bloom for a while, the branches begin to leaf out. There is that brief moment where flowers and leaves are vying for attention.


All trees flower.  Some tree flowers go unnoticed, they are so small or otherwise inconspicuous. These magnolias are interplanted with three Parrotia Persica.  Related to witch hazel, parrotias produce small red tassel like flowers along the branches in early spring. The red color is equally subtle. I rarely notice the flowers, unless it is a heavy blooming year, and I am standing nearby.  Some flowering trees alternate heavy bloom years, as if the recovery from all the energy expended to put on that show takes a long time. Dogwoods and Yellowwoods have a blooming routine like this.

It’s easy to feel ambivalent about spring flowering trees. Do I like them?  Some years they all seem breathtaking and gorgeous, like the most beautifully orchestrated and dramatically choreographed ballet ever staged. Other years I avert my eyes at the silliness.  How can any plant as stately and serious as a tree have pink flowers?  I must be having an on year;  I am thoroughly enjoying my trees, and all the other spring flowering trees I am seeing in lavish bloom. The lavish part plays a significant role in this. Conditions favorable to significant bud set the past growing season has resulted in a bumper crop of flowers this spring season. Any plant blooming its heart out is just cause for celebration.

This first week of May is the beginning of the end of it. The subtle sound of the petals dropping on my driveway can be heard,  should I make a point to listen. As the petals pile up, so do the memories.

Spring.  This is it.

Posted on: May 9, 2025 15 Comments
Filed Under: seasonal plants, trees, Deborah Silver and Co Inc, Spring

The Landscape Finish

I have written a number of posts about this very special project that has taken better than a year to complete. I have saved the landscape finish for last, as that part had to wait for the walls, terraces, stairs, driveway and pergolas to at least be underway before we could begin. A close friend suggested that I post before and after pictures. When designing a landscape for a period home such as this, the outcome needs to be convincingly tuned in to the aura created by the architecture. Meaning it should be tough to differentiate between what was, and what is new. So before and after pictures can help illustrate that process. My client discovered a stack of old photographs in the basement after she purchased the home. The above picture she dates around 1925.

My first visit to her new house revealed a stately old home with an aging landscape. The driveway was very close to the front door. A limited planting space in front of the house years after planting produced a hedge of yews well over the bottom of the ground floor windows.

A brick wall between the sidewalk and the drive was covered with euonymus sarcoxie. Planted between the driveway and the walk, an ailing maple whose girdling roots had heaved itself and the sidewalk out of level.

A new drive positioned a more generous distance from the front door enabled room for planter boxes under the windows, and some breathing room for landscape and lawn. The house has become the focal point of the landscape, and there is sun at the front door given the removal of the maple. A lovely and existing multi stemmed serviceberry at the corner was preserved, and integrated into the new landscape.

The view into the side yard was typical of an old landscape. More than likely some plants had died over the years, and not been replaced. As the trees grew, the advancing shade proved difficult for plants in their vicinity to thrive. The ground sloped dramatically away from the house.

The finished front yard landscape renovation features that serviceberry tree. And a reconfigured grade. The replacement of the existing driveway meant its location could be changed, and the abrupt change of grade from the house to the property line could be softened. The boxwood planted across the front of the house was extended all the way across to the lot line. That placement visually extends the front yard landscape. In the center, a large break in the boxwood signaled the entry into the side garden. That side garden would become its own room with a view from a restored terrace off the sun porch. It would also serve as a transition space from the front to the back yard. The house sits on a corner, which present both problems and opportunities.

The idea was to respect the period, age and architecture of the house in such a way that it also reflected my client’s somewhat more modern aesthetic. A restricted palette of plants, and a massed planting can be both both classical and contemporary in feeling.

The side yard finish reveals the concession made to the original grade at the house.  A flagstone retaining wall 20″ high allowed for a flat surface on which to walk. I do not know how many yards of sand and soil were added to create the flat lawn areas you see in the above picture, but it was a huge number.

restored version of original side yard terrace off the sun porch

This side yard photo from my first visit dramatically illustrates the sloping grade.

detail  of that area 2017

This recent picture of the side garden was taken just after the installation of the fence and gates.The curved sections of fencing repeat the circular shape of the lawn panel, and then proceed straight to a terminus at the house, and the brick wall on the property line.

2019

2019

2017

lawn panel rear yard, 2019

This photo illustrates how the original terrace on the right side of this picture was enlarged to encompass all three sides of the sun porch. A wide flight of limestone stairs down to the fountain garden and cloister deals with the abrupt change of grade in a graceful way.  The seat height brick walls with limestone caps repeats and mirrors the exterior details of the house. This new part of the landscape looks as though it had always been there.

The cloister style pergola has been planted with John Davis and Jeanne LeJoie roses, and Guernsey Cream clematis.

2017

2019

2019

2017

2019

rose garden arbor, fence and gates at the end of the driveway.

2017

2019

2019

2019

After I had made my presentation to my client about a plan for her landscape, she shared several photographs with me. In the 1920’s, the landscape off the rear yard sun porch featured a fountain with a pergola overhead. I was shocked to see that the original landscape in 1920 was a close and original version of the landscape I proposed to my client. That shock gave way to a thought on my part that the design properly respected the history of this property.

2017 sun porch landscape

the view to the house, 2017

the view into the house, 2019.

2019

the view out and away from the house, 1920.

the view out, 2019

the reflecting pool

I am so pleased with the outcome of this project, and even more grateful for that once in a blue moon client that was on board for each and every detail.

 

Posted on: August 9, 2019 35 Comments
Filed Under: trees, Deborah Silver and Co Inc, Plants, Woody Plants, Garden Design, Landscape Design Tagged With: ,

Cornus Kousa

From the Missouri Botanical Garden website, read the following about the kousa dogwood. “Cornus kousa, commonly called Kousa dogwood, is a small, deciduous flowering tree or multi-stemmed shrub that typically grows 15-30’ tall, with a vase-shaped habit in the early years but eventually maturing to a more rounded form. Bloom occurs in late spring. The showy parts of the Kousa dogwood “flower” (3-5” across) are the four narrowly pointed petal-like white bracts which surround the center cluster of insignificant, yellowish-green, true flowers. Flowers are followed by berry-like fruits (to 1” diameter) which mature to a pinkish red in summer and persist into fall. Fruits are technically edible, but are usually left for the birds. Oval, pointed leaves (to 4” long) are dark green, but usually turns attractive shades of reddish-purple to scarlet in autumn. Mottled, exfoliating, tan and gray bark on mature trees is attractive in winter.

This matter of fact description does not begin to address the beauty of a kousa dogwood in full and glorious bloom. I doubt I have ever written about them in the 10 years I have been publishing my garden design journal. Primarily as I have never ever seen them so spectacular in flower as they are right now. The kousa dogwood is native to Japan, Korea, China, and Taiwan.  They are rated as hardy and thriving in zone 5 to 8, but my experience suggests they can act a little hostile towards our baking summers, and heavy clay based soil. They seem to favor thin compost rich soil on the acid side that drains in a twinkling of an eye. I do find they perform better than American dogwood (cornus florida) in general.

My theory seems to have some support. This has been the rainiest and coolest spring I can ever remember. We have had many more rainy than dry days. It was 48 degrees this morning, and barely 60 degrees this afternoon. The ground is completely drenched. I make an effort to stay out of the garden, even if it means the foot tall weeds are getting closer to 2 feet tall. The grass is squishy. For the Kousas to put on such a rare show of extravagant bloom says there is definitely something in the air that they like.

The actual flowers are small and insignificant.  All of the show comes from the four stiff bright white bracts that surround the flower. In a stellar year, those thousands of bracts overlap one another to produce a solid sheet of white. Even at maturity, a kousa dogwood is small enough to comfortably place in an urban landscape. Sited with some afternoon shade, a routine source of water and great drainage, all a gardener has to do is wait for that one year when all the stars align for a super bloom.

Should you be one of those people who drives the neighborhood to look at holiday lights, a cruise might be in order.  You can spot them for at least a block away. Out of flower, they have handsome foliage, and even more handsome exfoliating bark when they are older-but the star of the once in a blue moon show are the flowers.

In 2009, a hybrid of Cornus Kousa, and the Pacific coast dogwood, Cornus Nutallii, was introduced from the breeding program at Rutgers University. Again, from the Missouri Botanical Garden website:  the dogwood “Venus”  These four trees planted in the tree lawn at my house are young, but they will grow. Even at a 2″ caliper size, I can spot the flowers from several blocks away.

This hybrid is hardier than either parent.  They thrive in full sun, and grow fast when they are happy. The flowers can easily reach 6″ to 7″ in diameter. We have probably planted better than 100 of them since 2011, with only a few losses. They are a little shy to bloom until they have been in the ground for a year or two, but once they start, they are stop you dead in your tracks gorgeous.

They rival the magnolias for the showiest spring flowering tree.  As with Cornus Kousa, Venus flowers in June, avoiding late spring frosts that so often damage the flowers of magnolias.

A pair of small trees I planted 3 years ago are covered with flowers this year.
This shade garden planted some 4 years ago for my clients features a pair of Venus dogwoods. They are especially happy to have them this year.

Posted on: June 17, 2019 47 Comments
Filed Under: Plants, trees, Woody Plants, Landscape Design Tagged With: , , ,

Cinderella

A client asked of we would be able to light a pair of London Plane trees that we planted on either side of her driveway near the road – for the winter season. Of course I said yes. But I should back up. To say that we planted them warrants further explanation. I asked Ralph Plummer, owner of GP Enterprises, to locate, secure and plant a pair of London Planes of substantial size at the street entry of a landscape I designed and installed.

He obliged with a pair of eight inch caliper Planes that topped out at nearly 30 feet tall. I like big elements in the foreground of a landscape composition. That size is a request to focus and a visual invitation. These giant trees frame the view ahead. I had been absorbed with the installation inside the gates. My client made a request to me for a pair of big framing trees outside those gates. I can assure you flat out that my best projects as a designer have a committed and passionate client as a partner.

So back to the lighting of these trees. Of course Rob backed us up at Detroit Garden Works with LED compact string lighting strands that were 110 feet in length, and featured 2000 lights each. We wound the trunks and major branches horizontally with these strands – lots of them. This day in November was 20 degrees. The weather was an enormous challenge to the work, but that is not news where gardening is concerned.

Our lighting via ladders took us up close to 20 feet. My client called to ask when were we coming back to do the rest? I should have known that the limit of our reach on our ladders was a self imposed limit. If the sky was the limit, I was going to need some help. Mike Shecter sent two of his people over with a lift. That machine enabled them to wrap both of the trees much closer to the top.

There are a few landscape companies in my area that offer holiday lighting, but that is a very specialized niche. The purchase and maintenance on a piece of equipment like this has to be very expensive. Not to mention the workman’s compensation policy on people who are working this high off the ground. I was happy to get some help with this project, and even happier that I do not own this machine.

Trees densely wound round with lights is not especially unusual. Many commercial businesses feature very elaborate lighting schemes for the holiday season.  I understand why. The light is dazzling, and uplifting. As in festival of lights. As much as I loved this look, something was missing.

We put together a pair of light garlands in our shop, featuring 100 feet of LED compact lighted zip tied to a corresponding length of LED strands with the larger C-7 size bulbs. As there was no way to draw or describe the installation of the garland, I was part of the install crew. We laid the garland on the ground, and dragged and pulled it until it described a large circle on the ground all around each tree. A ladder, a 6′ 2″ tall person, a 10 foot bamboo stake with a hook at the top, and 4 support people were all we had in the way of equipment.

The lowest point of each loop/swoop is just about 6′ 2″ above the ground. It was easy to have Colin stand underneath the loops so we knew how low to make them. As bright as they are at night, these lights are a little tough to see during the day. The tops of the loops were secured to lighted branches via a zip tie. Having learned this the hard way, I would recommend tagging the ends of each strand of lights with its own zip tie. The technology of these lights is amazing, but they are by no means perfect or foolproof.  If you have a strand go out that cannot be fixed with a new transformer, you want to know the location of the end of that faulty strand. Trying to find it on a cold winter’s day is exasperating, especially considering that this work is next to impossible to do with gloves on.

The gardens added a whole other dimension to the lighting scheme. What was impressive in its scope was now a jewel in the landscape. They have that aura of romance.

I posted this picture that David took the other morning at 8am on instagram. Landscape designer Susan Cohan commented: “Cinderellas!” What a wonderful way to describe them! Though London Planes are stately trees with gorgeous exfoliating bark and luxuriously large leaves, dressed in lights and wreathed in garlands, they are the stuff of fairy tales. Wrought from a very static and hard material, the effect is graceful and dressy.

The snow a couple days ago adds yet another dimension-the warm fire contrasting with the cold ice and snow. Winter lighting and weather play off one another in a way that provides a lot of visual punch while the garden is dormant. They shine forth on all but the sunniest winter days. As sunny winter days are few and far between in my zone, I would not do without the lighted winter landscape.

Several of these pictures were taken by my client. I know she is enjoying them.

I am hoping they make her feel like Cinderella.

Posted on: January 21, 2019 53 Comments
Filed Under: Detroit Garden Works, trees, Deborah Silver and Co Inc, Winter, Lighting, Garden Ornament Tagged With: , ,