I would not hesitate for a second, recommending that new plantings be mulched with 2 to 3 inches of bark. Mulch conserves moisture in the soil, and it discourages the germination of weeds. Transplanting is a big shock; a little mulch can be calming. I do not, however, admire decorative mulch, mulch gardens, mulch landscapes, mulch over existing weeds, or mountains of mulch anywhere else beyond a landscape supply yard. Mulch should not be seen or heard from. Whomever designed the landscape pictured above should get a ticket, three points, and a hefty fine. Who would cut giant beds, dot in a few maroon-leaved weigela in no discernable pattern, and call it a landscape? This is a bark garden, just weeks after completion. In a year’s time, the mulch will be a dirty grey, blown about by rain, bikes and wind. All the while organisms in the soil are degrading said bark such that any weed seeds in the soil underneath will soon have optimal conditions to germinate and grow. I shuddered when I saw this, and shuddered again when I realized the clients had no idea the hand that had been dealt to them.
Suburban landscape/ gardens in front yards- in conspicuous lieu of grass-have become quite popular the last ten years or so. Occasionally the news tells the tale of neighbors up in arms over a non-conforming suburban yard whose messy assortment of perennials, vegetables and whatever else threatens to disturb the status quo. The debate about lawn versus garden is immaterial here-this yard is indeed a mess. What I find even more astonishing are the drifts of bark. As if bark over bare dirt,weeds, and some scraggly plants could improve the look here.
No kidding, nature abhors a vacuum. The above pictured bark is a testimonial to the fact that bare or barked dirt stays bare only a short time. Bark slows down weeds at first, but them helps them grow all the more robustly. A forest completely destroyed and buried in volcanic ash will reforest, given enough time. Some landscapes could get that fresh well-tended look if the bark were banished. It is not as if any removal is required. A landscape quick-fix? Plant more of what you already have in your bark beds.
It is difficult to get plants to grow under trees; the shade and competition for water can be daunting. Planting a companion plant at the same time the tree goes in gives everyone involved a chance. I planted rooted cuttings of pachysandra with a weeding fork underneath these English oaks close to ten years ago. The groundcover has taken over the job of the bark. Though a planting of pachysandra is never going to make your heart pound, it is vastly better looking than the bark. The shape and density of growth is enough.
There are lots of groundcovers for both sun and shade. This dwarf hosta is a happy combination of bold texture and ground hugging scale. Not that a groundcover needs to be short, mind you. Groundcover is anything that covers the ground. For your planting trouble, you get a mass of green that conserves moisture in the soil, and discourages weeds. Does this not sound like a good idea?
There is not one thing intrinsically wrong with grass. It is a vigorous groundcover, and it does need to be cut. It is doing amazingly well in the shade of these Bradford pears. It is as much landscape as some people can handle. A grass panel, or sculpture can be strikingly beautiful. Just because a zillion lawn care products exist is no sign you are obliged to use them. Just cut the grass. Even when my garden is weedy and falling over from neglect, I feel better when the grass is cut. I like that illusion of order.
Sweet woodriff is a beautiful groundcover, but it must be sited properly. In too much shade, and in too wet a soil, fungus will prevail in late summer, leaving the garden with brown rotted leaves and bare patches. I am willing to put up with its problems, as it covers the ground under my hellebores so beautifully. My hellebores still seed here, though there is not a square inch of bare dirt to be seen.
A client with a private garden carved into a hillside asked me to redo the space. The shrubs had become considerably overgrown, and a tree had died. The walled garden on the inside has been totally redone. But I was equally as interested in the street side presentation of the garden. The grass was tough to cut next to the brick wall; the grade was sloppily uneven. I stripped the grass five feet away from the wall, and added 20 yards of soil to level the ground.
Five columnar gingko trees of unusual size and shape were planted around the perimeter of the wall retaining that sunken garden.The branches and leaves are beautiful from the second story terrace. I barked the trees, yes, but I also planted hydrangeas as groundcover. Three years later, the view from the street is green. No dirt or bark slides down the hill after a rain. It will take a few years for the trees to grow out of their hydrangea groundcover enough for that relationship to seem right. The secret garden is truly secret now; nothing in the streetside landscape gives it away. It is a gesture with a sporting chance at a future.
Some landscapes appear and feel spacious for no more complicated a reason than they exist on large properties. The Chicago Botanic Garden has many beautiful long views, as it physically sits on 360 some odd acres. How I visually process space has to do with what is called perspective. If I walk in the Botanic garden, and Daffodil Island is in bloom, the daffodils appear to my eye like tiny yellow dots-and lots of them. Daffodils physically measure up at a fairly decent size, but they appear smaller and smaller, the further away they are from my eye. The position of the eye, relative to an object-perspective. The most dramatic illustration of perspective? Picture yourself 5 feet from the KLM 747 Anna Pavlova; the size is overwhelming. A city with wings. 230 feet long, and wings 200 feet wide-my entire property would hold a quarter of this plane. Only moments after that plane is aloft, it appears as a black speck streaking towards the horizon. Once a black speck, I know it is miles from my eye. These Anamese oil lamps pictured above are on the floor beneath me-I know this, as I am looking at their tops. They are also 10 feet away from my eye. 
I am in the process of putting the shop back together, as we reopen for the 2010 season next week. The logistics of this has been a little daunting, as my on my feet time is somewhat limited yet. Luckily my four wheeler has a seat-so I can take a break. This puts my eye at dining table height. The table and pitchers loom large in the foreground space. The exaggeration of the size of the foreground elements moves the background even further back. 
Varying the heights and sizes of the foreground elements helps to give the foreground itself dimension. The visual path your eye takes from one object to the next reveals that each object is in a different plane. A recognition of multiple planes makes for the illusion of space. This is after all, a flat object we call a photograph. But visual space is represented here.
The position and direction of the concrete table in this composition moves the eye into the deep space of the photograph. The table is so wide in the foreground, it runs off the edge of the page. The table width appears much smaller, as the table appears to move back in space. The large masses of table, and lighthouse contrast with the objects on the back wall that appear so small. 
Not every bench in a landscape needs to be placed at the end of a garden. Placed at the beginning, with its back to your eye, the sense of space from front to back is exaggerated. The bench back is like a fence-enclosing the space beyond.
It is important in any composition to direct the eye of the viewer from the front to the back-and out again. The white wood rectangle in this picture frames a view of the foreground appearance of this bench. The frame invites the viewer to focus on what is within the frame. The bench then appears to go back in space-quickly. In the far background-a pair of doors suggesting another space beyond. 
Gardeners make choices based on lots of issues, but most can figure out what appeals to them straight off. Some love old crusty, rusty and well worn antiques; others find that state of gentle disrepair lacks visual punch. Many antique urns have been painted at one time or another; white having been a very popular color. Worn white will either be just the thing, or seem jarring. For others, the prospect of a classical urn leaves them cold-old or new. But if the idea of an urn resonates with you, which you will choose depends on several things. 
Dry cast limestone urns are usually based on classical handcarved limestone designs dating back hundreds of years. Many of those designs are European in origin. Dry cast limestone is a process by which limestone dust is mixed with a binder, and poured into molds. These reproductions are much more affordable than their antique counterparts. Some old designs would not be available at all, but for a reproduction. On occasion I find a piece I feel I must have, with no placement in mind. But a classical European urn may be very much out of place in front of a Cape Cod home. Now would these elaborately footed urns ring right against the backdrop of my own arts and crafts style home. However, they might be elegant and unexpectedly beautiful in a contemporary setting. The location you have in mind should influence your decision.
The scale of an urn is an important consideration. Very small urns may need pedestals to set them off properly. If the shape and decoration of an urn is a good bit of what you find appealing, then they need be placed where those things can be easily seen. Small urns have another significant disadvantage. From a small size follows a small planting area; you will need to edit your plant choices. Perhaps of more importance-how easily will you be able to water, and water again, when the weather gets hot? Small pots dry out faster than is easy to keep up with.
I like urns of a generous size. I have plenty of room to plant-either lots of one thing, or a collection. An urn planted such that in late summer it is a garden bouquet of good size is a pleasure. Watered properly, they retain moisture evenly, over a longer period of time. A container that can wait for me to get there with the hose- this I appreciate. Any urn I plant becomes part of the working garden. A gorgeous urn with a poor planting is a frustration no gardener needs. 
These French art deco style urns have such style and presence one might be inclined not to plant them. The Waterloo Urn I discussed in yesterday’s post is placed out in the open landscape. Unplanted, it could be placed anywhere calling for a sculpture-no need to have water conveniently nearby. 
This lead urn is watered via a tube connected to the irrigation system in this yard. In much the same way as greenhouses tube their hanging baskets, or geraniums, these tubes buy a gardener a little time. They are not really a substitue for hand watering, as the coverage can be uneven, too long, or too short. If the tube runs on a nearby irrigation zone, that pot is at the water mercy of whatever else is being primarily watered. I am more than willing to look after my plantings; some automatic irrigation helps me to hedge this pledge. Those days that I come home really late will not need be a crisis. The level of your ability to maintain pot plantings is an important part of the selection process. 
These concrete pots are English made reproductions, but they have that aged look. The surface is such that I would plant the tall, and vase shaped-nothing trailing. Ala some voluminously opulent Flemish flower painting. There is no choosing these pots if the decorative story being told does not greatly appeal-why cover up what so appealed to you in the first place? In this case, the urns and there plantings need to strike a balance, so they look great in relationship to one another. 
![1660164496_ce85d76e9b_o[1]](https://deborahsilver.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/1660164496_ce85d76e9b_o1.jpg "1660164496_ce85d76e9b_o[1]")
![15a1[1]](https://deborahsilver.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/15a11.jpg "15a1[1]")
When I first got interested in dealing in garden antiques, it was tough going- educating myself about them. Outside of a few well known reference books, garden auction catalogues proved helpful. A garden urn, I learned, is a container with a foot, or pedestal. The small urn pictured above was manufactured by the Coalbrookdale Ironworks in England in the 19th century, and is a handsomely proportioned piece. ![C0671[1]](https://deborahsilver.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/C06711.jpg "C0671[1]")
![256[1]](https://deborahsilver.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/2561.jpg "256[1]")
![831[1]](https://deborahsilver.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/8311.jpg "831[1]")
These American concrete urns on associated pedestals came from the Philadelphia area. They are among the most favorite garden urns that have ever come my way. The bell shape is decorated with what seems like thistles to me. I know little else about them. They are in very fragile condition; I bring them in for the winter. Their rims have been so worn by rain and exposure to the elements that I can see the aggregate in the concrete mix clearly. Stately and frail, they are.![C1311[1]](https://deborahsilver.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/C13111.jpg "C1311[1]")
These diminuitive concrete urns have a highly textured surface, just like my thistle urns. They are old-vintage-pieces, not antiques. The faded red color is unusual, and the shape is beautiful. I could easily see them indoors. Old garden urns are fine unplanted. They have an aura and a presence that needs nothing else, should the sculpture alone please you.
My own Italian terra cotta garden urns on plinths from Mital-I so love them. I trim what ever obscures their decoration. In the winter, I move them to my front porch, and plant them for the holidays. The rest of the winter they are empty, awaiting spring. 
Antique urns take to a winter planting with ease. This client landscaped her yard to celebrate her fine antique footed pots. I completely understand this gesture. 