The close of the gardening season is coming up fast. This means I am trying to finish four landscape projects before the coming of the cold closes me out. An old client with a new project-just today we decided to push the envelope. There are bulbs still not in the ground. Garden cleanups not finished. Fountains to drain, leaves to rake, boxwood to protect. An old pergola restored by Branch that needs installation. A new pergola for the same client which will need to be assembled. The season’s end is unpredictable, and always too early. But my season’s end is a a beginning for a Rob. Detroit Garden Works offers keen gardeners a way to celebrate the cold and dormant seasons.
His light sculptures are extraordinary. They are engineered to be easy to install, whether you hang them in your trees, or sink the free standing models into pots or the ground. The coming of the cold foretells the coming of the dark. Gardeners understand that the life of the garden is energized by light. Once the sun sinks low in the sky, and the daylight hours are few, what gardener is not interested in lighting the landscape for the winter?
We have only one event at night per year at Detroit Garden Works. Our winter/holiday open house provides a chance to experience, and review our winter lighting designs. I would not miss this night for anything, and I work right next to him day after day, and year after year. I can bank on a look I have not seen before. Rob has made a mission of sourcing materials for winter and holiday pots-he has been long and strong in this regard for over a decade. Every year he manages to surprise and enchant.
I feel confident that if you should pay us a visit at 5pm on Thursday, you will be treated to a warm and energetic experience of the winter holiday. Whether your taste runs to formal and elegant, or naturally rustic, there will be materials to decorate a holiday or a winter from a gardener’s point of view.
As much as I regret my garden going down, I would prefer to put my best foot forward. Looking forward is sign of a gardener. Dividing perennials in the fall, seeds ordered for spring, the spring flowering bulbs that just went in the ground – planning for the season to come is fueled by hope. We have a holiday and winter season coming up. That season is as much cause to celebrate as any other. Most of our fresh cut twigs and greens will be here in the next week. The landscape crew will switch gears for a month, putting together and installing holiday and winter containers. Incredibly, we are as busy at this time of year as we are in May – and for good reason. No one who loves to garden wants to give it up, even for a moment.
Anything light and light hearted will appeal to those of us who have a long winter ahead.
Our flocked Frazier firs, available by special order, are new this year.
The French blue flocking is an especially sumptuous and elegant color.
I hope you are able to stop by sometime this season-we hope to make the experience a good one.