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Michelle Masters

I am not really sure how I ended up at Michelle Master’s website, but I am sure it had something to do with the fact that I love landscapes, gardens-and all of God’s creatures. That is, except for slugs, snails, Japanese beetles and woodchucks.  Michelle is a very talented watercolorist, who has put her talents to use designing notecards, linens and fabulous etceras featuring her art work. We plan to carry all of her work-as soon as this current project is in production. After many emails back and forth-I sent her photographs of my corgis.  What came after that-check it out.  Milo is thinking he needs an agent, and Howard is embarrassed by the whole affair.  This post-a welcome relief from all the heat.      www.michellemasters.com/blog

Taking Charge Of The Clock


The new owners of the business that is right next door to my shop has not, to my knowledge, used their automatic irrigation system during the past two years.  It shows.  I installed the landscape for this storage company probably 14 years ago; the owners took great pride in the appearance of their business.  As I cannot imagine that whomever owns this place now would want to pay what it would cost to replace the landscape, I choose to conclude that they have neglected to take charge of their clock.  Their irrigation clock.  I cannot imagine upon seeing these Annabelle hydrangeas, they would not run to the clock, and switch on the water. 


The landscape is in serious water distress.  The crabapples are shedding leaves trying to stay alive by having fewer areas that are loosing water; I actually think the grass is dead. As I would rather write about a property owner who has a water problem they are trying to solve, I have a story. I do have a good client who lost three newly planted trees this spring; they drowned.  It has been a process of trial and error to sort out the drainage issues from the irrigation problems.  Upon engaging a new company to troubleshoot their irrigation system, numerous problems in the design and maintenance of the system became apparent.  As an irrigation system is installed underground, you cannot spot the problems until they show up in the form of dying plants.  Too much water can be as deadly as too little.  Should you be so fortunate as to have in ground irrigation, you have a great tool within your grasp to provide water to you plants when they need it-without dragging the hose.  The key-learning how to take charge and program your clock. 

My clients were fortunate to secure the services of a first rate irrigation company.  When I say first rate, I mean there is a thoughtful and thorough person at the helm. He repaired all of the leaking pipes and heads.  Then, he went to the clock.  Most of what I will be covering regarding managing an irrigation system is paraphrased from what he took the time and trouble to explain to my clients.  First and foremost-an irrigation system is not your big brother.  It is a machine that needs to be programmed, depending on the season, the weather, and the types of plants you are watering. 

In the early spring, and in the later fall, when the temperatures are not above 60 degrees during the day, cut back on the water.  When the weather is cool, the evaporation of water from the ground slows considerably; one a week watering is fine.  Once the daytime temperatures go above 60, set your grass zones to run every other day for ten minutes. This is a benchmark that may work for you, or not-but it is a place to start. Grass in shadier spots where the evaporation rate is less, water less.  Grass in full sun next to the asphalt pavement may need 12 minutes every other day.  As grass can survive without water for 60 consecutive days, take the time to set the clock, and adjust the times if necessary.  When it pours rain for two days, shut the machine off.  

Shrub beds, trees, and established annuals need less water than grass.  Check to be sure you lawn zone is not accidentally watering a shrub bed-that bed may be getting unneeded overlap from one zone to another that could damage those shrubs.  Established trees and shrubs rarely need that much water, unless there is a drought-so resist the urge to water by rote.  Always err on the dry side.  If things look wilty, turn the time set to water on the clock up.  If things look brown, turn the times way up.  If things look saturated, or yellowish, turn the clock to the “Off” position.  Automatic means just that-whether it is hot or cold, whether we have had 2 inches of rain yesterday, or no rain for a month, an irrigation machine will continue to water that the same time and rate as the last time you looked at your clock and set it.

Taking 15 minutes a month to tune up your clock will save you countless hours and effort dragging a hose.  Both Rob and Steve handwater everything-but their properties are small.  I will say that though they have no automatic irrigation, both of their landscapes are happy and healthy.  As I said, err on the side of too little. 

Automatic irrigation sends water into the air via a nozzle, or head, that is set to pop up once the irrigation goes on. Some nozzles that cover vast areas of lawn rotate as they spit out water.  Smaller areas of shrubs or perennials may have nozzles called mist heads, that cover a much smaller area. Common to every nozzle is a flow rate.  A good irrigation contractor will adjust the rate of flow of water after assessing all of your existing conditions.  If you have zones that overlap, or zones in shade, you may want to reduce the flow.  Less gallons per minute.  But once your contractor has tuned up all of the mechanics to the best of his ability, thre responsibility for running that system will fall to the property owner.

Airborne water droplets evaporate quickly.  You may use 100 gallons of water, of which only a percentage reaches the roots of the plants you are trying to water.  For this reason, in ground irrigation is not designed to water new plants.  Hand watering, that puts the water to the crown and roots is a necessity.  A dusting of water over top a plant that has not yet sent out roots into the surrounding soil is not enough.  New plantings need to be watched-and have your hand put to them.  A babysitter will not do. 

I will be the first to say that irrigation clocks were designed by some engineering type whose thought process is pretty much alien to my own.  My clock is far too complex-just like my Suburban.  I need forward, neutral, park, stop and go-I have 58 separate positions possible for the driver’s seat.  This is vastly more than what I really need.  I still have to call my irrigation person with questions about the clock.  For certain, the one thing I have done that I find invaluable-a map of all the zones, and what they cover, pasted up next to the clock.  I am only now learning how to change the duration of time on any zone given the percentage feature.  When it is extremely hot-over 85 degrees, I up all the times on all the zones 140% to 200%.  Ordinary summer hot, 85 degrees or less, I may water at 100%-130% of my normal time.   


As I said first up, every bit of this came directly from, or is paraphrased from from Jack Linderman, who owns The Living Painting.  Should you need some thoughtful help from an excellent irrigation contractor, I can recommend him.  www.thelivingpainting.com.

Sunday Opinion: Shopping

I will be the first to admit that I shop for holiday gifts via the internet.  It is an amazing convenience for a working person like me.  Not that I take the easy way out.  I do try to make the effort to research for those things that are out of the ordinary. I read most every day the Canadian blog Poppytalk-I so love how they provide a market for independent and small business people who create distinctively individual and enormously creative objects. Check out www.tinytoadstool.com.  Is her work not astonishingly inventive and beautiful?  I found her via Poppytalk.       

I can explain further why shopping on line is a big help to me.  Anyone involved as I am in a retail store is incredibly busy this time of year. The shop gets outfitted for the holidays between October 15 and November 15-this takes every bit of 30 days.  My landscape company does an astonishing number of winter and holiday projects between November 15 and December 20th. Most of those projects I have not photographed yet-no time yet. I design,  run a crew, and fabricate.  I make things for the store in my spare time.  It seems like I am working in the spaces between the days too. The shop grounds need dressing  for the winter-I plan to finish that up tomorrow. I am late on the finish-I didn’t have an idea I liked until 3 days ago.  My Sundays are a mix of planning the week ahead in the morning, and working the shop in the afternoon. The Sunday opinion post-over a slow weekend, I write it Sunday morning.  Over a fast paced Sunday, I do it Sunday night or Monday morning-as in now.  Even the weekly/daily posts get behind, though I try my best to keep up.  This leaves me not so much time to shop.  I have a brother I adore, and a sister in law I adore even more- in Colorado.  Shopping for them, and Buck, and my close friends is a serious business.  I fret and fume over locating the perfect thing for each of them.  Not that I mind this.  All of them are worth every minute I spend.  Should Christmas get too close without a clear sign, I err on the side of being on time with something.  They never seem to mind if a special holiday gift arrives just after New Year’s, but a gift on time counts for much.  I never shop my own shop for for the people I love-I doubt I need to explain this.

Shopping for Deborah Silver and Company, or for Detroit Garden Works is a much different kind of shopping.  Were I able to make internet inquiries and purchases for materials for my landscape company and store in the time it takes to click, I still would not do it.  In fact, sourcing great materials involves much more than an email enquiry.  But more importantly, we are known for a collection you will not find elsewhere.  A collection based on the eye and experience and aesthetic point of view of our group.  Rob travels overseas and all over this country to auctions, antiques markets and shows. He shops local markets.  He drives places he has not been, with the express purpose of maybe meeting people who make or collect interesting objects and plants. Over the past 18 years he has met no end of small independent business owners who have very special products to sell.  On occasion, he will be able to convince them to produce their glazed terra cotta pots in a color they do not ordinarily do.  Or in a sized they have not done before.  Their willingness to accomodate his special requests has a lot to do with the fact that he made time to go and meet them in person, and cultivate a relationship.  We may reorder from a vendor once we have established a relationship with them, but in the beginning, all of our buying is done in person. 

My landscape superintendent Steve Bernard travels extensively over the winter, sourcing plant materials, tools, new techniques, and landscape materials.  This means he visits nurseries and growers all over this country. He reviews their material, and their growing practices.  When he buys, he buys specific plants. Viewing in person-there is no substitute. Some of my relationships with growers date back to the 1980’s.  When I worked for Al Goldner, he insisted that everyone travel to meet growers and hybridizers.  He taught me to do this, and I have done so ever since.  Shopping like this takes lots of time, effort and committment.  Plane tickets.  Meals and lodging.  Car rentals, phone charges.  Days away from home.  Some trips prove fruitless, but no matter; we keep looking.  Our interests evolve. One thing can lead to an intriguing another, should the effort be made.  I do this so my clients get the benefit of our collective eyes.  I do this so both the shop and my landscape company stay fresh and vital.  I also really enjoy it; it’s satisfying to find something new and beautiful.  There are lots of beautiful things out there-it just takes some effort to find them. 

I cannot buy ribbon for the holidays via the internet, or a catalogue.  I need to see it in person-I need to put my hand and my eye to the spool, and decide if it represents our idea of useful, interesting, and beautiful.

Once A Year. This Is It!

We have been slammed at the shop since this past Monday.  Detroit Garden Works conducts one sale a year.  From the day after Christmas until January the 8th, we put every holiday item on sale for 50% off-and everything and anything else in the shop at 20% off.  Should you be a gardener interested in a bit of a bargain-once a year, we oblige.  This is it.  Jenny has plenty of pictures posted; www.detroitgardenworks.com.  After the 8th, we are open by chance or by appointment until March 1.  This gives us some time to travel, shop, repaint, clean, and plan.  So should you have a mind to drop by after January 8, email us, call ahead, or knock on my front door.        

Gardening might be best defined as a “this is it” pursuit. Should I neglect to plant crocus in the fall, I will have plenty of time regret it, come spring.  Should I not take the time to see and enjoy my March crocus, I might miss them. A two day span of exceptionally cold weather-those flowers will vanish-until next year.  There are times when I might turn back the clock, or ask for an extension-but time waits for no garden. Tune in to the crocus, or wait until next year.   

The hellebore flowers are not nearly so fragile.  They stay with me for a while in late March and April.  I make it my spring business to look at them every day.  Planting them on the driveway was no accident; I have two chances every day to enjoy them.   How the flowers emerge from the ground, mature, and dry right on the stalk is a process that takes weeks.  But once those weeks pass, hellebore heaven will have to wait until next year.  I leave the flowers be, hoping some seed will mature, drop and grow.        

I may photograph the tulips outside my office every day.  Like the hellebores, observing their manner of emerging from the ground and growing is a yearly treat.  The flowers are glorious.  They come in an extraordinary range of sizes, colors and forms.  For my pots in the garage, I bought smaller numbers and as great a variety as I could.  Why not try as many as possible?  I was caight flat footed by the early cold this fall; the pots were outdoors a little too long. Every time I look at these pots filled with dirt, I search for signs of a bulb-fest to come.  Nothing doing.  I’ll have my this is it moment, for better or for worse, months from now.     

With the exception of double bloodroot, no flower is more fleeting than the magnolia.  Really cold spring weather can shut down the show before it even opens.  No matter than you have a valid ticket. Should I be so fortunate to have a good show from my Galaxy magnolia, I can be assured it will not be a long one.  I have 2 chairs and a table on my upper deck.  They are placed to take advantage of the aerial view pictured above.   I may need a coat and hat, but I am out there. The ephemeral beauty of everything that blooms in my garden has much to do with why 2011 will be my 33rd gardening season.   

I cannot remember another year when the roses were this prolific. 2010 provided spectacularly great growing weather from early spring through June.  This John Davis rose of Janet’s was smothered in flowers for weeks. Wherever I saw roses, they were glorious.  Janet, who devotes her summer gardening life to her roses insisted that I come and spend some time with hers.  I am so glad I did.  On both of our minds-is this it?  Is this the best the roses will ever be?    

Even the Queen Anne’s Lace in the field was lush.  Regular rain early, and a very hot and dry July made the meadow next door look dreamy.  This was nature at its weediest best.      

The sunflower season is one of my favorites.  I buy them at market as often as I can.  There is not a form shape or color I do not like-although the orangy brown varieties seem a little silly.  I like my sunflowers to remind me of the sun, and sunny summer days.  I like to have bouquets of them throughout the season.  These stems I stuck into a large brick of oasis taped into a clear floral dish.  Sunflowers are big, heavy and unwieldy.  Worst of all, the water fouls quickly, and needs frequent changing.  I set this dish on top of a glas vase full of water which I tinted yellow with food coloring.  Amazingly, sunflowers last for days out of water altogether. 

By the time my Honorine Jobert anemones start blooming, I know the end of the season is not long off. The cooler nights make this once a year display go on for quite some time.  But once the nights turn very cold, the flowers vanish-until next year.   


The fall color on the Boston Ivy was short lived this year.  Some leaves dropped from cold before they turned. The color-not so great as it was in 2009.  But I had no complaints.  Once a year, I have my chance to enjoy it.