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The Garden Cruise July 23, 2023

Detroit Garden Works hosted its first Garden Cruise to benefit the Greening of Detroit since 2019. I feel an intense satisfaction in being able to write that sentence. Perhaps some background for those readers who are not familiar with this event should come first. The Garden Cruise is a celebration of a lot of events. The landscape design that has been my life’s work. The extraordinary relationships created with clients culminating in the building of a landscape project. The selection and placement of beautiful and appropriate landscape ornament that physically centers and metaphorically organizes the landscape in question. And those steel boxes, benches, ornament, fountains and pergolas designed and manufactured in steel by my company, The Branch Studio. The wild shade garden portion of the landscape pictured above, which is part of the upcoming tour, features all of these things. It was designed and planted almost 10 years ago. The rod steel sphere fabricated at Branch Studio is fixed on top of a repurposed 19th century English stone lawn roller set on end – minus its steel armature – as a rather contemporary pedestal. That piece was sourced and purchased in England by Rob Yedinak, and shipped to Detroit Garden Works and offered for sale. The wild garden features shade plants that beautifully represent and thrive in Michigan-so hellebores, sweet woodruff, pulmonaria, brunnera, hamamelis-and hemlocks. The big old spruce had seen better days, but why remove plants of such majestic scale and presence?

These clients are extraordinary people. They have diverse interests, but to the last they are united in their love of this house which is turning 100 years old, their love of nature and the natural world, and their commitment to preservation and restoration. The bricks and limestone slabs were part of a wall in such disrepair that it had to come down and be rebuilt. Those stone and brick elements featured in the walk above were the original wall materials they felt were too beautiful to throw away. They asked me to design something around them. We call this path from the back yard to the front yard “the history walk”. There was story telling. History and artistry. In all my years of designing and installing landscapes, this photograph of my client in his surgical scrubs touring his garden late in the day is one of my favorites. Gardens are good for people.

They also have a big love for entertaining outdoors in the summer. I drew a 20′ diameter circle on the site plan, and wrote the word POOL in the center. Ha! That ignited a firestorm of discussion, most of which had to do with not wanting a round pool. I was able to persuade them that round entertaining spaces are so friendly. And that it would fit handsomely in their oddly shaped lot. I was able to persuade them, once the shock of the suggestion had faded. A final design featuring the change of grade between the house and the rear lot line looked exactly like who it was for.

That is an essential part of a successful landscape design – a relationship that enables work that looks like it belongs to the client and their property. This landscape has been on the tour before, but the way in which it is evolving and maturing makes it well worth another visit.

These clients have invested 25 years in the landscape and gardens on their 7 acre property. They went so far as to purchase the house next door, as it would complete and make whole a natural feature of the land. What an extraordinary thing to do! The property is packed with gorgeous mature trees – some usual fare, and some rarely seen outside of an arboretum.

In recent years I have been involved in the landscape design of those areas adjacent to both the main house and the getaway house. This portion of the landscape has a distinctive contemporary feel that is quite formal. The allee of columnar hornbeams pictured above is at the beginning of a very unusual trimming protocol. The outsides of the trees will be pruned flat, and the interior will be a celebration of the natural arching branches of these trees.

Adjacent and perpendicular to the broad gravel pathway which connects the main house to the other is a 50′ diameter circle of liriope spicata. The texture and mass generated by this single plant is stunning. On a breezy day, it is constantly in motion. What is perhaps the most amazing is that these clients maintain virtually the whole of their property themselves. I am not sure how many containers they have filled with seasonal plants, but that number is big.

In additional to small seating areas sprinkled throughout the gardens, there are plenty of places near the house to leisurely sit and enjoy the out of doors. They have devoted considerable effort to providing a large terrace, pergolas, and furnishings to host friends and family comfortably for meals, parties and celebrations. Plan to spend some time exploring this landscape.

My landscape and gardens have been on the Garden tour every year since they began in 2008. A visit was mostly about how plants had grown. The only substantial change from year to year was the container plantings. This year is not so much different, except for the deck and fountain garden.

I do have new furniture, and a mix of of pots. French glazed pots from Terre Albine so enchanted me that I had to have some at home. All of these particular pots were broken from a series of unrelated mishaps. One of the fabricators at the Branch Studio was able to piece them all back together. I like that these beautiful pots still have a place in a garden, and I love them in my garden.
I am not posting any pictures of the fountain garden. Better that you see it in person. It is completely and shockingly different than it once was. Everything has a life span, including a landscape and garden. This part of my landscape has only been in 2 years.

This client has always had an interest in plants and flowers, but he has a fairly new and more substantial involvement. I was able to redo areas of the landscape to feature more ornamental plants and containers. He is watering his pots when they need it, and keeping his eye on all of the plants.

He is thoroughly enjoying what pleasure the outdoors can provide to people.

A large scale pool which is an entertainment focal point for his family and friends now has the ornamental gardens to go with. A mature hedge of Green Giant arborvitae provides a gorgeous backdrop and lots of privacy to the pool deck. In the immediate foreground is a series of three steel planter boxes fabricated at Branch. A section of a boxwood hedge was removed and planted elsewhere in favor of a seasonal flower display.

This landscape features a formal front yard composed of masses of spherically pruned Green Gem boxwood, boxed smaller scale Green Gems, and Venus dogwoods. A hedge of limelight hydrangeas encloses it all. This pattern of planting encloses a spacious drive court. The house sits high on a rather steep hill, so parking near the house was a landscape priority.

The back yard with literally no flat space has been transformed by a 3200 square foot wood deck made from Ipe. The far end of this deck is 11 feet above the existing grade. Inset in the deck is a three sided infinity edge pool and waterfall. At the far end, a large scale pergola designed with louvered roof panels for shade by Branch Studio provides a shady spot for lounging and dining. The surrounding landscape is informal and lush.

I do hope as many of you as possible who are reading will attend this Garden Cruise on July 23, 2023 from 9am to 4:30pm, and the cocktails and pizza dinner reception to be held at Detroit Garden Works afterwards. So many have asked me to sponsor a tour again, and to write again. I am doing both. It will be an excellent tour well worth the time of any person for whom the garden is a way of life.

All of the proceeds of the ticket sales – 40.00 for the cruise, and 55.00 for the cruise and reception – go to benefit the programs of the Greening of Detroit – an organization whose work I think is crucially important to the City of Detroit. For further information www.thegardencruise.org Tickets can be purchased over the phone or in person at Detroit Garden Works. 248 335 8057.

Posted on: July 11, 2023 34 Comments

Filed Under: Deborah Silver and Co Inc, Parties and Events, Detroit Garden Works, Good Design, Landscape Design

Winter Protection For Boxwood

Boxwood is one of the most versatile and robust growing evergreens available for planting in my zone. There are a number of great cultivars. Green Velvet matures at 3′ by 3′, and keeps its great color all winter. Green Mountain is virtually identical to Green Velvet, but grows to 4′ tall by 3′ wide. Buxus microphylla koreana, pictured above, is hardy in this full south sun location, and can grow to 5′ by 5′. The winter color is a dull orangy bronze. Winter Gem boxwood is incredibly hardy, and grows slowly to about 4′ by 4′. The leaves are smaller, and narrower than Green Velvet.

There are lots of other hybrids available. Vardar Valley is an outstanding hardy cultivar of buxus sempervirens. It matures at 1′ to 2′. The leaves have a distinctive blue green color. As it is a slow growing variety, it is not routinely offered for sale at local nurseries. Most of the boxwood sold in my area is grown in regions where the season is long enough to permit 2 flushes of growth per season. This means nursery can get a salable product faster. Boxwood is graded by width-not by height. A boxwood takes about 7 years to grow to an 18″-24″ size. This makes them relatively expensive to buy, compared to other ornamental shrubs that grow quickly.

Boxwood is indeed a versatile shrub. They make great hedges, as their growth is uniform, and they are very tolerant of pruning. That tolerance makes them an ideal subject for living sculpture. Boxwood pruned into spheres, squares, cones and cylinders are striking and delightful. The large boxwood in this landscape will be kept pruned in spheres. The small boxwood will be allowed to grow together, and will be pruned flat. This garden will have a much different look in a few years. All of these boxwood are Winter Gem. The fine textured foliage makes them ideal for pruning into a formal, strictly geometric shape. Boxwood are quite friendly to other plants. Provided care is taken in the selection of a cultivar for a specific site, they will stay in bounds. These boxwood rectangles are a beautiful foil for the clipped espaliered crab apples. If the face is pruned on a very slight angle out from top to the bottom, they will stay green all the way to the ground. A boxwood which is hard pruned into a specific shape will stay green on the interior.

Boxwood makes a fine tall ground cover under a tree. They are quite shade tolerant. A small landscape such as this is all the more interesting for a change of level. These boxwood are a welcome visual intermediary between the ground plane, and a linden which has grown to substantial size. That they are shade tolerant means they can be sited in lots of places. Naturally grown boxwood make a lovely backdrop for ferns, hostas and shade tolerant perennials. A boxwood provides a green backdrop for the earliest of perennials to appear in the spring. The small textured foliage makes them a great companion for the bigger textured hellebores, and European ginger.

A boxwood would go so far to oblige a gardener who wishes to grow them in containers. They do need large enough containers so there is room to grow. The root ball of a decent sized and well grown boxwood might be larger in diameter that its leafy component. Boxwood in containers need special attention to proper watering. They need to be well watered prior to freezing weather. They will rely on water stored in the stems and leaves to survive they winter, as the water in the container cannot be absorbed when it is frozen. Boxwood in ground has much more widespread moisture available to its roots, especially given how long it takes for the ground to freeze to any significant depth. A boxwood confined to a pot needs regular water.

Pruning boxwood takes more than a good eye. A great job invariably involved the setting of level lines. Relatively level boxwood has a forlorn and unfinished look. This boxwood has been pruned level with the horizon, even though the driveway drops down to the street. The boxwood at the bottom of this drive is quite a bit taller than those plants at the top. Level boxwood has a serene and solid look to it.

Boxwood can help provide structure to a garden. This densely growing shrub provides a simple and strong contrast to the garden elements. This pruning is loosely formal, and softens the stone wall behind them.

I have written about boxwood plenty of times before – I do like them. It was painful to see how many boxwood in my area were severely damaged or killed outright by our last winter. Some were crushed by the huge snow loads. Others in more exposed locations were damaged by the extreme cold. That cold, in conjunction with sun and wind burned the leaves. Leaves that were completely desiccated, died. It took the coming of the spring weather to see how terrible the damage truly was. Some of the boxwood at the shop died outright. The damaged portions will take years to recover.

If you have ever hung a boxwood wreath on a shaded door for the winter, or used cut boxwood in winter pots, you know those stems will dry out, but stay green until the temperatures moderate. Like many evergreens, by the time a boxwood shows signs of stress, it is too late to remedy the problem. Now that fall is approaching, I would urge anyone with boxwood in my zone to spray them with an antidessicant. An antidessicant is a waxy coating with will slow the evaporation of water from the leaves in the winter.

I have heard talk that this winter looks like it may be a very cold winter. Something like last winter. Though boxwood is hardy in this zone, extreme cold, sun, and drying winds can damage them. Though a boxwood may grow out of winter burn, that look is unsightly come spring. If your boxwood are 15 years old, it will be very expensive to replace dead plants with new plants of the size you already own. Last winter was dramatic evidence that winter protection for boxwood is a good idea. I recommend Vapor Gard. It is widely used as an agricultural antidessicant. The main ingredient is pinolene, a natural polymer made from pine pitch. It can significantly reduce winter burn. You can buy it, dilute it 1 part to 20 parts of water, and spray it on your boxwood. If you have lots of boxwood, your tree care company can spray this for you. It is best done on a dry day, before the weather drops regularly into the low forties. The polymer coating will protect those leaves over the winter, and help them retain moisture. Vapor Gard is a natural and non toxic spray widely used on crops, including cherries. It is an easy way to protect your investment. Do read the label-it is not appropriate for every and any plant. I plan to spray all of my boxwood with it soon; one application will protect them the entire winter. The boxwood pictured above from this past spring-heartbreaking. Interested further? http://www.cdms.net/LDat/ld06L002.pdf

Posted on: October 6, 2014 57 Comments

Filed Under: Fall, garden maintenance Tagged With: winter protection for boxwood, winter damage on boxwood, Vapor Gard, antidessicant spray

Silver Leaves

Cynara cardunculus, or cardoon, is also known as an artichoke thistle. It is a member of the sunflower family, and is native to Mediterranean climes. The giant coarse toothed leaves are architectural in form, and incredibly dramatic. A lot of that drama comes from the fact that those leaves are a very bright silvery gray. These silver leaves, in the right light, have a decidedly metallic cast. This amazing photograph of a cardoon is from www.greatplantpicks.org. Great Plant Picks is an educational program of the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden which debuted in 2001 with the first recommendations for a comprehensive palette of outstanding plants for the maritime Pacific Northwest. No wonder this cardoon has such a fascinating and an exotic look to me. I do not garden in the Mediterranean, or in the Pacific northwest.

Silver leaved plants are not coated with some natural form of metallic silver. Many of them have leaves which are covered with very fine hairs that reflect light. That reflective quality makes the leaves appear silvery. According to the Plant Delights website, “The silver color is not a pigment, but rather some type of mechanism that scatters and reflects light. Some plants with silver foliage have a thick coat of foliar wax. Others are covered with fine hairs. A few silver perennials get their luster from blisters that separate the outer and inner cell layers of the leaf.” Silver leaved plants by and large hail from regions that are very hot and dry. That silvery surface is an adaptation – a means by which the plants can survive high heat and drought. Though I garden in a zone which gets regular rain, and infrequently has temperatures over 90 degrees, I love the look of silver leaved plants. This year’s window boxes at the shop-a celebration of silver leaves.

In the window boxes this year, I have planted artemesia “Valerie Finnis”, a blue/silver eucalyptus whose name I do not know, Cirrus dusty miller, a lavender with silver leaves, kalanchoe “Flapjacks”, the trailing artemesia “Silver Brocade”, an unknown silvery white succulent, and artemesia absinthium-or wormwood. I think I have identified these accurately, but maybe not. My knowledge of the names of exotic plants is sketchy. I was not shopping names for these window boxes. I was shopping color.

Some of these plants might be hardy in my garden, provided they were planted in poor, gravelly, and fast draining soil. Others are strictly seasonal for me, as they would only survive the winter in a very mild climate. Some would thrive and return the following year, only given the absence of a winter.

I am not generally drawn to succulent plants, only because they seem so out of place in a Michigan garden. But my container plantings can be comprised of any collection of plants that interest me. The best part of a seasonal/summer container planting is that I am not restricted by what would survive my winter. Most of the annual plants I use in containers come from tropical regions. I do use perennials hardy in Michigan in containers, provided their habit, texture, form and mass is such that they will look interesting all summer long. A columbine, or lupine in a pot has a very short season of interest. The coming of the hot weather – especially the hot nights – takes a toll on them. The tropical plants can handle the heat, should it come.

As long as I have been gardening, much has been said about the hardiness of lavender. Early on, I planted no end of so called hardy lavender, without much success. My longest relationship with a lavender plant-4 years, and 3 winters. Hardiness is not exclusively dependent on winter temperatures. My area is known for its heavy clay soil. Lavender likes perfect drainage – light soil. Drainage is a surprisingly big part of winter hardiness. A new lavender from Peace Tree Farm shows a great deal of promise. From their website: “One of the hardiest lavenders seen throughout Europe and the United States, ‘Phenomenal’ has exceptional winter survival, as it does not have the winter die back that other varieties like Munstead and Hidcote commonly demonstrate. Lavender ‘Phenomenal’ has also shown tolerance to extreme heat and humidity, and is resistant to common root and foliar diseases. Most commonly popular for its silvery foliage and consistent growth with uniform, mounding habit, ‘Phenomenal’ has an elegant flower presentation and fragrance, perfect for fresh and dried arrangements and oil uses.” Hmm. I will have to buy some plants. What summer garden seems like a summer garden without lavender?

For the moment, I plant lavender in containers, never expecting I could plant them in the ground in the fall, and winter them over. This silver leaved plant is just as Mediterranean in its roots as the cardoons. I am happy to have them, one season. Lavender seems very happy, planted with other plants of like persuasion. The range of silvery colors from bright silvery gray to silvery blue gray in this iron cistern all seem visually compatible. I suspect all the plants enjoy the heat absorbed by the cistern.

Proper watering will be key to their success. At Detroit Garden Works, we group all of the silvery leaved and succulent plants together on a table that is a do not water zone. Euphorbia “Diamond Frost” will deteriorate quickly from too much water. The leaves of helicrysum-licorice-will pucker and decline from too much water. Water the silver leaved plants as infrequently as possible, and then some. Your restraint will reward you.

Some of our echeverias only get water from the sky, when it comes. Otherwise, nothing, and certainly nothing from the hose. It may not have been the best year to decide to plant a collection of silver leaved plants. We have has lots of rain, dating back to early spring. Today, it rained all day, and it looks like it will continue to rain all night. My magnolias and parrotias have that lush green tropical look about them. The high temperature today-59 degrees. Not exactly Mediterranean.

Silver, blue, and gray leaved plants are beautiful in containers. The teucrium fructicans, or silver bush germander, in the center of this container, was lovely all summer long. I wintered it over indoors successfully for 3 years.

Plectranthus “Silver Shield” makes a beautiful seasonal groundcover. This small bed on a pool terrace is hot and dry in the extreme. I have never been able to get a perennial groundcover to winter over in this spot. The silvery gray is so beautiful with the pale pink roses, and white washed wall.

Though the miscanthus grass in the center of this container is white, all of the silver leaves surrounding it makes those white leaves glow.

My most successful cardoon planting ever was in a tall container the top of which measured 14″ by 14″. Once it was established, it was happy to be hot and dry.

Some silver leaved plants do well in the shade. This silvery green begonia with silver blotches is underplanted with Shadow King gray begonia, and Pilea “Silver Tree”. Pilea “Silver Cloud” is equally as lovely. Silver leaved plants-I am happy to have access to them.

silver leaves

silver thread leaves

dusty miller

These are the silver gray leaves from a partridge feather plant. Have you ever?

Posted on: June 27, 2015 25 Comments

Filed Under: Plants, Color, container planting, Summer Tagged With: silver leaved plants, silver foliage

Tour Preview

tour3 Every gardener on this year’s tour is passionate about their landscape. How they choose to express it is individual-nothing surprising there. My lot and one half garden is multi-levels, much to the delight of my corgis. I have carved openings in the boxwood for them, and installed bark racetracks; the garden is friendly to them. My landscape is orderly; my pots are anything but-this is how I like it. So serene, with my favorite plants-and some unexpected surprises and punctuation marks. The day of the tour, Fred and Jean are my docents. English born and bred, educated in England in horticulture despite the second World War, they guide guests with their Shitz Tzu’s Oscar and Beckett in tow-just meeting the two of them is a treat. I plan this year to open my shell grotto/reliquary enclosed porch by popular demand-.

Another garden of size is organized around some large sculptural elements carved into the earth. one comtemplative space features old evergreens, beautifully pruned. A wild flower slope, a rose garden-there is so much to see.

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One small urban garden reveals a modernist taste and crisp green and white plant palette. Their old tudor home takes to this surprisingly well. Every inch is thoughtfully tended to. A driveway lined with tomatoes and herbs is a happy surprise. This small property is jam packed with good moves. tour1
Another garden is as colorful and engaging as its owner in the private spaces, and coolly formal in its public spaces. This gardener tells me she likes to feel like she’s on vacation when walks in her rear yard-you will see why. I have every reason to stay home now-she tells me.

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tour14 Every garden has water in one form or another-fountains, a pool; two properties are on lakes. Water-what a great thing in a garden..
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One garden on the tour I have a special relationship with. These two committed gardeners design and plant on their own. My involvement in their garden has to do with pots, and sculpture, and miscellaneous advice-but the two of them have put it all together in their own very distinctive and lively way. It will enchant you. tour10
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Their taste is eclectic, atypical-but it all works, with its own language and style. Their gestures are big and warm. I so admire their confidence and their range. They make it easy to understand the process of taking your voice in hand, and making something of it that is beautiful. tour12
Each gardener’s love for the garden and all that represents, extends to a respect for the work of the Greening of Detroit, and my request that they put their garden on tour. They are all busy planning for company July 19. I am amazed, and so pleased how seriously they all take the prospect of like minded visitors. By Wednesday next, our web site, www.thegardencruise.org, should have the descriptions of all the gardens posted for those of you would might want to check out a more thorough description of those gardens on this year’s tour. We all hope you can make it.