Deborah Silver is an accomplished and experienced landscape and garden designer whose firm first opened its doors in 1986.
The 2012 fall equinox falls of September 22 this year. At that time, the sun is crossing the celestial equator, and the days will start to get shorter. As the sun igoes lower in the sky in the northern hemisphere, it illuminates everything it touches on a slant. Beautiful light, this.
grass amphitheatre
next to the last of the Sally Holmes
Little Ollie olive
lemon grass
Honorine Jobert beginning to bloom
tree geranium
hydrangeas
garden terrace
stone staircase
I suppose I could have exercised a little restraint in the numbers of pictures that are posted here, but this time of year, who wants to edit?
I expected to feel exasperated-but this scene made me laugh. The cut pussy willows are representing for all the world as if it were spring. At their feet, the remnants of hard packed snow and frozen ground tell a different story. Though it is late March, our weather is quite February-like. This is the late winter hand we have been dealt. We have not been able to do so much outside the shop, as everything is frozen to the ground. Some espaliers breaking bud when the arrived went in the garage. Other, unquestionably dormant, we placed outside-and we hope for the best.
Prairie willow-I am confident it is tough as nails. It grows in the prairies-this means that weather extremes are the norm. I had no problem placing the bunches outdoors; they will shrug off the cold. But what would anyone do with them? Pots, and the soil in them, are still frozen solid. A vase full of prairie willow inside-that would not only be beautiful, it’s just about all we can do. The prairie willow may be fine outside given night temperatures in the teens, but we are holed up, pending a shift of the season. Plants and animals have great mechanisms for dealing with untoward weather. The bears hibernate. The bats congregate deep in caves. The plants go dormant, and stay that way. Lichens go dull in color when dormant. A heavy rain brings them roaring back to an interactive life. Some pine cone seeds will not germinate, unless there is a fire. Other seeds will not germinate unless they have a cold period, or a good soaking. The perennials die back to the ground. They endure the winter, their life on hold- underground.
The first truly warm day of spring-insects hatch, and swarm. The grass puts on a green outfit. The bulbs, long silent underground, push up towards the sun. The process by which the natural world wakes up after a winter is an extraordinary event to witness. Who knows what day will signal sweet release from the dormant season. No doubt, every northern gardener is waiting. Given that people do not hibernate, they are witness to every moment of the winter.
I am a natural organism that does not go dormant. My winter life involves heat and shelter. This means I live through the winter, like it or not. I am not a skier or a snow shoe afficianado-I endure. My experience of the dormant season involves lots of winter gear-coat, boots, gloves, and hat. And the time it takes to get dressed. No doubt, I am a hothouse variety. In Victorian times, miniature greenhouses known as Wardian cases would protect tropical plants from any hint of cold. Rob’s placement of these cyclamen in a Wardian case-his dry and subtle humor at work. Cyclamen cleave to the cold. No need to heat them up. What really needs a place in this Wardian case-all of us gardeners living in northern climates.
The late winter weather aside, we have plants. Potted bulbs. Hellebores. Delivered just today, topiary plants, big and small. Bulb pans overflowing with angelina. Tiny euonymus topiaries. We have had to make a place for the plants under glass, and inside. We heat this space to 50 degrees. Any amount of sunshine will quickly warm it up. From now until the middle of May, this room will be stuffed with plants. The moment the winter weather breaks, every gardener will be looking for plants.
The plants make the space smell great. The hyacinths blooming fill the entire space with their fragrance. Rob washes down the floor almost every day. The resulting humidity is a welcome break from the dry winter air.
Even this stoneware cat has an aura opf contentment, given a sunny spot on a bench.
These double ball boxwood-leaved honeysuckle topiaries are charming in their stump pots. The moss on the surface tells the story. These plants have been grown with heat, water, and some shade.
Euonymus trained into a topiary standard is a great plant for a small space. It is the most luscious shade of green imaginable.
Rosemary on standard, and tubs of lavender have that warm Mediterranean look-not to mention the fragrance.
Rob starts rhubarb in pots early-they make such great centerpieces in spring pots. The large leaves atop red stalks-you can’t miss them. Nothing could be further in color and texture from rhubarb than a lemon cypress. This lime foliaged version of an Italian cypress is not hardy in our zone, though it will tolerate fairly low temperatures. They also look great in spring containers. Plants wintered in a space that stays above freezing grow fast.
Ivy topiaries are great for shady locations outdoors, and they are fairly easy to winter indoors. The vines grow fast if they are happy. Regular snipping to hold the shape is one of those garden chores that is actually a pleasure. How Rob has paired them will simple terra cotta cylinders is handsome.
The shop has a few other places that get good light, and a fair amount of sun on a sunny day. Forced bulbs are good for low light spots indoors. They come already programmed to bloom. If the light is too low, the green of the foliage will fade, and the leaves will stretch and flop over. It’s only natural that plants seek the light-it is essential to their well being.
Even low light tolerant plants will struggle if that low light goes on for too long. We rotate our plants in and out of low light areas, in a effort to keep them happy. Plants placed in the dark too long look as grumpy as gardeners who are stuck indoors.
Hyacinths forced in pots provide a lot of late winter pleasure. The leaves are good looking. The buds are good looking. The flowers will last quite a while, provided they have a well lit spot that is not too hot. Potting them low in a container provides a little support for the big leaves and large flowering stalks.
Spring plants indoors-a way to make the best of the worst of it.
A fence is a garden structure that is easy to identify. A fence is a vertical element in a garden that separates one space from another. Twin fences with soil piled in between is an effective noise barrier. How so? Only soil absorbs and blocks sound. Plants and single layer fences do nothing to mitigate sound. An impossibly tall berm at the road is a fence of a green sort. It separates a personal and quiet space from a noisy and public space by filtering out the sound. Many communities permit the installation of what is known as a privacy fence. No matter the material, any fence of a substantial height (in this case, 6′ tall) provides a physical separation from adjacent properties. Those people who live in urban areas value their privacy. A fence is a simple structure that takes up very little space-in the interest of establishing a boundary. Your yard and my yard have a barrier in between that allows each of us to live our private lives.
Those people who live on vast ranges of land in Texas value a separation that keeps their cattle from wandering off their property. Electrical substations fence their properties to keep unsuspecting others from injuring themselves. The Berlin wall was an elaborate fence which came to symbolize a barrier to freedom. A firewall on my computer-a digital fence constructed to protect my computer from harm. A fence is a person who is a middleman between two parties. The fence is a barrier, or a facilitator, depending on the circumstances. Other fences are purely decorative in how they define a space. A low wall, should it be long enough, qualifies as a fence. This wall/fence does not provide privacy. It does not entirely enclose a space. It makes a beautiful and very friendly statement about the separation between the public street and the private home.
Iron fences designate a separation, but permit lots of light, and a view through. These pillars are massive, and the gate is solid and painted a dark color. The black iron fence can barely be seen, but for the hedge of yews planted on the inside. Why so much discussion about this particular fence? The choice of materials, the color, and the size make a visual statement about privacy.
Like the home in the previous picture, this property is a corner property. Other homes on the block have private back yards courtesy of the house itself. This fence is solid from top to bottom, and has a very contemporary feeling. Make sure that wood fence is installed slightly elevated from the ground plane. A garden fence made of wood needs to shed water and dry quickly. A fence in constant contact with the soil will deteriorate much sooner than it needs to.
This second floor balcony terrace has a fence which is primarily about safety. White or light colored fences usually stand out architecturally, but this fence has a landscape of water and sky behind it. This white fence in a green landscape would make a much more emphatic architectural statement.
This vegetable garden is entirely enclosed by a fence of cedar, and galvanized steel mesh. The idea here is to protect herbs and vegetables from the wildlife. The height of the fence is meant to keep the deer out. The depth of the wire fencing below ground is meant to deter ground hogs and rabbits. Keep out.
Fences of a clearly decorative design satisfy the need for beauty and visual interest as much as a need for privacy. Cedar is a highly rot resistant and evenly grained wood that can make a fence as refined in appearance as a piece of furniture. The design of this fence is especially pleasing, given the stone and grass path below.
Espaliered trees can provide a green fence. In a tight space that needed screening up high, a fence of espaliered lindens was a good solution. The property next door is vacant, and unattended-the property line is in front of the boulders. Were it to be sold and developed, a new house could be very close by. Anticipating the need for privacy permits the time it takes for a green fence to grow. The major horizontal arms have numerous small branches which will eventually grow together to form a green wall. This fence needs more care than most, in the form of yearly, or twice yearly pruning.
Pools require fences of a certain height, and a certain density. An iron pool fence in my area requires a picket every 4 inches. Most communities have rules about fencing swimming pools, as they can be dangerous to a child. These fences are not about privacy-they are about safety. The hydrangeas on the far side of the fence will eventually grow between the pickets. The fence itself will disappear from view, with its ability to enclose and protect unimpeded.
This garden/dog run has a hazel wood privacy fence along 2 lot lines. The Bowhall maples will eventually provide a green screen for the second floor windows. The iron fence encloses the dog run, and is meant to deter coyotes. Coyotes run at, and leap over a barrier. The 18″ wide shelf at the top of the fence, and the yew hedge at the bottom, is a strong deterrent.
I have only seen a fence such as this once. It is beautiful and dense. Fencing from natural materials are easy on the gardening eye while entirely functional.
But of any fence I have ever seen, this has to be one of the most inventive and original. Designed and built by Barry Harrison, partner in Art-Harrison Design Studio in Royal Oak, it satisfies both a need for privacy and a need for green. The cedar posts with integral bird finials were hand carved by Barry himself. It’s easy to see that these pots of succulents would be tough to overwater. This is sure evidence that even the most utilitarian element in a landscape can have great visual appeal.