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A Dwarf Conifer Garden

I made my first visit to this garden in 2006.  My clients-serious gardeners.  Ray is first and foremost a rock lover.  He collects little rocks, big rocks, boulders-like I said, he loves rocks.  He built a waterfall and pools in their backyard-I was impressed by his efforts.  Janice-she is a committed science teacher, and horticulturally adept.  She is a player.  The two of them asked me to intervene in their efforts.   In 2007, I planted a group of dwarf conifers for them.   

The pond bridge, the waterfall, the pools,the deck, and the perimeter plantings were largely in place when I got there.  I assembled a group of dwarf evergreens I thought would soften Ray’s rocks, and provide year round interest.  They live in a neighborhood; the views to the neighbors-not so good.  They needed a landscape that addressed their sophisticated tastes in plants, that also screened out untoward views. A private garden oriented around interesting and unusual plants.

Proper planting means big spaces in between.  Dwarf conifers grow slowly, but they grow. Some so called dwarf confiers actually attain considerable size when they age. I am by no means an expert on the topic, so I studied up on those evergreens that interested me in terms of shape or needle texture or color.  A few key or central plants, and a supporting cast for each.  The first year-there is lots of bark in evidence. 

My visit today, some three years later-a different story.  They are great gardeners-every conifer has grown, and looks healthy.  I could barely believe I was visiting the same garden.  Dwarf evergreens of contrasting forms, colors and textures had covered the ground.  It may be tough to spot, but my arrangement of dwarf conifers took into account a view of a blue spruce on a community berm at a distance. Blue evergreens-they look their best far away. Study this picture.  That blue spruce far away adds visual depth to what is a small garden. Placing blue needled evergreens far and away adds great depth to a landscape.  Though this spruce does not belong to them, it is part of their garden view.   

The varying textures and colors of greens are very pleasing to the eye.  I would imagine this garden is lovely with a dusting of snow, or on a rainy day.  The best part of evergreen plants is how weather changes their appearance.  No doubt there will be some sort of weather, every day.  Planning a landscape to take advantage of  all of the seasons is worth the challenge.  A good landscape design takes the predictable growing, the weather, and the unexpected issues into account, and still reads strongly.  How this garden looks today pleases me.     

Ray’s bridge has settled down-it reads as part of a whole now, given its green company.  Goldfish swarm the pool.  There is a water lily blooming.  Most everything I planted is growing vigorously.-no garden is without loss and disappointment.   These clients have an oasis of their own making.  They have done all the work of the watering, the pruning, the feeding, the nurturing-the fussing about.  I spent two days there.  They have done four years worth of work.   

I do not mind visiting some projects, years later, with enchantment on my mind.  My favorite clients-those gardeners that scoop up the idea and the installation-and go on from there.  How I admire those clients who understand what it means to take up the reins, and go on. A Princeton Gold maple planted outside the fence, and as far away as possible, lights up the foreground planting.  It was mrecilessly hot and sunny yesterday, but the look here is lush and refreshing.     

This conifer garden-I would have it.  They have looked after it in such a way that they deserve a prize.    I do my share of the work-but a committed steward is everything to a garden.  Some days I would just as soon give away my garden as have it.  Then I have lucky days.  Yesterday Buck accidentally locked himself out of the house an hour before I got home.  All the watering chores got done.  I was only adrift for one second- I got in the fountain, and had a glass of wine.    

Their garden-beautiful.  I love going back, and seeing a project that has no further need of me.

Posted on: June 22, 2010 3 Comments
Filed Under: Landscape Design, Garden Design, Woody Plants Tagged With:

A Landscape In Focus

Every landscape presents something upon which the eye will focus.  Designing with the intent of guiding the eye can be the toughest part of the design process, as you may need to envision something which is not yet there. Or the visiting eye may focus on something to which your eyes have become so accustomed, you literally do not see it any more.  Garbage cans, pool equipment, air conditioning units-these are prime examples of what may be more prominent in your landscape than what you imagine.  I often see transformers and air conditioning equipment surrounded by giant hedges.  I wonder if this hedge style treatment does not in fact draw more attention to an unsightly object than the unsightly object itself. The very beautiful object pictured above, an English trough of considerable age; was placed where the lawn becomes a mixed shrub border. The border itself is quiet and unassuming; the planted trough organized the space visually in a strong and lively way.  The white flowers can be seen from a great distance in several directions.   

Garden furniture can likewise punctuate a landscaped space to good effect. This landscape has a natural and park-like feeling. Though this dining suite may not be a dinner destination, it encourages vistors to linger in the garden by providing seating.  Though the furniture is wirework, it becomes a visually organizing metaphor for the intent of landscape.  Parks usually provide places for people to be, and observe the outdoors.   

This very fine antique English sundial holds court in this landscape.  Aided and abetted by its massive size, striking shape, and pale limestone material, it grabs the eye the moment it comes into view. 

This 19th century French cast iron hound is one of a pair, flanking the entrance to my drive.  I see my driveway twice a day-this makes it an important garden to me.  My picea mucrunulatum is a gorgeous old plant; they were in my front yard when I bought my house 15 years ago.  I moved them to the drive, so I would be sure to see them every day.   The dogs draw one’s eye first, they invite a viewer to look more closely at this beautiful evergreen. 

Not every local point is an object.  These old spikes-who could pass them by? One year I had in my mind to do an annual garden with a little Mediterranean feeling. Those massive spiky heads atop those gnarly trunks-noticeable.  Most of the visual vistors to my shop are the people who drive by every day.  A focal point of this scale is sufficiently significant enough for a quick look.  It might even encourage someone of gardening ilk to turn around and come back for a more thorough look-see. 

This weathered English teak bench is handsome and solid. One hardly notices the browning tips on the boxwood, or the hose.  Some objects have the power to distract one’s eye away from something that is not so lovely.  If I had to have a hose available in the garden, I would want to stash it under just such a bench as this one. 

This landscape has a stunning distant view of a lake, and mature trees.  But this 19th century American made fountain does a great job of holding the entire view together.  In the lawn, a suite of white wood garden furniture.  The furniture helps to visually describe how far away the space is from the spot where I am standing.  It further more organizes the lawn space.   I do love the composition of this landscape from this particular view.  There is a strongly represented foreground, a defined mid-ground, and a dreamy far ground.  The large trees between the lawn and the lake proide a quiet backdrop for the fountain.  They also further define “at a distance” in a visual way.    


This concrete furniture I no longer have, but I did like what it did for the front of the shop.  Concrete chairs are completely impractical for a dining space that gets used every day in the summer, but they are a great choice for providing a focal point in a garden.  I have the luxury of changing what sits between these trees every year.  What pleases you in an ornament, beautifully placed,  can influence the look and mood of your entire landscape.

Posted on: July 14, 2010 1 Comment
Filed Under: Landscape Design, Garden Ornament Tagged With:

Generating Curves

I have a big love for formally conceived and planted landscapes.  Nature does wild, asymmetrical  and completely unexpected far better than I could ever hope to.  A client with whom I have been in negotiations for three years regarding her irrigation system flooding and killing her plants finally came around this spring.  “I see that the trees in the parks do just fine, though no automatic irrigation is in place.”  A client who is observing nature at work-what could be better?  I like to observe nature at work, and create spaces for people based on those observations.  Though I have a big love for the intersection of horizontal and vertical lines, I am the first to admire spaces with beautiful curves.  This design of mine for a steel pergola is organized around the elliptical shape you see in the drawing above. Should it ever be built, the bottom part of the ellipse will be implied, not represented.  Beautifully curved landscape beds imply circular shapes, though all of that circle may not be represented.       

A recent project was all about compound, curving shapes. I generate these shapes by hand; I spray dots on the ground to start.  Should you be generating curved beds, I would recommend the following.  A curved bed needs to be curved from start to finish.  Once even a small portion of  a curve goes flat, it looses impact. Some have luck dragging a hose-this method has never worked for me.  For large curves, a stake set on a proper radius, with a string attached can generate the portion of a circle you need.

Though this lawn panel appears elliptical from this angle, it is clearly circular when you are in the space.  Finding the center of the space took some trial and error, but I was finally able to wrap the string around my landscape paint, stretch it tight against the centering stake, and dot it in.  Circular shapes, and circular sculptures or spheres are visually very strong and stable.  Several cultivars of hosta fringe the lawn panel.  The relationship between this very geometric garden and the naturally planted surrounding landscape provides visual interest. 

Big swooping curves can relieve the feeling that a space is small and stuffy.  The placement of this house on its property means a very large front and public space, and a small back yard.  The addition of a curved granite terrace makes the rear yard feel bigger, more airy.  I know there are those gardeners who edge their beds by hand, but I am not good enough to hand generate a good curve with an edging spade; I invariably go off.   An investment in some edger strip pays off in the long run by keeping lawn out of a bed or terrace. 

For curves to read well, they should be simple and large.  The best way to assess if your curved beds have the impact you are after is to look at those spaces left over when you are done with your curve work. Whether they be the lawn, a pathway, or the property line, those spaces should look graceful too.  Any bed needs to work in conjunction with what is not the bed in order to be visually striking.  

Curves provide opportunities to screen views, or provide a sense of anticipation about what will come next.  This gravel path reveals little of what is to come, as it both curves and drops out of view from outside the gate.  Transitional spaces such as this one are very important in giving a landscape a sense of continuity as you move through it.  Even the smallest yard cannot be properly experienced all at once.

This old flight of stairs and lawn terrace were designed on a very large radius.  All of the attendent plant material was planted in concert with this shape.  In the distance, a circular garden whose center of interest is an antique garden bench flanked by a pair of Georgian pedestals.  This is a very formal but understated design based on the circle. 

This circular fountain is the dominant element of the landscape under construction here.  Curving the retaining wall in the background away from the fountain is a response to the importance of that fountain.  Any gesture that gets repeated emphasizes the importance of that gesture.   


Though the view in to this landscape presents a formally constructed sunken garden in a circular shape, the choice of plant material keeps that formality from seeming out of place with the style of the house.  Gold vicary privet is a plant one saw routinely in suburban landscapes 50 years ago.  It was usually planted as an accent plant, given its astonishly bright leaf color.  In this application, the vicary gives weight to a curved shape located in a space shaded by the surrounding mature spruce. Choosing the shapes of places in a landscape ahead of choosing the plants-a good idea.

Posted on: August 17, 2010 4 Comments
Filed Under: Landscape Design, The Natural World, Garden Design

Deer In The Garden

The idea of sculpture in a garden greatly appeals to me.  Not that I mind museums.  I was taken regularly as a child. If you pushed me, I could describe certain rooms, paintings and sculptures at the Detroit Art Institute fairly accurately.  The medieval sculptures of the saints-my Mom could never figure out why I always wanted to go there first.   As an adult, in my top ten list of most memorable experiences include the Caravaggio exhibition at the Met in NYC in 1985, and the Lucien Freud exhibition at the Met in 2000.  Unforgettable.  These  exhibitions were worth driving to New York to see.

But given my choice, I would prefer to be standing in a meadow over a museum.  In a gully over a gallery.  An art object that keeps me company outdoors-this I really like. I have seen Henry Moore sculptures outdoors in both private and public collections.  In the mid 80’s I lived in New York  just one block from a Richard Serra sculpture-not that it moved me particularly.  But there it was, in the landscape. The lion sculptures outside Tiger stadium delight both the kids and adults that see them.

This is all by way of saying that I have had exposure to fine art in museums, galleries, private homes, and parks.  I happen to believe that fine art is all around me, outdoors. Lots of that-courtesy of nature.  Shopping for a client recently, I parked my car near a row of mature Bradford pears wreathed in nut brown fruit. I had never really looked at that fruit before.  If you are the person that was waving me out of the road that day-I can only say those trees laden with fruit stopped me in my tracks.

A Henry Moore sculpture is not in my future-no matter.  Sculptures made from grapevine would fit right into my garden.  These life size grapevine deer are made in California-woven over steel armatures.  The standing Buck, the grazing Buck, the doe and the fawn-what garden does not have room for one, or a group of them?  Some may say they are craft-and they are finely crafted.  But I don’t find the need to make that distinction.

Some sculpture might never be at ease in a garden.  But these grapevine deer seem to make themselves right at home.  I suppose that is as much about the material as it is about the subject matter.  Grapevine is a wiry and sturdily independent material.  How this California company manages to make sculpture from rigid welded steel forms and wild vines-astonishing.  Grapes grow independent of your issues, or mine.  Constructing sculpture from  such a willfully uncooperative material cannot be that easy.  No grapevine grows parallel to its neighbor.  These deer sculptures may not be within shouting distance of a Henry Moore sculpture, but they please me.

Sculptures such as these easily accommodate a little holiday decoration.  Each figure is hand made, and assembled by one artist from start to finish.  The grapevine is thoroughly sealed to prevent the vine from deteriorating.  This needs be be repeated once a year.


If I had to have a deer in my garden, this would be my species of choice. If you have an interest in acquiring one or many, we do stick them at Detroit Garden Works.   The Grapevine Deer

Posted on: December 16, 2010 6 Comments
Filed Under: The Natural World, Garden Ornament, Holiday Tagged With: ,