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A Favorite Place

I have my favorite places.  What makes for a favorite place?  A client with an eye for beauty and a committment to the garden.  A client who is always willing to try something new.  That said, an ancient and sparsely foliated scotch pine flanks the front door-Mr. will not now, and not ever,  let me touch it.  This too makes for a favorite place-strong feelings.  The Australian tree ferns I have wintered in a greenhouse for them for about 10 years.  We cut them back to the main trunk in the fall.  By spring they are leafing out vigorously.  This year I underplanted them thickly with maidenhair ferns.    

A pair of chimney pots got planted with an unknown begonia-I like the leaves.  The rusty colored hairs on the stems and backsides of the leaves look great with the rusty brown pots.  Lime licorice grows anywhere for me-sun or shade.  That pale chartreuse color will highlight those deep green leaves.

Planting day was a sunny day-so my pictures are not very good.  A lime, lavender, purple and yellow color scheme is enlivened with an occasion burgundy potunia-just for emphasis. Vinca maculatum will trail dowen long on the far side, as will the misty lilac wave petunias.

The small box got cactus flowered purple dahlias, purple angelonia (new this year) lanai blue trailing verbena, white petunias and lime licorice. 

A pot nearby has a yellow and peach bicolor dahlia, and a skirt of dark red violet trailing verbena.  I like the forms of the plants together as much as I like the color.  I like the contrast of the big dahlia leaves to the slight-sized verbena leaves.  Plants have visual relationships on a lot of levels.   

The centerpiece of this pot is a double (also known as hose in hose) datura.  I caution anyone who grows them-every part of a datura is poisonous.  The plants smell poisonous.  If you cultivate this beauty, wash your hands after you touch it.  Beyond the warning label lies a gorgeous big leaved plant with giant flowers.  A diminuitive white and lavender veined mini petunia against lime licorice is a cooly tart, and small textured mix.  The datura will be the star of the show.

The perennial garden at the pool is just coming to life.  The peonies are out, and the roses are not far behind.  The purple alliums show well from the second floor deck; this is a garden primarily viewed from above.  We add some nicotiana and verbena bonariensis between the tall perennials, and plant an annual border to soften the edge of the pool brick.  This year, showy oregano, appleblossom petunias and heliotrope will fill in and cover the soil.   

When my client asks for herb pots, she is really asking for basil pots.  I did a pair.  Leeks in the middle, and everbearing strawberries with pink flowers at the corners. Lots and lots of basil.  This I understand.  Its pungent smell and taste-irresistable.

This trio of pots feature an old variegated ivy topiary, and a single ball boxwood topiary.  The boxwood got an underplanting of variegated licorice; the third pot is stuffed with a dahlia.  The pots are from Francesca del Re in Italy.  The are very simple, handsome, and frostproof.  The clay is so loaded with minerals that the pots are very strong.  We make sure no water collects in them over the winter.  Freezing water expands as it becomes ice-this process can damage pots.  These terra cotta pots have been outside for a good many years.

This wildly natural rosemary has belonged to my client a long time. The only thing we prune is the rootball; this plant has a life of its own going on.  This year, we underplanted it with white polka dot plant-I think I am going to like this. 


My first project with this client many years ago involved digging up every plant she had, and rearranging. This took 2 days.  There were lots of projects after this-not the least of which was the most romantic garden wedding I have ever been involved with.  My client-she drove that bus.  The story of the driveway?  The drive needed to be enlarged; the original brick was no longer available.  We took up all of the old brick, and reused it with a new brick in an entirely different pattern.  All of the pale brick you see here is original.  The two colors of dark brick are new. It looks entirely believable; the mix of old and new reads as one thought.  The 12 year old waxleaf privet topiaries got planted back in their summer home-they are just about to bloom.  Most every bit of this garden-swell.

Had I But Four Square Feet…

Alice Harding, whose book “The Peony” is a classic on the subject of growing peonies once remarked, “Had I but four square feet of ground at my disposal, I would plant a peony in the centre, and proceed to worship.”  My sentiments exactly.  But there are other plants that might make muster in my four square feet.  Most certainly nicotiana would be high on my list.  My three foot square Tuscan box is full of them at this moment, and they are looking good.   Henry Mitchell describes peonies as “that rare combination of fluff and majesty”-nicotiana could not be further from that description.  

The flowers are utterly simple.  A long slender tube fans out at the end into 5 distinctly scalloped lobes.  They look back at me with that guiless and frank signature look.  The nod in the breeze.  Can you tell I really like them?  There are lots of species, hybrids and cultivars; I like them all.  Nicotiana sylvestris grows better than 6 feet tall, always needs staking, and attracts every aphid in the neighborhood-so I rarely grow that. The diminuitive nicotiana langsdorfii is a charmer.  

Perfume purple and Perfume white are lovely.  They seem to maintain that same graceful spacing along the flowering stems as the species nocotiana alata.  Shorter nicotiana, such as the Avalon series, have densely bunched flower heads that lack grace to my eye.   

By far and away, my favorites are nicotiana alata lime, and nicotiana mutabilis.  I like them even better, grown in a mix.  Nicotiana mutabilis grows tall, and also needs staking, but it is worth the trouble.  Hundred of white, pink, and rose pink flowers grow on the same plant.  It is never better for me than it is in September; it will put on incredible growth in the fall.  The tiny flowers are always fluttering over something. 

They are not fond of really hot weather, so I have no idea what will become of this planting. Those that talk weather are saying it will be really hot here for another month.  You wouldn’t think this giant pot would dry out very often, but it is a rare hot day that I do not have to soak the corners.  Do I water parts of container plantings-absolutely.  I did soak it thoroughly this morning, knowing there was a possibility our temperature would hit 100 degrees today.  So I had time to take a long look.    


What else am I growing here?  Pink mandevillea, white angelonia, Persian Queen geranium, white mini petunias, and white variegated trailing plectranthus. I have an event going on here-a nicotiana fest.

Sunday Opinion: Participation

In my opinion, participation should be a recognized Olympic sport.  Just like you, I have watched the gymnasts push strength and flexibility to astonishing limits.  The skiers hurtling down steep slopes that would scare me half to death-how do they do this?  The swimmers gliding through water as if it were air, at record breaking speeds.   The ski jumpers,  high jumpers and long distance runners-could I in any way be related to them?  The luge competition-how does anyone come to love to hurtle down a winding path of ice at incredibly high speeds?   

Should the Olympic commitee decide to revise their list of sports, I might be game to try out in a few areas.  The “water until you are blue in the face” contest, I believe I could qualify for the American team. The “plant,  maintain,  mourn, and replant”  sporting event is right up my alley. The endurance digging event-I would have a sporting chance to finish in the top 20.   I cannot believe I would not be a contender for a gold medal in hand wringing.  I might even consider the pruning competition.  The world series of annual planting, which would of course take place over 4 months-this I might try out for.  My trying out for any of the aforementioned sports implies that I have a big dose of the persistence gene.  Those people who run the 60 second dash, and the marathoners or triathalon people could not begin to compete with me over the long run.

I participate in my garden.  When I am not participating-I see all the signs.  Most things that languish or fail-I am to blame.  I am too tired to water.  I do not take the time to figure out what isn’t working.  I let this or that slide until I have a problem right up close and undeniable.   But in general, I am really persistent.  I still love planting and growing-I have been actively involved in this pursuit for 36 years. 

 But all of my persistence with a landscape project involving a client does not amount to a hill of beans, unless I have a partner/client who participates.   It is not their job to know how to participate.  It is my job to make an outline, coach, and communicate.  But I know my limits.  I cannot force anyone to participate-nor would I want to.  There are those who have no inclination to participate; this I admit, reluctantly.  Nurturing a landscape relationship that is about to catch fire is much different than mounting an eloquent defence.  I hate defending.  I like connecting about a goal to be determined.

 The gene for participation has to be there.

This participation gene is a big and easily recognizable gene.  I saw it all over the place, all day long, at the garden tour last Sunday.  Who else would pay so much for a ticket to tour in 93 degree heat, but those people who readily participate in gardening?  World class participators-each and every one of them.  I saw so many sweating faces, taking pictures, asking questions, and saying thank you-the melt down conditions aside.  We were all participating.  Participation in gardening takes many forms.  There are those hands on gardeners.  There are those gardeners who are older, who hire help to keep a landscape and garden in good condition.  There are those young people with an idea, and not much experience or disposable income.  There are those people from every walk of life and persuasion for whom the beauty of a garden constitutes a way of life. 

All and every one of these people who participate in the making and maintaining of a landscape and garden enrich my life.  It goes without saying, in my group,  that the participation in a garden takes the idea of sport to quite another level. The natural world is our world.  It enchants, challenges, and astonishes.  The natural world is a real place to live.  Your participation will preserve our planet, and enrich your life.  What could be better?  I would invite you to participate, with what ever means you might have available.

A Green Garden


I have never had the discipline to plant my containers with green plants.  I am soft in the head about flowers, and color.  Every year I think about greening it, after which I invariably buy pink or orange or carmine flowered plants.   I have been planting containers that feature the color green for this client a long time. This years containers are making me think about green all over again.  The boxwood balls with attending topknots get overwintered in an unheated greenhouse space.  The skirt of variegated licorice is all they need.  The late afternoon sun dusting the boxwood-a beautiful moment.

The Kimberly ferns that were lanky in the spring are holding forth some 2 months after planting.  The maidenhair ferns planted underneath them are in a trailing phase-this I like.  The caladiums and pteris ferns in the wirework planters are a delicate foil for the massive ferns.

The view out from the porch is just as green.  A planting of butterburrs contained by sheet metal set 24″ deep into the soil is a big textured groundcover for a series of Bradford pears.  The densiformis yews either side of the walk are thriving.  Everywhere I look, I see green.  What a pleasure.

She has a collection of topiaries which we winter over with the boxwoods.  This silver germander, teucrium fructicans, grown on standard is a standout. It has been wintered over successfully for many years.  The trunk must be over an inch in diameter; the head better than 4 feet across.  Wintering topiaries is a nuisance, but this germander is not hardy in our zone.  A topiary like this is worth the trouble to cultivate. 

A double ball bay tree is older still.  The window box is so narrow and shallow, I would not think of planting it with anything else than heat loving drought tolerant plants. That dark green paired with all of those blue grey diminuitve plants, an interesting conversation about contrast.

A collection of pots on the terrace is dominated by an agave; the bloom spike is spectacular.  The agave is underplanted with showy oregano. I like the relationship of the giant stiff agave leaves, and the drapy stems of the oregano.  That idea is repeated with the lime striped phormium, and euphorbia.  The stone planter box was planted with 3 one gallon Chicago figs-so called, as they are root hardy as far north as Chicago.  They are happy enough to have set fruit.  

The visual success of this planting is all about the relationship of one plant to another, but the spot on watering ranks right up there.  The container has been watered sparingly, in spite of all of our heat. The long iron box-stuffed with lavender, cirrus dusty miller, white trailing verbena, and a trailing blue succulent whose name I do not know.

White New Guinea impatiens are neither rare nor remarkable, but for the size of the flowers, and their color.  This is the cleanest, freshest, brightest white in the annual kingdom.  They also have a very dressy look-a decided contrast to the lavender.  The white dahlia in the center, about to send forth another round of blooms.

The quartet of baby blue foliaged agaves just filled this old concrete container.  Each of these two elements makes the other look better.  The silver dichondra in the adjacent box is the same color, but of a much different form and habit. 

The white marguerites bloom heavily a few times over the course of the summer.  The sporadic blooms in between are fine.  The dark green ferny foliage takes well to clipping. It is a lush look, even without flowers. Variegated licorice and cirrus dusty miller are surprisingly good together.  The dusty looks so blue-the variegated licorice so lime/yellow.  Very subtle the contrast, and very satisfying.

Some of my favorite plants that are predominantly green, or green and white?  Lime irisine, phormium, white Sun Parasol mandevillea, maidenhair ferns, white trailing verbena, lavender, licorice, dichondra, basil, plectranthus of any kind, and euphorbia Diamond Frost. 

The giant growing nicotiana mutabilis on the far right is the only plant that flowers with any color to speak of.  I cannot hold those pink flowers against one of my most favorite summer plants.


I winter a number of triple ball brush cherry topiaries for this client-I sprinkle them all over the terraces.  The begonia which is the underplanting here-I have not the faintest idea of its name.  I just knew the texture, the shape of the leaf, and the plant habit would work well with this green scheme. A gorgeous green garden-I think I might have to have one.