Winter Preview

 


The close of the gardening season in late fall means the winter gardening season is not far behind.  The winter season at Detroit Garden Works had a very simple beginning 10 years ago.  Why does any gardener need to look at and live with empty pots all winter? We began slowly, with a selection of coppice wood twigs, fresh cut greens of every description, and weatherproof berry picks.  People liked that idea, and were game for more.      

Now we offer a wide selection of materials for winter containers, both natural and weatherproof.  Materials for holiday and winter both inside and out fill the entire shop from the first week of November until the middle of January.  Though we try to carry a wide range of materials that appeal to gardeners of all kinds, we usually have an organizing metaphor or scheme for each season.  This year-the forest floor.  Lots of things get moved around, and every surface gets washed, before we set the stage.  This year, big branches were wedged or wired between the floor and the ceiling. The major and big items get placed. 

Weeks later, the details begin to fall into place.   

Once the trees were set in place, we needed a forest floor.  We collected the leaves that fell from my magnolias at home the day they fell.  Leaves that have just dropped still have moisture in them, and are flexible.  Of course we intended that our floor would flow over the edges of the shelves.  This meant that many of the leaves needed to be secured to our floor forms with fern pins.  Jenny and I must have gone through a box of a thousand.

Why all this fuss?  The sourcing and cutting of a collection of giant branches and dragging them inside,  the collecting of the leaves and arranging them made a believable home for everything that we had shopped for.  The shop is not just a shop.  We hope it is an experience of the garden.  Though the short red berry picks and the muslin mushrooms came from different places, they both had a home to go to that made visual sense.

Though there is an incredible variety of objects, they all look as though they belong.  We never open a box, and set it out on a shelf.  The intent is to show how those materials can be used, and to what effect.  And that we celebrate each season in turn, as it deserves to be celebrated.

If you garden in Michigan, a sense of humor about the winter to come is a handy thing to have.  These felt birds with their caps and scarves make wry reference to the cold that is surely on the way.  Filling the front porch pots with an arrangement of materials, decorating a tree outside with lights and a tree inside with berry picks, making a wreath for the door-energizing, fun, creative-satisfying. 

Decorating my yard for the holidays is a form of gardening.  Though I am not digging holes, and watering, I am designing with the intent that my winter garden embraces the season, and be beautiful.  Good gardens have a lot going for them in the winter.  The evergreens are beautiful in the snow.  The dry heads of the hydrangeas will persist most of the winter.  The dark angular shapes of the trees in their bare state are striking against a moody winter sky.  To this I mean to add a little cheer.

I am thinking I might want a big twiggy branch for a Christmas tree this year.  The bare branches are so easy to load with  lights, garland, and ornaments.  The shop this season is spectacularly twigged out.  Should you live nearby, our winter preview starts this coming Thursday evening at 5, and continues throughout the weekend.   

Our forest floor is by no means all of what we have going on.  It will take every bit of the time left between now and Thursday night for our group to get every last spot looking its winter best. Should you live too far away to visit, I will post lots of pictures in hopes you can get a feeling for our winter gardening ideas.

A celebration of the garden is always in order.

 

 

 

Posted on: November 6, 2012 7 Comments
Filed Under: Detroit Garden Works, Good Design, Holiday, Winter

Putting Your Foot Down

 

Advising people about pots and containers for their homes and businesses has been part of my job for going on 17 years.  Those same 17 years have put me in contact with a vast selection of antique, vintage, modern and contemporary containers from many different periods and countries.  Does this make me an expert?  I would hesitate to go that far, but I will say I have had considerable exposure.  Exposure to and knowledge of garden containers helps me advise  the right pot for the right place.  One aspect of container design that interests me the most is how that pot meets the hard surface on which it sits.  These French glazed pots have a  stepped base, or foot, that supports the body of the pot.  These big bodied pots would look clunky indeed without their bases.   

The shape of the bottom of a container, and how that bottom meets the oorch surface or terrace, greatly influences what I recommend.  I am sure you have seen an Olympic gymnast perform a complicated routine, and unerringly land on their feet.  Squarely on two feet.  That flawless two footed landing is enormously important.  A urn, pot or planter that has a foot keeps a large container from looking heavy.  A hefty container from bottoming out.  These English arts and crafts period limestone pots are both massive and hefty.  The claw feet make them feel lighter, and more graceful.    

The squashed ball feet under these orangery boxes do more than just lighten the look.  Pots need to drain; growing plants in soggy soil is a challenge to both the plants and the gardener.  Pots that sit flat on a perfectly smooth flat surface can impede drainage.  If water does seep into that space between a pot and a hard surface, prolonged contact with water can make marks or stains on the hard surface.  If ytou put a spoonful of soil into a cup of water and stir, you will see what might eventually be absorbed by your front porch surface.

Modern and contemporary pots feature crisp and simple lines.  In the case where “feet” would disturb the visual appearance, we may place spacers underneath the pots.  The spacers do not interfere with the geometry of the pot shape, but they do permit water to drain away quickly.  Bluestone is especially prone to absorbing stains from soils with a high compost content, and from natural drainage materials such as bark.  Water stains can appear in the form of white rings-this a result of the minerals and salts dissolved in the water.

These classic French orangery boxes hve many beautiful details, not the least of which is its cast iron finials, hinges, braces and foot assembly.  The painted oak boards fit down into the base, and are held in place by a pair of braces.  The arched base with squared off feet is as functional as it is beautiful.  The wood never comes in contact with the ground.  Wood is very durable in the landscape, provided water drains away.  Wood that sits in water will soon rot.  When we place wood containers in a landscape bed or lawn,  we install a gravel base underneath it, so water drains away quickly.

These English lead pots have a very small foot.  But what is not evident in the picture is that the bottom of the pot is recessed, so the drain hole never comes in contact with the terrace.  Lead may be very dense, but it is very soft.  The flat bottom of a lead container will eventually conform to the exact shape of the surface on which it sits.  Old lead urns sometimes collapse onto their own footed bases. 

A fiber pot, made primary as a biodegradeable container for the nursery industry, makes a great and inexpensive container.  A rose in a fiber pot can be planted pot and all-the fiber soon decomposes.  A fiber pot used as a container is most vulverable at the bottom.  This galvanized steel stand with feet keeps the pot off the ground.  This greatly improves the longevity of the pot.  The feet also give it a more finished and graceful look.

I had this pair of tapered steel pots in the fountain yard for the summer.  The design is reminiscent of a classic Italian vase, but taller and thinner in proportion.  I decided to plant them for fall, and asked Buck to make matching socles for them.  A socle, or low base or plinth, puts this pot on a different footing. The driveway is a large enough space to visually accomodate a pot that sits flat on its surface, but the socle gives it a much different look.

Elevating the pot off the surface of the drive makes the tapered pot seem more elegant and light.  The height is good in contrast to the height of the wall.

Providing a foot need not be a complicated matter.  This low terra cotta bowl looks much more lively, given a steel pot stand.  There are lots of considerations involved in the selection of a pot-the size and shape, the style, the price, and the materials are just a few.  How it sits in relation to the ground is another.

Posted on: October 28, 2012 Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Good Design Tagged With: , , ,

The Schematic Plan

What I call a schematic plan is another way of saying master plan.  A guide for the development of a landscape.  Clients who have an interest in a plan that they can work towards and implement over time always interest me.  A landscape of note implies a long term committment-gardeners willing to go that route will not only enjoy the process, but will find so much satisfaction in watching something grow.  It takes lots of time to regrade a property, reimagine the space, plant, and arrange for care.  This timeline does not even include the plants that die, and the changes that result from experience, or a change in taste.  Anyone who buys a ticket for the long term process that a really good landscape requires I admire.    

 A master plan is a schematic drawing noted for its broad strokes-not its details.  The vegetable garden will be there.  Friends will park here.  Parties could be staged in this garden.  Great views of the landscape from inside could be described by this, or that.  The rear yard will feature a particular shape-the particular plants are to be determined.  How does the landscape address movement?  The driveway needs to be this width, and accomodate this turning radius,  and needs to gracefully address vehicular traffic.   A big scheme is just that-a big fluid wish list with an attempt made to broadly define use and beauty.  There will be places to sit, garden spaces-spaces to view from afar. This master plan features a wide swath of decomposed granite all around a 19th century stone farmhouse.  There are plans for a conservatory style kitchen across the back of the house.  My clients are indicating they want to move ahead with the landscape.  This masterplan gives wide berth to additions that are planned for the house.  The additions will take vastly less time than the landscape.  I advised them that given the length of time it will take to create a landscape, the best time for them to begin construction is right now.         

columnar trees

My clients purchased a very large farm- a property that features 2 barns, 2 outbuildings, and a granary.  A granary?  A beautiful wood structure whose purpose was to store grain is a feature. My plan is to move that granary, currently set above ground on concrete blocks, directly and squarely opposite the rear of  their home.  The broad gesture?  This old stone farmhouse came with the outbuildings that make for a working farm.  Though it is unlikely that they will ever grow grain, and have a need to store it, the granary is a great place to stage a summer dinner party.  The house and the granary will become substantial bookends for a simple fountain garden.   

On either side of that fountain, there is a plan for an allee of columnar hornbeams, underplanted with European ginger and hellebores.  It would be a great spot for snowdrops and white crocus-or white Spanish bluebells.  This list may change, or be added to, or completely rethought- over time. The hornbeams will be planted equidistant from each other in this garden.  Once the allee crosses the gravel drive, the spacing between the trees gets wider, less regular.  Though they will be planted in a much less formal area, they will still maintain the site line established by the formal allee.

My clients have a particular interest in music and theatre.  They like nothing better than a summer concert staged outdoors.  The shape of the gardens adjacent to this round grass space that I call the music room make reference to their neeed for a space for such events.  The grasses are an informal material used in a more formal way.  The heights of the plants specified will provide some enclosure and privacy.  Viewed from the fountain pool, the northern sea oats will provide a contrasting and shimmering backdrop to the more formal and static hornbeam garden.  Viewed from the vegetable garden, it will look like a field of grain.  A reference to the agricultural history of the property will make those beds more visually believable, given that the setting is rural.  But those beds could be a collection of shrubs or small growing evergreens.  They could be a perennial mix that peaks during the summer months. They could be planted with roses.  A scheme needs to come first.  The details can come later.

I have labelled the vegetable garden a potager, as one of my clients is French.  The details of this garden will be provded by him.  I feel certain it will have a distinctly French feeling.  The garden footprint is exactly the size and location of a very old barn original to the farm, which needs to come down.  It is deteriorated such that to restore it would take resources my clients prefer to put elsewhere.  Hopefully someone will be interested in the salvage of all of the old beams and timbers.  The lower portion of the barn walls will be left standing, providing a fence for the garden.  Their property is host to lots of wild beings.  The floor of the barn has always been dirt.  With some work and lots of compost, it will be a great place to grow vegetables.

The other barn is in excellent condition.  It holds tools, and soil.  In the winter, the boxwoods in pots are stored here.  The barn gardens are actually quite beautiful and well developed.  There is no need to replace them.  The major changes will be about the perimeter shapes of those gardens. A hedge of arborvitae on the lot line will screen the house next door from view. A fenced cutting garden on the dog leg part of the property will be framed by a pair of pumpkin growing gardens. Two gardens devboted to growing pumpkins-how I envy them this.

The gravel driveway design is fairly close to what is existing now.  A major change will involve the addition of a drive which goes to the front door. On either side of that drive, a meadow planted with a grove of Venus dogwoods.  This meadow is a grass meadow.  A low growing low maintenance grass seed will be sown, and cut but once a year.  We have had very good luck with this particular seed mix, on unirrigated shady slopes, and in sunnier but relatively infertile ground.  The movement of all of the grasses will be a considerable contrast to the primary formality of the landscape.  

In the front, the distance between the hedge of Moonii yews and the road is 35 feet, but that footage is a steep slope, culminating in a drainage ditch.  The center of this slope will be the same short growing grass as the meadow.  This will permit a long view out, to the state lands across the road, from the front porch.  Shrubs will be planted into the slope where needed-lilacs, old fashioned spirea, viburnum, sumac, beauty bush-whatever seems right for a free for all mix.  Lucky the gardener that has enough land for a free for all. 

Of course the first step is to lay out the schematic plan, and see how it looks on the ground, full sized.  A lot of the preliminary tree work has already been done.  My clients seem to think the schem suits their property, their taste, and the history of the farm.  I am so pleased that this project is underway.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on: October 18, 2012 5 Comments
Filed Under: Good Design, Landscape Design Tagged With: , ,

Lighting The Side Yard

I really don’t have a back yard.  My property occupies a corner.  A front, on two sides-that is a corner lot.  I am sure that lack of a private back yard influenced the original design and configuration of my driveway.  Made of brick, (I have replaced the deteriorating original brick with concrete brick) it is incredibly wide at the street. (picture those 1930′s Packards turning in)  The drive narrows like an hourglass to a little over 8 feet wide, half way up.  That narrow gap was an effort to provide a little privacy to the side yard.  After 16 years of twice daily practice, I am able to get my Suburban out 99% of the time, without scraping the wheels on the retaining walls. 

A pair of cast iron bloodhounds on concrete pedestals are awash in decent sized and fairly mature beds of hellebores-a favorite perennial. I look forward to seeing this every day-coming and going.  This makes it a natural candidate for some landscape lighting of the celebratory type.  I will soon be coming home after dark, and I don’t want to give up the view of my dogs.   

This first pass- the light is too close, and too hot.  The intense light creates shadows that make the dog look threatening. That is not my intention.  The idea is that I get a welcome home.  The winter season would be bearable, but for the gray and the dark.     

A pair of Galaxy magnolias are planted in the narrowest part of the drive.  They have been there long enough to make a green arbor of magnolia branches overhead.  That narrow spot is the darkest spot on my property.  A big stand of dark green Picea Mucrunulatum and taxus densiformis make this moment in my landscape feel like a black hole in the winter.   

I don’t mind some stronger light here.  It helps me to get through the driveway isthmus without incident.  OInce the magnolias have dropped their leaves, the light be be much more subtle.  This landscape lighting helps me navigate. 

A friend found these Arts and Crafts style vintage light fixtures for me-they are perfect on either side of the garage.  They are always on.  Summer and winter.  Day and night.  I never tire of seeing them.  Early on a spring morning, or late on a summer day, they let me know they are there.  

Once the skies go dark, they help light my way.  Good landscape lighting is as much about function as beauty.  Though no light could ever possibly be as beautiful, in all of its variations, as natural light, the invention of electricity did indeed change the landscape. 

A flight of stone stairs begin at the driveway, and end in the upper level fountain garden.  My giant old Norway maple is a benign host to 3 spotlights that light up the drive where I park, and those stairs.  This light from above illuminates my path to the garage door, and to the upper garden, should I decide to go that route.  This lighting is not so much about a favorite landscape feature as it is about safe passage. 

Buck shut the fountain down yesterday.  It is clogged with leaves, and the weather is too chilly to linger here.  This is my most unfavorite day of the gardening year.  Water in a garden is enchanting.  serene.  sparkly and lively.  I hate having to give it up.  Next weekend he will drain the water from the fountain.  I have always disliked the coming of the end for this garden. 

Lighting from high in the Princeton Gold maples makes it easy for me to keep track of the Corgis after work.  The lighting also transforms this garden into another garden particular to the season.  My bedroom has a window that looks out on the fountain.  All winter long I keep the shade half up, and the window slightly open.  The lighting will allow me to enjoy this part of my garden, no matter the weather.

I do have a flight of stairs to the rose garden.  The stone is rough, and uneven.  For months after my knee replacement, Buck helped me walk up these stairs.  My new knee now-perfect.  But I would not walk up there stairs in the dark. 

Buck and I usually have dinner late-7:30-sometimes 8:30.  I take the Corgis out for a final constitutional, after dinner.  Milling around in the complete and utter dark with them-not my idea of a swell time.  I love these downlights in my maples.  Lighting a landscape might help provide more of what you need from a great garden than what is apparent on a summer day.  My idea?  Light, whether it be from the sky, or the end result of an electrical connection, is an important element of landscape design.  The landscape at night-a different sort landscape experience.    

 

 

Posted on: October 15, 2012 2 Comments
Filed Under: Good Design, Landscape Design, Lighting Tagged With: , ,