dinnerplate dahlia
nicotiana alata lime green coleus cultivar pilea
showy oregano chocolate sweet potato vine
echinacea hybrid
white annual phlox diamond frost euphorbia angelina sedum
dahlia cultivar
accent pink impatiens solenia orange begonia caladium cultivar
scaevola lime coleus lime licorice heliotrope petunia sky blue
teddy bear sunflowers confetti rose orange supreme rose
This lead running fox is the work of HCrowther Ltd, which has been manufacturing lead garden ornament in London since 1908. Their sculpture is particularly fine. This very appealing sculpture is as at home in a stone trough as it would be in the lawn. My personal choice-set in a bed of European ginger.
This very old lead cistern carries the evidence of its age. The dealer in England from whom this piece was purchased thought it likely was at least two hundred years old. Wave the history card in my face, and I am done in. 
The walk culminates in a covered porch; the front door is at right angles to the walk, and not visible until you are right up there. All of this makes the brick wall they see coming up the walk an important element in their landscape. We started with pots, as there is no ground to plant in; this part looks great. But I thought that wall needed what all walls seem to need-a sculpture, a painting, a mirror? 
As my clients have quite a collection of art, they were receptive to the idea of a painting. Paintings that survive the weather need to be made of different materials that what an artist ordinarily would choose. I paint on extira board, which is used for making exterior signs. It does not absorb water, nor does it deteriorate outdoors. Porter Paint is a 100% acrylic paint; it is color fast, very tough and hard, and sheds any weather. As this paint is actually exterior house paint, and does not have the body of artist’s colors, I decided I would pour the painting. A beaker was the perfect tool.
I poured the painting over the course of about 4 hours. Some areas I wanted to blend colors. In other areas, I wanted colors to sit distinctly side by side. All in all, I poured one and a quarter gallons of paint-a big fluid situation, to say the least. I supported the extira board underneath on 8 quart cans of paint, so if the board sagged from the weight of the paint, it would be evenly supported.
Within 3 days, the surface of the paint had skinned over sufficiently that I could stand it up to take a look. While I was happy with the color and the shapes, I wanted more texture. The painting would be viewed from some distance coming up the walk. The near view, on the porch, would present a different look. I wanted to address both views.
Using a carpenter’s awl, I poked, scratched, lifted up and pushed around that partially dry paint. The areas of paint I lifted off the surface, I stuffed with pieces of bamboo. At this fairly wet stage, I needed to support the paint until it dried. Once the paint was thoroughly dry, I stuffed those shapes with preserved reindeer moss.
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The close view I like. All the elements are different, but they look good together. The Italian terra cotta plaque is so much more important visually than when it had no company.
Every year I plant the front of the store differently; this year I wanted the planting to feel like a meadow. The big bed of violet colored verbena bonariensis and white cosmos is almost always in motion. The marguerite daisies and petunias in the roof boxes are thriving, sheltered by a hedge of Nero di Toscano kale that will be the star of the show by fall. The kale does for the daisies what the boxwood does for the verbena; their respective relationships are good ones.
However, as any gardener knows, nature never sits. Someone once put it to me like so-nature abhors a vacuum. So this property is in phase one of its ecological evolution; disturbed ground is first colonized by grasses and other tenacious and vigorous plants, popularly known as weeds.
Queen Anne’s Lace is one of my favorite flowers. I buy bunches of it at market this time of year. Its tap-rooted vigor makes it a poor choice for a cultivated garden, but it vastly dignifies the look of vacant lots like this one. Its more civilized cousin, amni majus, can be grown in a garden to great effect; it is grown routinely for the cut flower trade. However, I am perfectly happy with this distant and unruly relative.
Chicory is the devil to get rid of; it is perfectly capable of worming its way through a crack in a concrete road. It is the most beautiful blue, a color not often seen in Michigan gardens.
The mix of colors, the uniformly wispy textures, the motion of it all – breathtaking. There are garden flowers that have a meadow-like habit-panic grass, hyssop, bee balm, boltonia and so on-but there is no scripted garden that looks quite like this one.