Garden Tours, Inspiration, Landscape Design
As promised in my previous post of great conferences and events to attend in 2017, here my heavy pictorial recap of the 2016 Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) International Landscape Design Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This has taken longer than expected to post with image uploading issues, sorry for the delay. The conference was titled “The Art of Adaptive … READ MORE
Garden Tours
I just check the calendar and we are 90 days away from my son’s birthday. This date is a milestone because it’s when the majority of trees are flush with buds and spring is rushing in. The count down is on to get all the winter projects and planning complete before the crazy spring madness. One of my winter tasks … READ MORE
Book Recommendation, Eddie Bauer Multiclava, Holiday, Tools
The past few years I have created a gift guide based on items I would recommend to someone passionate about gardens and gardening. I pull from the list of items I have purchased over the year that either provided me with inspiration or helped me be a better gardener. Below is a list of some great items I found this year, with … READ MORE
Perennials
Walking through the garden each season, or even week, a different plant will take center stage. Previously ignored as a team player in the rhythm of the landscape, the wallflower suddenly dominates the beauty of the garden. Late summer / Fall is when ornamental grasses get their champion moment in the garden against the autumnal colors. As other perennials are … READ MORE
G A R D E N S, Garden Tours, Gravel, Landscape Design
Back in August, we made a family road trip out of attending the Perennial Plant Association (PPA) conference in Minneapolis, MN. On the drive up to the conference we made a stopover in Chicago at the Lurie Garden (See post HERE), and on the way home we stopped at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, WI and the Chicago Botanical Garden … READ MORE
Bulbs, Fall, G A R D E N S, Gardens, Landscape Design, Uncategorized
Last spring I shared a perennial garden design featuring alliums from Longfield Gardens (Bountiful Blooms, you can order the collection here). That was during allium bloom time. Now that it’s allium planting time, I am sharing a second design. As I’ve shared before, I use alliums frequently for their cool color palette, deer resistance and unexpected texture. The two designs … READ MORE
G A R D E N S, Garden Tours, Gardens, Landscape Design, Piet Oudolf
Back in early August I had the great opportunity to speak at the Perennial Plant Association Symposium in Minneapolis. The event aligned with the last full week of summer for our son and made it the perfect time to make the drive into a family road trip. On the drive to Minneapolis, we stopped at the Lurie Garden in downtown Chicago. Our … READ MORE
Advice
As peony madness fades with the summer heat, it’s time to hail the beauty of dahlias. Dahlias are an easy addition to any existing garden and offer a large range of colors, petal shapes and sizes to fit your desires. Also, planting a tuber around the frost free date will provide you with beautiful blooms in July and August, a quick, … READ MORE
My Work, Perennials
While talking plant options for our garden at home, I looked at the three varieties of Amsonia growing around our offices. I use this plant in my designs predominately for the texture of the foliage, however the flower is a strong attraction in the garden in late spring. Amsonia is the perfect plant to showcase the subtle variation between the … READ MORE