Bloom rotation

by Danniel on March 23, 2012

Most perennials and bulbs bloom for 4 weeks or less.

A garden designer can help you plan for bloom rotation, so that you have something blooming all of the time.

A good designer can create a series of stunning combinations, so your garden has a different look every 4 weeks or so, and colors don’t ever clash, and you don’t have dead times in the garden when nothing is blooming.

A terrific designer can plan a garden that is at its peak during your annual summer party.

The very best designer is Mother Nature, and she gleefully trashed the work of  all of those delusional human designers by throwing out a spring like this one.

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If it does not freeze first…..

by Danniel on March 21, 2012

this spring we will have the earliest tulips ever….the daffodils are already blooming their wee heads off.

If your bulb foliage is up, and you have deer visit your property, you may want to spread a little Milorganite around.  It is the best deer repellent.

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Dynamics

by Danniel on March 17, 2012

As a novice gardener, I was occasionally distressed by plants that did not look their finest.   I used to clean up my gardens carefully, getting rid of all last year’s debris.  The longer I garden, the more I enjoy every single change. This year, I am appreciating last year’s debris.  For example, normally I would have cut this grass back (or burned it) before the crocus bloomed. Look what I would have missed out on:

Up close, the crocus peeping out of the cliff green (Canbyi’s Paxistima) with the Japanese grass, all fluffy and dead:

Here’s what it looked like last fall:

Up close:

One true pleasure of the garden is constant change.

 

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Study in Contrast

by Danniel on March 16, 2012

Here is a bouquet from last year, held against a grim gray sky, unretouched. There’s a metaphor here, but I am too tired this morning  to create it.  You are on your own.

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Cheesy Design Software

by Danniel on March 14, 2012

Drag and drop imaging software lets me show clients what the project might look like upon completion…

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Why perennials?

by Danniel on March 13, 2012

Annuals offer far more color all season long. Flowering woody plants are so darn big and so showy that you cannot not notice them in bloom-that is why everybody knows Forsythia, Magnolia, and Lilac.

But perennials, because the melt away over the winter, and then reemerge, a little bigger and little bloomier–perennials teach us how to live.

I am grateful that they do so.

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Sunshine on a Cloudy Day.

March 12, 2012

Acid yellow!  Spring does not have to be about pastels. This spring we’ll all have to be careful about watering.  With such an odd winter, things might dry out fast, especially on windy sites.  Maybe, like today, Mother Nature will do all the work . Don’t forget:   Stay out the garden if it is squishy!

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It is here again…that time of year again.

March 11, 2012

Can you hear old blue eyes singing that song?  Spring has come to my Lake Geneva Wisconsin Garden and to our landscaping business.  It has been good to crank out a few designs and proposals, and then to go outside and see what has popped up.  Look at this dude: He looks pretty happy to [...]

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Northwind Perennial Farm

June 6, 2011

Anybody who gardens within one hundred miles of this place should check it out. They sell beautiful plants from inspiring displays. They have mature display gardens for inspiration. Although it can be crazy busy on a weekend, you might have a weekday morning all to yourself. And they have the most interesting garden and gift [...]

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Rain in the Garden

May 25, 2011

I love weather, but I love rain best of all. Even on a day like today, my gardens thrill me.   So much to feast the eyes upon.  The colors.  The wind.  One of the hardest things about garden blogging is that I have so little to say except wow, I love plants.  Gardens are so [...]

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