Happy Memorial Day Weekend! They say it’s the unofficial beginning of summer. And that means more time outdoors– sunshine… And for some– gardens, pools and exquisite gardens. That is— if one has the land to accommodate all of that. Alas, I am in an apartment. And before that, I lived in a Townhouse. We had […]
Plan your dream garden with these backyard landscaping & garden design ideas. She sheds, greenhouse, sketch and landscape planning
Create a soft, romantic feel in your yard with these garden design ideas and plans.
I undertook a major landscape redesign project last spring of the side garden of my home. Now that it’s grown in some, I want to show you how it turned out, which I’ll do soon. Today, I want to show you my garden “mood board.” It’s not a mood board in the traditional sense, but a collection of image
Create a beautiful yard with these creative landscape ideas with big impact.
Create a soft, romantic feel in your yard with these garden design ideas and plans.
Are you bored with all the cliche landscaping ideas? Take a look at my fern landscaping ideas for inspiration and give your garden a new look.
Just today I was able to go out into the garden and cut flowers for our dining table (photo above). It's comfort to my soul to be able to grow flowers for our own home.
Garden designer Angel Collins runs us through the basics of garden design, and what to bear in mind when planning a garden from scratch.
Outdoor Steps One of the best ways to create a visually interesting outdoor living space is to play with changing levels in your design
Early spring is a great time to start thinking about garden planning ideas for your home. Add a cutting garden or add curb appeal to the front yard.
While we’ve paid plenty of attention to in our backyard’s design, with new plantings and furnishings, we’ve done very little with our front yard. It’s in need of a makeover, and we’ve decided that this is the year we will tackle it. Our home is a 1964-Streng, a mid-century modern home that resembles the Eichlers […]
Considered "the most influential garden designer of the past 25 years," Dutch plantsman Piet Oudolf has done for perennial gardening what artist Leonard Ko
Flowering shrubs and bushes add color and beauty to your landscape and attract pollinators and birds. Here are long-blooming perennial shrubs for a colorful 4-season garden.
Landscape layering is designing a garden that uses a variety of different plants positioned in multiple rows to form a casual, mixed border planting.
Making plans for your gardens this year? Would that include hiring a professional? Many of you ask me about our process in designing landscapes. I thought I would share our procedure with clients......it's a bit unconventional but going on 30 years in 2019, the process works for us and our customers m So, where to start? After fielding questions from our initial contact, our next important step is our survey, We will send you 5 pages of questions from your likes, to dislikes, what is the architectural style of your home, do you need privacy, drainage issues, favorite colors, and on........... All sorts of preliminary work leads to a successful first meeting, it arms us with information to make each design personal. The more a client can convey, the better. And as you will see, we are fanatical about the details Do you have a Pinterest account? Any magazine cut-outs? Let's review, together At the initial meeting we begin the design process, all the preliminary is complete, let's go! m Our client has two options 1) Just myself, who provides a design as seen below, with a mood board showing the plants and any ornamentation 2) A well loved option is to bring Stephanie Fania, our in-house artist. Together we create a 3D pen and ink rendering which includes the house......soooo much better than a blueprint! So easy for our clients to visualize At our initial home visit, we do a landscape review and then head indoors. I want to see your interior colors and look out strategic windows. How ideal if the interior and the exterior flows. More of our landscape is viewed from the indoors looking out. By pulling the garden "out" versus hugging a homes perimeter, the more enjoyable. Ley's begin the design process. Top 5 Considerations Whether you hire a professional or you manage the project, here are some important questions to ask your contractor and yourself.......... #1 What is the architectural style of your home? How can the exterior and the garden be made into one cohesive design? This is key. Here is a past blog post to help with the Architecture question #2 Consider the colors of your plant palette and your home Choose your colors via the exterior of your home, this too is important . What do I mean? Let's say you have a red/orange brick house. Pale colors would be lost, baby blue, soft pinks would clash but deep purples, dark yellow, rich blues, all intense colors, would do nicely STRONG PASTEL The same principals apply to ornamentation. Try to repeat a color found on your home, or a palette as spoken of above. This client loves purple and with the Victorian homes colors and the complimentary plant material the blend is beautiful #3 List your favorites ........ perennials, shrubs, trees, evergreens? #4 Do you have a preferred style? Type? Low maintenance or "I will love being in my garden" personality, understand your time commitment level. A cottage garden will require more of a commitment than formal. Floriferous and romantic? #5 How will we utilize this space? Cutting or Veg garden? Space for the children? Maybe conversation and dining will be the priority? m Many of our projects are renovations. How can we work with what is existing? What can be saved, what can be pruned (miracles are wrought here!), What to transplant? Remove? Scrutinize with a measured eye. Loving to prune myself, particularly when faced with a creative challenge, I was thrilled to tackle this versus my crew, delighting in the instant results. And a much better idea than removal and starting over It's transformative. Up and over the arch is a glorious climbing rose that once in bloom is breathtaking. As an aside this image makes a great example of brick color to plant tones. Pastels would be lost, whereas the colors of royalty; deep red, dark blue and purple, would compliment this structure. Let's take the above one step further by adding the orange toned Heuchera and a chartreuse underplanting in front of the boxwood.......what a pop and see how lovely these colors would be with the brick. Colored foliage is a delight to work with, they break up the monotony of all green creating an exclamation point of interest Back to the design......... Our field drawings are in pencil and the client has an opportunity to approve or tweak the design before we leave. Designs are created on-site, too many details are forgotten in an office at a drafting table. I return with the sketch in ink, with a mood board of plants and ornamentation. Our clients LOVE this, after all we too are visual, let us help you to "see" your new space Never forget to take into consideration the seasons, What will your garden look like in winter? Do you have any views to conceal? Any to "borrow?" Ornamentation will set your garden apart, what kind and where?. These too should match the exterior. I once went to a home that was a Southern Colonial; white brick, wrought iron filigree in high gloss black....very formal. Her pots....would you imagine were whiskey barrels? And a split rail fence? A total disconnect. m As this process, to us, is not just the garden but your home, It's the total picture. We can additionally assist with the exterior. We ARE NOT ARCHITECTS, just enthusiasts, think "Curb Appeal". We enjoy addressing those details, drawing in any minor architectural tweaks for a full understanding of what can be. Want to see your home with shutters? An appropriately sized light fixtures, No problem, out comes the pencil Change the paint colors? Let's explore! Change the front door, add new porch rails? How about the current style, in need of a freshening? We once turned a mid century Mediterranean into French Normandy, we will draw it...... plus we travel with a big eraser, no risk taken.. m Lastly...... We all know when we are not "being heard", if you sense this is happening with a professional, stop the process and make certain your wants and needs are being fully addressed. Not doing so will lead to costly mistakes later on. Unlike us, completing the design on site, usually in 3-4 hours, the majority of designers will take the details back to an office to craft the design. If you were misunderstood, you will be shocked at the results. Take charge and guarantee your delight. Enjoy the upcoming season! Scentimental Gardens provides on-site visits local, via E-Design and travel....next week I leave for France to help a client in and out. Oooh la la! Pince moi! Fondly, Debra. [email protected]
Considered "the most influential garden designer of the past 25 years," Dutch plantsman Piet Oudolf has done for perennial gardening what artist Leonard Ko
Brunnera has been captivating gardeners in recent years with a bevy of new varieties that have incredibly colorful foliage.
7 leading landscape designers reveal their favourite Australian natives. Give your garden a truly local feel!
Find creative solutions for landscaping sloped areas of your yard. Get ideas for the best plants and hardscape elements to enhance a slope.
Free planting templates I often find getting started is the hardest part of many projects. I was recently reminded how true that is for gardening when a Master Gardener from Newport News wrote to me about a fantastic project she is working on with her fellow gardeners: a "Getting Started" kit tailored specifically to Virginia coastal gardens. This sounds like a terrific idea and I hope to be able to share it when it is ready for prime time. In the meantime, her note jogged
In a field of talented entries from Australia and abroad, H&G joined forces with a trio of young landscape designers to design an iconic Australian garden, taking top honours at the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show.
The English landscape designer creates lush paradises
What is dry shade? Nothing that soil amendment, a little bit of hardscaping and special attention to plant placement can't improve.
There’s no better way to make your house a home than improving the land that surrounds it. Having nothing but a flat patch of grass or dirt is rather wasteful considering you paid for that land, so make the most of it. A yard would naturally be the first choice for most homeowners, and for good reason.
Explore KarlGercens.com GARDEN LECTURES' 190881 photos on Flickr!
Designed by Matthew Cunningham, this garden is an ode to Maine: colorful and tough, with perennials that stand up to all kinds of weather and varmints.
This article discusses how to create a simple garden plan, as well as the many considerations involved. Sample plans for different situations are included.
rtfgvb This week I am featuring a made-to-order garden from Spring Hill Nurseries. For those of you that are not confident in your planning skills, this nursery has a handful of pre-planned, ready to plant gardens. This one is nice because it is planned for waves of color in every season. I ordered this garden […]
HGTV shares some of the best shrubs for shade gardens, including shade shrubs such as oakleaf hydrangeas, Euonymus, viburnum and elderberries that will add color to your garden with their flowers and foliage.
Create a beautiful yard with these creative landscape ideas with big impact.
Lady’s Mantle, Alchemilla mollis: "Gentle Alchemy" Alchemilla mollis is ubiquitous in English cottage gardens for good reason. Lady's mantle is an unfussy,
Don't let a shady yard stop you from having a beautiful garden! Check out these Ohio perennials and shade garden design ideas for inspiration.
Welcome visitors strolling along your path with this charming combination of plants.
I am forever looking forwards, towards the next step in our house, one idea leads to another and my mind gets completely carried away. But I think it's this forethought that is helping me visualise everything as a whole, how can you make decisions about an extension and it's layout without consideri
Easy ideas for giving your garden a refresh any time of year. Check out these simple tips on how to take your garden from drab to fab!
Planting fall bulbs is an easy way to bring your winter-weary garden to life. If you’re wondering which bulbs to plant in fall, look no further!
Purple draws the eye, focusing attention on its deep, rich warmth.Here are nine purple palettes to add courage, power, and warmth to a garden.
Early spring is the season of hope: for the most beautiful garden ever. And you can have that. You also can lay the most charming front path in the history
Traveling to D.C.? Whether you're looking to dig beneath the city's buttoned-up reputation or visit the classic spots, like the National Mall or the Capitol, our guide to the best things to do in Washington, D.C. is sure to fill up your itinerary.
“And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The eart…
Beautiful pergolas, metal or wooden gazebo designs add charming and romantic atmosphere to yard landscaping
Plan your dream garden with these backyard landscaping & garden design ideas. She sheds, greenhouse, sketch and landscape planning
