Gardening Inspiration
-
Artful Garden Objects, Candles, Celebrations, Decorating the Garden, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Garden projects for kids, Gardening Inspiration, Gifts for Gardeners, Holiday Decorating, Lighting, Luminarias (Tin), The Seasons, Winter Garden
Create A Glowing Garden in Any Season: Handmade Tin Luminarias…
Tin Luminarias Glowing on the Winter Garden Path A few years ago, I attended a beautiful winter party at a friend’s house. She took the time to make the night special, and I will always remember the warmth and glow of her house, lit from within by hundreds of candles, as I arrived on that […]
Read More -
Art Inspired by Nature, Garden Design Photos, Gardening Inspiration, Inspirational Gardens, Lighting, Photographers, Photography Tips/Techniques, Ted Dillard Photographer
Taking Better Photos of Your Garden: Guest Post by Ted Dillard…
Photo â“’ Ted Dillard Of all the questions and comments I receive via this blog, email and through this site’s Facebook Page, the most common by far are related to photography. I am a new, amateur photographer, (that is a nice way of saying that I have no idea of what I am doing), and […]
Read More -
Bowls, Conservatory, Ferncliff, Ferns, Gardening Inspiration, Gifts for Gardeners, House Plants, Indoor Gardening, Indoor Table Arrangements, Lighting, Moss, Plants for shade, Plants for Texture, Terrariums, Tropical Plants
Lush Foliage for Low-Light Rooms : Terrarium Bowls Continued …
A pedestal-bowl terrarium filled with Adiantum, (Maidenhair fern), Calathea lanceolata and Selanginella kraussiana, (Club moss), warms up a modern metallic vanity in the powder room… Grey. Grey. Grey. Today the sky is one big, dull, expanse of monochromatic ash. On days like this, with thick, low clouds and no sunshine to be found, low-light rooms […]
Read More -
Bowls, cactus, Flower arrangements, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Gardening Inspiration, Gifts for Gardeners, House Plants, Indoor Gardening, Indoor Table Arrangements, Plant Spotlight, Plants for Texture, Pots
It’s Fiesta Time & A Cactus Bowl Centerpiece adds Life to a Party …
Cactus bowl centerpiece with desert rocks and decorative straw flowers… It’s fiesta time in my kitchen. I am planning a holiday party with a menu of Mexican-inspired dishes. To set the mood for margarita sipping and chip dipping, I decided to create a celebratory cactus-bowl centerpiece. Making a dry, table-top garden filled with desert plants […]
Read More -
Artful Garden Objects, Bowls, Conservatory, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Gardening Inspiration, Gifts for Gardeners, Green House Gardens, Holiday Decorating, House Plants, Indoor Gardening, Indoor Table Arrangements, Planting Techniques, Plants for Texture, Pots and Pottery, Terrariums, Tropical Plants, Urns and Vessels, Vases
Bringing Nature’s Beauty Indoors: Terrariums Part Two…
A tiny Phalaenopsis orchid , (‘The White Moth’) , displayed in an open terrarium lined with pea stone/charcoal mix, and filled with a bed of bark, sphagnum and sheet moss… Last week in ‘Terrariums Part One‘, I went over basic instructions demonstrating how terrariums are constructed, and introducing terrarium-newcomers to the beautiful, fascinating world of miniature […]
Read More -
Conifers, Ferncliff, Garden Design Photos, Gardening Inspiration, Perennials for Winter Interest, Plants for Light Effects, Plants for Texture, shrubs, Shrubs for ornamental fruit, Shrubs for Winter Interest, Shrubs with Colorful Twigs/Stems, The Seasons, Winter Garden, Woodland plants, Woody Plants
The Dawn of Winter: December Notes from Ferncliff…
Winter’s Dawn at Ferncliff The morning after a storm. Silent. Pristine. After months of drowsy, frost-covered mornings, at long last the garden has fallen to sleep. Lulled by a by a shifting blanket of snow, the flowers have all drifted away now; their pods empty; stalks broken. Summer’s song is hushed; notes frozen in chilly stillness. […]
Read More -
Garden Design, Garden projects for kids, Gardening Inspiration, Holiday Decorating, House Plants, Indoor Gardening, Indoor Table Arrangements, Native North American Woodlands, Native Plants, Naturalistic Garden Design, Terrariums
Bringing Nature’s Beauty Indoors: Terrariums Part One…
A seasonal terrarium filled with North American forest plants… I am very fortunate to live and work surrounded by gardens. Even in winter, nature is part of my everyday life. But not everyone is so lucky. Some of us have friends and family members working in city high rises, crowded into sterile offices or lifeless […]
Read More -
Books, Children and Gardening, Gardening Inspiration, Gifts for Gardeners, Indoor Gardening, Plant Propagation, Seed Kits, Seeds
Sowing the Seeds of a Gardening Future: Great Holiday Gift Books to Nurture the Little Green Thumbs in Your Life…
Late this fall, I was helping my client and friend Leah design and install a perennial garden at her home, (if you read this blog regularly you will recall that Leah loaned me a copy of The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World, by Michael Pollan, turning me on to the author’s […]
Read More -
Conifers, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Gardening Inspiration, Naturalistic Garden Design, Perennials for Winter Interest, Plants for Texture, Shrubs for ornamental fruit, Shrubs for Winter Interest, Winter Garden, Woodland plants, Woody Plants
Walking in a Winter Wonderland …
Sleigh bells ring… are you listening ? “When it snows, ain’t it thrilling, though your nose gets a chilling? We’ll frolic and play the Eskimo way, walking in a winter wonderland”… Welcome December ! Hellebores gleam and glimmer like stars in white glitter… A branch of Cotoneaster, loaded with red berries, reminiscent of a ruby […]
Read More -
Gardening Inspiration, Late Autumn Garden, Reflections, Trees, Water Features
The Empty Garden…
Autumn’s mirror… The remains of a summer nest, now silent and still… One evening last week a storm rolled in, and continued throughout the night. In the morning, when I woke, I found a different landscape. The trees all shook their leaves – dramatic and swift. Skeletons now stand where brightly colored canopies once filled […]
Read More -
Apples, Garden Design, Garden Science, Gardening Inspiration, Orchards / Orchard Keeping, soil science, Trees
In a Golden Orchard, Dreaming …
A 100-hundred-year-old orchard in Vermont, with restoration pruning The un-restored lower section of the same orchard … Lovely place for an afternoon stroll, isn’t it? Yesterday I found myself with an extra hour of time around sunset, and I decided to go for a walk in this old apple grove surrounded by golden fields near […]
Read More -
Autumn Color in the Garden, Ferncliff, flowering shrubs, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Gardening Inspiration, Late Autumn Garden, Native Plants, Naturalistic Garden Design, Perennials for Autumn, Planting Techniques, Plants for Light Effects, Plants for Texture, shrubs, Shrubs for fall color, Shrubs with Colorful Twigs/Stems, Winter Garden
Late Autumn Texture Studies, Part Two: Plants that Play with Low Light…
The native forest on an early November morning… The light of late autumn is pure poetry – bathing the forest in bronze radiance. In the early morning fog, dark, vertical tree trunks move in and out of focus; playing off the back-light and textural forest tapestry. A walk through the woods reveals stunning seasonal change […]
Read More -
Autumn Color in the Garden, flowering shrubs, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Gardening Inspiration, Gardening Inspirations, Ground Covers, Hoar Frost, Late Autumn Garden, Native Plants, Perennial Close-Ups, Perennials for Autumn, Plants for Light Effects, Plants for Texture, shrubs, Winter Garden, Woody Plants
Late Autumn Texture Studies, Part One: Plants Sparkling with Sugary Frost…
Sedum ‘Purple Emperor’ – Sweet Treat of the Sugar Plum Fairy… Jack Frost and the Sugar Plum Fairy had a party in my garden the other night. Â Â I wasn’t invited. But my naughty guests did leave behind plenty of outrageous evidence and a few party favors. In the morning I awoke to find […]
Read More -
Asian Natives, Autumn Color in the Garden, Ferncliff, flowering shrubs, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Gardening Inspiration, Ground Covers, Japanese Maple, Late Autumn Garden, North American Trees, Perennial Close-Ups, Perennials for Autumn, Plant Spotlight, Plants for Texture, shrubs, Shrubs for fall color, Shrubs for ornamental fruit, Trees, Trees for Fall Foliage, Viburnum, Winter Garden, Woody Plants
Autumn Brilliance Part Three: Plant Partners for the Late Show and Early Winter Marquee…
Acer palmatum x dissectum ‘Seiryu’ in late October By late October, much of the foliage in the forest surrounding my garden has passed its peak. Although the woods are still basking in the glow of golden birch and poplar, lemony striped maple, rusty red oak and amber colored beech –  the vibrant orange and red maple leaves […]
Read More -
Ferncliff, Gardening Inspiration, Great Growers and Nurseries, Perennial Close-Ups, Plant Spotlight, Spring Blooming Bulbs, Spring Flowering Bulbs
I Believe in the Promise of Tomorrow…
A basket of mixed narcissus bulbs, ready for planting The first member of my family’s next generation was born a few short weeks ago. His name is Morgan; my sister’s first child and my first nephew. When I met Morgan on the morning he was born, August 13th, my heart felt like a swollen dam, […]
Read More