Gossip in the Garden

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A few weeks ago my friend, and fellow Garden Designer Susan Morrison, took an intensive 5-week film class where her final assignment was to create a 5 minute film of her choice. Susan approached me with her idea – creating a documentary style of film where I explain what gardening means to me.

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Sounds simple enough, right?  But the more I thought about it, the tougher it was to answer.  What DOES gardening mean to me? At first I was a bit embarrassed…CERTAIN I would put to sleep anyone who watched it.  Especially the super hip 20-somethings who were her film crew!  I was extremely self-conscious, and totally unsure how to answer her questions.

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Warning:  This is not your mother’s typical garden shop….this has got to be one of the coolest, most inspiring places I’ve ever been!

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This is Artefact Design and Salvage, located at the Cornerstone Gardens in Sonoma, California, and it’s just the thing to clear out the cobwebs of Winter and kick-start your imagination!

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What is the ‘Garden Designer’s Roundtable’?  It began last December when a small group of us thought it would be fun, as professional landscape designers, to simultaneously write an article dedicated to the same topic (“Do Designers Practice what they Preach”), but each written with our own, distinctive ‘voice’.

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It was an idea that was very well-received, so we did it again (‘Celebrating Regional Diversity‘), only expanding it with a few more designers.  Again – it was wildly received.  So….we decided to make this a monthly event, inviting 12 participants from our newly formed ‘Roundtable’ to participate each month on the same topic.  Don’t worry – it won’t always be the same 12 designers – but will rotate among a group of 30 or so of us, as well as the occasional guest blogger.

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Foliage is the topic for this month’s Garden Designer’s Roundtable…and what a topic it IS!!  I could write an entire BOOK on ‘Foliage’…how on earth can I whittle it down to just one post?  Hmmm…I could show my favorite foliage colors or shapes, or great color combos….where to start, where to start…

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I know!  I’ll offer a little insight as to how I use foliage in my designs for maximum impact! Read More

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Wow – here we are again – another fabulous Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day! For those of you not familiar with what ‘Bloom Day’ is, it’s a wonderful tradition started by May Dreams Gardens. It’s an opportunity for  Garden Bloggers everywhere to show you what’s going on in their own garden on the 15th of each month.  My garden is located in Los Altos, California (USDA Zone 8B).

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It’s been a rainy, rainy month but the past week has seen the sun peeking out, causing a whole HOST of activity going on in my garden!

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I’ve always, always, always loved hearts. They’re the one thing I can draw perfectly.

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While searching for some old photos the other day, I found my high school journal (vintage 1982) where I came upon a slightly gloomy poem I had scribbled down – fitting for a love-sick high school girl!  Of course, I left off the author of the poem, probably so anyone who happened to find it one day would think I was the brilliant mind behind it….but alas, I was just plagiarizing.

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Along with this poem (most likely the only one I’ll ever post on this site!) are some Valentiney images of cherubs and hearts that are scattered all throughout my garden.

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Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

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