Garden Designers Roundtable

Garden Designers Roundtable – Memory and Plants

by Rebecca Sweet

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We all tend to collect our memories somewhere – scrapbooks, journals, photo albums, memory quilts, recipes or family movies (just to name a few). But for many of us, our gardens are what carry us through the years, bringing back fond memories through sight, scent, touch and taste. Personally, I can’t help but think of [...]

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Garden Designers Roundtable- Danger is my middle name

by Rebecca Sweet

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There’s something alluring about beautiful plants that have a bite to them. In fact, I just attended a fascinating talk by desert-designer-extraordinaire Scott Calhoun, who believes our fascination with plants that make us bleed is akin to the Stockholm Syndrome – ha! While I don’t go out of my way to design gardens that will intentionally impale [...]

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Garden Designers Roundtable: Focus on the Details

by Rebecca Sweet

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I’ve been wanting to write about this garden for a long time, and have finally found the perfect opportunity with today’s Garden Designers Roundtable topic ‘Focusing on the Details’. (Warning: lots of photos for this one!) While touring gardens last year with Debra Lee Baldwin, she insisted I meet her good friend, Jim Bishop. And, [...]

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Garden Designers Roundtable: Designing with Natives

by Rebecca Sweet

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The natives are coming, the natives are coming! Each passing year brings more and more native plants to our California nurseries, and I couldn’t be more pleased. In response to this growing demand, even the smallest nursery these days seems to have a section dedicated to native plants. However, there are some clients who are [...]

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Garden Designers Roundtable: Sculpture in the Garden

by Rebecca Sweet

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As a landscape designer and garden writer I see lots and lots of gardens. And while I’m a huge fan of personalizing your garden with whatever art captures your heart, lately I seem to be drawn to selectively placed, oversized sculptures. I think this is because my own life is so hectic right now, and [...]

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Garden Designers Roundtable – Using Texture in the Garden

by Rebecca Sweet

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Welcome to the Garden Designers Roundtable, where designers from around the world participate in monthly discussions about all things gardening. The topic for this month is Texture. As many gardeners already know, gardening appeals to all the senses. Not only do our eyes visually benefit from our creative efforts, but equally important are a garden’s [...]

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Garden Designers Roundtable: Our Home Gardens

by Rebecca Sweet

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In this month’s Garden Designers Roundtable, we have the honor of writing about our own personal gardens. While this may seem like an easy post to write, it’s actually been quite difficult for me. How can I possibly share my garden with you in a way that conveys all that it means to me? While [...]

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Garden Designers Roundtable – Favorite Gardens

by Rebecca Sweet

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The topic for this month’s Garden Designers Roundtable is Garden Travel/Best Gardens. While I immediately thought of the many beautiful gardens I’ve seen on my travels, there’s one that I’ve recently had the pleasure of visiting, and one that I can’t get out of my mind. It’s a private garden here in Northern California, created [...]

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Garden Designers Roundtable- My ‘Don’t Do This’ Top Ten List

by Rebecca Sweet

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I’ve been wanting to write about this for a long, long time – my Top 10 things NOT to do in your garden! Having designed gardens for over a decade, I’ve seen a lot of crazy things; some funny, some not so much. Please join me today, along with the rest of the Garden Designers [...]

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Garden Designers Roundtable – Designing with Deer

by Rebecca Sweet

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Sure, it’s tempting to title this post Deer-Proof Plants or something of that nature but truth be told, deer will eat just about anything when they’re hungry. And not only that, but they’re some of the craftiest animals around when it comes to sneaking into your garden. The second you leave your gate open, they [...]

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Garden Designers Roundtable – From Here to There

by Rebecca Sweet

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The topic for this month’s Garden Designers Roundtable is From Here to There, which I’m interpreting as pathways. This is a most excellent topic as it’s one that seems to overwhelm most of my clients. While most people have a general idea of the style of garden they want, colors they like, etc. they’re not [...]

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Garden Designers Roundtable – What’s lawn doing in Hell?

by Rebecca Sweet

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Let me state up front that I’m not a hater when it comes to lawns. There, I’ve said it. If you have a lawn and you or your kids actually use it, then it’s okay in my book. Especially if you don’t have unrealistic expectations that you need to saturate your garden with chemicals to keep [...]

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Garden Designers Roundtable – Favorite Landscape Plants

by Rebecca Sweet

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The topic of this month’s Garden Designer’s Roundtable is sharing my favorite ‘must have’ plants with you. Easy! I grabbed a pen, sat down in my comfy chair and began to list my favorites. Time ticked by and after awhile I realized I had at least 50 choices so far, with no end in sight. [...]

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One of my favorite gardens from the 2011 Northwest Flower & Garden Show

by Rebecca Sweet

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The name of the garden is ‘Paradise (to be) Regained..borrowing Thoreau‘ and is described as “…a generation who’s looking for paradise in a shrinking world…this garden uses the power to reclaim and re-characterize what is left behind.” Since I have a 15-year old daughter, I instantly tried to look at this garden through a teenager’s [...]

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Garden Designers Roundtable – Mixing Edibles & Ornamentals

by Rebecca Sweet

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Remember when having a vegetable garden meant a collection of raised beds, or a few tomato plants in a pot? Instead of banishing them to out-of-the-way areas, these days, edibles are everywhere in the garden – mixed with ornamentals, scrambling out of recycled containers, and clambering up apartment walls. This topic of this month’s [...]

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Garden Designers Round Table – Inspiration

by Rebecca Sweet

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This month’s topic for the Garden Designers Roundtable is Inspiration, and it took me all of 2 seconds to figure out what I’d write about. Without a doubt, Mother Nature (the grandest Garden Designer of them all) provides me with endless inspiration. To see classic design principles perfectly implemented and naturally occurring fills both my [...]

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Dining Alfresco with the Garden Designers Roundtable

by Rebecca Sweet

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As we head into fall, with winter on our heels, it might seem odd to write about ‘Dining Alfresco’ (the topic for this month’s Garden Designers Roundtable discussion). While cozying up indoors this winter, why not make plans for creating an outdoor area in your own garden next spring? Entertaining large gatherings, or just [...]

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Garden Designers Roundtable: A garden for wildlife (the good AND the bad)

by Rebecca Sweet

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In this month’s Garden Designers Roundtable, we discuss how to create a garden that’s inviting to wildlife – creating a ‘habitat garden’. I think it’s safe to say that for the most part, those of us who love gardening appreciate most aspects of nature and get a little thrill when discovering hidden bird nests in [...]

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Garden Designers Round Table – Underutilized Plants

by Rebecca Sweet

. This topic for this month’s Garden Designers Round Table discussion is ‘Underutilized Plants’, and is one that’s very important to me as a Garden Designer. As a designer, I definitely have my list of ‘Faves’ that I like to plant whenever possible. Why are they my favorites? It’s usually a combination of reasons [...]

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