Gossip in the Garden

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Do you ever walk down a busy street and you see a hint of something cool peeking out from the doorway of a building, and you just KNOW something good is about to happen?  Well that’s what happened to me the other day when I was in San Jose and stumbled upon Green Design Indoor and Outdoor Plantscape.

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First of all, anything that says ‘Green’ in the title grabs my attention, coupled with the word ‘Design’ – and I’m all theirs.  After finding and chatting with one of the owners (a sweet Vietnamese woman – one of 7 siblings who own this shop) and getting a brief tour, she gently lets me loose with my camera, saying “Take your time, enjoy, I’ll be up front when you’re done”.  She must get this a lot.

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I absolutely love all birds.

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From my aviary, which my husband lovingly built for me (which houses my canaries and finches) to the many different birds that visit my garden.

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I walked into Peets Coffee the other day (sounds like the beginning of a joke, doesn’t it?)

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Seriously! I walked in and saw these cool mushroom ‘kits’ for sale.  Being an avid gardener, I was immediately intrigued so I snatched one up for $15.00.  Having a teenager, I find it’s more and more difficult for me to keep her interested in gardening, so I’m a sucker for gimmicks that might grab her attention.

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One of my favorite things about being a passionate gardener myself is getting to meet other passionate gardeners.

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A gardener’s own garden is truly an expression of their soul.  You can ‘feel’ the blood, sweat and tears that went into it’s creation.  You know that feeling when you walk into a garden, no matter how large or small it is – and you’re taken by surprise, blown away by the ‘feeling’ it generates deep within you?  That’s it’s soul – and it’s something that can’t be duplicated.

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I’d like to share some of these people and their gardens with you as part of a series I’ve created called ‘Gardeners and their Gardens’.  Some will be professional gardeners, some will not.  But all have their hearts firmly planted in their gardens.

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‘Containers’ is the topic for this month’s Garden Designers Round Table post.  Choosing and planting containers is one of the most fun topics of all to write about, as it’s a great way to inject some personality into your garden.

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This is especially important for people who have an established garden – one that’s already beautiful and ‘done’.   I hear this request from many people who have just purchased a new home.  They end up calling me NOT necessarily to re-design their garden, but because they’re not sure how to go about making it ‘their own’.  Creative containers are a relatively low-risk solution for punching up your garden and giving it personality.

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