design

Garden Designers Roundtable – From Here to There

by Rebecca Sweet 26 September 2011

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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Window boxes help add vertical interest to your garden

by Rebecca Sweet 19 September 2011

I guess I just can’t stop thinking about gardening up (can you blame me?) When writing our book, Garden Up, Susan Morrison and I had to draw the line somewhere, and unfortunately a few topics didn’t quite made the cut. Window boxes were one of them, and it’s too bad because I really feel that [...]

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Gorgeous grasses in the garden

by Rebecca Sweet 3 September 2011

If you’re familiar with my blog, you know I love grasses.  And luckily they’re becoming more and more common in most every nursery, with many selections to choose from.   Yes, grasses are all the rage and for good reason. Why?  Generally speaking, grasses will grow in just about any type of soil, most are [...]

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

by Rebecca Sweet 22 August 2011

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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Think vertically when designing side yards

by Rebecca Sweet 4 August 2011

In one of the chapters of our book Garden Up! Susan and I write about maximizing your garden’s side yard.  These spaces are often neglected, and turn into dumping grounds for junky items collected over the years.  While it’s true we all need a place to store that broken BBQ that we can’t quite throw away [...]

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Cutest tool shed ever!

by Rebecca Sweet 16 July 2011

My friends, Michelle and Rob, have the cutest tool shed ever! Just this year, Rob built this for Michelle out of materials he salvaged either on their property or elsewhere around town – truly a labor of love. I  love how it tucks in so nicely within the beautiful perennial bed instead of relegated to [...]

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The Chairs of Innisfree Garden

by Rebecca Sweet 2 July 2011

While in Connecticut last week, visiting great gardens and great friends, I fell in love with the different chairs artfully arranged at Innisfree Garden.  Innisfree is a 150-acre public garden inspired by ancient Chinese design, and one of the most peaceful public spaces I’ve ever seen. If you’re like us here in California, sweltering away this [...]

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A Fireplace Mantle gets a new home

by Rebecca Sweet 21 June 2011

While driving around in the rain a few months ago, I spotted this old fireplace mantle leaning behind a dumpster with a bunch of junk piled on top of it.  The dumpster was behind a furniture staging company – you know, the kind that stages homes when they go on the market?  But this had [...]

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A Phormium flowers

by Rebecca Sweet 7 June 2011

This year my ‘Sea Jade’ phormium surprised me by sending up a few tall stalks of flowers for me to enjoy.  Phormiums (aka: Flax) don’t always bloom around here, but I think due to our very wet spring they’ve  decided to reward our patience by showing us what they’re really capable of! Phormiums are one [...]

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