With so many things in a frenzy of bloom it’s not hard to feel the excitement of spring and the promise of warmer weather and all that it brings. Despite the incessant blight that has diminished our dogwood trees (Cornus), it’s hard not to notice their beautiful bloom, even on trees that seem noticeably stressed. There’s something particularly nice about the horizontal petals of the bloom that drink up the sunlight and carry a piece of the morning through the entire day. (more…)

There is hope. It’s barely noticeable but the daylight of each  twenty-four hour period gets about two minutes longer. There is, more often than not, the amber haze of a lingering sunset as we sit down for supper where only weeks ago the windows were opaque with darkness. This has been an old fashioned New England winter with plenty of snow and some frigid temperatures. As I write this morning, it’s registering below zero. Outside the window, all the plants are coated in white and the Blue Atlas Cedar has never looked more beautiful, with its narrow, outreaching, descending branches and the upright silver needles embracing snow and ice pronouncing its extraordinary character. (more…)

For better or worse it isn’t always a flat plane of yard we get to garden or

Inside Out: The Art and Craft of Home Landscaping

landscape. On the “worse” side of things, sloping land can create challenges in controlling erosion and achieving some use (either visual or practical) of the area of the yard. On the “better” side of things some of the world’s greatest gardens (beginning with the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon which, although their very existence is debated, may have been located in the 15th century in what is now Baghdad) and landscapes occur on the sides of hills or nestled into carved terraces. Although wrought with inherent challenges as well as some hidden expenses, the reward of taking back and cultivating sloping property can be well worth the effort. (more…)

In many ways the beginning of a garden is the most difficult step and the most daunting for the homeowner or casual gardener. Many homeowners seek the garden for a particular space while others find a space for a particular garden. With the specific plants already designed or suggested we need to make a quick calculation of how much space each plant will need to thrive and translate that to the size of the garden. As with all design, the size and shape of the garden as a cohesive element of your landscape is an important consideration. If you don’t have a shape suggested to you by a designer then it’s time to get out the garden hose or spray paint and lay out a form that you like. Gentle curves usually offset plants beautifully. As you’re laying out this shape consider the mowing radius of the lawnmower. Curves that are too many and too severe can increase maintenance unnecessarily while drawing attention away from the plants. (more…)