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Nature abhors a monoculture, but not necessarily a monochrome culture. Against a leafy green backdrop, a single color stands out dramatically—particularly when that hue is white. Here are 15 of our favorite white-on-white plant palettes for a garden bed: For more monochromatic(ish) gardens, see: 11 Ideas to Steal for a Moonlight Garden Now Trending: 9 […]
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At first glance, the Victorian terrace in Herne Hill looks like so many others on its South London street: stock brick, narrow footprint, and the familiar rhythm of windows and doors. Inside, however, O’Sullivan Skoufoglou Architects have reimagined the house as a sequence of framed views of the garden—an architecture of light and green. The new lower level pivots around a clerestory lantern and an interior courtyard, spaces that pull daylight deep into the plan and dissolve the boundary between indoors and out.
The garden, meanwhile, by designers Ann Ison and Colin Clark, is organized into three areas: a sunlit entrance of wild planting and shrubs, a central paved courtyard, and a shaded rear with mature trees beneath the Victorian arches.
Designed for a creative young family, the 680-square-foot garden is shaped around their brief: a refuge close to nature with interest across all seasons. Last summer, the family harvested vine tomatoes and herbs; over time, fruit trees and additional edible plantings will extend the garden’s role as both retreat and resource.
Join us for a tour, and be sure to scroll to the end for a comprehensive plant list.
Photography courtesy of O’Sullivan Skoufoglou.
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Increasingly vacation time is doing double-duty as a nature fix, an opportunity to be immersed in plants and nature for immediate decompression and reconnection. At Native, a destination on the beautiful wild coast of West Cork in Ireland, they’ve fashioned a new term for it: “a landscape hotel,” where vegetation is not mere dressing but an integral part of the experience.
Founders Simon and Didi Ronan, who moved to West Cork from Dublin in 2021, spent three years looking for a site before finding (with some help from the local community after another purchase fell through) an overgrown derelict dairy farm. Simon, head of sustainable landscape studio SRLA, is originally from Wexford, while Didi is Irish but grew up in Belgium. Both have spent time living and working in London and Paris before relocating to Ireland. Part of the attraction to the area was the lively local scene; the village of Ballydehob on the Wild Atlantic Way, is home to a bohemian and arty scene with one of Ireland’s finest live music venues, Levi’s Corner House, as well as a Michelin-starred restaurant, Chestnut.
Since the opening of their guesthouse last year (the rooms can be booked individually or the whole house can be taken over), the couple have added three garden suites, each with their own private garden and outdoor bath (and for the largest suite, its own sauna too). In addition there’s the Milking Parlour, a communal event and dining space where they plan to stage supper clubs that will showcase the area’s incredible local produce, from foraged plants to artisan cheeses.
Outside the focus is on pollinator-friendly plants. Thanks to the North Atlantic Drift, this south-westerly point of Ireland enjoys warm air and water that arrives from the Gulf of Mexico. It provides a damp and temperate climate, and as a result, more opportunities for growing. The site also lies in a natural east–west valley, so that it’s sheltered from prevailing winds.
But their project stretches much farther than the 2.5-acre site that surrounds the guesthouse and garden suites. Twenty per cent of the profits from the business is used to rewild a 75-acre site, just 10 minutes from Native and open to guests. Here, the couple has been eradicating invasive non-natives and allowing the land to regenerate.
Let’s take a closer look.
Photography courtesy of Native.
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When a family came to Dirt Queen NYC seeking a backyard makeover, they really just wanted one thing: to be able to use their yard. The existing “garden” was a patchy stretch of grass with garages on three sides. Now that their kids were older, the family no longer felt they needed a lawn for playtime. Instead they craved an adult space for hosting dinner parties and a dedicated firepit area, which might even entice their teens to hang out at home.
Jarema Osofsky and Adam Bertulli, co-founders of Dirt Queen NYC, took stock of the existing conditions. The family wanted to keep the existing trees, including some arborvitae that were nicely screening the neighbor’s garage and some Norway maples that were creating dense shade on one half of the garden. Bertulli and Osofsky saw an opportunity to give their clients the function they craved, carving out two distinct garden rooms in the small space, while also creating a dynamic pollinator garden.
Here’s how they did it.
Photography by Brett Wood, courtesy of Dirt Queen NYC.
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When I put a call out to my garden design friends about the topic of “cramscaping,” I received a lot of replies along the lines of, “I have never heard of cramscaping, but I suspect I do it” or “I had no idea this was a thing, but it’s what I practice on a regular basis.” The concept had recently been covered in The Seattle Times, and I was curious to discover its origins.
I ultimately found a reference to “cramscaping” in Loree Boh’s book Fearless Gardening: Be Bold, Break the Rules, and Grow What You Love, which was published in 2021. When I called Bohl, who also writes the popular blog Danger Garden, Bohl said she didn’t coin the term, but she recalls the first time she heard a garden style described as “cramscaping.” Bohl was walking the Northwest Flower & Garden Show with a friend, who used the term to describe the display they were looking at. “It instantly just made sense to me,” says Bohl. “It says it all: Lots of plants.” When Bohl asked her friend about the term, she pointed to their mutual friend, plantsman and garden designer Sean Hogan of Cistus Nursery.
Next, I reached out to Hogan to see if he knew the term’s provenance. Hogan told me he wasn’t sure if he originated the phrase, but it has been in his personal lexicon since the 1990s. Hogan remembers first using it to describe a container that was planted so densely and with such variety that he likened it to a bouquet. From there, he started using the word to describe landscapes in general. “If you can have a quick phrase or a fun just word to give people a different picture, it allows people to think outside the boxwood, as it were,” he says.
Both Bohl and Hogan define a cramscape as richly layered with a variety of plants and no bare earth visible. The term may be instantly understandable, but Bohl is quick to point out that cramscaping is not simply squeezing as many plants as possible into a landscape. “Cramscaping is done with a little more care and knowledge of eventual plant sizes and plant needs,” she explains, noting that without this foresight, an extra densely planted garden can be “a disaster waiting to happen.”
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Seasonal bouquets from the garden—sometimes foliage, sometimes flowers, often with seedheads left on. I also love framing views so that the landscape itself feels like art on the other side of the glass, especially when it’s softly lit at night.
The reflex to shear everything—shrubs, hedges, even trees—into identical balls and lollipops. It’s a one-and-done approach that erases individuality, when good pruning should honor a plant’s natural form and focus on its health, not its geometry. The same goes for “standard form” lilacs, willows, and hydrangeas—just, why?
Mosquitoes are huge fans of mine, so I’m always searching for clever ways to keep them at bay. I’ve used BT in water features for years, but a post on the “mosquito bucket of doom” taught me to create a small BT–treated water trap that draws mosquitoes away from the garden. It’s delightfully unexpected magic—and the rest of the garden feels immediately more enjoyable.
Water moment. Even a small basin or birdbath can invite bees, birds, frogs, and other visitors. It’s a simple way to give back, and it changes the whole mood of a space.
Exposed aggregate concrete. It has texture, durability, and a quiet honesty that pairs beautifully with plants. It celebrates rocks—which I love—and patinas beautifully over time.
My Lesche shovel—it cuts through clay and stone without complaint and makes digging almost satisfying. Solid steel, it’s been my trusted spade for years; I oil it a few times a season and sharpen it when it dulls. And my Hasegawa tripod ladder: lightweight, stable, and indispensable for pruning the hard-to-reach places.
It depends on the season and the task, but usually a jumpsuit or denim overalls layered over a shirt, with Blundstones and a hat. I keep arms and legs covered—for sun protection and because gardens have a way of leaving their mark if I don’t.
On the East Coast, Issima changed the way I felt about mail ordering plants. Buying sight unseen isn’t something I usually do, but Taylor and Ed’s care, generosity, and the trial imagery they share made it feel easy and trustworthy. Out here in Washington, I’m excited to begin ordering from Far Reaches, and I’ve already found a local favorite in Valley Nursery in Poulsbo, with its thoughtful selection and warm, generous staff.
Plasticana Gardana hemp clogs. Their soft amber color comes from the natural sugars in hemp, and they feel perfect for our PNW rainy season.
Chanticleer, always. It’s a garden where the designers and gardeners are one and the same, and you feel their artistry and care in every corner. The containers alone are worth the trip. And closer to home, the Elisabeth C. Miller Garden in Seattle—a treasure of layered plantings and rare finds. I even signed up for a class just to see it; the waitlist runs until fall of next year.
Because I’m a sensitive person—sensorially, emotionally, in every sense—and gardens give me both refuge and connection. It’s meditation, therapy, and a way to give back at the same time. I learn best by doing, so tending plants teaches me how they want to grow, where they thrive, and how resilient they can be. It’s endlessly evolving, and I can lose myself for hours in that rhythm.
Thanks so much, Ashley! (You can follow her on Instagram @lloyd_landwright.)
For our full archive of Quick Takes, head here.
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In the first decade of America’s post-war boom, a million and a half new houses were built, creating vast tracts of suburbia and giving young families their first opportunity to own a home. Nowadays, however, homebuyers who stumble on a 1940s relic in vintage condition often wonder if it’s worth it to buy a house that needs a major remodel?
For Raleigh and Michael Zwerin, the answer was yes. In 2004 they bought a circa-1944 cottage in Mill Valley, California. From the moment they moved in, baby in tow, they started thinking about the house they wished they had. Nearly a decade later, after having a second baby (and learning firsthand that the charming creeks that crisscrossed the neighborhood were prone to flood in winter), they asked architect Kelly Haegglund for help.
For Haegglund, who lives just a few blocks from the Zwerins, the challenge was to design a modern-family-sized house that didn’t loom like the Hulk over the rest of the neighborhood, where one-story bungalows and cottages were built on narrow lots. The result? A modern three-bedroom bungalow with pleasing architectural details borrowed from the Arts and Crafts era. A low-water landscape, designed by Mill Valley-based Bradanini & Associates, surrounds the house in year-round greenery.
Photography by Mimi Giboin.
“I went back to that house in the city several times until I met the lead contractor and asked him for the color, but he said the owner of the house said it was proprietary information and he didn’t want to give it out,” says Raleigh. Luckily, though, the contractor took pity on her plight. “He said, ‘I’ll meet you somewhere and give you a shingle so you can match the color.’ We ended up in a rendezvous by the side of the road. He brought two shingles in his truck, I brought a box of cookies, and it was great.”
The custom trim color? The Zwerins also gleaned it from the same side-of-the-road exchange.
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When Janet Mavec’s husband bought Bird Haven Farm in Western New Jersey in the 1980s, it had been the long-cherished retreat of publishing maven Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, whose most famous character was Nancy Drew. Nancy had been invented by Harriet’s father, who also came up with the Hardy Boys and earlier characters with evocative names like Dashaway Dan. His untimely death meant that his daughters inherited Miss Drew before their father was able to enjoy her success, and Harriet played the central role in turning Nancy into a publishing phenomenon. Janet, who has lived at Bird Haven Farm for 30 years, maintains that the original old stone house is haunted by Harriet.
It’s okay, she’s quite happy: on reading Janet’s entertaining and splendidly photographed book, Bird Haven Farm: The Story of an Original American Garden, it is clear that she approaches the farm’s bounty and generosity in a similar way to Harriet, sharing it with friends and family. For Harriet, it was a retreat that was also a venue for writer’s parties (her domestic focus was on the vegetable and cut flower garden). But the property’s collection of buildings, set within 100 acres, was not terribly functional, and after some sleuthing into its past, Janet decided that the renowned landscape architect Fernando Caruncho was just the person to make sense of the landscape’s clues.
Photography by Ngoc Minh Ngo, except where noted.
When Caruncho first visited Bird Haven Farm in 2001, he recalls, the property’s layout “evoked a sense of unease and constraint, as if the trees of the neighboring forest were an encroaching army, encircling the property.” Trails were cut through to invite in shafts of light and tree canopies were raised at the forest edge to highlight their forms.
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This week, we’re revisiting some of our all-time favorite stories about gardening in New York City. Cultivating plants in the Big Apple comes with challenges—yards tend to be small and shady, and privacy is rare—but if you have the patience, these urban gardens can produce some big-time magic. Behold…
Most renters, especially if they’re not planning a long stay, prefer not to spend too much time or money fixing up someone else’s property. But what if they still want a nice outdoor space? We asked Brooklyn-based garden designer Brook Klausing for recommendations for finessing a space that you don’t own. Not only has he done it for clients of his company, Brook Landscape, he also has plenty of personal experience, having fixed up several rental gardens for himself.
To start, Brook suggests, figure out what your goal is and how much time you’re willing to commit. Maybe you only have a year’s lease, and just want a weekend project. Or maybe you plan to be there a few years, and you’d love to spend the summer playing in the garden because you enjoy the process. Either way, don’t get overly enthusiastic and embark on something you won’t finish. Assess your own ambition and organize a project that’s right for you.
His other directive: Go big. “Don’t get distracted at the nursery and pick up a lot of random small things just because they’re cute,” he advises. Better to start with strong moves to organize the space.
Read on for 10 more rental garden tips from Brook:
Photography courtesy of Brook Klausing except where noted.
“If there’s a great view or a tree you’re really into (even if it’s in your neighbor’s yard), clear out any weeds or shrubs that are in the way and position your seating and enhancements to maximize the sight lines.” By the same token, identify what you don’t love in the space and remove or, if that’s not possible, downplay the distraction. (See below for suggestions on dealing with ugly walls and fences.)
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Oftentimes landscape designers are called in to execute a one-time overhaul or to create an instant landscape for a site that’s been ravaged by construction. Every once in a while, though, they’re enlisted for more nuanced work, such as when a mature garden needs a new steward and editor. The “before and after” results may not be as dramatic, but the process of refinement can take a garden from good to great. Such was the case when landscape designer and ISA-certified arborist Ashley Lloyd, of Lloyd Landwright, was brought in to usher a garden in lower Westchester into its next chapter.
The garden had been lovingly designed and tended by a fine gardener for many years, but after his departure, weeds had overtaken the property and much of the perennial layer had been lost during construction projects, including a new retaining wall. “The goal was to create layered texture, seasonal contrast, and movement—and to design with the garden’s future evolution in mind,” Lloyd says.
Arriving as the homeowners were in the midst of rethinking the garden, ended up being a gift. “I had time to observe the land—its microclimates, light shifts, drainage patterns—and respond accordingly,” Lloyd says. Building on the existing palette of shrubs and evergreens, she brought in more native and pollinator plants and created moments that would consistently surprise and delight the clients. She also designed dozens of seasonal planters and new outdoor lighting.
Through her years of working on this garden, Lloyd learned that “the best design happens in relationship and collaboration with the land and not from a fixed plan,” she says. Lloyd recently relocated to the West Coast, handing this garden off to its next steward in much better shape than she found it.
Take a tour of the resulting garden, a layered landscape that evolves through the seasons.
Photography by Kyle J Caldwell.
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When Jane Orvis and Steve Hanson bought their 1950s house in Seward Park, Seattle, they kept the original pink-tiled bathroom. But what about the mid-century shrubbery, arranged around a lawn—did that have to stay? Most people would reply, “absolutely not,” but Jane, who is a keen gardener, wanted to take a more closed-loop approach and consulted with the landscape architect Jonathan Hallet, of Supernature. On a joint visit to the Seattle Arboretum, a trio of plants in the New Zealand garden caught their attention: a topiarist’s hebe, red tussock grass, and a shrub similar to manzanita. They had all the “lightness and air and movement” that Jane’s garden was in need of.
“We stuck with the desaturated greens and off-greens typical of New Zealand plants,” says Jonathan. “We were trying to make it feel more like a dry garden, which it is.” He and Jane also planted natives, and plants from the coasts of Oregon and Northern California. “The overall tough and dry plant palette helped in creating a more climate-adapted garden that will tolerate Seattle’s increasingly long, dry and hot summers, with little supplemental irrigation required.”
“Most garden plants used in the Pacific Northwest are borrowed from Japanese or East Coast or British styles—plants like hydrangea that want summer water, which we don’t have,” says Jonathan. “Seattle has long, hot summers with a Mediterranean climate and we wanted to make a garden that was ready for that. We also tried to give it plenty of evergreen structure, so it feels full and good in the winter.”
Below, Jonathan explains what went into this mid-century landscape makeover.
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Welcome to Meanwhile, on Remodelista, in which we take a look at the goings-on over on our sibling site. We’ve been noticing recently, both there and on our own site, a new love for the unpolished and uncultivated in landscape design. We know it’s not a look for everyone (hello, HOA!), but when the rewilded […]
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It’s always a delight to catch up with our friends at the California design studio Terremoto. Talk inevitably ranges beyond the confines of gardens, touching on issues within the landscape industry that are rarely addressed.
Appreciation of laborers and the creativity that they bring to a project is part of the Terremoto DNA. Co-founder David Godshall explains how this dynamic collective of garden thinkers and doers continue to meet the moment, while showing us around a lovely little garden in Ojai, northwest of Los Angeles.
Photography by Caitlin Atkinson except where noted.
“The bones of the property were very beautiful but needed updating to be more functional for the clients, as their needs were softly different from the previous property owner’s. An avocado orchard existed, which we, of course, preserved and protected, and coast live oaks surround the property in a beautiful halo,” says David.
“The magic of Ojai (I say this as a plant nerd) is that it sits at the confluence of multiple horticultural typologies,” David continues. “It’s a place where coastal sage chaparral crashes into agriculture (most notably avocados and citrus) and more cottage-y, slightly old-school garden-making traditions. Opuntia and geraniums have a surprisingly synergistic relationship. Our clients wanted to bring their garden into a thoughtful new era while being respectful of the innate qualities of Ojai that make it the place that it is.”
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It’s not every day that a client asks their landscape designer to come look at a barge they’re thinking of buying, but that was exactly the call the team at Hollander Design Landscape Architects received a few years back. The property in question was a house that had been built on a torpedo barge in the 1950s and docked on a harbor in the Hamptons ever since. The bulkhead was in need of a total rebuild—and the landscape would need restoration afterwards. Hollander Design was up for the challenge.
The clients ended up buying the house, and after a marine construction contractor rebuilt the bulkhead, walks, and the docks, Hollander Design returned to conduct major revegetation efforts. The clients were looking for a low-maintenance landscape, as they wanted the home to be a retreat from their busy, working lives. They desired a beautiful landscape, but they didn’t want a garden that would compete with the breathtaking setting. The trick would be to create the illusion that the barge and bulkhead were knitted into the marsh around them.
“Everything that’s around the house is very wet and boggy, but their property happens to be a high, dry spot because it’s up on that bulkhead,” explains landscape designer Melissa Reavis, the director of Hollander Design’s residential studio. “So we chose plants that were appropriate to that area but completely different from the immediate area that it sits in.” Think beach grass instead of the nearby rushes, plus, beach plums and northern bayberry that are found in nearby dunes.
In addition to its unique barge setting, the property experiences intense deer pressure (a challenge that many gardeners can relate to). Furthermore, the site is exposed to sea salt and increasingly frequent storm surges. “We were left with a pretty limited palette,” says Reavis, but she focussed on what she calls “bulletproof plants for a coastal environment” to create a garden that is almost as magical as its setting. Here, her formula for getting it right.
Photography by Neil Landino, courtesy of Hollander Design Landscape Architects.
After the bulkhead rebuild, Hollander Design needed to replace a lot of the soil, which Reavis explains had been backfilled with whatever was on hand back in the 1950s. The new soil is mostly clean-draining sand, so that nutrients won’t leach into the water. “Everything that was replanted in that area is planted almost into direct sand and we don’t add any additional nutrient loads to the soil, to ensure that we weren’t affecting water quality around it,” Reavis explains.
To fulfill the owners desire for a low-maintenance landscape, Reavis eschewed turf lawn and instead planted native and climate-adapted perennials. Hollander Design’s maintenance team does a hard cutback in May to keep the plants from outgrowing their homes, which also ensures a long bloom, but otherwise the maintenance is minimal—and free of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers.
“You feel completely enveloped by the harbor here,” says Reavis. “The landscape’s job here is just to make it feel as knitted into this magical world as possible.” To complement the landscape, Reavis pulled in not only native plants, but also climate-adapted ones that feel like they’re in the same world as the natural landscape beyond. “They’re all flowing grasses and flowing perennials, and so nothing feels out of place with the more native natural habitat,” says Reavis.
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In this week’s installment of Quick Takes, we present a pair of Brooklyn academics with a flair for garden design, Corwin Green and Damon Arrington, partners in life and business. Corwin teaches communication design and social design at Pratt Institute, School of Visual Arts, and Parsons School of Design. Damon teaches landscape design at Cornell, New York Botanic Garden, and Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
The pair’s four-year-old firm, Verru Design, recently showed up on our radar when we spotted the naturalistic plantings they did for a charming townhouse garden (see Brooklyn Backyard Visit: A Fruitful Collab Between an Architect and Landscape Designers). Their M.O.: “We embed ourselves in communities, research their attributes and ecologies, and then actualize design projects.” The up-and-comers even have a podcast, Tree, Shrub, Flower, launched a few months ago, that spotlights the deep roots they have in their New York community. “Our guests are our friends and collaborators, who happen to have Tony Awards, and Emmys and are incredible creatives, whether it be a landscape expert or a leading actor on Broadway.”
Below, Corwin and Damon share the garden book they both assign to their students, the reason they like to plant when the moon is waxing, and more.
Photography courtesy of Verru Design.
Corwin: My first memory was in my grandma’s backyard in Waynesboro, Georgia. During summer visits, my siblings and I were tasked with picking figs from her trees, which she would use for desserts and preserves, and to instill a work ethic. As a kid, I didn’t like figs or the idea of working during often hot vacations. Even though I still haven’t developed a taste for them, I appreciate learning the practice of fruit picking.
Damon: I grew up on a dairy farm on southwest Virginia. My mother had greenhouses growing up and she kept my crib under the impatiens flats. My first memories of gardening were the smell of vermiculite and the sound of loud fans humming throughout the moisture-filled plastic rooms.
Planting in a Post-Wild World. We recommend it to students in our classes. It is the quintessential book for learning how to create ‘plant communities’. They teach you how to create landscapes that are layered.
Matthew Cunningham Landscape Design @mcldllc. His photos are always top-notch and the gardens he design are very much in our style of wild and lush, appropriately vegetated. He deals a lot with slopes, and we are currently working on a project where the client’s backyard has something like a 20 percent slope, so we’ve been watching how he crafts staircases and retaining walls into the landscapes.
To steal the words of Laura Fenton from her feature [on our project] in Gardenista last week…”low-key wild.”
Calamintha nepeta. The compact foliage looks good in containers and along pathways and produces a nice show into fall. It has a consistent presence in perennial gardens and a quiet charm that hits you with amazing aromas.
Bamboo. We’ve had jobs where we had to extract bamboo from containers and the roots are really gnarly. We are literally scared of bamboo.
Staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina). For unexpected texture, the staghorn sumac has always delighted our clients. And its fall color is absolutely stunning. The seed heads that form are striking in the winter, so its seasonal interest is abundant. Sometimes we choose plants specifically for their winter interest.
Sun conditions. Understanding your garden at both solstices is of crucial importance. In the northeast the summer solstice sun is at a 72-degree angle, the winter solstice is at a staggering 27-degree angle. Mapping this on-site analysis is the most important step in your initial steps. We recently did a pinup at NYBG where the students had to show us the extent of the summer/winter sun in plan view, an integral step for young designers to learn.
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Let us count the many reasons we love Butter Wakefield, the Maryland-born, London-based garden designer who has won numerous prestigious awards for her exuberant projects (twice at the Chelsea Flower Show!). 1) She has no fear of color (her home is as bright and joyful as her gardens). 2) No outdoor space is too tiny for her—in fact, small city backyards are her forte. 3) She designs gardens as one would design interiors, that is, with attention to texture, palette, balance, and comfort. 4) Then, of course, there’s that ridiculously charming name (a childhood moniker that has blessedly stuck). Is there any question we’d be fans?
Read on to learn the pros who inspire her (it’s a who’s who of British designers), the dreamy garden object on her wish list, and best of all, images of her own compact West London backyard. And if you find yourself wanting still more Butter in your life, be sure to sign up for her just-launched online course on “Small Garden Design” with the Create Academy.
Photography courtesy of Create Academy.
My maternal grandfather had the most spectacular gardens in the gorgeous countryside outside of Philadelphia. They were gloriously flower-filled and curiously very English in style and design. I loved wandering around and through them as a girl, and loved the colour-rich tapestry he created.
I am an enormous fan of Arne Maynard; his beautiful work and style of design really resonates with me. Garden Design Details and The Gardens of Arne Maynard are two books I refer to often. I also adore the recent book by Sarah Raven called A Year Full of Pots, which is a thorough and thoughtful guide to creating beautiful pots throughout the year. [See 5 Tips to Try from ‘A Year Full of Pots,’ Sarah Raven’s New Book.]
@ritakonig, @danielpieckielonslowik, @lucindachambers, @tessnewallstudio, @skyemcalpine, @shaneconnollyandco, @robinlucas—all inspire me hugely. They are wildly creative and unique in every way.
Purposeful, considered, and unique.
Rosa ‘Dainty Bess’, Origanum ‘Rosenkuppel’, Geum ‘Totally Tangerine’, and Helleborus ‘Double Ellen Green Picotee’.
Aucuba japonica ‘Crotonifolia’ (Japanese spotted laurel).
Alchemilla mollis.
…at least one tree!
Working for friends is often so much more difficult than one ever imagines.
Plunging small pots in large buckets of water through out the summer, it’s the quickest best way to water them.
Growing a range of reliable cut flowers in pots is something I always try to include in every scheme. It’s a hugely joyful undertaking to step outside, cut flowers and bring fresh blooms indoors. It is certianly my favourite way to start the weekend.
Vande Moortel bricks and reclaimed York stone.
Niwaki gardening gloves.
Waterproof trousers and ankle muck boots
Deepdale Trees. Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants. Howe Green Nurseries. ALMA | PROUST seeds.
An Alitex Greenhouse.
Edinburgh Botanical Gardens and Kew (of course).
Because it soothes my soul and I love it!
Thank you, Butter! (You can follow her on Instagram @butterwakefield.)
For our full archive of Quick Takes, go here.
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Collaborative post
A gorgeous garden invites you to spend time in it, relax, enjoy the weather, and take a moment to be closer to nature. A good garden can also be an extension of your taste, style, and personality.
Whether you want to express yourself to the world around you, or you simply want your outdoor space to feel more yours, here are some tips to help give your garden the personal touch.
Adding artistic elements to your garden is a wonderful way to make it feel more personal and unique. Sculptures, statues, or even bespoke metalwork can bring character to your outdoor space, reflecting your personal tastes and making your garden feel like an extension of your identity.
Whether you opt for something abstract or more traditional, such as a stone statue or a quirky metal feature, these pieces can serve as focal points around which the rest of the garden is designed.
When selecting garden art, consider the scale and material, ensuring that they complement the surrounding landscape.
If you’re drawn to more unusual pieces, consider adding something a little more unexpected, like a mosaic path or a wall-mounted installation.
Art doesn’t need to be restricted to large, obvious items. Smaller, subtler pieces like wind chimes, bird baths, or decorative plant pots can also bring personal flair.
Nothing gives a garden a more charming, welcoming touch than a personalised sign. A simple wooden sign engraved with a message, a family name, or even a quote can bring a rustic, homely feel to your outdoor space. These signs can be easily customised to suit your taste and blend well with natural materials like wood, stone, or metal that are commonly used in garden settings.
Hand-painted wooden signs, in particular, have a lovely rustic quality, evoking a countryside charm that works especially well in cottage gardens or rural properties. You can place oak house signs at the entrance to your garden, around seating areas, or even near certain plants or flower beds.
Signs also allow you to add humour or whimsy to your garden by incorporating playful phrases or personal jokes that hold meaning for you and your family. Not only do they offer a decorative touch, but they also help to imbue the space with your personality, making it truly your own.
Bringing elements of your interior style into your garden is a great way to create continuity between your indoor and outdoor spaces. Consider your indoor colour schemes, furniture styles, and decorative preferences, and reflect them in your garden.
For example, if your home interior is modern and minimalist, extend this aesthetic outdoors by choosing sleek, contemporary garden furniture and clean, simple lines for your landscaping.
You can also blend the two spaces through the materials you use. If you have natural wood floors indoors, consider decking made of similar wood in your outdoor space, or if your interiors feature lots of stone or brick, you might use similar materials for garden pathways or patio areas.
Adding comfortable outdoor seating, cushions, and throws will further create a living room atmosphere, allowing you to enjoy your garden as an extension of your home.
A garden that feels personal often revolves around a signature plant or a collection of favourite plants that reflect the gardener’s preferences. Whether it’s a rare variety that you’ve sourced after much searching or a plant that has sentimental value to you, introducing a signature plant can give your garden a strong sense of identity.
You might choose something dramatic like a tall ornamental grass or a beautifully scented rose, or perhaps something exotic like a palm tree, depending on the climate.
If you have a favourite flower or shrub, consider planting it in multiple areas of the garden to create a sense of unity. You could also choose plants based on their colour, shape, or fragrance, building your garden around these traits to make it a reflection of your personal style.
Finding your signature plant not only enhances the aesthetic appeal of your garden but also connects you more deeply to the space, creating a personalised environment that you can nurture and enjoy.
With these tips, you can make sure that your garden reflects a little bit more of your own personality and style. It can make it a lot easier to connect with and relax in, as well as giving your home some distinct kerb appeal.
Have you got any tried and tested ways to give your garden the personal touch?
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Catherine
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The new book A Year in Bloom has a great premise: Ask some of the world’s top garden people to talk about their favorite bulbs, thus solving one of gardeners’ biggest dilemmas—which of the many, many bulbs out there to plant. And the beautifully packaged results come as a relief, as the trend is mainly toward less artifice and less effort when it comes to bulbs.
Written and compiled by Lucy Bellamy (former editor of Gardens Illustrated) and photographed by Jason Ingram (the best in the business), the book’s contributors offer insights that make for a fun read. Not all of their comments made it into the book—and we have some of them here. Let’s take a look.
Photography by Jason Ingram.
Daffodils that look like they might have been shown at the RHS exhibition halls in Westminster 100 years ago are the ones with the right look, and yellow is not to be shied away from. Of Narcissus ‘Bath’s Flame’ (above left), Lucy writes, “Over recent years there has been a trend for more delicate forms of narcissus that sit easily in semi-wild plantings, and ‘Bath’s Flame’ is at once just wild and just cultivated enough.”
Narcissus ‘White Lady’ was chosen by admired Irish plantsman Jimi Blake, who told Lucy: “This variety was originally grown as a cut flower back in 1898. It’s pure elegance on a stem, with its pristine white petals and soft yellow cup with a delicious scent. I grow this in a border with other simple narcissus such as ‘Polar Ice’, ‘Thalia’ and ‘Segovia’. The other nominee for N. ‘White Lady’ was your own Gardenista correspondent—me. They were in the old-fashioned cottage garden of my elderly next door neighbor, and they began to drift into mine, with some help.
Lucy points out that bulbs that are good for naturalizing also look quite “natural.” Crocus are small, and they shine in the low-key surroundings of dried leaves, and under the bare limbs of shrubs and trees. There is no need to bundle up the leaves of daffodils after flowering, or tie them into neat knots; the simpler forms tend to have more demure foliage, which disappears into lengthening grass as the season progresses. It’s best to leave them alone anyway, so that seeds can disperse, and bulbs can spread underground. When they appear year on year, they are “emulating the patterns they make in nature.”
The hooped petticoat-shape of Narcissuc bulbocodium is the same yellow hue as other spring flowers, including daffodils, but its character is altogether different. Described by California landscape designer Ron Lutsko as “steadfast and cheerful,” it benefits from being away from the throng. “It is best grown in pots as a single-species group, to give the opportunity of closely observing the flowers.”
Delightfully named Narcissus pseudonarcissus is the diminutive wild daffodil of the Wye Valley and Welsh Borders, and it’s also the “go-to choice” for Sissinghurst’s head gardener, Troy Scott Smith. James Basson, garden designer and a Chelsea Flower Show star who is based in the French Alpes-Maritimes, says: “These daffodils revel in the stone cracks of karst landscapes [featuring eroded limestone], and they push through the snow to shout out in bright yellow.” This was the second most nominated bulb.
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It’s no coincidence if Japanese gardens remind you of those scene-in-a-shoebox dioramas you made in grade school.
A Japanese garden is a miniature world full of abstract shapes–rocks, gravel, and cloud-pruned plants–designed to represent the larger landscape of nature. And Nature. For centuries, Zen Buddhist monks and other Japanese landscaping designers have been trying to provoke deep thoughts, with design elements such as raked gravel paths and moss checkerboards and tiny bonsai trees trained to look permanently windswept.
A Deep Question: How do you channel all those centuries of serenity to add a bit of Zen to your garden?
The Answer: Steal one or more of our favorite 10 garden ideas from Japan:
Featured photograph by Ye Rin Mok, for Creative Spaces, from LA Noir: Architect Takashi Yanai’s Humble-Chic Bungalow.
Plant a lacy Japanese maple. There are hundreds of different varieties of Acer palmatum, the maple tree native to Japan. With gracefully articulated leaves and diminutive stature (most don’t grow taller than 30 feet), Japanese maples tuck themselves easily into nearly any size garden. Varieties with multi-branched trunks have a sculptural quality and become a natural focal point in the garden.
For more ideas, see Japanese Maples: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design.
Use rocks as a design element. In Japanese gardens, the pleasing shapes of large rocks and craggy boulders are reminders of the larger natural landscape that surrounds us. Depending on the size and shape, a rock also can serve as a functional element–as seating or a table–in the garden.
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A couple months ago, I wrote a story for Remodelista about a modernist landmark Brooklyn Heights townhouse restored by Starling Architecture. The post focused on the sophisticated midcentury-style kitchen, but I was equally enamored with the verdant backyard, cleverly laid out as multiple outdoor “rooms.”
The goal, says landscape designer Nishiel Patel, the mastermind behind the exterior overhaul, was to forge a better connection between the inside and outside. “Previously overgrown with non-native shrubs, the garden acted as a barrier between the two ‘living rooms’ (interior and exterior), discouraging use of the garden completely,” she explains. In addition, the path from the home to the rear pergola (the main living space in the backyard) was awkward, requiring “two sharp turns to even enter the garden.”
Her solution: “We designed the garden to re-orient the home and the exterior deck [the rear pergola] towards a central and usable verdant courtyard, unlocking new views and connections between the two.”
Here’s how Nishiel reset the landscape design on the right path.
Photography by Adrian Gaut, styling by Glen Proebstel, courtesy of Starling Architecture.
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