Serenity in the Garden

ZOOM TALK - June 9 at 6 pm EST  Sponsored by the Los Angeles Association of Professional Landscape Designers - Go here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gardentopia-with-jan-johnsen-tickets-106030600380 Join award-winning landscape designer and garden writer Jan Johnsen to discuss the concepts in her latest book, Gardentopia. About this Event “Gardentopia is that rare marriage of the art of landscaping and the technical knowledge of how to compose a landscape―boiled down to readily understood and easily executed actions. This book puts you in the driver’s seat and shows you how to chart the course to your own personal garden utopia.” - Margie Grace, Grace Design Associates Any backyard has the potential to refresh and inspire if you know what to do. Jan Johnsen’s new book,  Gardentopia: Design Basics for Creating Beautiful Outdoor Spaces , will delight all garden lovers with over 130 lushly illustrated landscape design and planting suggestions. Ms. Johns...

I am thrilled to say that I was invited to be one of the 30 book authors signing books this evening in Sharon, CT for the benefit of the Hotchkiss Library there.  Please join us !

The colors of Little Quick Fire flowers in the fall The outstanding Quick Fire® Panicle Hydrangea can grow to be as high as seven feet tall...But what if you have a small outdoor space, such as I do?  Try Little Quick Fire®  hydrangea! the compact Little Quickfire Hydrangea It grows to only 4 feet tall and has long lasting flowers with excellent fall color...and best of all, it is more cold tolerant than most other hydrangeas. And you can grow it in a pot during the summer... Proven Winners has a winner for sure! It starts out with white flowers in late spring which then darken to pink in summer. And by fall, the flowers are a light red. You can cut them and dry them for winter displays indoors. My favorite thing about Little Quick Fire® is that the leaves turn a fiery orange in the autumn.   It loves morning sun and shade in the afternoon. A little protection from winter winds is helpful. Make sure to mulch around the base to protect...

Jewel tones are rich colors that resemble gemstones including emerald green, amethyst purple, ruby red, topaz yellow, sapphire blue, tourmaline green, and turquoise blue. A jewel tone is bold (no pastels here) and lends an air of distinction to a space. They bring a scintillating 'Pop' to a garden.  Complimentary jewel tones like amethyst purple and topaz yellow are especially effective. Jewel tones look great indoors as well...I love this painting and chairs below... But too much saturation can be overwhelming...You must temper your exuberance a little.... Richness can lead to burn out...but maybe not. Fire Spinner Ice Plant You can get away with lots of jewel tones when you use plants... Spello, Italy Flowers also can be combined to become a  Jewel Tone Medley ... Angelonia and Lime Rickey Heuchera - Johnsen Landscapes & Pools Coleus works great to create a jewel tone planter You can...

I am teaching a landscape design class today at the New York Botanical Garden.  It is called Learning from Before & After  I share photos and use them to teach landscape Design Principles - it is a great visual way to learn. I give out handouts and even have a quiz.... Come join us! starts at 10 am. Here is one example that I use -  Modifying a Deck - How to make an outdoor space a little more Serene  When this family asked me to make their backyard more serene and usable they never imagined I would tell them to alter their architect-designed deck! But when I arrived and saw their property I quickly realized that the 'grand staircase' that led from their deck was more 'show' than anything else. It was perfect as a 'Gone with the Wind' stairway, allowing Vivien Leigh to descend in her long hoop skirt, but it did not fit a modern 21st century family.  My suggestion? Remove the staircase entirely and build one on the side of the ...

  Gardentopia: Design Basics for Creating Beautiful Outdoor Spaces Jan Johnsen. Countryman, $29.95 (288p) ISBN 978-1-68268-396-5 Readers with even the slightest interest in beautifying an outdoor space—large or small—should find something of value in this expansive guide from landscape designer Johnsen ( The Spirit of Stone: 101 Practical & Creative Stonescaping Ideas for Your Garden ). She emphasizes the importance of deciding upon a goal for a garden and visualizing its final appearance before beginning work on it, declaring that the sum of any such project is greater than its parts. Johnsen takes care to dissect these parts, revealing creative possibilities (accompanied by practical guidance) for each nook and cranny. For example, to recover the lost art of “garden strolling,” the design can include a widened, curving walkway that coaxes the stroller through a garden’s various turns and twists. With proper planning and plant placement, the garden wi...

This is tip #134 from my brand new book, Gardentopia - so happy to share with you. 134. “MELLOW YELLOW” SPIREA Spirea is considered a common shrub, but ‘Mellow Yellow’ spirea (Spiraea  thunbergii ‘Ogon’) challenges that assumption. It is an early blooming,  deciduous shrub that grows 3 to 5 feet tall and wide.  Small, white  blossoms appear in profusion in March through April before the leaves  emerge, but it is the willowy, twiggy branches and leaves that make it  notable. The wispy, fine- textured foliage starts out yellow, softens  to a yellow- green in summer, and turns a lovely combination of reds,  oranges, and yellows in the fall, making it a late- season star as well. Gardentopia - Design Basics for Creating beautiful Outdoor Spaces Hardy to −30° F, it is easily pruned after flowering in spring. ‘Mellow Yellow’ spirea is a versatile, low-maintenance shrub that brightens up any plant bed. It likes sun, a...