Serenity in the Garden

rose hips photo by Jan Johnsen  Allow your roses to form hips.   Did you know that, like  many plants that produce fruit, the formation of rose hips is a signal to the rose to go dormant for the season? from Monrovia - Japanese rose  Rose hips provide wonderful color in the garden and are a good source of vitamin C for birds in the fall and winter.  They are one of the highest plant sources of Vitamin C. 'Cherry Pie' Rose makes great rose hips: Oso Easy Cherry Pie Rose -from May Dreams Garden Blog  You can eat them too. Rose hips are used for jam, jelly, syrup, soup, beverages, pies, bread, and wine.  They can also be eaten raw if care is used to avoid the hairs inside the fruit.   The redder they are, the softer and sweeter.   source: live by the sun blog  for more info on roses go to Chris Van Cleave - click here . 

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...

During this time of  Covid-19,  we must cultivate outselves, our well being and our gardens. Plants can be a soothing balm for troubled times.  This is modified from the National Garden Bureau - click on the words for some great and informative links.  Start  some seeds . Plan a  vegetable garden .   Plan to grow flowers for the joy they bring. Take an  online class  about plants or gardens, or watch some  YouTube instruction videos .   Plan an  herb garden.     T ake a walk in a nearby natural area:  woods, field, desert, beach or park.  Take this time to groom or repot houseplants.  Remove dead leaves, refresh the soil, take cuttings of favorites so that later you can share the wealth with friends. Create a new indoor display of plants.  Make a row of small pots in bloom on your kitchen counter or the windowsill above your sink.  Plan a new  group of cont...

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 ...

For hummingbirds plant something RED.  'Major Wheeler' honeysuckle is a selection of a native honeysuckle ( Lonicera sempervirens 'Major Wheeler')  that produces a blanket of tubular, reddish orange flowers from late spring through summer.   Hummingbirds like tubular flowers so this profusely red blooming, vining plant is a hummingbird magnet! This photo is from a great website Stately Kitsch Grows in Zones 4 -8. They bloom on the previous year's growth as well as new growth so pruning is easy and regular pruning is not required. They grow from 6 ft to 10 ft. long.  You must provide a trellis, fence, or post with wire grid for support for this marvelous vine. It is noninvasive, unlike some other honeysuckle vines. And it is DEER RESISTANT.  Later, the red berries attract goldfinches and robins. How great! It is rarely troubled by insects, diseases, or deer. Bingo. this is from Burpee who calls it a customer favorite ...

Queen of the Night tulips - Dragonfly Farms Black and White, the oh-so-chic color combination that we see adorning all the hippest living rooms in \urban settings is just as alluring in a garden. and perhaps even more so because the colors are not from Benjie Moore but from Mama Nature.... (black walls anyone? This is from apartmenttherapy.com, a great website!) Black and white tulip combinations create a luscious contrast especially if they are surrounded with green, green and more green... I planted Queen of the Night black tulips with a white tulip to create a late tulip show that is also a wonderful cut flower combo. Another black tulip you must consider is the heavily frilled and feathery-edged Black Parrot tulip which is especially beautiful -  it is dark purple outside and almost black on the inside. (Protect these from wind) Van Bourgondien Bulbs  mixed this tulip with others to create their Mystery Passion...

In my book, The Spirit of Stone , I have a chapter on stone steps.  They add such character and durability to a garden.  You can use stone slabs to create a series of steps as shown here. Go to the local stone yard and see what they offer. Stone slabs are not inexpensive but two or three can add such a wonderful  accent to your backyard haven. You can add gravel behind them, as I did here. The gravel absorbs water and is a good way to intercept stormwater that flows down a hill... I used stone to border the steps and planted hay scented ferns for a feathery effect next to the hard stone. These slab steps that we installed here are wide and inviting. Leading up to a pool gate. The boxwood border is in place of a cheek wall or stones.  For more stone step ideas and photos check out The Spirit of Stone .

Garden photo of the Day by Jan Johnsen This is a foliage tapestry to plant in a pot or in a bed or around rocks...Sedum Lidakaense ( purple), Sedum Angelina (yellow) and Cerastium or Snow in Summer (silvery-white). Easy to grow, loves the sun and heat, and needs little root room. Voila!

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