Stepping stones in a garden not only add a charming touch to your outdoor space but also serve a functional purpose by creating a pathway and a narrative for how to traverse a garden. Use natural stone or concrete pavers (whichever). Strategically placing stepping stones can enhance the overall aesthetic appeal of your garden while providing a convenient walking surface. image by murrayneillHow to make a baisc stepping stone path In order to create a walkway with stepping stones, you must first plan out the desired path and determine the placement of the stones. The area should be cleared of a ..read more

If there were a nationwide contest for fall holiday decor,  New England would be the outright-no-questions-asked winner. This corner of the world goes Halloween decor crazy (your biggest, brightest holiday light display has nothing on our two-story skeletons, pumpkin towers, and a legit collection of haunted houses, creepy old graveyards, and battlefields. You can have lunch in Salem and dinner near the Lizzie Borden house. We also go a little mum-crazy right about now. And while I like a good chrysanthemum, and they can create a lovely display of colors that goes rather nicely with all o ..read more

When colorful bits start falling from the sky – and everything on the ground starts to shrivel, it makes sense that you might need to strategize on how to make the most of the autumn garden season. My autumnal garden is covered in the first shed of yellow pine needles that precede the big leaf drops. A mow right after a needle drop is one of the most satisfying of the year. The contrast in color and texture is never better than when crisp turf green is set against beds that are quickly dismantling themselves. Frost is still at least a week or more away (in New England) but have you thought abo ..read more

My fall container compositions need a switch out.  The mums look tired, the veggies have given up and the grasses have not fared well in the enormous gusts of wind. Time has been escaping me lately and I am thinking that I should just transition my containers along before the next shift in the wind comes and I am chiseling away at icy soil. Filled with fresh green and red, this winter container is flower-free but still interesting and will last through months of chilly weather. Fall container gardening plants (like mums, and asters) can be swapped for heaths and heathers, and as other el ..read more

I’m finally starting to believe that, eventually, these piles of snow will recede – we have a long way to go here in New England, but every day of runoff-wet roads lifts my winter-weary spirits.  I’ve even started to plan for new plantings. I’m hoping to add interest and variation to my garden-fresh bouquets, and a whole variety of new shrubs by Proven Winners are catching my eye.   Except for the Sugar Shack Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) – which I planted last year and am hoping it has survived – all are new introductions that will make their way to garden centers in small ..read more

In my book (Cultivating Garden Style, Timber Press 2014), I dubbed a garden-style “Earthy Contemporary”. I made up the name, so if you’ve heard of it, you know its origin. I illustrated my breakdown of this garden style with images from a contemporary garden designed by the California landscape design firm Zeterre. The cypress ridge garden in Los Gatos, CA. Designed and photographed by zeterre landscape design. This is how I described Earthy Contemporary (back in 2012 – which is important to note for this conversation – it’s more than a decade later now, and I think it is worth pondering what ..read more

Rhodochiton purple bells, also known as the purple bell vine, is a stunning flowering plant with purple tubular-shaped blooms. This showy vine is native to Mexico and is a popular choice for adding color and beauty to gardens and landscapes. When we travel, I make sure my family endures as many garden visits as I think I can get away with.  They act like I am tedious, but I know they secretly enjoy it.   On this recent trip, I drug them to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden. The con was easier due in part to the existence of a CowLicks Creamery outpost in the garden ..read more

It seems like eons ago that Proven Winners sent me some of their Berry Heavy Gold Ilex vertillicata (gold-colored winterberry holly). It was at least a decade ago, but those circa 2010-2012 shrub babies (in 4 pots) finally came into their own last fall, and I’m now eager to plant more. But only if I can find bigger plants, because who knows if I will be in this house another 12 years. ‘Berry heavy gold’ Ilex verticillata in my garden last fall. I have 4 female plants and one male. They are spaced about 50-60 feet apart and the one male plant seems to do a good job of pollinating all the female ..read more

Autumn has arrived and even though the summer seems to be hanging on, it is time to think about making a few decorative changes around the house (both inside and out) to welcome the crisper air, the fall harvest, and most colorful season of all. Every year, Pantone announces, with much fanfare, the color of the year for the following year. The announcement is the precursor of a trend and it is a predictor of the mood that product colors and fashion will take for the following few seasons. The 2015 color is Marsala.  Pantone describes the hue: Much like the fortified wine that gives Mars ..read more

For over 25 years, running has been a constant in my life, but with the recent onset of knee pain, my orthopedist has advised me to pick a new form of exercise, which has led me to yoga. I’ve toyed around with yoga as a way to stretch and meditate over the past couple of years, but now I am practicing a couple of times per week. I love how it leaves me feeling both mentally and physically. It has led me to a totally new idea that I am obsessed with – creating a yoga garden – a place in the garden that is designed to encourage and heighten my new yoga practice. A yoga garden can ..read more