What do gardeners want? The simple answer is to see beautiful blooms every day of the growing season. What we’re more likely to see are a few bursts of colourful blossoms interspersed with increasingly long periods of green leaves. This scenario is the result of planting only what interests us most (or what recently seduced us at the garden centre), instead of following a … [Read more...] about Garden design ideas for all season blooms
Garden design
Visit new gardens to explore garden design
One of the best ways to discover new plants or design ideas for your garden is to visit other gardens, regardless if you travel down the block or on an overnight trip. Looking at how someone else arranges plants, combines colours, positions paths or places ornaments reveals the immense creativity of garden design. Admittedly, walking through a grand garden in a climate more … [Read more...] about Visit new gardens to explore garden design
Visits inspire garden design ideas
Visiting a home garden is one of the best ways to learn how certain plants perform in a landscape. It’s an opportunity to see how they mature and what they look like paired with others. If the garden is located in your neighbourhood, so much the better: What grows down the street from you will likely succeed in your own plot, too. However, visiting gardens farther afield also … [Read more...] about Visits inspire garden design ideas
Front garden design changes
I gave myself a shock this week by removing a large fern-leaf beech (Fagus sylvatica var. heterophylla ‘Aspliniifolia’, Zone 6) from the front garden, but it did reveal the possibility for some front garden design changes. I was sorry to lose a beautiful tree, but my acquisitive nature had come back to haunt me, and it had to go. Initially, I was eager to have this tree … [Read more...] about Front garden design changes
A garden designer’s view on trends
Catherine Geraats of Aphrodite Design Group was the garden designer who designed Garden Making's feature garden for Canada Blooms in 2012 in Toronto. We asked Catherine about what's new in garden design. And she had some advice for new homeowners hiring a landscape designer. Q: What new design trends — colours, structures, specialized themes — do you see in residential … [Read more...] about A garden designer’s view on trends