Landscaping Ideas for Landscaping a Hill
I know the hassles my aunt went though in finding ideas for landscaping a hill on her cottage property. She struggled with a steep slope that had been part of the construction and was constantly being eroded.
Here are the solutions we came up with for this shady spot.
1) We put logs across the area and staked them into place so the dirt wouldn’t keep washing down and we planted Vinca minor (periwinkle) at 1-foot spacing through the entire area. This stopped the immediate problem of erosion and the plants took 2-3 years to grow and stabilize the bank. Result - no more work and no maintenance. Yes, the weeds did come through but given it was a wilder area, this wasn’t a problem.
2) Terracing. The banks closest to the house were terraced and my aunt gardened there happily for many years. Each level turned into a major garden area
3) The gentler slopes were set to lawns and my uncle mowed up and down the lawn - mostly driving down the really steep areas (which is what I do on my steep area) and and turning and mowing up the gentler sloped areas.
Reduced Work Landscaping Ideas for Your Steep Hill Landscaping Projects
1) If you want a hill with the minimum of work but it has to look good - turf is the lowest maintenance.
2) If it’s a smallish area, you can grow large shrubs and evergreens on it to fill in the area so you don’t have to mow. Once or twice a year, you wander through and whack weeds but once the shrubs grow up, this becomes a minor chore. You can cover between the shrubs with landscape fabric and mulch to really slow weed growth. Caution - you can’t really use landscape fabric with flowers.
3) Use the log trick above to stop water rolling down your steep hill landscaping project while the plants are young. This is critical or the mulch will roll down the hill along with every rainfall.
4) You can install perennials such as daylilies as a ground cover. I say use a taller perennial like the daylily because the leaves look kind of grasslike and when real grass invades (it will) it won’t show up as much. I note that regular ground covers will require a lot of maintenance to get established - a lot of weeding on that steep hill. But once they’re in - they should hold most of the bank and reduce weeds somewhat. Short ground covers will require regular maintance because grass will invade them in sunnier areas and unless it is promptly removed, you’ll soon have a mess on your hands. In wilder areas of course, this kind of idea for landscaping a hill wouldn’t be a problem - let them run and let the winner take all! 
5) Terracing can also work to create grass strips. The only trick is to ensure the base of each terrace wall has a built-in grass buffer strip so you can get the edge of your mower right up the edge of the grass (or you have to whipper snip along the base of each terrace wall) I tend to use a 6-inch wide plank of wood along the base of each wall to stop grass from growing against the wall.
If you have other ideas for landscaping a hill, please share them below in the comments section
Garden Planning 2009
One of the problems with a rather large garden area and rather larger garden ambitions is deciding exactly what is going to be done in any given year. Without a plan, I find myself wandering from part-project to part-project and then running smack into November and wondering what (if anything) I really got done that year.
So without further ado, here’s my garden planning for this coming year. This is the summary form, my own to-do list and plans are more complicated and involved but this summary will give you the sense of what I’ve gone through in the last few days setting up objectives for this garden.
To start with, I broke out each of the main areas of the overall garden. And then I set individual objectives for each area.
Containers.
For several years, while living in smaller town houses I gardened almost exclusively in containers. I ran all manner of trials on perennials and annuals and had a great time. But with 8 acres of undeveloped garden area, the containers have become less of a factor and more of an accent. This year, the emphasis will not be on developing great containers but will be on using them as easily grown accents and color swatches. To this end, all containers will be filled with easily grown annuals (like impatiens) except for the one or two that the Princess wants for her little specialty plants. No fuss, no muss, nothing special, just blotches of wild color. (unless something catches my eye of course but I’m working on developing strength of gardening character to resist the “just this one more plant” syndrome).
Secret Garden Area
This is an area that runs the width of the property along the lakefront - last year it was totally covered in sumac and lilac with Virginia creeper vine strangling the larger plants. Buried down there are an old sitting area (with cement pavers) and the remnants of an old stone wall from when this was a farm.
Last year, the sumac were knocked back and cut out, Virginia creeper knocked to the ground, a deer-alley was carved out of one end to start the process of deer fencing that will eventually be installed to protect this garden.
Many of these will regrow this year and they will be defoliated with an organic herbicide on a regular basis to fatally weaken them. The grassed-in pavers will be cleaned out and this area turned into a sitting area. The lilac will be thinned out and other sitting areas and child play-areas will be established.
The objective this year is to leave this area cleaned out and ready for design and planting with few of the weed-plants left alive.
Property.
With 8 acres, the land surrounding the buildings can quickly be overgrown and overcome with noxious weeds (from thistles to weed trees). This year, I’ll be purchasing a bush-hog for the back of Buck (the John Deere tractor) so these non-gardening areas will be mowed on a monthly basis to control anything other than meadow grasses.
Orchard
The trees are badly overgrown, not pruned and difficult to maintain with a tractor mower. Many of the trees are very old. The plum tree is fatally sick and needs removal. The pear is a rootstock pear and while gorgeous in the spring produces scads of bitter inedible fruit that not even the deer will eat.
This is a major renovation project I’ve been putting off - and putting off. With any luck, I’m going to pick up an apple tree or two and a plum or two and plant them in there to start the process of rebuilding and developing the orchard again. But no promises here. It depends on finding some good plant deals and getting a burst of enthusiasm at the right time.
I’m going to have to develop an orchard management program to bring this all back into line, control pests and get something more than a pie or two from this area. Big project, big investment of time and energy and low on the priority list.
House gardens
These are wasteland gardens with more species of invasive plants (karma from a previous life is all I say) than any garden deserves.
This area is slated for total wreckage this summer as the house is being renovated. I expect to rescue one or two plants this spring and move them to the developing gardens but the rest will be pruned with a backhoe later this summer.
Conceptual design is in my head but it’s a “next-year” kind of project. These are very large gardens, encompassing the area immediately around the house as well as tying the house to the bunkie garden and the secret garden area. With any luck, the structures can be begun this fall but they’re not in the actual planning until spring 2010.
Vegetable Garden
We built this area in raised beds last year, had medium amount of luck with it. The peat was too dry and took too long to wet down. (the soil was a home-mixed nursery mix of bark and peat) So the garden took too long to get going.
This year, it’s all sitting there and we’ve begun to clean it up and get it ready for planting.
This will be a showplace vegetable garden this year as I’m taking video and pictures for the vegetable seminar group (a seminar from this spring that is now closed to new participants). I will be reporting on some of the developments here.
Mayo has already started seeds and we’ll be doing initial plantings this coming week.
Bunkie Gardens
We have a guest house on the property we call a “bunkie”. The gardens surrounding this area will be the main construction project of this year.
Built on a cottage garden style, this will be all raised beds and will include two areas for trial plants as well as areas for roses, vines and all the traditional cottage gardens. Because of the siting of this guest cottage, we’ll have all garden exposures from full southern sun to dense shade giving us areas for all manner of plants in this one area.
By the end of the summer, all the beds will be built up, the soils installed and plants ready for fall planting in their semi-permanent locations (no plant of mine ever gets a a permanent location - they all come with wheels on their roots as I move them around so much).
This will be the first “finished” garden construction area and will be a traditional cottage garden design, look and feel with a full mix of annuals, perennials, roses, vines etc in raised beds.
The picture shows the south side with the foundation for the summer bed, peat moss bales waiting mixing with soil. I built this last year to hold all the plants this year so I can build out between them and the structure. The peat bales sitting there were exposed during the winter (tops cut out) so they are nice and damp now and will quickly function in the soil.
This is the before pic - I’ll be uploading the during and after pics as they’re finished off.
Final Thoughts
I think these are pretty much “doable projects” this year. I’m not saying the gardens are going to be magnificent but the underlying structures will be more in place by the end of this summer and I anticipate picking up some backbone plants for various areas.
So - the overall plan is to have the bunkie cottage garden built and somewhat planted. It will be fully planted next year (2010) so by 2012, we should have a decent garden in this area.
The overall garden will start to emerge next year when construction begins on laying out the house gardens and the other gardens start to look like gardens instead of construction projects.
I sometimes get frustrated working on as an individual - I mean, I want this garden now - not in 2012 or whenever it’s starting to look good. Frankly, if you were to come to this garden right now, you’d look at it - look at me - and wonder if I was a gardener.
But I do remind myself, that I’m building raised beds because we have no soil. That this takes time and effort (not to mention a few bucks) and that once the structure is in place for something we can manage, that this will be a showplace.
But for now, as you can see from the pictures, we have a very long way to go.
No Work Gardening
Redesigning
In my case, I’m sitting with the heat turned up designing the garden. And this week, it just got a ton smaller. I’ve been planning on a display garden scale and I’ve just decided that I’m going to make it a lot smaller and easier to manage. I’m feeling pretty lazy and I’m really not that interested right now in signing up for a lot of weeding and plant management. I got to thinking about the kinds of things that would make a garden easier to manage on a larger scale. What is it that I can do that would make my garden a no-work garden? You see, some parts of my garden, i.e. the trial beds and vegetable beds, require constant attention. I absolutely need to be there to manage those beds because one provides me with information about new plants and the other feeds me. Containers, whether they sit on the porch or hang, need a lot of work with their daily watering and weekly feeding and pruning so these too require work. Some perennials are no brainers for this no-work gardening because they aren’t a lot of work but there are others that seem to demand more attention than I might like to give them and their days are numbered in my gardens. I have all the pictures and experience I need with them, thank you very much, so why grow them?
Guidelines Coming
I’m going to give you a few guidelines then on how to reduce the workload in the garden. What things to do that will both enhance the look of the garden while lowering the amount of work you do. Some of these things will cost you a bit of money to set up and maintain and some will be free to do. But all will reduce your workload and give you a better garden. Our decisions have to do with plant decisions, weed control decisions, pest controls and some management issues.
Plant Decisions
Plant decisions I’m looking at mean that every plant I grow outside of the trial beds has to be a low maintenance plant able to survive on it’s own without a lot of fuss and muss. No more big grandiflora petunias with their need for daily flower deadheading will ever be grown in my gardens. Unless that petunia is self-pruning (like the Wave series) then I’m not going to have it. Salvia and marigolds with their need to be deadheaded to keep blooming are out. It either blooms and keeps itself neat and tidy without help from me or it’s not getting out of the garden center. Impatiens are the perfect plant in this regard. I’m going to grow a ton more impatiens everywhere next year, from Sunpatiens in full sun to the more traditional shade-lovers everywhere else from part-shade through to full shade.
Perennials
Perennials are going to be similarly managed. I’m thinking that the long-blooming daylilies will form the backbone of my garden because I don’t have to do a darn thing to them except cut them down in the fall (and this fall I didn’t even do that because of my traveling) Then I’ll toss in the Echinacea for daisy-style flowers, a few plants such as Liatris and perennial Geraniums for easy-to-grow plants on poor soils. I’ll make sure any plant that tends to get sick, such as Phlox with their inevitable powdery mildew, is out of my garden. I have no time or inclination to baby plants that don’t want to grow in my garden. If you can grow this plant without it dropping leaves from the bottom so it looks leggy, then more power to you. The other thing about most of the perennials that I’ll be growing is that I won’t bother deadheading them. I’ll let the birds take the seeds and then once a season, whack them all to the ground in the fall with the shears. Bloom by yourself over a long time or die.
Roses
Roses are going to be similarly managed in my no-work garden. While I can grow tender tea roses without losing them to winter by deep-planting, I want roses that bloom all summer with no work. Or roses that give me massive amounts of fragrant blooms for a short season and then get on with the job of being attractive shrubs. I’m not interested in anything that even remotely gets blackspot so those can stay in the nursery. There are enough rose choices now on the market that are disease resistant and long-blooming that the sicko-roses (no matter how loverly the fragrance or bloom) will never be given garden space.
Shrubs
Shrubs are being chosen for having two characteristics. A shrub has to have two characteristics from a) long-blooming, b) interesting foliage c) fragrance or d) massive flowering. I’m assuming the shrub is rock hardy so give me two of these four characteristics or stay home. Fragrance is high on that list I can tell you so shrubs such as Lilacs and Mock-orange have a good chance of being grown.
That’s the first key to the no-work garden. Do the planning to pick the right plants. The rest will come along in the next few weeks.
Green Spaces
I’ve just taken a bit of a trip and found myself walking around the central core of Savannah, Georgia. The interesting thing about this, besides the t-shirt weather- was the large number of parks in the city. Every short block or two there was yet another green space or city square. Most of the time, I tend to ignore the green spaces around me and focus instead on the flowers and blooms in those spaces but not this time. I got to looking at these areas and thinking about the effect a simple green space has on it’s surroundings. Not only that, but thinking about my own garden and the green space within it.
Most of the work done on green space is at the community planning level and there is a large body of research showing the benefits of having and protecting green spaces within a community. We’re talking increased property values because of better living standards, better safety and lower crime rates in green space communities, increased community participation and standards of living as some of the benefits to our parks. It seems the more the merrier and the only limiting factor is the cost of maintenance of these areas compared to the tax benefits they bring. Certainly the people living in the city want more green space and it’s a balancing act between city planning and city taxation as to how much a city can afford. The interesting thing of course is that the more green space in a city, the more property value that city creates. But as I said, it’s a balancing act.
The thing about Savannah of course is that the trees are evergreen. We’re talking massive Live Oaks that hold their leaves all year round. And create a green ceiling across roads and the enclosed spaces that is simply magical. The shaded park-squares are filled with shrubs and some form of statuary or water feature. Some have wading pools (filled with small children watched over by anxious mothers) while others are more contemplative with benches encircling the ever-present lawn area. But this luxury of plants, this density of living things in the park is much different than our parks that are mainly open spaces dotted with trees. These green spaces are filled with plants as part of the design process.
Now this is not to say that all is rosy in the green space world. I’m sure the parks department folks there and here have all manner of problems with building and maintaining the green areas. And the online-debates over green space and what it is rage along from folks who care passionately about such things. But the visit (of course) led me back to thinking about my own garden and the design I’ve been working on for it.
I think that I’m quite fortunate in that I have some mature trees around the house. And even with these trees, I’m now looking at finding some others for next spring and adding a few strategically here and there to create some summer shade. I think I want a bit more cooling effect on my front yard as well as the back heavily treed area. If I were on a city lot, I’d be looking at getting the biggest trees I could afford planted asap. You still have time now but that window is closing down as the ground freezes. I wouldn’t be trying to grow fancy shade trees like the red-leaved maples but rather the hardier and more spreading native maples and oaks. Trees with heft to them that are going to create a serious summer shade to reduce air-conditioning costs and provide a place for comfortable summer sitting. As a nod to the seasons here in Canada, I’m also planning a 3-season garden gazebo, one with screens for evening bug control, that will be a comfortable place for morning coffee and afternoon drinks. This will be surrounded by and shaded by the trees. My own green space. I’m also thinking I’m going to stop worrying about some flowers back in this space but rather focus on plants with differing shades and forms of leaves. So instead of worrying about trying to grow part shade loving flowering plants, I think this space just became ferns and hosta combinations along with a few other shade loving spring flowers such as hellebore.
If I were in a city lot again, I’d be investing in smaller trees as well to create intimate green areas quickly. I’d look for something like the ornamental Sumac that will live under the part shade of a larger tree. There’s a cutleaf form and a gold-leaf form that are both attractive. I’d prune it by removing all the lower branches and within three to four years, I’d have a 12-foot tall tree that would shelter a garden bench or sitting area. Place two or three of these trees in a triangle and you create an instant small green space in your own backyard under their shelter. A perfect place for that morning coffee or afternoon drink. In fact, this is what I did in my small city backyard a few years ago. There was a weedy Sumac back there that became, in one short hour of work, a very attractive small tree to shade my perennials. The only thing to understand about this tree is that you do have to manually pull the suckers it will throw every year. But this is a small price to pay for almost instant green space. When the larger trees start to produce enough shade, the smaller trees can be moved or removed.
And if for no other reason than these green spaces, I’m grateful for having been on that trip and walked through those spaces. Old world charm to be sure but one that delivers a modern message about the need for great green space on both the municipal as well as the individual garden area.
Garden Gnomes Liberated
It was reported today that a significant number of garden gnomes had made a dash for freedom, liberating themselves from dusty storerooms all over North America and smuggled themselves onto the Island Ferry in an attempt to reach freedom.
The gnomes had heard that kind hearted garden writer Doug Green, known to millions for his refusal to even consider owning a garden gnome, lived on this island.
With their short legs and dragging unknown quantities of mushrooms (food grade), these amazing creatures found Doug’s garden. After a series of adventures, they convinced him to let them live on his property. It only took several glasses of beer, liberal doses of island pie, numerous impassioned speeches on the part of his not-so surprised friends describing Doug’s sterling characteristics and a cabal of children and partners to convince him he had a solemn duty to allow these gnomes to take up residence.
Doug (the kind-hearted soul he is) finally agreed to this immigration and welcomed the gnomes. He was assured he even had a breeding pair (he wonders if anybody has figured out the ge-gnome of this creature yet).
It is rumored that other gnomes have already been seen on Amherst Island in anticipation of emancipation and that they have taken up secret roles in the community. More on this later.
It is further rumored (mostly by his ex-favorite son-in-law) that even more gnomes have hidden themselves throughout Doug’s house.
Doug is delighted to welcome these wonderful creatures to his home and garden and assures his former friends that they too will someday be able to share in his bounty.
Ongoing Garden Design
Garden design thinking continues unabated here on the island. I’m still sketching away as the roof goes on the garage and we start getting ready to finish off the concrete floors before moving tools into place.
This concept is a little more “formal” in that the lines are straight and the beds are clearly defined - probably with raised beds and timbers. This came about because I’m looking at what I really enjoy doing (growing interesting plants) and experimenting a lot (new seedlings, my own plant breeding) and doing this in the context of a jumbled cottage garden seems a tad more disorganized. The main perennial beds will be to the other side of the driveway behind the views we’ve been seeing (in front of the house) and behind the house surrounding the gazebo-to-be and in the shade. So I have a lot of areas for large established gardens with a bit of soil. This area “might” become a test area, a breeding and evaluation area for new plants where I can document them and play around with them before they hit the main gardens. I might even hedge these in more than they are now with a hedge between the walkway and the garden but….
Here’s concept for garden design #3. Square beds, long rows separate by easily worked aisles (wide enough for the wheelbarrow and wagon) The beds along the guest cottage side would be bulbs and shallow soil plants in a garden setting. The other two long beds would be trial beds for new plants and evaluations.
formal garden design
Garden Design at Someday
Regular readers may recall that we named our garden and home “Someday” because this was someday for us. We’ve landed, we’re enjoying life, and this is what we’ve worked for. No sense putting off till tomorrow what you can enjoy today.
This picture shows the overall layout - between the garage concrete floor - the location of the garden shed (unpainted as of yet - family volunteers are not coming out of the woodwork) and the guest cottage (also unpainted in the new colors - hint - hint to family)
This is the next sketch in my book. You can see the garden shed has taken up a place at the end of the garden. With the location of the garage, this shed turned out to be in the middle of the driveway so the decision point was whether to hide it away behind the guest cottage (bunkhouse or bunkie in our family) or make it an integral part of this garden. I decided it was going to be an integral part of the garden and would be upgraded significantly as well in the process.
The garden design is now a little more like a garden. Some of the collections have been moved right away from this area because of soil depth. The beds are a little more winding and not as loose - it looks a bit more like a garden here.
Note the addition of the deer fencing (more on that later) in the top of the sketch. This is going to be necessary to protect the plants and will wind up protecting about 2 acres of ground (including the fruit orchard).
Hedges have also reared their head to differentiate some of the garden areas. The workroom with compost bins etc is going to be hidden away behind the guest cottage but I’ll need tractor access to this area for turning and collecting. (more on tractors later) And I do want manual access for wheelbarrows etc to this area for the cold frames and seedling germination areas.
The overall design is now more like a garden rather than a collection - the soils to the north will be left undisturbed (if soil is a term we can use on this rock shale) because it should provide an excellent area for species bulbs and some plants that demand excellent drainage. The area to the right of the picture will be completely rebuilt with excavation and soils being brought in to augment and replace the rock strata here.
The shaded in areas are pathways - from the garage to the house - from guest parking to the house and again back to the garden shed and a pathway inside the garden off to the south.
Again, this was a concept drawing for thinking on but it’s closer to what I want than the previous one.
Garden Design Aug 08
Garden Design Process
As regular readers know, the Princess and I bought a place together last year and have decided to make a garden. (As if that’s going to come as a surprise to any of my friends or readers.)
The garden is going to be a lot bigger than most sane people will have but I thought I’d share the design process with you over a few posts and show you pictures of the garden development as it is built.
What I’m going to be showing you is a work in progress - it’s not the finished work. You’ll see the initial sketches, the thinking and the rough layouts as I go. The first thing to understand in this first series is that *everything* changes. Everything.
The initial thinking was that many of the herbs and plant collections could go into the space between the garage and guest cottage. This is not the case as you’ll see in later developments. The soil turned out to be extremely shallow and not workable in this area. So I have a choice of major construction here or giving up the thought of having a garden in this perfectly situated area. You know the choice. 
So here’s drawing one from back in June when we decided to put a garden in this area. This is from one of my sketch books and wasn’t intended for publication (but these things change) - you’re getting the raw data I work from here and my original thinking. Remember things change.
This design was based on creating circles in the garden - laying out blocks of plants and putting them together in collections. Remember it was to be a collector’s garden.
Garden Design June 08
And here’s the original area with Nole and his backhoe excavating for the garage area - he’s on bedrock with the excavation at that depth.
garden construction
Native Plants or Not
There’s a lot of talk again about the use of native plants in the home landscape. This has been a minor type of conversation in the nursery trade for as long as I’ve been in it. Seems with all the emphasis on “green” these days and the new eco-chique folks coming on board, we’re going to do it all over again.
Those supporting the use of natives point out that wildlife - from the tiniest to the largest - depend on native plants for food and shelter and often this is not provided by garden plants. Imports often don’t have the right leaves, pollen or what-have-you to keep native species alive. In the name of ecology, there is a push to have you plant native species.
Those supporting the use of natives point out the introduction of attractive species of native plants; one regularly promoted is the Echinacea or coneflower for this purpose.
What’s a Native?
So let’s look at the reality of this trying our best to avoid the politicized charge of the proponents of native plants.
So - native to what area? If I can only plant natives that are native to my island, then I’m restricted considerably in the choice of plants I have.
Native to what era? Do we go back to when my island was totally wooded - or sometime after that? Do we use only those plants that birds carry in or do we allow plants that the native populations might have introduced? And speaking of native introductions, what tribe or era of native occupation would you like to set as “native” or “original”? Where’s the line and who gets to draw it?
Or do we define native plant as any plant that a current member of the ecosphere - inseact, animal or microorganism requires to live? In which case, just about everything is OK because there’s a predator at some level that thrives on every plant.
What’s a Garden?
To me, a garden is an ephemeral work of art. It is the slowest of the art forms and one of the fastest to disappear once the artist stops working and creating. My garden is an artificial construct that Mother Nature will stomp and change as soon as she can to whatever regeneration is possible. All those grass and broadleaf invaders in my gardens are her shock troops.
I see no reason why this piece of art should be restricted to “natives” or “non-natives” but rather I use the plant and flower that fits both my mood and space. I’m not interested in the politicizing of gardens, I simply want my garden to please my senses, to give me a respite from the day and a place to sit and enjoy my surroundings. To talk to the spirit of the place in one small bit of my life.
I garden organically in that I don’t believe in using chemicals to control the flow of my garden. I do try to restrain the enthusisam of pests eating everything in sight and I do control the environment to make my works of art, my garden. I’m not trying to recreate nature here, I’m creating something called a garden - my own bit of paradise - and a garden is quite an artificial construct.
If a native plant fits the space and gives me the look and feel of what I need, then I make no distinction between native and non-native. It’s a plant. And this is a garden, not wild nature.
I want the darn thing in bloom all season. I want it fragrant. I don’t want pests eating and mangling leaves. I do want healthy, organic vegetables but I’m surely not going to restrict myself to only those vegetables native to my area.
I’ll do it all organically and in concert with nature but I’m not going to be pushed to grow something that doesn’t fit my concept of garden or great plant because it’s politically expedient or “correct”. And I won’t tell you to do it that way either - you can decide what you want to grow and why you want to grow that plant. You can be as politically correct as you like or you can grow your entire gardens to petunias if you wish.
Your garden, your call. That’s what I think of the tiresome native plant debate.
Echinacea 'Magnus'
Even More Les Quatre Vents Pics
OK - these are the last for now. The rest will pop up here and there.
This was taken in the Japanese garden area - it’s the tea house.
The waterfall beside the Japanese teahouse
The wild garden walk beside the house
More Pics from Les Quatre Vents
As promised, here are a few more pics from Les Quatre Vents in la belle province. Three of these are views around the Pigeoniere. The other is an offshoot of the Pigeoniere walkways. (It’s a big garden)
The Pigeoniere (pigeon house)
The view through the bottom of the pigeoniere.
A reflecting pool
A statue in a garden walk
Les Quatre Vents
This is one of the outstanding gardens in Quebec, Canada. Normally open 4 times a year by reservation, a group of garden writers got a special invitation and we headed off to La Belle Province for a few days of serious garden touring and a full 3 hours in Les Quatre Vents. (The Four Winds) I’m going to post a series of pics so you can get a sense of this Frank Cabot creation. M. Cabot is also a prime supporter of the Garden Conservancy organization. Unfortunately, the day we were there was a mix of drizzling rain, pouring rain and really poor photography light interspersed with short-lived blue skies (mostly at the end of the day on our way out of the garden) So my day’s shooting was sporadic in its success. You’ll get a flavor of the garden however in these pics.
This was my second trip to Les Quatre Vents and I have to confess I’d likely do it again if only to buy a book and get it autographed. I missed out on that on this trip. 
If you have a chance to book a trip - don’t hesitate - just do it. You won’t regret it.
This is the Dragon Bridge - through the bush.
A shot of the main perennial border
A closer look at some Martagon Lilies, Aruncus (white spires in back)
Finally for today - a shot of a Indian-styled arch
So who gets the credit?
I laid out the first designs.
I lugged and sweated the 6×6 beams into place.
I carried all the cardboard.
I laid all the cardboard.
I loaded all the bark chips.
I unloaded all the bark chips.
I took the pictures.
Mayo spread the mulch with a rake.
I lugged the peat moss.
I spread the peat moss.
I set up the irrigation to wet the peat moss.
I turned the peat so it would get uniformly wet.
And who do you think will get the credit for building this raised bed?
Right.
p.s. that’s “Oh shoot” but it got lost in the wind.
Things I’ll never do in my garden
Ah gentle readers, don’t do this to the garden design you so truly love. I’ve visited two flower shows in the last few weeks and there is a plague let loose on the land. With the popularization of the garden as indoor/outdoor room - an extension of the house kind of thing, we have a serious influx of really, really bad garden design.
It used to be that a person couldn’t really make a garden design mistake Read more
Garden Benches
I rather like garden benches and all my gardens have had places to sit. As regular readers will know, I believe if there isn’t a bench or seat in the garden the only time you’ll go in there is if you want to work.
In any case, here’s a video featuring some fine garden benches I’ve seen in the last two years.
Color in the Garden
I’m starting a series of color in the garden with this short video of Cantigny Gardens (a public garden outside of Chicago, Illinois). These folks do a tremendous job on designing for bold and brassy color (as well as relaxed formal designs) and for showing off plants to their best effect.
Check out this short video as a first step in exploring great garden color combinations.
Winter Gardening
Winter seems to have arrived with a bit of a bang this past week. The lawn chairs are covered in snow and if that’s not a sign I’m not supposed to be sitting out there, I’m not sure what is. You have to love it though; the clean white snow covering everything is a clear signal that I should get on with next year’s gardening. Or at least make sure that whatever I’ve left undone in the house is well and truly taken care of. And here’s where my cold basement comes into play. I am watering every plant I brought indoors even though the mice seemed to have taken a bit of a shine to the geraniums when I put them down in the old cold cellar. The upshot of this is that the geraniums are a bit smaller now and the mice are gone, courtesy of a few traps, peanut butter and bait. I have high hopes that the plants will overwinter in the old way by being frost free but damp and without light. I know if I let them stay down there without water or in a heated basement, they’ll be dead come spring but the old cold cellar “should” work according to garden lore. I’ll get back to you though.
Houseplants
I’m also trying to decide what to do with the ginger. Last year, I let it almost freeze (or it did freeze a bit) and it was decidedly unhappy with me. This is the variegated ginger that has never flowered so perhaps it too is sending a message. Having tried bright light all winter, dormancy with little water and last year almost-freezing, I’m thinking that my season simply isn’t long enough for this plant. I suspect that grow-lights are the answer but I’m not committed enough to the plant to set up a growing system for one plant. I think it will get a cold room treatment this year and I’ll combine that with an early spring in the seed starter area and in-ground growing. And if that doesn’t bring it into bloom next summer, I’ll have one more plant for the compost pile. The only thing that will get it dug up next fall will be having produced blooms. There’s only so much room I want to give plants that don’t perform.
Rule of Watering Houseplants
The other plants are doing well although the basil I brought indoors has been dropping leaves a bit. I think I have to step up the watering there a bit. Remember the rule of watering indoor plants? I have to remind myself of it regularly. Touch the potted soil with your finger. If the soil is slightly damp, do not water. If your finger comes away bone dry, soak the pot. In this way, you’ll avoid over or underwatering and your plants will love you for the even supply of moisture. There’s no rule that says “water every third day” that makes sense to me because every house is different. And zones within houses are different; plants over heating vents require more water than plants stuck in cold, dark corners. Touch the soil with your finger for best results. And no, one of those fancy watering gauges is no substitute for your finger. I’ve heard more folks kill plants with those things because the readings are off. Your finger never needs batteries, never hides in a drawer somewhere you can’t find it, is readily accessible 24 hours of the day whenever you think of watering and doesn’t make mistakes. Why use a gizmo when you have a finger?
Garden Catalogs
The first catalog also arrived in the mail this past week. Yes! I’m now ready to start planning for next year. Mind you, I also have somewhere around 300 varieties of seed already in the basement hidden from the mice in mouse-proof containers. So my spring project is not likely to be choosing seed, but rather building a seed starting rack in the basement. Seems there’s a lot of things going on in the basement this spring. I suspect we’ll have enough lights down there to qualify as a grow-op by the time real spring rolls around. But it is still fun to look through the catalogs and find the treasures, the plants you really want to start yourself because you know they won’t be available in garden centres. That’s the advantage of having your own little growing area in the basement; you get to pick what to grow.
Overwintering Shrub Cuttings
The other plants that got to visit the basement this past week were the shrub cuttings I had taken last summer. I had great intentions of potting them up and overwintering them outdoors but it was a case of too little, too late on those. So the cuttings dropped all their leaves with frosts and reduced light levels, have been well and truly frozen outdoors, and are now downstairs in the cold cellar along with the geraniums. They should be fine down there; staying dormant until next spring. I will plant them in the ground next year in a small temporary nursery area so they’ll grow up into nice shrubs in a year or three. I need a ton of these plants for the landscaping I want to do so I suspect I’ll wind up taking even more cuttings next year. Watch out for your shrubs if I come to visit your garden!
Mind you, that won’t take place until next spring and for now, I have enough projects to keep me busy dreaming of next year. I’ll dream right on through this snow. And what projects are you dreaming of for next year?
