One of my first first lessons to students who take my garden photography workshops is about “seeing”. If you don’t stop to think what you are seeing, what it is that excites you about a garden, then you will end up with a photo that will be little more than literally, a snapshot of time. [...]
These vignettes suggest water—flowing, tumbling, cascading, splashing or dripping water—yet there is none. Each illustrates the ingenuity of a garden designer in the dry, hot Southwest, where water is scarce. Yet the same concept, of creating the look of water, might apply to any garden.
I got “the look” tonight. It was delivered by the lady who walks here somethingorother-poo and it’s given to all of us who have too many lilies in life. You know “the look.” It combines a stare of disbelief, a roll of the eyes, a covetous sigh, and the growl of sheer, unabashed envy (the[...]
Tovah’s recent post about planting up her lawn with plants rather than the heavily-shorn green stuff deals with what history may yet record as one of the great shifts in garden culture. Here I would like to take a hard look at this green tyrant and alternatives to it.
I’ve never been remiss about sharing with other gardeners that some concepts seen in my garden haven’t been my originally designs. To the contrary. Several years ago when Chris Woods (Ex-Director of Chanticleer) was teaching me about garden design and perennials, visitors to my garden would frequently comment on how my style of gardening reminded them of Chanticleer. Well, we both did[...]