One of the great things about garden making is not knowing where my efforts might lead. As a designer, I’m strictly fly-by-wire, so I never really am sure, exactly, how things will turn out. Many of my gardens have evolved in unexpected ways over the years. In the same vein, many of the paths I’ve made[...]
Steve Silk
Grocery Store Gardening
Around here there are all kinds of chichi food stores and Latin and Asian markets. And in some of them, the produce sections bulge with all manner of intriguing looking items: tropical bulbs, rhizomes and who knows what all. I have no idea what these strangely bulbous things are, other than a part of somebody else’s diet.
Front Yard Fiasco
OK, I admit it. Our front yard is a wreck. We’ve been in this house almost 14 years and I have yet to create a satisfying front yard garden. I have lots of excuses some are even good: Not even our guests use the front door; it’s a tricky spot–a long wooded slope leveling off[...]
Focal Point Pots
I’m so enamored with using containers in the garden that I sometimes don’t even bother to plant them. And empty pot can work wonders in the garden. Of course it has to be a good-looking pot, but given that, a container can become an instant ornament in almost any garden scene. All you have to[...]
Thrillers, Fillers & Spillers, 2.0
To cut down on watering and maintenance, I usually use nice, big slow-to-dry-out pots, maybe a 20-incher or bigger for my thriller; a 16- incher-or two or three– for my fillers; and a 12-inch or so pot -maybe three or five of them-for the spillers. The result is basically fool proof. If something grows too[...]