Thursday, February 19, 2009

A Couple of Great Ideas to Borrow


The March issue of Garden Design magazine arrived in my mailbox today, which means the latter half of the afternoon was a complete "wash." Sadie the Dog agreed that this was the perfect afternoon for a long walk, after which she could sleep on the sofa while I read the new magazine.

There were a couple of new ideas that jumped out at me. First, on page 18, there is a profile of Jasper Van der Zon, the young head designer for the Keukenhof bulb display garden in Holland. He is encouraging a break with traditional bulb planting in favor of a "mixed border" look, which I think is really cool! When I was in the garden early this morning, I was particularly impressed with how beautiful one of the naturalized areas looks, with its mix of hellebores, narcissus, crocus, scilla, and snowdrops. Van der Zon shows a mixture of Fritillaria, Allium, and other summer blooming bulbs, many of which I've added to the garden this year. If my display looks anything like his, I'll be delighted!

In the same magazine, page 56, there is an article about using grasses and sedges in container arrangements. First, it was photographed at Cheekwood, a really beautiful old estate in Nashville (the Maxwell House Coffee family home); if you haven't been there, it's worth the drive. Throughout the article, there are a number of really great arrangements, suitable for a number of different light exposures. I loved the way in which the designers have mixed very contemporary containers and an aging garden, and the way in which the containers replicate plants that are in beds around them. (Notice on page 56, the lambs' ears in the container, as well as in the border.)

If you don't subscribe to Garden Design, you should. But in the meantime, run out and buy the March issue!

4 comments:

  1. What gardening zone are you in? Not that I'm into detailed geographic plantings, but it might help me figure out what the weather's like there and what's blooming or not blooming. If you have daffs and crocus up now, I'm guessing you're a ways south of my zone 5 garden.

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  3. Zone 7 here, bordering on 8. Just north of Atlanta.

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  4. Tim--thanks for the nice mention in your blog. I'm very proud of the way the "Grasses" article turned out in Garden Design. I hope everyone enjoys and takes some inspiration from it. It was a lot of fun to work on! Lots more of that kind of stuff coming up on my own blog a little later in the season! Keep up the great work. Troy

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