Orange you glad you have different options for fall containers?
I get bored easily. The endless scroll of orange tones for fall container displays on Pin-stagram. The tawny cornstalks, the russet mums, the orange pumpkins casually cascading down perfectly styled front porches never quite work for me. Like the shoemakers’ children, my own porch never seems to be properly styled. Maybe it’s my dusty […]
Color Play
I work on a set of containers that have a conversation with each other, first one side, then the other, dancing and moving as the season grows. Three black pots on a hot, exposed rooftop are planted up with bold, energetic colors; their vivid triad of red, orange, and yellow get playful movement from a […]
Show Garden Inspiration
Flower Shows are about Ideas The bigger the better – the main show gardens should be packed with new plants, take-home ideas, and leave you with a sense of wonder. This year in the NW Flower and Garden Show, we saw majestic mountains with planting crevices, contemplative gardens where one might write poetry, eco-friendly gardens, […]
Do you Have Krukker?
My display this year at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show City Living follows the show’s Gardens of the World theme, with inspiration from Denmark and Sweden. It’s entitled: Krukker Have This roughly translates to Garden Pots, in Danish. I’ve been following the Danish plantsman and author, Claus Dalby, eagerly waiting the translation of his […]
Countdown to Spring – Getting Ready for the NW Flower and Garden Show
It started with a door. A casual comment at the end of last year’s NW Flower and Garden Show inspired me to think about how I might actually do my first container display for the City Living portion of the show. I dreamed about what it would look like and argued with myself over feasibility, […]
Taming the Overgrown Jungle
When our new homeowner moved into this updated houseboat on Lake Union, he inherited a professionally designed rooftop garden, with beautiful ceramic pots that enhanced the space – but there were over 30 of them, and it was hard to move around the outside of the home. Overgrown and Tired Through no fault of anyone, […]
A study in contrasts
We sold our house this summer and are gratefully staying in a rental with a garden while we look for a new house. It’s a designed garden, not diminished because it wasn’t created by the homeowner, nor greater because it was purchased; it’s a pleasant amalgam of a designer’s eye and a collector’s heart, filled […]
Fabulous winter containers?
Hard to believe, Seattle does have four seasons. But our grey and cold season lasts from October to March. Sure, we have wonderful winter-fragrant shrubs and winter-busting early colorful bulbs, but our long-lasting damp just makes most foliage turn to mush. Which is all the more reason to create a fabulous winter container to enjoy […]
Tiger Eyed Look
Which came first, the container or the plant? Sometimes, when I am asked to design a container, we start with the homeowner’s existing containers and build from there. Other times, the owner fell in love with an amazing plant and just wants to enjoy it all season before deciding where to plant it. Holding a […]
