According to all the garden books I read early on water is an essential element in every garden. Then there were photos of ponds and streams, rivulets and all manner of water. I could not imagine how I would ever get essential water in my garden. I have gotten bird baths, and now I have a garden that floods. However, others have found a myriad of ways to include essential water features. This little waterfall is part of…
On this World Water Day I want to share some of my water photos. This group of gardeners has been visiting Minneapolis area gardens on a hot summer day. It was bliss to sit in the shade and enjoy the lake breeze and serenity. We can't all have a lake in our garden, but we can arrange to have fountains like this patio fountain in Minneapolis. This might have been my favorite Minneapolis water fountain - located at…
Water is life! That is the cry that was repeated when Kandi Mossett finished her keynote address at the Local Environmental Action Conference last Sunday. Mossett, of Mandan, Hidsata and Arikara tribal heritage, is a leading voice in the fight to the impacts that environmental injustice are having on indigenous communities across our country. We all know about the stand taken at Standing Rock in North Dakota to keep an oil pipeline from crossing sacred lands and under…
We just returned from a trip to Texas where our daughter Kate Lawn lives outside Houston with her family. Her family now includes three Eagle Scouts, dad and the two boys. Two years ago we visited and attended Anthony’s Honor Court; last Sunday we attended Drew’s Honor Court. We were so glad to celebrate their achievements. One of the elements of the ceremony was a slide show of Drew’s scouting years beginning as a Tiger Cub. We saw…
The reflections in the garden this morning make make concrete the challenge we face. Recently I gave a talk about The Making of a New Garden. I mentioned several times that the main challenge of this new garden is how wet it is. The soil is clay and the garden is slightly lower that the three adjoining properties. Lots of talk, but before I closed I showed a picture of one instance of flooding - there was an…
For years putting water in the garden was a problem for me. Beverley Nichols was one of my favorite authors when I was younger and spent a lot of time reading English garden books. He is wonderfully witty (the British are never merely funny) and I can certainly identify with many of his adventures with plants, and other gardeners. I did take against one thing he said with great energy which was that a good garden required water.…
Our family enjoys water many ways. Exciting ways on the Deerfield River and paddling peacefully on Lake Champlain. For more Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.
Water is an essential garden feature. It can be elaborate like this shady stone stream that empties into a stone pond. It can be in a Japanese plantscape with a fountain. A large pot with a circulating pump can be transformed into a shady water garden. Sometimes water can just be captured in the concavity of a stone. Does your garden have water? How can you create a water feature?
What is a mystery melt? Yesterday morning we had snow showers, and cold temperatures all afternoon. When I went out to the henhouse I noticed this mystery melt that ran from the top of the slope towards our wellhead. I thought it was so strange to have such a clearly demarked area when the cold temperatures kept the veil of snow intact everywhere else. We have a lot of water on our hill with intermittent streams that have…
“I’m a designer. I’ve always been absorbed by fashion, interior and landscape design,” Marie Stella said when she began my tour of Beaver Lodge in Ashfield. Her current and ongoing design project is the landscape surrounding her beautiful house which has been give a Platinum LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating. This is very unusual for a residence. LEED designations require that materials be as local as possible, that recycled materials be used when possible. For…