hortisma: n 1. a special personal quality or power of a garden making it capable of influencing or inspiring large numbers of people 2. a quality inherent in a garden which inspires great enthusiasm and devotion Examples of its use in a sentence: The Lurie Garden in Chicago had a special hortisma about it that caused people to visit there many times on a single visit to Chicago. Or Her garden did not seem at first glance to be anything unusual, but she was under the spell of its hortisma … [Read more...] about Hortisma
garden design
Garden Design Update: Garden Gate
I've always liked the idea of entering the vegetable garden via a gate. With a gate, the garden feels more like an enclosure, a sanctuary, a quiet retreat separate from the rest of the yard. I imagined opening the gate, going into the garden, and having the gate close behind me, as though I'd entered a room. With my vegetable garden already surrounded on three sides by a privacy fence, and then closed off half way across on the open side by a grape arbor, all I really needed was … [Read more...] about Garden Design Update: Garden Gate
Remove it from your garden
Many gardeners have it in their gardens. They may speak often of it. They may speak emphatically of it. They are passionate regarding it. I had it in my garden, many different kinds of it. But I've slowly gotten rid of it. "It" is "Never". I will never have junipers in my garden. I now have Juniperus chinensis 'Etgozam' Eternal Gold™ in my garden because I wanted something that would take full sun, be evergreen throughout the year and had a yellowish tint to it. Other evergreens … [Read more...] about Remove it from your garden
Garden Design Update: Yard Becomes A Garden
Clematis 'Rooguchi' Over in Ploppers' Field, another small-flowered clematis, Clematis 'Rooguchi' is blooming. It doesn't have as many blooms right now as Clematis 'Pagoda' but it has a charm of its own, regardless. I think I'll keep it and maybe get some more small-flowered, bell-shaped clematis because I like them. I like them a lot. I have two more in pots on the patio that I need to plant sometime soon. I like them so much that the other night, I had three more small-flowered clematis … [Read more...] about Garden Design Update: Yard Becomes A Garden
Garden Design Update: Woodland Follies and More
Iris 'Dawn of Change' I have only one old-fashioned tall bearded Iris in my garden. It is growing in a bed on the west side of the house, next to some lilacs, where it has not bloomed for at least ten years. I was pleasantly surprised to see buds on it this spring. I am just sure it was something I did that made it bloom! But I know better. I did nothing to it, except move the peonies that were next to it. Next to it... but most assuredly not crowding it out. When it finally bloomed, I was … [Read more...] about Garden Design Update: Woodland Follies and More
Wildflower Wednesday: Spring Ephemerals
Deep in the forest, across the creek, there is an area that will soon be underwater, once the trees are cut down and a new dam is built. There is where I looked for some spring ephemerals, flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow. As I walked through the woods, I wished I had spent a few minutes before hand looking through a wildflower book to refresh my memory not of blooms but of foliage. I'm sure I probably passed up some "good stuff" not currently in bloom, but I didn't have much time … [Read more...] about Wildflower Wednesday: Spring Ephemerals
