Glorious Abundance in a Pint-Sized Garden

I'm sure our giant green coach caused a few raised eyebrows as it pulled into the narrow residential street in Chelmsford, England. But homeowner Sheila Chapman took it all in her stride as she warmly welcomed our tour group to her pint-sized garden with a smile. Sheila is a well-known Royal Horticultural Society gold medal-winning…

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Art in Context: Inspiration from England

So many gardens, so many ideas….I'm just back from leading my tour England in Full Bloom and have so much to share with you. I tried to post daily highlights on Facebook but thought I'd take this blog post to share some of the fun art installations we saw on our travels that varied in…

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Color Snapshots from England

I'm just home after hosting a wonderful tour of English gardens for Earthbound Expeditions. So many memories and so many ideas – but I wanted to share just a few images that highlight the use of color restraint and how effective that is as a design tool rather than a wild 'jellybean' approach. Monochromatic Schemes…

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Before & After: front garden makeover

There comes a point when you just need to start again – and that was essentially the verdict after visiting this Seattle garden. A combination of overgrown shrubs, inadequate pathways, and piecemeal 'fixes' just weren't cutting it anymore. The homeowner loves the outdoors and wanted the garden to be naturalistic in design, featuring layers of…

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Celebrate Spring with Candelabra Primroses

I’m not a fan of those brash, grocery store primroses, much preferring the English woodland primrose that is both reliably perennial and a much more pleasing buttermilk yellow. Yet I was totally seduced by the displays of bright candelabra primroses I saw in England last spring. Their bright citrus colors reminded me of a packet…

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