The Path Less Traveled

Have you been into your garden recently? Not to weed the borders or cut the grass – just to see what is happening? Set the alarm clock a little earlier tomorrow, grab your camera and go on a mini garden safari. I must admit I wasn't sure there was anything really worth photographing. I hadn't…

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Taming the Front Garden

Eek! Where would you start? Pruning the overgrown rhododendrons and camellias? Removing towering, diseased conifers? Hauling away a pampas grass the size of a Volkswagen? Well maybe, but the biggest problem was actually the driveway, assuming you drove a vehicle larger than a Mini cooper. Besides some areas that were crumbling away, it was extremely difficult…

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Reclaiming the Garden

I was recently invited to redesign a back garden in Kirkland, WA.   To the homeowners the main priority was a need for privacy from neighboring homes yet to me the biggest challenge was function. How would this couple use their new space and how would they get into it? Before – the challenges   A…

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Scratch and Sniff

  Seattle is having an unprecedented mild spell which tempted me out  to visit the winter garden at the University of Washington arboretum this weekend. The birds were singing, the frogs were….doing what frogs do, the hummingbirds were dipping and diving and people were swooning. Really? Yes really. Pure olfactory overload – the witch hazels are…

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Peace in the Garden

As the Christmas decorations get put away for another year the house can seem a little bare. We've got used to the shiny glass baubles, the festive mantle and those special ornaments that we look forward to displaying each holiday. After a few days, however, I find myself enjoying the less flamboyant decor, the quieter colors and the uncluttered surfaces.…

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