Join Me For An Autumn Stroll

  If you had told me four years ago that I would have my garden would be published in national magazines (or at last discreet parts of it), that garden clubs would ask to visit, that photographs of it on Facebook would be so popular or that I would even have anything worth showing you…

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Fall Containers Boot Camp

Are you ready to refresh your containers for fall? When your coleus turns to mush you know it's time! Yet many of us have a complete brain freeze at the start of a new season and can't remember what fun things we have used in the past to create the 'wow' factor. I call it…

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From Wilderness to Woodland (or almost)

  Once upon a time there was a mess. A very icky sticky mess. Think mosquito-infested swamp type mess. Cottonwoods, chunks of concrete, asphalt, beer cans, rocks and general debris were all in the scrub. And invasive weeds of course – Japanese knotweed (foreground above) and reed canary grass to name just two. Let's just…

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Epimediums with a Twist

I'm always looking for new ways to pair old favorites. I typically combine the heart shaped leaves of Bishop's hat (Epimedium sp.) with lacy ferns and bold hostas for example. But a recent visit to the inspiring garden of Mitch Evans in Kirkland, WA showed me all sorts of exciting new possibilities to get me out of my design rut!…

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The Grass with Multiple Personalities

A beauty or a beast? A star or a supporter? You decide. Considered invasive in many parts of the country Mexican feather grass (Stipa tenuissima syn. Nasella tenuissima) is merely 'friendly' in Seattle area gardens. Certainly it self seeds, but it does so politely creating serendipitous plant partnerships that I wish I could claim as my design! I consider it an…

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