How Does Your Garden Grow?

 This is that wonderful time of year when gardens  are full of promise and blooms in every color~ and time for my friend Jen and I to take our traditional trip to Russell’s Nursery!  Every year we visit and chose from their unique and bountiful selection of perennial plants, annuals and herbs for our borders, pots and trellises.

While Jen ‘tiptoed through the tulips’,  I walked among the roses and found some beauties to share with you. Roses have come a long way from the fragile, disease-prone plants of yesteryear. Today there are Knock-Out varieties that bloom all season and colors to match every fabric… take a peek.

Isn’t this a pretty shade of yellow?

This apricot is so soft,  it would compliment a deeper orange hue as well.

Love this trendy orange….

These are rainbow  sherbet roses~ makes me feel like getting  an ice cream cone,  how about you?

If you look closely at these roses you can see the double petals–and they are climbers too, love them!

These wooden supports come in all sizes and shapes to aid your roses and other plants

I spotted these chic containers, perfect for a terrace garden

 …and these more traditional terra cotta containers for a patio

Time to get back to the flowers.  Poppies are one of my favorites in the garden…

When the flowers are closed their little heads droop and they seem so heavy~but then the pod opens and the petals slowly unfurl and unravel like wrinkled tissue paper into beautiful transparent paper-like petals.  The centers can be dark and threadlike and dance in the wind.  This is a flower with many transformations…just like some of us.

Poppies showing off

Poppies all in a row

Whatever (or wherever) you choose to plant this year, consider a tour of your local nursery to see what is growing and try something new in your garden~ you may just fall in love …

“Mary Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells
And pretty  maids all in a row.”

~Traditional Nursery Rhyme

xo,

Pamela

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Friends, Gardens and Outdoor Living Spaces

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.

~Marcel Proust

I am fortunate to know several talented gardeners whom I call dear friends.  As the summer season has progressed, I’ve paid visits to three wonderful local gardens.  Today I’d like to share just a peek into each unique space.

My friend Ginny‘s yard is filled with beautiful, abundant, colorful garden beds.  One of my favorite elements in her yard is this stunning mosaic bench.

I love the curved lines of the mosaic design which echo the curved lines in the garden beds

  Handmade by Ginny and tucked into the corner of one of her backyard gardens, this bench is not only an unexpected design element but also a practical spot to take a break from the work of weeding.  I love how the colors in the bench perfectly echo the flowers, including these irises, in the garden.  Just lovely.

At my friend Jen‘s home, an eclectic border garden greets you as you approach the entrance.

Great mix of traditional and modern materials

I love the mix of plant material and elements in this garden, especially the lantern which adds a touch of contemporary art to the space.  There’s more drama in this terrace area.

The elephant ear plant is so stunning!

The elephant ear in the window box combined with the surprising addition of an adjacent lemon tree, provides a mix of foliage that both adorns and enlivens this petite space.

There are so many inviting features in my friend Debbie‘s garden that it’s hard to pick a favorite.  One of the most dramatic elements is this beautiful pond that Debbie and her husband constructed.

A spectacular collaboration!

The nearby bench provides a perfect spot to cool off, sip iced tea and share a secret with a friend. This patio is one of the first spaces you see as you enter the yard and you can’t help but be drawn in by this delightful space.

More color echoes: repetition of the green in the cushion, the ferns and the planter foliage

The wire love seat beckons you to sit and enjoy the view, including several interesting items such as sculpture, an ornate iron trellis and across the patio, another water feature: a small copper fountain.

Really, is there any more delightful way to spend a summer afternoon than in the garden of a friend?

xo,

Pamela

Garden Update

“Earth laughs in flowers.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Not only the Earth, but also containers filled with Earth!  The sun has been shining and there’s been a transformation taking place on my deck.  Before I show you what it looks like now, how about a little reminder of what the terrace looked like just 6 short weeks ago…

late May

Now, with a little sunshine, water, and a lot of  hard work…

The terrace, in bloom!

Oh my, how the plants have grown!

Now that the terrace is in tip-top shape, the parties have started.  Good friends are the best decoration for any space!

We christened the deck with a Sunset Supper gathering

Just as it’s important to coordinate interior and exterior spaces, coordinating your dress with your space is also a key design principle!

Mother Nature was kind enough to echo the terrace hues with a spectacular sunset

In addition to color coordination, there are other important design principles at work in this terrace space.

Incorporating personal, sculptural elements adds depth to the space. Lanterns, both paper and solar powered, add texture, visual interest and a whimsical flair.

When selected carefully, silk foliage adds another layer of interest and versatility to an outdoor space. Outfitted with white lights for evening ambiance, this 9 1/2 foot ficus tree is from Beacon Hill Showroom.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tour of my Terrace Garden–and I hope your outdoor space is bringing you just as much happiness this summer season!

xo,

Pamela

JANUS et Cie Umbrellas

With the return of Summer sunshine, it’s time to trade in your rain umbrella for an outdoor patio umbrella!  These beauties from JANUS et Cie are among my favorites.

Colorful Stripes

Aristocrat Umbrella

Classic Rectangular in White

A patio umbrella is a perfect element to reinforce the design aesthetic of your outdoor space.  Whether you have a classic space or something more modern and bold, a great umbrella can unify and enliven your space.

“He that will enjoy the brightness of sunshine, must quit the coolness of the shade.”

~Samuel Johnson

xo,

Pamela

JANUS et Cie products are available via the Boston Design Center

My Newest Garden

“Flowers whisper “Beauty” to the world, even as they fade, wilt, fall.”

~Dr. Sun Wolf

As New England finally welcomes the sun after what feels like weeks of being waterlogged, I am moving right along with the design and  installation my new garden.  I am fortunate to have an expansive deck space that overlooks the ocean.  All of the  french doors from the interior open directly onto this outdoor living space.  Naturally that means I am color echoing all the interior colors with my flower selections.  Doesn’t everyone?

This newest adventure  marks my first time ever creating an entire garden without true earthly soil.  My challenge is to create a lush, layered and vibrant space using only containers.  I would love to bring you along for the journey!

First, a ‘before’ view.  This is the deck in its earliest stages of design.

Just as soon as the calendar would allow I made a trip to one of my favorite nurseries, Russell’s Garden Center in Wayland.  Highly recommended!

These are my soggy plants purchased on a rainy day with my friend Jen. The colors are fiery sunset hues of orange and poppy that coordinate with my indoor living room.

Can you see the hint of orange in the center of this poppy colored geranium?

Of course I have a planter with kitchen herbs. This is a round basil plant, the scent is simply intoxicating. I will probably arrange 3 of them together, don't forget: odd numbers always work best in design!

Lisa Swanson of Zinnia Designs has been helping me with this new way of gardening.  Her knowledge and hard work have been instrumental in getting my newest outdoor space off the ground (literally!).

Lisa is wonderfully creative and such a doll!

I am very happy with the progress so far on my garden.  Things are coming together and I can already see containers are starting to fill in. Now all I have left to do is plant the remainder of the materials, pray for continued sunshine and of course, have a party.  Then it will really feel like a garden!

xo,

Pamela

{You can reach Lisa Swanson of Zinnia Designs via email at: lmarie4swanson(at)comcast(dot)net}