A Summer Abundance of Dahlias

At maturity, dahlias produce and abundance of ready-made cut flowers — the more you cut the more blooms to come. Dahlias come in a multitude of different colors, forms and sizes making them the perfect addition to your summer garden. Flower forms go from tiny, one-inch pompoms to massive dinner plate sizes, making them a

The Formal Garden

Dating back to Persia and the Islamic tradition of courtyard gardens, popular elements of formal gardens found their way into those of the Italian Renaissance. Today, they are echoed in tiered French parterres used throughout Europe and the imaginative ground tapestries of Elizabethan knot gardens prevalent in historical British gardens. For us to borrow from

Infuse Your Garden with Late Winter Blooms

“In a way, Winter is the real Spring, the time when the inner things happen, the resurgence of nature.” — Edna O’Brian At present, your home landscape may look barren and devoid of life. We all tend to wait for the first warm days of March when daffodils and crocus magically appear to suggest that

GARDENING with KIDS

I recently found this image from so many years ago — it’s me with my wonderful Dad in a garden. I don’t remember this picture, it just fell out of an old box of pictures last week, but it made me remember how he instilled a love of gardening in me. I think it’s genetic.

Spring Flowers for Container Gardens

By Deborah Hornblow, Hartford Magazine Many gardeners and homeowners decorate their porches and patios with pots full of plants in summer, but springtime offers an opportunity to welcome the new season with container plantings created especially for this time of year. “After a cold, gray winter, the sight of a colorful planter at a front

Spring Bulbs: A Quick How-To

Make it simple – combine tulips, dwarf daffodils and alliums for a 3 month display of color this spring. To create an interesting color scheme, mark off different areas with spray chalk prior to planting bulbs. Be generous with bulb planting – stingy planting won’t give you the show your garden deserves. Pretreat tulilps with

Janie McCabe Selected for Colorblends Spotlight

Janie McCabe, owner of M.J. McCabe Garden Design and popular shoreline landscape and garden designer, has recently been selected for a Colorblends spotlight on the website Bulb Design Notes. “We reached out to three designers whose work we admire and asked if they’d be willing to share the thinking behind some of their successful spring

Bold and Bright Drought Tolerant Plants for Late Summer

August weather can be a challenge—it’s too hot, humid—and rain is not dependable. Needless to say, who wants to drag a hose around everyday sometimes morning and evenings too. So don’t despair, I am including some perennials that can stand up to some pretty difficult conditions and still make your garden seem alive and thriving.

Finding Beauty in Imperfection

Wabi-Sabi is a Japanese aesthetic that reflects the very core of Zen philosophy. Age, imperfection and impermanence are the underlying qualities inherent in Wabi-Sabi. This cultivated and refined approach in all art forms suggests the sublime transient beauty in all living things. It is a significant concept in Japanese culture, and one that can be

Walk This Way

When designing walkways for your home think of them as being generous in size, well-defined and most importantly very inviting — aim for them to be at least 4-6’ wide to give maximum appeal. Walkways that are lavish in size and possess a natural kinship to the site feel well organized and inviting to visitors.