Thanks for playing, everybody! From the responses to her guest rant, Love has chosen a winner. Gentle Gardener, you're getting a free book.
Wow! I won a book on GardenRant! A real, paper book that can be read in a bubble bath after gardening. From Love Albrecht Howard, author of So You Want to Be a Garden Designer from Timber Press....a sistah corporate marketing refugee...#in
Locally, sustainably, or organically grown cut #flowers, in season, plus live plants, vases and candles selected for your #event. Arbours, arches, antique vessels, renewable or recycled materials, repurposed and handmade objects make your event personal and sustainable.
To book, kindly visit www.gentlegardener.com
Photo: Jack Looney. Location: The Arcades at Palladio, Barboursville Vineyards.
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How to satisfy the urge to celebrate the change of seasons with plants in pots.....affordably.......sustainably......and extend and sustain the design palette through the garden over time? Small trees and shrubs, plus perennials and perennial herbaceous vines, can fluorish in the right containers in the right conditions. Call a professional landscape designer or horticulturalist to help you with your 'succession plan'. Gentle Gardeners standing by at 540 832 7031...........
Pictured: #Clematis 'Montana Rubens' pale pink climber, fragrant, blooms spring (April in central Virginia), Picea glauca 'Fat Albert' blue spruce for a classic conical evergreen, and for foliage interest, Heuchera 'Amethyst Mist', dormant in #hardiness zone 6Bfor only a few weeks and with persistent foliage even in the bleakest winter weather. Accent this with violas or pansies planted in autumn and persisting into spring; replace by Mother's Day with tender perennials, annuals or tropicals. Note the volunteer reseeded into the gravel nearby!
Essentials: First, LARGE #freeze-proof pots with excellent drainage onto gravel and NO soil contact; use pot feet and NO SAUCERS, which dam up and freeze the bottom of the pot off. #Green eco-friendly pot: hemp, fiberglass and concrete composite ages, breathes, transpires moisture slowly through the pot wall. Second, great drainage in the bottom of the pot: multiple holes, covered by lots of broken pot shards and or large gravel. Third, mulch with moss for NO BARE SOIL SHOWING. Fourth: Location, location, location of the pot is key. This entry planting is warmed by the #hardscape of bluestone and gravel, keeping the plants blooming and the pot from freezing most nights, and blessed with natural rainfall (no roof overhang). Fifth, a sustainable potting mix: ours is #coir with #compost in the root zone.
Next Season: Replace seasonal colour. $ Note: Remember that with the extensive marketing programs and licensing fees and patents for branded plants like Proven Winners, annuals can sometimes cost MORE than perennials! Planetary perspective: That's alot of plastic, potting soil and #embedded energy to be composted every 6 months or even more often. Divide crowns of Heuchera 'Amethyst Mist' into more pots and/or the garden. Replenish potting soil with #organic compost, slow-release organic fertilizers like #Espoma Flower Tone, and feed/water in well with sea kelp-enriched rainwater from #cisterns or rain barrels.
After 3-4 seasons or when the roots of the plants begin to fully occupy the pot capacity and before they are stressed, #transplant out the largest plants into the garden.....the picea, the clematis, then the heuchera.
Waiting for endless construction to complete or saving for a new garden/landscape? Plant container gardens to sustain your enthusiasm with beauty to remind you why you garden. Call your garden coach, horticulturalist, landscape designer, and Enjoy! #in
what a designer or garden coach can do for you when your site is too steep to mow ...
or you just don't want to mow turfgrass endlessly: a barefoot lawn# alternative of mazus reptans (blooming blue in the pic), ajuga 'chocolate chip' emphasizing the steps for safe footing, and lysimachia nummularia 'aurea'; aka gold creeping jenny. time to fill in completely: 3-6 months depending on plant spacing.
tip: have the designer specify the exact number needed (s/he can reduce by 1/3 from the branded plants recco) and custom order# fresh from the wholesale grower - don't try to piece together from small retail stocks in garden centers - they won't have enough and the plants will be a little stressed. pots/plugs are 2.5-3.5" square and must be cared for daily til planted. enjoy!
Public, commercial and private projects of all sizes and scopes, with a common element of dedication to ‘green’, sustainable practices. Realizing your dreams is a process of co-creation between you, your designer (‘Coach’), and Nature as revealed in your garden. #in
For assistance, kindly contact www.gentlegardener.com.
For more inspiration from our portfolio, visit web.me.com/gentlegardener.
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Coach#? Landscape# designer? Gardener#? Permaculturalist#? Farmer? In a word, a person who can help YOU solve problems, arrange 'rooms', and grow plants sustainably: that is, within a defined scope and budget. We also know how to catch roof rainwater for irrigating, create microclimates to extend growing/outdoor living seasons, amend soils organically for long-term health of your plants.....we know how to make all the work SUSTAINABLE.
You'll hear more and more about garden coaches. I've been using the term for 15 years to describe a design process of co-creation between YOU, your designer/coach, and Nature as revealed in your garden.
You may not have felt comfortable hiring a De-zine-ah, dahling, but working outside with the right personal garden Coach# should feel as comfortable to you as your favorite gardening gloves. If you don't have any, that's ok, too; a coach can help you select the right tools.
Call your coach now, because with this crazy weather, when it breaks loose, it will be BUSY! Hard to remember that Spring-complete with central Virginia's famous 90 degree days in March- REALLY IS almost HERE!
In this our winter of discontent, with snow blanketing our garden dreams, just what you need: another blog.
On feeding our soil, our children, our families.
On protecting our water.
On cultivating our communities and local economies.
On co-creating beauty and bounty in the garden.
On Soul Conservation: the root of all gardens and gardeners.
In pictures and words, dishing the real dirt about gardening, food, permaculture, design, and what makes the heart sing. And, what makes us sigh, rant, or laugh.
Meanwhile, enjoy the promise of Spring to come at http://web.me.com/gentlegardener and more info at www.gentlegardener.com.
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