There are lots of bulbs that are fool proof. Critters don’t eat them in the ground or chomp off their flowers just before they bloom. Tulips and crocus definitely do not fall into this category. Daffodils, on the other hand do. There are literally hundreds of different daffodils from a few inches tall to almost 2 feet tall. They range in color from white to yellow, pink and orange. There are multi-flowered stems and single flowering types, long trumpets, short trumpets and double trumpets. They bloom in April and May and by choosing several types you can have them blooming for all of the two months.

A tiny little Napoleon that can really rock you out of your winter blues is called Winter Aconite, (Eranthis hyemalis). As soon as the snow melts, there it is, bright lemon yellow urns held above recurved dark green collars of spiky foliage, with the remaining drifts of snow still all around it. It likes a bit of shade and so it is great under a tree near a path you will be walking to and from every day to get to your car or mailbox.

Many of the minor bulbs are the true heralds of spring. They are called minor because of their diminutive size. They lack nothing in exuberance, color or the joy they bring. Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) pop right through any opening in the snow from the first clearing in March. Their white and green nodding heads seem to laugh at the remnants of winter. Rock Garden Iris (Iris danfordiae, reticulate or tuberose) also bloom in March and April. Their bright blues, yellows, purple and mahogany burst forth over night and seem to lift their arms up toward the sky. Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa), with bright blue, pink or white star shaped flowers naturalize into drifts that seem to bring the sky right down into your garden.

A bit later, Grecian Windflower (Anemone blanda) with bright daisy like flowers and delicate fern-like foliage sway in the breeze just 4 inches above the ground. They are delightful planted in drifts near your favorite outdoor bench or under an old knurly tree.

There are many more bulbs and except for tulips, crocus and lilies, most are disease and pest free. So stick to the trouble free ones, this is supposed to be about gratification, not frustration and pest control! Mix and match them and have fun. This Oct and November plant a bit of your own delayed gratification. The local Garden Centers have a nice selection of many bulbs. We have two local bulb specialists, DeJager in Hamilton and Messelaar in Ipswich, both excellent. If you prefer catalogues, try John Scheepers or the Daffodil Mart. As a rule you plant them four times deeper than the length of the bulb. Thus a one inch bulb should be planted 4 inches deep and a 2 inch bulb should be between 6 and 8 inches deep (right side up). If you want them to look naturalized, a good technique is to take a handful and throw them gently. Plant them just where they land. You can use bulb fertilizer or bone meal. But Most bulbs are large enough to flower very well the first year, and bone meal is very tempting to dogs. They will dig it and the bulbs up! Then top dress the bulbs next year after they flower and the foliage is trying to develop flower parts for the following year. It is best to let the tops dye down on their own. At least let them stay green and don’t cut them back for 4 to 6 weeks after they are finished flowering. A good way to accomplish this is to plant them in with late emerging perennials. Then the developing perennials hide the maturing foliage. If you would like some help selecting or planting bulbs, please contact us and we will be glad to help.

Reach us at 978-473-9992, or at LandscapesbyLillabeth@comcast.net

Garden season is finally here after a long snowy winter. Everyone is anxious to get out and fix up their outside spaces to make them more enjoyable for the upcoming season. Friends often ask me questions about how to enhance different areas. The question that seems to come up the most as we discuss different options, is: “Does it flower all season?” So I thought it would be fun to answer this question in a philosophical sort of way.

Does it flower all year?

In season driven New England, the simple answer is no, unless it is an African violet on your windowsill. What it is that we really yearn for is something that will lift our spirits and stir our emotions. Flowers of course are the big bold, here I am, answer to that question. They’re what we send someone who is sick or hurting. But let’s look one step beyond flowers. As the seasons change, so do our surroundings and that is one of the things we love most about New England. Imagine a year without the fall foliage. So rather than looking for things that bloom all season, I like to combine trees, shrubs and perennials that highlight and celebrate the different seasons. This gives color all year but as the season changes, so does the landscape. That contributes the elements of anticipation and variety to your gardens both of which are real spirit lifters.

What is more spirit lifting that looking out your window on a cold February morning and seeing your Witchhazel (Hamamelis x itermedia “Arnold Promise” or Hamamelis mollis ‘Pallida”) in full glorious bloom? Under plant that with Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa) and Snowdrops (Galanthus), and as soon as the snow melts you have a display that lasts until late April.

The next spring wave in late April- early May could chime in with a magnolia, say Magnolia loebneri or stellata, under planted with daffodils, Autumn fern(Dryopteris erythrosora), Pasque Flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris) and Japanese Primrose (Primula kisoana). The daffodil, fern, primrose and pasque flower combination continues into June and has a wonderful foliage harmony and interesting seed heads that continue to add interest and beauty long after the flowers fade, and you are enjoying the shade of the magnolia tree.

As May progresses into June, the mother lode of flowering trees and shrubs come into their own and the ‘kid in the candy store’ syndrome is everywhere. Trees: Crab Apples (Mauls sp.), Cherries (Prunus), Redbuds (Cercis), Japanese Snowbell (Styrax), Shrubs: rhododendrons, azalea, viburnum, quince, fothergilla, and Perennials: Bleeding Heart, Candytuft, Bluebells, Peony, Bearded Tongue, Primrose, Foamflower, Columbine , Thrift, all are but a few of the choices at this time of year. It is easy to get color from flowers mid May through June; the tricky thing is to choose colors and forms that are pleasing together. If you plant things within the same visual display be sure they complement each other. I think we all have seen those plantings with so many different shades of pink, red and purple you have to look away. One nice combination might include Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis) with Blue Mist Bottlebrush Bush (Fothergilla gardenia ‘Blue Mist’ and pink or yellow Tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa) and under planted with Foam flower (Tiarella cordifolia Running Tapestry). This display has the clusters of raspberry sherbet colored pearls lining the Redbud tree branches before the leaves emerge, giving a solid raspberry stencil effect. The Bottlebrush beneath complements the tree with its mounds of white airy bottlebrush flowers followed by beautiful blue green rounded leaves. The tree peonies’ large bold leaves harmonize with the color of the Redbud flowers while its big spectacular crepe paper flowers are breathtaking. The foam flower with its mint green & russet colored foliage and clouds of delicate white flowers tie the whole thing together. As the season progresses foliage continues to delight , huge heart shaped Redbud leaves atop the blue bottlebrush and russets, reds, burgundies and greens of the peony and tiarella continue into fall when the whole scene changes again with yellow Red bud leaves, and a combination of brilliant oranges, reds and yellows beneath.

As summer heats up the cool greens become more abundant. That’s a good thing—it helps cool us off in fact and feeling. There are still trees that bloom in the summer: Goldenraintree (Koelreuteria paniculata), and Mimosa (Albitzia julibritzen), Scolartree (Sophora japonica) to name a few. The major parade of color in the summer flower category comes from perennials, shrubs and annuals. Again it’s all about combinations not only of flowers but also of plant and foliage color and form. Since a plant may flower for two to four weeks thinking about flowers is a small part of the picture. The foliage and plant form is the backbone of the garden all year. You can have a colorful wonderful garden with no flowers. Think about a combination of Stewartia pseudocamellia, Japanese Plum Yew (Pseudomamellia harringtonia), Hosta Sum and Substance, Heuchera Amethyst Myst, and Hackengrass (Hackonechloa macra areola). The tree has outstanding three colored and textured bark that is beautiful all by itself even in the winter. The combination as a group even when there are no flowers has a myriad of different textures and colors that are vibrant and lovely. Cinnamon, grey, olive, mahogany, red, chartreuse, yellow, white and green colors are present from the foliage and barks alone. Fine and flowing, crisp and mounding, bold and upright, and delicate and flowing textures interplay one against the other. It’s a setting you could sit and read a book any day of the season and not wish you had a few flowers to look at.

And then comes fall! Well it’s all about foliage and berries in the fall. Yes there are flowers, Asters, Monkshood, chrysanthemums, fall crocus and other fall blooming perennials that continue to flower right into frost. They are great and accent the landscape. But the eighth wonder of the world has my vote to be New England’s fall foliage and seed display. So when you plan to plant a tree, shrub or perennial, first find out what its leaves do in the fall. Plan for an outrageous autumn display and when others are fighting the leaf peeper crowds on the highway you can be surrounded by the same color right in your own back yard.

If you have questions you would like answered, please email them to me at LandscapesbyLillabeth@comcast.net.

I think it is because they often have no feeling of provenance or place of origin. A mall, McDonalds, high rises, Mcmansion suburbs—they all look the same. If you were dropped into one of these areas blindfolded, you wouldn’t be able to guess where you were for sure when you took the blindfold off. I’ve been thinking about how to turn this loss around. As we landscape our towns and individual properties we could keep a sense of place by using lots of plants that are native to the area. Using materials that are local to construct paths, walls, arbors and patios would also make one feel at ‘home’. An added advantage to using a majority of native materials in any landscape is that they are the most likely to be carefree, healthy and long-lasting.

As building happens, sites are usually clear-cut and bulldozed to make construction easy. It doesn’t have to be this way. Site surveys prior to construction could specify plants and already occurring resources that should be saved. These areas to stay out of during construction should be the first step in any development. Then roadways, house sites, areas to pile soil during foundation development and grade changes would fall into place. The resulting developments or single family houses would have some healthy full grown plant material such as trees, possibly stone walls and some areas of good healthy soil. They would have a settled natural feel that would make the homes fit into their sites.

Usually though as landscape planners, homeowners or town planners we are asked to work on areas where construction care to the landscape was more on the order of a bomb going off. It’s unfortunate but not hopeless. A soil analysis will give an idea what the existing soil would support. Then we can determine which native plants would flourish and accomplish our landscape spatial needs while returning some of the regional charter to the landscape. If whole developments, villages or groups of neighbors would work together to incorporate native trees and shrubs into the landscape, the character of the whole neighborhood would take on a regional magic. Imagine the fall season with Scarlet Oak groves, or Sugar Maple as a dominate tree canopy.

So next time you need a shrub or tree or even a perennial planting, think about what native plants would fulfill your needs. There are many nurseries now that specialize in native materials. A fun place to visit for ideas as well as plants is ‘Garden In The Woods’ home of the New England Wild Flower Society, Inc. It is in Framingham, Ma on 180 Hemenway Rd. The phone number is 508-877-7630. Check it out this spring when the wildflowers are in bloom.

The first source of the illusive good impression is neatness. Whatever the landscaping, is it cleaned up and “mended”? When lawns are mowed and raked, beds weeded and mulched, and trees and shrubs pruned appropriately, the home has definitely stepped out with its good foot forward. Mowing, weeding, and raking are no brainers. They are equivalent to the clean and pressed outfit rather than a stained ragged old pants and a sweet shirt.. Pruning on the other hand, requires knowledge and skill to enhance the plants and their relationship to the home. Poorly done pruning can rob a plant of its natural beauty, health and function in the landscape. This is one task where investing in a skilled professional’s services usually gives more return than your investment.

Trees and shrubs that shroud the home, cover up windows, or are out of proportion to the house, give a gloomy ill humored atmosphere. They have the same effect that wearing big baggy cloths to hide ones figure has. It seems like something is wrong. A skilled pruning can create light airy welcoming atmosphere, and restore grace, beauty, and function to the existing plants.

Plantings harmonize the home to its surroundings and the community. Well thought out plantings unify the landscape, organize it into various use areas, create privacy, and enhance the positive features of the home and surrounding environment. This is another area where trained professionals can offer guidance that is worth far more than what you pay. Good landscaping can add 20% to the value of a home. Some improvements are probably worth considering if you are preparing a home to sell. A few new or renovated plantings often add more to the selling price than they cost. The best idea however is to modify your landscaping while you are there to enjoy the improvements. Then when you are ready to move, the landscape you enjoyed over the years will have matured into an even more valuable home improvement.

Landscapes by Lillabeth LLC is available for consultations to determine what would be the best landscaping improvement to your property. Be it a minor spruce up, or major make-over, we can help you decide what best fits your needs, taste and budget.

Late February to mid March is the time to do major pruning. Any cutting that removes a third or more of a plant’s top growth should be done during the dormant part of the winter cycle, as close to bud break as practical. Since bud break in our variable New England climate can be anywhere from the third week of March to the middle of April, that makes this the time to decide what pruning you would like done.

Take a walk around your house looking out all the windows. Is that favorite old Rhododendron finally completely covered a window? Well that is great if it is the bathroom but otherwise…. Put it on the pruning list. What about the trees. Could you regain a window or a view to the distance by raising the canopy? Then walk around outside jotting down the paths that need widened, open areas that need reclaimed and garden walls that need lowered. Once you have a list put together, you’ll have some fun projects for those oddball 60 degree days we get every once in awhile during the winter.

Knowledgeable pruning is an art and a rewarding one. Once you have mastered a few basic techniques you will be able to care for almost anything, except where size and weight become a safety issue. The one cardinal rule for rejuvenative pruning is to prune from the inside out, NOT the outside in. Cuts should be made just beyond the branch color. Don’t leave more than ¼ inch stub so the plant can callus over the cut. Removing crossing branches and dead wood is always a good choice. Done is this way a plant maintains its natural form and beauty. If you just cut from the top in you get a misshaped plant that has a myriad of ‘Water Sprouts” that fast outgrow the pruning you have done. If you are new to pruning or have not been pleased with the results you have gotten, North Shore Community College offers a good course in pruning. If you would like individual training suited to your schedule, we can come to your home and teach you how to care for the plants in you landscape. That way you can learn what your options are for each plant in your landscape.

Now for the fun bonuses from pruning. The early spring blooming plants set their flower buds before midsummer. All you have to do is bring in the branches, put them in warm water and set them in bright room. Within a few weeks they will be blooming in your house, ready for you to make bouquets. It is fun to bring in some of the evergreen branches and make a bouquet out of them with plenty of the bud holding branches worked into the arrangement. The evergreens usually last 5 or 6 weeks, so when the flowers burst fourth from the dormant branches you will have a brand new arrangement. So if you are pruning Magnolia, Cherry, Crabapple, Daphne, Burning Bush, Forsythia, Coryalopsis, Lilac, Flowering Almond, or any of the things in your yard that bloomed before late May, take them in and share them with a friend or neighbor.

Another great use for the branches you have cut that are 24” or so long is to save them in a pile outside where they will be cool and moist, to stay supple. Then in the spring when you plant peas or annuals that need some support, just push these into the ground about 4” apart and they will make fine supports for your plants. They look natural; soon you won’t even see them once the plants grow up. Best of all its free.

So pruning can be a fun winter pastime for those warm days and provide color for the dreary ones. If you would like some pointers, anything from a one hour consultation to help with the whole job, give us a call at 978-473-9992 or email us at LandscapesbyLillabeth@comcast.net

Then with a jolt it’s over. Snow and cold force the gardener’s gears to shift overnight. As the fall feeling of urgency passes, the senses are flooded with relaxing warmth. All at once there is nothing that has to be done. Usher in the best gardening season of the year: Flight of the imagination.

Two bits of magic happen in the winter. First is the temporary suspension of animation. Since things will be just as they are for the next three months your imagination has a still life to play with. You can reconstruct any part of the garden in your minds eye being grounded by this brief still moment in what is usually an ever changing picture. Second is the x-ray vision that winter grants.
Without the cloak of the summer foliage the bones that give structure to the garden walls, its paths and the plant shapes are on full display. You can see the building blocks and understand why the garden is the way it is. Any changes of elevation that are often hidden during summer are immediately apparent.

During a quiet stroll through my backyard today I realized that by removing two branches from a large sugar maple and four small saplings from the narrow woodland at the back of our yard, that I could open a window through to a wonderful “barrowed” view of the neighbor’s field. With that little effort, our yard will seem twice as spacious as it is now.

In the summer looking from my son’s upstairs bedroom window I see a glorious old sugar maple. The winter view this morning looking through its canopy revealed the area in a way I had never noticed in the summer. The juncture of the back woodland and the stockade fence are two walls of an enchanted space whose ceiling is the canopy of this same sugar maple. All I need to do to develop a secluded nook for a garden bench and perhaps have a fire pit is to plant one more shrub wall to enclose an already two thirds finished space.

Gardening tools of the winter are camera, sketch pad, pencil and your imagination. Ask yourself and family members what their favorite places in the yard are and why. Next develop everyone’s wish list. Then let your imagination take flight. Planning to protect and improve your gardens’ strengths while creating some of the wished for areas is the most inspiring and productive gardening I do all year.

My yard is long, narrow, and flat and surrounded by sugar maple trees. On one side a stockade fence runs the length. I talked to my family about their likes and wishes and here is what I learned:

Favorite Things Wishes__
Spaciousness Fire pit- all
Place to play and throw balls Swimming pool- kids
Maple trees Chicken coup- Mom
Neighbors open fields at the back and side Tool shed- Dad and Mom
Privacy Quiet place to sit- all
Small patch of woods at the back

I took out a pencil and drew what we have now. Then I walked around thinking about the favorites to be sure to save or improve them. Next I looked for ways to work in space for the wished for places. When we get back into the season of shovels and rakes we will be ready with a plan that can transform the back yard into our own special place to live and play. What fun the dreaming? Try it for yourself!

August can be a time when gardens look about as hot and tired as we feel. All the spring flowers are a distant memory and any thing in the sun is too hot to enjoy anyway. It doesn’t have to be that way. There are lots of plants, trees, shrubs and flowers that are in their glory in late summer and fall. By planning ahead and working in the coolness of spring and fall, you can create an August garden retreat that will entice you out to sit and enjoy that drink. So how do we make that happen?

First of all, sitting down with that nice cool drink and looking out onto a sea of weeds is going to make you crazy. So in the cool days of spring, weed and mulch the garden early. That will save hours of weeding throughout the rest of the garden season and improve your plants health and vigor. Use mulch that has a bit of compost mixed into it so that it feeds your garden while impeding the weeds. Pure bark mulch starves the garden and the soil. It also forms a crust that will prevent all but the heaviest rains from reaching the soil.

Now on to the fun part: creating an August garden retreat. Its two basic parts include a shade garden with some seats under a tree and a sun garden in view from the seats.

For the shade garden, its best to start with the largest tree your area will allow. A large oak, or sugar maple for example, shade an area large enough for several seats and a nice sized garden around the seats to create a garden room. The climate under the tree is refreshingly cool, usually 10 to 15 degrees cooler than in the sun, and there is likely to be a breeze. If you don’t already have a large tree, consider planting one. There are several trees that bloom in August ranging in size to fit your space. Pagodatree (Sophora japonica) grows to 40’– 50’ with a 35’– 45’ spread. It has very showy white flowers in mid to late summer and tolerates a wide range of conditions. For something slightly smaller, try Glodenraintree (Koelreuteria paniculata). It is 30’- 40’ high and wide. It boasts large showy yellow flowers in August and September. The attractive foliage changes from purplish to red, to bright green and then to yellow in the fall. It is drought and heat tolerant and a great patio tree. Smaller trees create enough shade for a two seat bench. The temperature difference is a bit less but still refreshing. Some that offer August floral or seed displays include the later blooming Dogwoods like Cornus Kousa Satome, a red flowering Dogwood. Also the beautiful Sourwood (Oxydendron arboreum)gets to 35’ tall and 20’ wide. It blooms in July covered with 4”- 10” yellow panicles. They develop into attractive seed heads which continue to decorate the tree right through autumn when their yellow color contrasts with and highlights the brilliant red fall foliage. Styrax japonica is another beautiful specimen tree with smooth grey-brown bark showing irregular orangish-brown fissures. It blooms in June and the fruit is very showy in August. It is 20’- 20’ at maturity.

So now we’ve got a tree and 3 or 4 seats placed under it. The next step is to plant some shade tolerant shrubs and perennials around the sides and behind the seats. This creates a comfortable feeling of place and enclosure. Hydrangeas are a great choice for some of the shrubs. Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia), and the snowball and lacecap Hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophyla) start blooming in July and continue through summer. The Oakleaf Hydrangeas continue into autumn and offer an outstanding fall foliar display as well. Another shrub for the season is Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia). Its spicy sweet fragrance and pink or white flowers brighten the shade and fill the air with a wonderful fragrance. You can have lots of perennial color in your August shade retreat. Astilbe, with its white, pink, purple and red plumes that sway in the breeze, add grace, color and motion to the garden. Monskhood (Aconitum napellus), blooming in July and August, is a magnificent erect plant with deeply cut dark green foliage and 4’ high hooded blue flowers. Cimicifuga (Actaea racemosa) is a great architectural specimen with tall spectacular airy spires of white flowers in July and August. Another shade favorite is Pink Turtlehead (Chelone lyonii) It offers 3’ tight clusters of rose-pink flowers, bronzy new growth and reddish stems.

Once the shady retreat is created, give yourself something to look at from the seats. Plant a late summer and fall garden in the sun as a focal point directly across from the seats. Try Butterflybush (Buddleia davidii) , a fast growing 5’- 10’ shrub with long racemes of fragrant flowers that are attractive to butterflies. It has good cut flowers and blooms from July to September in blue, pink or white. Roses of course are a summer favorite and there are countless choices of carefree varieties now available. Enhance this shrub combination with summer perennials. A fun, long blooming and carefree trio could be Purple cone flower (Echinacea), Sea Holly (Eryngium planum) and daylily (Hemerocallis Mary Todd). These five plants will bloom from July through frost, offer fragrance and attract butterflies and hummingbirds.
So plan ahead for next year, and get ready for the ‘Dog Days’ this fall and next spring. Then get a tall glass of lemonade and relax. Once July and August roll around, you can pack away the garden tools again until fall.

If you have questions you would like answered, please email them to me at LandscapesbyLillabeth@comcast.net.

In March and April a blue, white and dusty pink display is the show that starts the year off in this garden. Delicate clusters of the little white bells of Snowdrops (Galanthus elwesii) rise above a carpet of deep blue stars of Spring Beauty (Scilla siberica). As a backdrop is a frame of the large handsome glossy leaves and rose purple elegant flowers of Lentin Rose (Helleborus orientalis). It is a welcoming sight when you are still bundled up in your winter coat!

Once the long days of summer arrive, some of the hot and zesty reds and oranges take over. Echinacea Sundown with its wide russet-orange petals is bright and substantial. It contrasts sublimely with the dainty purple and coral flower spikes of Hyssop (Agastache Firebird). The flat topped and structural Yarrow ( Achillea Terra Cotta) starts off peach colored and matures into shades of terra cotta. It gives the garden a feeling of substance, fitting right into a Southwestern feel. And the festive red globes of fireworks found in Bee Balm (Mondarda Jacob Cline) tie it all together.

As the summer days wane and autumns’ chill is in the air a final display is a bit softer and the more muted colors blend with the colors of the season. Now you see the blue of the tall spiky Monkshood (Aconitum ) in contrast to the airy Chocolate Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium rugosum “Chocolate”) with its burgundy foliage and delicate white flowers. Finally in the Fall the garden has a wave of Stonecrop (Sedum Purple Emperor) with its dark pink flowers and purple foliage. It adds substance to the planting and highlights all the other plants.

Try your hand at the succession dance and you will find you have made some real garden music!

On the other hand, when the path winds around the corner and there is a beautiful plant beyond that you can’t quite see, you are drawn to continue exploring to find out what lies beyond the turn. When there is an opening in the hedge it pulls us through to find out what is on the other side. It is these hinted at pleasures that spark our imagination and entice us to continue the journey through the landscape.

Dividing the landscape up into different areas that are not all seen at once can be done with imaginative use of shrub borders, arbors, gates, hedges and fences. The house itself can act as a visual barrier to a new area. This allows one to create garden rooms, passageways, entry portals and allays that can each have a different feel and use. A quiet private nook can be linked to an expansive recreation area by a winding path that has pleasurable small vignettes around each corner that delight and surprise you. The landscape then is developed into a journey that saves some of its treasures to be discovered along the way. That offers the senses more pleasure and the imagination more room to soar.

Most of the great landscapes have used these techniques. If you visit Moraine Farm in Beverly when it is open to the public, you can see Olmstead’s use of these techniques. You enter the property by a leisurely driveway with vistas to beautiful farm fields and a view of a wonderful old barn and farmhouse. The drive takes a jog and you pass through a rhododendron dale with just a glimpse of the grand old stone house. It is not until you have entered this main house or gone around it onto the terrace beyond, that you are even aware that the house borders Wenham Lake. There are spectacular views of the lake and surrounding woodland. Beside the main house, at the end of the main lawn sits a charming tea house with a stone wall framing either side. An opening in the wall entices you over. Once there you are treated to yet another surprise. There 12’ below you is a sunken perennial garden with a hidden bench area carved out of the space below the tea house. You would have never guessed this garden and quiet nook existed until you got all the way to the end of the lawn.

You don’t need acres to enjoy the pleasures offered by introducing a bit of mystery and intrigue into your landscape. Even a small property can offer magic and intrigue with the thoughtful use of space segregation and elements of surprise and humor. So have some fun and see what new pleasures are waiting for you out your own back door.