Book Launching: A Guide to Northeastern Gardening

I am excited to announce the publishing of my book, A Guide to Northeastern Gardening: Journeys of a Garden Designer. The idea of writing a book stemmed from my two blogs, A Guide to Northeastern Gardening, which I started in 2010 and this one, A Guide to Landscape Design & Maintenance, which made its debut in 2013.

Over the years, I developed a determination to put all my experiences into words in the form of a published book, and in 2013 I started this endeavor. After much persistence and determination the goal that I had set out to accomplish has finally become a reality. The publication is an accumulation of knowledge combined with personal experiences from over twenty years of being a landscape designer, with a focus on landscape design and plants hardy in a range of zones from  3-9.  The book derived its name from my original blog from back in 2010 and there is a story to be told about how it came to be.

A little bit about the book:

A Guide to Northeastern Gardening is a comprehensive guide of valuable information on plants hardy in a range of zones from 3-9, and gardening techniques backed up by my own personal experiences as a professional landscape designer, along with answers to frequently asked questions. Learn about landscape design principles, butterfly gardening, deer resistant plants, long blooming perennials, globe and weeping evergreens, flowering trees and shrubs, native plantings, shade gardening and more. Whether you are a novice or experienced gardener, A Guide to Northeastern Gardening will help you to create your own dream garden. Come along on my journey into the world of gardening!

A little bit about the author:

Lee Miller is a professional landscape/garden designer involved in the horticultural industry since 1996. Having started a gardening blog in 2010, she is the author of over 150 articles on general gardening, landscape design principles, gardening tips, planting, pruning, garden maintenance, feature plants and more. Her published book, A Guide to Northeastern Gardening, is an accumulation of information touching on a wide variety of gardening topics, all backed up by her own personal experiences.

A preview of my book is now online at Amazon and the publication is available in printed format as well as for kindle. I hope my readers will find A Guide to Northeastern Gardening to be both informative and enjoyable, and wish them all the best in their gardening endeavors!

 As Always…Happy Gardening!

Author: Lee@A Guide to Landscape Design & Maintenance, © Copyright 2016. All rights reserved

June Garden Blooms and Design Elements

When designing I like to incorporate elements into the garden which will give interest all year round, and especially enjoy a burst of color in spring, as do many of my clients.  In the above garden I have incorporated colorful evergreens, deciduous shrubs and perennials together to form a flow of color.

According to the color wheel above, colors opposite one another, referred to as warm or cool colors, complement one another best.  When laying out your garden try to combine warm colors (such as yellows, reds and pinks) with cool colors (including purples, blues and greens) and repeat the theme by using the same color combinations throughout the garden. This creates unity and flow throughout the landscape.

  In this driveway planting the cool blue hue of the Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar complements the warm hue of the Golden Oriental Spruce along with ‘Royal Burgundy’ Barberry, Nepeta and Coreopsis,  The nepeta (cool blue-purple) and coreopsis (warm yellow) will bloom profusely throughout the entire summer against the burgundy foliage of the barbery.

Here Nepeta ‘Walker’s Low’ is used along with a backdrop of evergreens and Gold Mound Spirea. Again the combination of warm and cool colors is used along with evergreens, which provide structure in the garden.In order to supply additional interest in spring and summer bulbs can be used to incorporate large blooms, such as these giant Globemaster Allium, which display eight inch blooms on top of two foot stalks and rising above the other plants in the garden.  A tip on planting bulbs would be to incorporate them along with other perennials that have full foliage as to hide the yellowing foliage of the early bloomers.  Here I masked the bottom foliage of the Allium with the lush green foliage of Daylily, which will jump into bloom afterwards.

These are just a few design tips that I am passing along. Until next time…

Happy Gardening.

You may also enjoy June Garden

  2015 Lee@ A Guide to Landscape Design & Maintenance.

The Landscape Design Process

As a designer I get a lot of inquiries about what landscape design is all about and how the process works. Landscape design involves communication between client and designer and always involves the improvement of an outdoor space; whether it be for functionality or simple aesthetics, or of course a combination of both. My goal as a designer is to create a space that is not only aesthetically pleasing in all seasons but which also achieves a specific function in mind. When I meet with a client I always want to know what they are looking for in their space and what they would like to accomplish. After much discussion with the homeowner I get a sense for their taste in garden style and better understanding of their preferences for plant and hardscape materials.

Landscape Design: The process of landscape design involves planning both the hardscape and softscape features of an area in order to make the optimum use of the space.  When planning be sure to consider such factors as entertainment space, privacy, maintenance, drainage, cost and of course aesthetics and functionality.  The designer has the ability to take what may seem to be an overwhelming project and organize it into one that you can implement all at once or over a period of time.  The purpose of the design is to show you the “big picture” of how your property will develop over time taking out any of the guesswork or added expense of having to do things over.

The Design Process:

Site Analysis: Site Analysis involves walking the property and taking note of existing features such as hardscape, existing plantings, sunlight, elevation, drainage and location of utilities such as cesspools, drywells, cable or gas.  A survey of the property will help to facilitate this procedure.

Conceptual Plan:  The conceptual plan is an overview or the initial layout showing the location of hardscape and softscape.  Hardscape is defined as anything permanent and static such as pools, water features, patios, walkways, driveways or retaining walls.  Softscape involves anything that is dynamic or changing such as the plantings and whether the look is to be formal, informal, cottage style or traditional. During the design process I will go over the layout of hardscape and planting areas and often mark them out for the client so they can “test drive” the planned driveway, etc.  At this time each aspect of the design can be discussed and be altered as needed and the designer’s job is to make sure that all the elements work together to make the design functional.

Master Plan:  Upon approval of the conceptual plan the designer will then draft a scaled to size master plan (or blueprint) that will show the layout of hardscape and softscape.  Detailed listings of  hardscape and plant material, sizes, quantities and specifications will also be included in the design.  Computer rendered imaging of your design can also be included to show a visual of how the completed design will look.

Implementation:  Implementation of your landscape design can happen over days, months or even years and can be installed on your own or by a professional.  The landscape design will provide you with the “recipe” for the best use of your space and make your project a much more enjoyable experience!

Landscape Design Plan

 2015 Lee@ A Guide to Landscape Design & Maintenance.

Colouring Your Garden – Part 4: Saturated Solutions

 

Combining proper hues to achieve maximum impact in the garden is a very important element in landscape design. I am sharing this outstanding and very informative post from Sue Gaviller at Not Another Gardening Blog.

Not Another Gardening Blog

A week or so ago, while out for a walk with my sister in her inner-city neighbourhood, I heard the familiar sound of Robin chirps. It took me a minute to realize that the sound was out of place on this mid-February afternoon. Indeed my sister doubted me initially, but then she heard it too. “Holy $#!+.” she said.  According to local bird experts a few robins do spend the winter here, but neither of us had ever seen one this early in the year.

Several blocks later I happened to look up and espied what appeared to be pussy willows. At first I thought it might be water droplets on the branches reflecting the late day sun – but then I reached up and felt the fat fuzzy protuberances. Yep, those are pussy willows. While there are many species of willow that produce the downy catkins, a few as early as February,  Salix discolor, the true North…

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