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It’s easy to get excited about plants and landscape design, but one of the most important (and most often overlooked) considerations for any gardener should be maintenance.  Because, while a garden may look fantastic on the day it is planted, how it performs everyday for the years you live in your house is much more important.  I spend as much time talking to our clients about how they plan to maintain their gardens as I do asking about their design preferences.  One common maintenance challenge at this time of year?  Leaves and pinestraw – read on to learn how to plan for them in your garden.

I love bulbs and bulb catalogues. Even though I receive dozens in the mail every fall, I can’t resist them. I have to at least flip through and imagine all the spring and summer color that I could add to my yard. And, like many people, I’ve occasionally ordered more bulbs than I can handle. When this happens I tend to just plant them wherever I can, which can be problematic come spring. Read on for some tips to consider when adding bulbs to your garden.

By August a lot of my plants have started to look tired. My Hosta is scorched at the edges, the cherry tree has started to defoliate, and my peonies are looking crispy. Fortunately, there are some plants that seem to take the heat without showing any signs of stress, and by the end of summer I’m appreciating what they bring to the garden. Read on to learn about two plants that can really take the heat.

Adding a weeping plant to your yard is a great way to add a sculptural element with seasonal interest. Fortunately for us, there are several plants with great weeping form, and various sizes and shapes that do well here in North Carolina. Read on to learn about some interesting weeping plants and how to incorporate them into your yard.

One lesson I’ve learned as a gardener is that flowers are here for a few days or weeks, while foliage is here for months! As a result, I design around the color and texture of foliage as much or more than the flowers of a plant. We regularly use plants with purple, red, silver, yellow or variegated foliage – read on to learn about some of my favorites.

Spring is a great time to go to the garden center and see the beautiful new plants that have arrived from the growers. This time of year I want to buy everything – the new cultivars and varieties, the new colors! But, I’ve learned that some plants just don’t work in my yard, and I’ve come up with alternatives that might not be quite as showy but make up for it with their toughness. Read on to learn about some of these great plants.

When I talk to a client over the phone to schedule a consultation I always tell them that we don’t charge for consultation, but we do charge for landscape design. We do this because the consultation allows us to evaluate a project and determine if it is a good fit for the services that we provide, and it gives a potential client a chance to meet with us and determine if we are the best fit for their needs. At the completion of a consultation, I quote a design fee, and ask the client how they would like to proceed. While some small projects don’t require a design, most do. Read on to learn why.

We recently taught a class at Duke Gardens called “I Need a Plan: the Fundamental Steps to Create a Garden.” The 3 part class taught participants how to plan and implement their own garden, a task that can seem daunting when first getting started. We discussed which plants grow in similar conditions and are suited to plant together, taking into consideration the unique features of different shrubs, groundcovers and perennials.

Read more about the class by clicking here.

When I meet with clients one of the first questions I ask is ‘do you have a budget?’. While lots of our clients don’t have an exact number in mind, and aren’t sure of what landscaping costs, I find that most people have a number that they don’t want to exceed. And, when a client is willing to share that number with us, it is really helpful – having a budget enables us to focus the project on what the client cares about most, and develop a plan that is within reach, or that can be implemented over time, in reasonably sized phases. Read on to learn how to set a budget and stick to it for your project.

By February I am done with winter. I’m ready for spring, and all the exciting changes that it brings to the garden. I’m ready for bulbs, and dogwoods in bloom, and flowering cherries. But, typically the winter has several more weeks before it lets up, and I have to be patient. Read on to learn about a few of the plants that add interest to the late winter garden.