I am having so much fun reading all these contributions from all my friends all over world. Are you?  Going closer to home though, I introduce you to my cross town neighbor and extraordinary plants-man, Andrew Keys, creator of the always enjoyable Garden Smackdown.

Besides being a landscape designer, I’m also a web designer. It’s what I did before starting my landscape design practice, and what I still do to fill in the gaps as I build my landscape design business. I’ve done all of my own sites myself, as well as friends’ blogs (check out eatniks), and I also handle the design end of projects for a local web developer who does sites for area
non-profits, museums, green businesses, and the like. (See: danvers bipeds and cuvilly arts and earth center)  I’ve come to realize how nice it is to be able to put the work I do relative to my passion for plants down once in a while and write code instead. I think I’ll probably continue to do that even as my gardening business grows, if for no other reason than to guard against burnout.

My Favorite things: Andrew Keys

Oh, well, whatever these things are, they’d have to be plants. Should I be more specific? Okay, okay, how about my favorite plants this time of year? Top of the list would Pennisetum orientale ‘Karley Rose.’

It’s a photo finish, but I’d say this one takes the title as my favorite grass too. Incredibly vigorous, big but not huge, with pink-aging-to-wheat tassels of bloom from June to fall.

Another favorite this season is Physocarpus Coppertina(TM). I’d mistakenly thought it was another cultivar until it hit me this season that hey, those leaves are **orange.** Orange kind of freaks me out, but this one’s a winner. It may be my orange gateway plant.

What do you do to find inspiration?

There’s nothing I find more inspiring than experiencing the real deal, whether it’s a visit to a botanic garden, arboretum, or art museum, or seeing a great film in the theater. Experiencing and absorbing the real thing is hands down the best thing I can do for myself as a designer.

Best Garden or Design Advice Ever (Given or Received)?

I’m not sure it was the BEST advice, but it was certainly great advice: I once asked a panel of several established landscape pros what advice they’d give to someone just starting out in the business. All of them said to focus on work/life balance. Not “learn about plants,” or “buy a big truck,” or “work hard and make lots of money,” but don’t forget to take a break, put work
down for a while, and remember the things that matter most in life. It surprised me, but I take it to heart, and I take work/life balance very seriously.

Rees Roberts + Partners seem to have mastered a bit of signature look..I think their recipe is keep it simple, and pick one thing to go over the top with (but in a super classy sophisticated way).  In this garden it is the pebble flooring that makes you gasp…in others it is different elements (I will share a few more of their great gardens in the next few days).

Over to the west we go with Genevieve Schmidt, author of North Coast Gardening- master of fine gardening and always a generous sharer of her endless knowledge.

Here’s Gen….”I’ve always been a ridiculous reader and I’m honestly a bit surprised to have found myself working outdoors and in design, rather than owning a children’s bookstore as was my dream for many years.

I collect British girls’ boarding school stories written from the 1920’s to the 1960’s, which was a time when girls were just beginning to have options in terms of choosing careers and their own life paths.

The girls in the books take such joy in working hard, creating beauty, and having the courage to do the right things in life, which are qualities I think children find particularly reassurring and attractive, much as today’s books and media don’t always give them credit for it.

I’m a Top 500 Reviewer on Amazon, still keep up with the latest in teen and children’s lit, and have long ago chucked my TV in favor of more bookshelves…”

Good tools aren’t always the most expensive, either. The often-touted $50 Felco pruners have a great marketing department, but my favorite Bahco pruners can go for as little at $17, and they cut better, last longer, and keep their sharp edge brilliantly. They have an ergonomic curve to them, so you can cut thicker stems with less effort than Felcos require.

I also love the Fiskars Powergear Hedgers. I swear, I’m not the type of person who shapes everything into roosters and cubes! I actually prefer these hedgers for cutting back the thicker stems of perennials in winter, and shearing off the dead flowerheads on lavenders and heathers in late summer. So much easier on your wrists than making 50 individual cuts to remove your dead lavender blooms!

I love to try different types of art or crafts. I’m not terrifically talented at any of them, but I’ve been surprised that every time I try a new art form, the concepts I’ve learned seem to follow me into the garden.

Recently I took a mosiac class from our local mosaic queen Laurel Skye (you can find her book on Amazon), and was surprised at the similarities between designing a mosaic and designing a garden.

image from Laurel Skye

One tip from her that I loved was “if you’ve fallen, look back at where you tripped”. What she means is that if you’ve created an awkward spot where nothing seems to look right (in the garden or in a mosaic), don’t just try and figure out what to put there that will look right – look around at what elements are combining to make that spot so difficult and see if fixing something else makes that awkward place disappear.

I became a garden designer after beginning my career in fine garden maintenance, as in, the types of pruning and care that the mow and blow guys either screw up or don’t know to do. Because of that, I come to design from a very practical place – the most important criteria to
me are about how the hardscape and garden plants will age and be used.

So the thing I’d stress to anyone designing their garden is to do a visualization exercise about every activity you’ll do there (and the activities of everyone helping you in your home or garden), and try to imagine how everyone will experience each plant, pathway, seating
area, etc.

For example, I see so many gardens with individual pavers or uneven stones as the main pathway going to a lawn. If the pathway material sticks up out of the ground or has sharp corners, imagine trying to wheel your mower over the pathway without letting the mower blade chip the brittle edges of the pavers or the parts of the stone that jut upwards.

Another thing people often regret is planting prickly things near hose bibs, garage keypads, or pathways. Even if the plant is perfect in every other way, if you get thorned four times a year, a sense of frustration rather than calm will infuse your feelings about that area of the garden.

Caring for your garden should be fun, and just taking a bit of time at the outset to visualize potential stress points can make a world of difference in whether it’s as fun to work in your garden as it is to play.

I am excited to introduce you to Delphine of France who creates one of my favorite blogs Paradis Express– This is her self description:
I’m 31 years old. I’m french.

I’m an Art Director for Graphic Design and print.

I live with a french garden designer and photographer named Lucien.

I have an 18 years old son.

I have 2 cats and I have also have a Parrot named Raton since 35 years. It’s a female, she hates women.

My german grand father was mad about greenery but at home, plants were forbidden by his wife because of the dirt. He has a secret garden, far away from his home. The family says that he had often some germinated seeds in his pockets.

I am an occasional guerilla gardener. A French television station did a story about it and
we were filmed with my friend throwing seedbombs riding our big motorbike.

I live in a very old house, quiet a ruin, but with a gorgeous garden. Our neighbours would
like us to finish restoring the house before creating the garden. But we didn’t. We prefer
to invest our money in greenery.

I « collect » garden designers ! Some people would be capable of the photographed with Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt, i would not. But I can make extravagant things for a photo with Topher Delaney (yes, Rochelle, I saw your picture with her! I’m jealous! ) or Piet Oudolf. The photo that I’m most proud of? A picture with Patrick Blanc, Creator of the first vertical gardens. He has green hairs.

I’ve always lived in an area with a very rich cultural past in matters of gardens. This may be partly an explanation for my passion. I live in Pontoise, which is 34 km away from Paris (21 miles). You can find some «  impressionist gardens » in my town.  I live 50km away from Monet’s garden in Giverny (30 miles),  7 km away from Auvers sur Oise, the village is devoted to Van Gogh (4 miles) and 45 km from Versailles and its huge castle and gardens (28 miles).

My parents were both artists. My father was a german painter and decorator. My Mother is ceramist and still continue to make pottery despite her blindness and her age (she’s 78 !). I have had a green childhood. My family had an huge house, full tropical plants, like a jungle for me when i was a kid. In the living room, my father had 12 parrots, flying free between the alocasias.

My father was hypnotized by the United State and passionate about american movies. This may be the explanation for my passion for american gardens and garden designers, no? I’ve never been to the United States, except one week in New York. I love this city but i confess, i love Paris very much too.

My Favorite things: Delphine Glitterman

image by Lucien Gres
1) Tirtaganga, a water palace in Bali, Indonesia. My favorite place on Earth.
2) Tony Duquette’s residences : Los Angeles residence, Dawnridge & a sprawling Malibu estate, both destroyed in fires. Duquette was an internationally acclaimed artist and designer in the1940’s .

3) François Houtin’s imaginary gardens. A french printmaker and also a garden designer. I could spend hours looking at his creations.
4) The fern and especially the tree fern. Dicksonia Antartica is my favorite and is the only one to resist to our french cold climate.

What do you do to find inspiration?

To find inspiration, i collect pictures from gardens of all over the world in my blog and i
spend hours looking at my treasures. 3 years ago, i did notice that this collection was inspirational for many other people than me : landscape designers, gardeners and artists from everywhere. I enjoy this very much.

Best Garden or Design Advice Ever (Given or Received)?
We must all continue to stay mobilized for the planet and its future. The only advice i
could give is to promote the practices of environmentally friendly gardening in NYC, in
Paris, in Mexico or in Moscow, everywhere in the world.
« un jardin beau,oui, mais un jardin bio *»
* french expression. Could be compared to « organic is orgasmic »

click through to see more images of Delphines garden of miniatures and peonies as well as her mother’s beautiful ceramics.

I choose this before and after garden created for a show house in West Sussex England by Modular for one reason.  It is an odd shaped yard, and I love that although this is in a housing development, the designers resisted the urge to take the wood fence to the brick wall closing everything off.  I think it is much more interesting that they have 3 fence types. (who would have thought it would work so well?) But even better, their remains a view and an openness to the space and wild beyond in the back that gives this garden so much more health, beauty and vitality.

Perhaps you know my next guest from her television appearances or her Garden World Report?  Shirley Bovshow is a garden designer, and she regularly writes about her work as a gardener and designer at her site called Edenmakers.  Here are a few fun ‘Shirley’ facts.

“I was approached by a celebrity look-alike producer  and asked if I was interested in being a  ”Sophia Loren” impersonator when I was 22 years old. I was leaving my office on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood…. In the 12th grade,  I taught my “Honors American History” class for the whole week! I asked the teacher if I could do a special presentation on a Monday and he liked it so much, he asked me back each day- for a week!…I attended seminary and thought about being a missionary before I married my Jewish, secular, husband!…I sing and have never lost a  dance contest!”

My Favorite things: Shirley Bovshow

1. I live for a great view in the garden. If there isn’t one, I create one!
2. Succulents- nature’s living sculptures.
3. The friendliness and down to earth nature of most gardeners.
4. The Upsy Daisy planter insert- it has revolutionized my work. Less soil, less weight!

I’m an “inspiration magnet!” Everywhere I go, the muses follow me. My problem is not finding inspiration, it’s knowing when to stop. I always carry a notebook, laptop and camera. I also wake up at night and write down the ideas I get in the wee hours.

1. An interesting shadow  pattern on the  sidewalk became the inspiration for a landscape layout for a  project I was doing. I literally stopped in my tracks and stared at the floor and started sketching a rough layout for my client’s yard.

2. I found inspiration for my “living succulent tapestry pillow” while watching “Citizen Cane.” There was a scene where I saw a beautiful embroidered curtain for a second. It had large cabbage roses that reminded me of sempervivums and echeverias poking through the material. After the movie was over, I attacked  my outdoor pillows, took the filling out of them, inserted moss and started planting my succulents through them.

3. When I hear a foreign language that I can discern, I immediately crave that particular ethnic cuisine. I hear Punjabi or Farsi being spoken and I can taste the  ”aloo gobi” or “fesenjun.” I can cook from sensory memory so I don’t need a recipe either. This is why I’m not a petite woman. I LOVE food and cooking for my family and friends!

4. Let’s not get started on ideas for garden video. In the movie, “The Sixth Sense” the main character was a little boy who claimed to see “dead people.” I claim to see “completed video series!” For some reason a single word can trigger a tsunami of video show ideas that I either write down or record myself a video message for later.
It’s exhausting being me, really it is!