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Greetings!
The Philadelphia International Flower Show is a mecca for enthusiastic garden lovers. There are horticultural thrills from around the globe. This year's theme 'Passport to the World' includes gardens from Brazil's tropical canopy in the Amazon, the dramatic New Zealand countryside, the art and culture of South Africa and a luxurious Indian wedding. Take a quick visit to The Caribbean or Thailand, or check out the Orchid collection from Singapore.
Fragrance. Color. Texture. Visual Drama. Too many plants & gardens to describe. It's a sight for winter weary eyes.
It is great fun sharing my sculpture with the thousands of show visitors who have stopped by my booth (#327) at The Marketplace.
I'd love to see you here, but if you can't make it to Philly, come and see me in Washington D.C. the weekend of March 12th to 14th. Surrounds Landscape Architecture will feature my fruit and vegetable sculpture at The Washington Home and Garden Show in the DC Convention Center.
In the meantime, our gardens are bursting at the seams waiting to put on their own splendid Spring show. Some plants will require some serious attention - pruning, trimming and shaping will be needed thanks to the winter blizzards. The gardens will recover. Be patient and use a good 'design eye' when repairing the damaged structure of trees and shrubs. If you need advice I return mid March. Call the office in the meantime, and Margaret can suggest landscape and tree companies to help. |
| Early Color in the Garden |
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A few favorite, very early spring flowering shrubs; rarely used, but worthy of space. They tease you into believing that Spring is truly on the way! These three are all early, yellow flowering shrubs with distinctly different habits.
Corylopsis (Winterhazel) has a wonderful upright spreading habit with lovely pale yellow, drooping blossoms & slightly contorted branches that are a good addition to the winter scene.
Cornus mas (Cornelian Cherry Dogwood) can be treated as a large multistem shrub, or a single trunk, small tree. It's in the Dogwood family, yet has blossoms quite different from the white blossoms of our native trees. The yellow flowers are small and round, and are followed by a charming red berry favored by songbirds. The dark brown bark is a good foil against evergreens.
Forsythia x 'Gold Tide' (Dwarf Forsythia) is a bit more sophisticated form of the well known upright, vase shaped shrub form. This Forsythia stays low and spreads along the ground. The blossoms are slightly subdued, compared to the standard form.
All three of these shrubs bring a welcome shot of bright color into the garden when we need it most. Think positively. Spring is on the way!
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