PLANNING SEASONS

Summer is for enjoying gardens and landscapes.

The spring push for installing new landscapes and managing existing gardens for a strong growing season has passed.

There is still the regular work of weeding and watering when needed, but time in the landscape is more centered around enjoying the colors of flowers in bloom and the beauty of visiting butterflies and hummingbirds.

As a landscape designer there is a consistent sense of learning by experience. You see how plants fill in and mature, season after season, and how they manage stressors like heat and drought.

Perennials can look very different in years 2 and 3 following installation. While the flowers will be the same, their overall height and structure often don’t take full effect until they have been in the ground for at least one full growing season.

You learn by designing, planting, managing, and repeating the cycle again, gaining familiarity with the plants and the seasons.

Summer can be a fun time become excited again about planning and installing landscapes. As we move into the middle of the summer, you get the benefit of seeing landscapes in full bloom, and can imagine what a blank or underused space could be.

This beautiful home in Narberth feature a steep west-facing slope, that is being reimagined as a native landscape with low-maintenance landscape that will support wildlife and look beautiful year round.

Its fun to design right now remembering the spring perennials, enjoying the summer perennials currently in bloom like Milkweed, Rudbeckia and Phlox, and planning for the evergreen and textural plants that will offer texture and color to keep the landscape beautiful in winter.

Looking forward to seeing the current round of summer de