Great article! I'm going to hold onto it as a reference. I love the challenge of creating particular design style from native plants. Also, I find that identifying a style up front really helps the process by providing guidance and narrowing the otherwise overwhelming range of choices.
Thank you, Lolly! Maybe you saw, Zoe and I are teaching a webinar on garden style in the coming week. We are having so much fun teaching — and participants say they’re having run (and learning something), too.
Man, do I relate to the reader who wrote in! I want a more "cultivated" look to my yard makeover, something I find beautiful and that anyone passing by would see and go, "Wait, those are all native plants?" (I think a picturesque Walk in the Park is the ticket. 🙂) Heather, I appreciate your acknowledgement that the prevailing aesthetic trend for native plantings is naturalistic/prairie. I don't see that discussed in these ecological gardening circles. It's important that people know their plant palette and their yard's aesthetics are two different things. As it stands, I can envision lots of folks venturing into native plant gardening, finding lots and lots of front yard meadows or "messy" yards as examples, and going, "Oh, is that how these yards look? I can't get on board with that." The more diversity we see in designs/aesthetics in the ecological gardening space, the better the chances of attracting the greatest number of people possible to rethink how they garden. So thank you so much for talking about design and the concepts of paths and destinations! The Yardenalities video and the video "Create a Healthier Yard: Garden Design Workshop for Beginners" have been invaluable to me as a gardening rookie with my first house. So looking forward to the new book!
What you write is so on point!!! I appreciate that you "get it" and you and I and others will spread the word. And I agree re picturesque Walk in the Park--has structure, doesn't look messy, is easy care, and has super high ecological value.
I am very pleased to find this article! I thought your and Zoe's recent seminar on Yardenalities was incredibly helpful and one of the most useful design guides I have encountered so far. Learning about native plants has been quite a technical challenge, but the design aspect of gardening has me flummoxed (as someone with no artistic ability at all). Your ordering of design palettes with specific guidelines is both inspiring and practical. Thanks so much!
Great article! I'm going to hold onto it as a reference. I love the challenge of creating particular design style from native plants. Also, I find that identifying a style up front really helps the process by providing guidance and narrowing the otherwise overwhelming range of choices.
Thank you, Lolly! Maybe you saw, Zoe and I are teaching a webinar on garden style in the coming week. We are having so much fun teaching — and participants say they’re having run (and learning something), too.
Man, do I relate to the reader who wrote in! I want a more "cultivated" look to my yard makeover, something I find beautiful and that anyone passing by would see and go, "Wait, those are all native plants?" (I think a picturesque Walk in the Park is the ticket. 🙂) Heather, I appreciate your acknowledgement that the prevailing aesthetic trend for native plantings is naturalistic/prairie. I don't see that discussed in these ecological gardening circles. It's important that people know their plant palette and their yard's aesthetics are two different things. As it stands, I can envision lots of folks venturing into native plant gardening, finding lots and lots of front yard meadows or "messy" yards as examples, and going, "Oh, is that how these yards look? I can't get on board with that." The more diversity we see in designs/aesthetics in the ecological gardening space, the better the chances of attracting the greatest number of people possible to rethink how they garden. So thank you so much for talking about design and the concepts of paths and destinations! The Yardenalities video and the video "Create a Healthier Yard: Garden Design Workshop for Beginners" have been invaluable to me as a gardening rookie with my first house. So looking forward to the new book!
What you write is so on point!!! I appreciate that you "get it" and you and I and others will spread the word. And I agree re picturesque Walk in the Park--has structure, doesn't look messy, is easy care, and has super high ecological value.
I am very pleased to find this article! I thought your and Zoe's recent seminar on Yardenalities was incredibly helpful and one of the most useful design guides I have encountered so far. Learning about native plants has been quite a technical challenge, but the design aspect of gardening has me flummoxed (as someone with no artistic ability at all). Your ordering of design palettes with specific guidelines is both inspiring and practical. Thanks so much!
So glad you're finding our work helpful. Thank you!