Wallflowers

If you are a fan of the sitcom ‘The Office’, you may appreciate this recent news clip about cubicles getting even smaller in today’s workplace. http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/03/02/office-cubicles-are-shrinking/ Being a half-full rather than a half-empty kind of gal, this trend presents just one more reason to find solace in the garden.

Whether you have a tiny balcony, a kitchen window or a parcel of land waiting to be dug and sown, it’s time to make a growing space of your own. Never ventured into dirt? Think back to when you were a kid playing in the sandbox or jumping in those piles of raked leaves. There was something invigorating about that quiet outdoor space you embraced as an inquisitive youngster.

Here’s a suggestion for those being shifted into smaller cubby holes. Create your own garden space. You can always kick up your feet and watch re-runs of ‘The Office’ or you can sow and grow a place of your own.

St. Thérèse de Lisieux provides the perfect inspiration for seeking solace in the garden. "The splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of its scent or the daisy of its simple charm. If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.”

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Image of Wallflower (Erysimum cheiri) from the Internet

Lights, Camera, Action

Take a seat in your director’s chair and put some perspective on what season is about to unfold. Most of us are like Mexican jumping beans, ready to move into outdoor action and living. Spring is literally around the bend but is your exterior space ready when the weather finally breaks? Are you geared up for lights, camera and action?

Okay, let’s pull back the reigns to set the scene and take a peek at a developing landscape craze. In a recent ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architects) 2011 Residential Trends Survey, some interesting material was revealed. “The most popular outdoor living features this year include lighting, with 96.2 percent indicating the feature as somewhat or very popular for 2011.” http://asla.org/land/LandArticle.aspx?id=30853 The rest of the survey is well worth your gander but this lighting thing illuminates suggestions made about this very subject in my December 2nd, 2010 blog. Take a second read on this one. http://blog.bilowzassociates.com/2010/12/showcase-your-winter-landscape.html

Before you jump back into that director’s seat, let’s be clear about well-done landscape lighting. It isn’t just bunging in a bunch of random fixtures. This may resolve illumination or safety issues but to create a mood, it requires proper planning. You want the fixtures to enhance not obscure or overpower your outdoor living space. Sometimes less is more and getting the correct layout, the right light fixtures and tweaking the system is 90% of the battle. What’s the other 10%? Enjoying it!

Time to wrap up today’s set with an inspirational thought. An Edward Abbey quote illuminates this lighting trend best. “You can’t study the darkness by flooding it with light.” Enhance, not overpower your outdoor living space!

Don’t forget to post your questions, photos, comments! You can always post on our fan page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bilowz-Associates-Inc-Our-Blog-Annies-Gardening-Corner/325316334444 or http://www.facebook.com/abilowz or follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/annbilowz. For anyone subscribing via email that prefers to reply direct, agbilowz@comcast.net or you can always post your comments on the blog.

Image from the Internet

Spring Run-off

Is there one sign of spring that can make many of us cringe? Heavy rain events that cause spring flooding and erosion can often dismiss our magical moments of apple blossoms and crocuses. Mix this year’s record breaking snowfall with warm temperatures and rain and the combination may spell flooding troubles with a capital T.

So what design principles are in place to alleviate these troubles? With any newly constructed projects, the end goal is clear - the precipitation that falls on a property remains on that property, residential or commercial. One design principle that is often implemented is the use of rain gardens. Although rain gardens, which are shallow vegetated detention areas designed to capture and percolate rainwater runoff from roofs and impervious surfaces aren’t anything new, there have been a number of adaptations to the look and performance. There is more to these mini detention ponds than meets the eye.

A tastefully designed rain garden can offer aesthetic and functional relief while others, less stylishly laid out may appear to be nothing more than an unmaintained drift of weeds. A properly designed and executed rain garden has the potential to substantially reduce runoff, erosion and contamination of surrounding waterways, often times outperforming formal structures. Unfortunately, in the U.S. we are years behind the Europeans on this topic with some serious catch up. With that said, here is an interesting five-year study from the U.S. Geological Survey's Wisconsin Water Science Center that sheds light on the use of prairie grass and its effectiveness with various types of soils, specifically clay soils that can be fairly impervious. http://www.sustainablecitynetwork.com/topic_channels/water/article_b65fe518-3de0-11e0-82aa-00127992bc8b.html?utm_source=SCN+InBox+e-Newsletter&utm_campaign=d157714b5a-Newsletter_2-23-11_Vendors&utm_medium=email

So while today’s information is a bit dry, the goal is to avoid an enormous wet mess. Our end result is to keep our waterways clean. As the West African proverb profoundly reminds us, “Filthy water cannot be washed.”

Don’t forget to post your questions, photos, comments! You can always post on our fan page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bilowz-Associates-Inc-Our-Blog-Annies-Gardening-Corner/325316334444 or http://www.facebook.com/abilowz or follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/annbilowz. For anyone subscribing via email that prefers to reply direct, agbilowz@comcast.net or you can always post your comments on the blog.

Images from the Internet