Labor Day Celebration

 

Kent Nerburn sums up the importance of this Labor Day Celebration. “Remember to be gentle with yourself and others. We are all children of chance and none can say why some fields will blossom while others lay brown beneath the August sun. Care for those around you. Look past your differences. Their dreams are no less than yours, their choices no more easily made. And give, give in any way you can, of whatever you possess. To give is to love. To withhold is to wither. Care less for your harvest than for how it is shared and your life will have meaning and your heart will have peace.”

Are you fortunate enough to sport a green thumb? One of the greatest pleasures of growing a bounty is spreading it around.

If you missed Monday’s blog post, Labor Intensive it was an early reminder to celebrate our working achievements, including our summer harvest.  Celebrate your labors and stay safe on your holiday journeys. And for those still sitting on the garden sidelines, remember to support your local farms and farmers!

© Image by Ann Bilowz - It’s what’s harvesting in the summer garden

If you like this blog, hope you check in daily. Like our Facebook follow on Twitter or subscribe to the blog to receive posts daily via email or a feed. Either way, we hope you follow the postings somewhere in cyberspace and share it with your gardening friends. Contact me direct at Annie You can follow with visuals on Pinterest and find us on Houzz, too.

What’s Trending Fall 2013

 

 

It’s fast upon us, that magical season of fall. There are always folks ahead of the curve with their outside spaces already in the throes of a decorative facelift. Our landscape takes on a different look and hue. It’s loaded in earth tones with pumpkins, corn stalks and Mums. Welcome to the traditional festive fall colors we’ve all grown to recognize and love.

But of course, it’s Thursday so let’s take a garden detour. What’s trending in women’s clothing and why would this matter from a garden and design perspective? According to a recent Fall Trend report presented by David Yurman, the latest fall color trend in the wardrobe world is pastel pink. Here’s a brief peek. “We were floored when it came to the sheer number of looks…that featured shades of pastel pink…yet each managed to counterbalance the shade’s inherent sweetness with innovative, modern silhouettes.” The short report wraps up with this colorful insight. “It’s worth noting that of all color, pink is probably the most divisive – many women swear they wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot-pole – so we’re eager to see how the masses take to this one.”

When it comes to fashion and how it trends into the wardrobe, one has to wonder if we can cross the clothing boundaries and turn it into a fall color for the landscape as well. So this is for all the plant lovers out there. Can we stretch our imagination and think of a pastel pink flower to replace or enhance the deeper colors of pumpkins, mums and gourds? Maybe it’s just adding a pastel pink flowering tree, shrub, perennial or an amazing bulb in the second best time to plant. Or should we leave pastel pink in the closet and stick to the fall traditional hues? It’s your garden; it’s your call. Are you daring enough to add pastel pink into your landscape color palette at all?

 

P.S. A tiny design hint – hues of Apricot can bridge the link between pink and orange tones. So there you have it. It can be done! As Jarod Kintz reminds us, “The sunset faded and blended from pink to peach to mango in a smoothie in the sky.”

© Top Image by Ann Bilowz of a pastel pink Hybrid Rugosa Rose in the summer garden
© Bottom Image by Greg Bilowz - H. paniculata 'Unique' in an October snow  
Check the archives for why the H. paniculata 'Unique' can give you these subtle hues of pink. A favorite Hydrangea that shows pink off well in an early fall snow.

If you like this blog, hope you check in daily. Like our fan page https://www.facebook.com/abilowz follow on twitter https://twitter.com/annbilowz or subscribe to the blog to receive posts daily via email or a feed. Either way, we hope you follow the postings somewhere in cyberspace and share it with your gardening friends. Contact me direct at annbilowz@gmail.com You can follow with visuals on Pinterest, too! http://pinterest.com/bilowzassoc/ and you can also find us on Houzz http://www.houzz.com/pro/bilowz/bilowz-associates-inc

A Fig’s Life

There is nothing better than a fresh fig. If you dare to dabble with growing them in the cooler temperatures of the Northeast, it requires being vigilant; knowing when to haul them outside and when to lug them indoors for their dormant rest period. In case you need a refresher course, there’s one in the archives Go Figure  that might help you out. But back to the fig’s life as we currently have four thriving fig plants.

Three of the plants are various varieties purchased as bare root stock. However, it’s the first fig, my fig, which I received from a local woman moving to a new house. It was a tiny shoot and when I say tiny, it was literally something most would have tossed out. But this little leaf in a tiny clay pot has blossomed into the best producing, best tasting, and straightest growing of the bunch. Did it require some patience? Heck, yeah. It took approximately seven years before it decided that this year it would become the featured star fig plant.



So today’s post isn’t about technique or what to do next. It’s that thing called patience which even in the horticultural world can be so hard to grasp.  Moliere reminds me that “Trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.” And so it is with this fig’s life. It’s time to enjoy its fruit.  


P.S. I gave Annie’s Gardening Corner a background facelift yesterday. It seemed like the natural mid-life mile marker thing to do; a little ‘nip and tuck’. Let me know your thoughts and if you find any bugs that need to be worked out. I found a couple but I won’t point them out. It's those fine-tuning and adjustments that can be worked out as we continue along. And if you like the new look, you can send your thumbs up.

© Top Image – Figs picked this morning from Annie’s Fig Tree
© Middle Image – Annie’s Fig Tree reaching to the sun
© Bottom Image – Figs for breakfast
© All Images by Ann Bilowz

If you like this blog, hope you check in daily. Like our fan page https://www.facebook.com/abilowz follow on twitter https://twitter.com/annbilowz or subscribe to the blog to receive posts daily via email or a feed. Either way, we hope you follow the postings somewhere in cyberspace and share it with your gardening friends. Contact me direct at annbilowz@gmail.com You can follow with visuals on Pinterest, too! http://pinterest.com/bilowzassoc/ and you can also find us on Houzz http://www.houzz.com/pro/bilowz/bilowz-associates-inc