Lois de Vries' Garden Views

Once you’ve settled on a garden style, it’s time to break out the reference books and plant catalogs to create a list of what to buy and how much it all will cost. That's your wish list. Next, add up the cost of everything on your wish list. Even if you can afford everything on the list, think about how much time and effort it will take to install it all. Can you get it done in one growing season? If the cost is too far beyond your budget, or the work can’t all be done in one season, consider breaking your plan into more manageable phases. Don’t buy anything that’s not on your list, or before you know it, your garden will look nothing like your original vision. Stay focused and follow your plan; it’s the map to the garden of your dreams. Balancing the budget Creating a balanced gardening budget means weighing the financial cost of proceeding, against the psychic cost of denying yourself a meaningful pursuit. It doesn’t have to be an either/or proposition, of course. If ...

 If you feel unsure about where or how to invest your time, energy, or money, you're not alone. Making choices about how much money to spend, whether to grow your own plants from seed or cuttings, which plants to choose, etc., must also take into consideration where you are in your own life cycle. For example, if you want to plant oak trees in order to enjoy watching wildlife eat the acorns, remember that the trees will not produce any nuts until they are 20 – 30 years old. To begin, create a bubble diagram that shows your planned activity areas; hardscape and plantscape; an inventory of what will be left once you’ve moved, or removed, what you don’t like; and a rough indication of where you want various types of new features, ornaments, and plants. For some gardeners, the next step is the most difficult: Choosing how you want your garden to grow. Do you want to look out on masses of a specific color? Do you want to collect a variety of the same species of plants, such as rose...

Meet me at Perennial Fest on June 4th at Donaldson's Greenhouse and Nursery, 178 Airport Rd., in Hackettstown, NJ for the debut of my latest hands-on program, Garden Sanctuary a la Carte. The program starts at 1:00pm.  Wear your walking shoes and bring your wallet for this "Try and Buy" workshop designed specifically to make purchasing the basics of a garden sanctuary easier. We'll start the ball rolling with some quick relaxation techniques to set the mood, talk about what inspires you in the garden, mull over your motivation for creating a garden sanctuary, discuss focal or meditation objects, and kick around some basic design ideas. Be sure ...to check out Donaldson's demonstration garden sanctuary for a tangible example, as we grab our carts and go on a guided shopping tour. You'll get a checklist and map of the sales yard to use as I lead you from one clearly marked station to the next to select your focal ornament, background tree or shrub...