a garden maker's notes

I think a lot about leaves.  Even if I wasn’t a landscape designer, I would still think a lot about leaves. Guess that makes me a leaf lover!  I enjoyed the progressing tapestry of new leaves in the woodland just outside my window. I really love the early spring foliage of the New England native [...]

All week I’ve been heartsick.  The April 15th Boston Marathon Bombings and the subsequent Lock-down of Metropolitan Boston yesterday have been a distraction to say the least.  Last Monday felt like a truly spring day –night temps were above freezing and days without the need for a heavy coat, hat and scarf.  Trees and shrubs [...]

It’s here. I noticed it yesterday. After weeks of an extended dreary winter, yesterday I knew that spring had finally arrived in New England. For one thing–its been warmer. 50 something yesterday–I scuttled from car to appointments without a coat. And yesterday morning, I was appalled at the windows–they need washing–that’s because the sun’s angle [...]

Here in the Northeast we were visited by another snow storm bringing our total since early February around 100 inches! Ninety something inches more than last year. But who’s counting? The news reports individuals who are angry with the Groundhog. Remember, this year the Groundhog predicted an early spring. Who can you trust? This morning [...]

Reading this morning’s paper, I wonder at what I’m reading. Politics, violent unrest, people saving a farm stand, unique art exhibits that lead one inside oneself. I wonder what to make of what I read. How do i process this? How do I to use this information to make myself more—astute, kind, smarter, creative? Then, [...]

Geese squawk over head as I watch the black cat’s head turn up to follow the sounds.  The tropical storm has passed taking with it the high humidity and leaving a drenched garden.  I love the tapestry of foliage shown in the photo above of the shade garden. It needed a good drink. No tornadoes [...]

Out the kitchen door, to the right off the landing, I’ve positioned the compost bin for easy access. I’m rewarded with views of my back garden and this one of my front.  It’s a view of the front I only see from this angle so it’s a treat. Today I was rewarded by pink dianthus [...]

Many of us in New England have this ‘before’ view.  A shrub and a ill defined edge. Not much to make us want to look out at it from our windows. The homeowner wanted a Rhododendron border.  There were a several in her front landscape creating a hodge-podge look and crowded into beds doing nothing [...]

You can now find me on Zillow.com! Zillow can be used to find Boston real estate and homes for sale and much more info on real estate throughout the nation. Take a look at our landscape design profile to request more info, to read my reviews, and to leave me a review. Boston Real Estate [...]

Recently, I sent the link  to the recent article about Carlisle Center Park  I designed to a friend.  Here’s the link: http://carlislemosquito.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2391:center-park-a-peaceful-garden-in-the-center-of-carlisle&catid=8:feature-articles&Itemid=12 His response, “Maria:  That is magnificent, just magnificent!  How gratifying it must be to see it grow into a PLACE, and a kind of secular sacred space at that, in just five years.  People [...]