A simple garden gift for Christmas that could be also created for Birthdays, Anniversaries and Weddings.

One of our friends in Callyfornia (thanks Arnold) sent me an email called a thousand marbles, in which it described an older man teaching a much younger person about the imporatance of time. He explained that a long time ago he knew that time was precious but to remind him he determined how many Saturdays he had left in his life to spend with friends and family instead of working at the office. This gentleman then took 1000 marbles and placed in a jar and each Saturday he would take one out and the remaining marbles would be a visual representation of his time left on earth. And if he was lucky enough to run out of marbles he then knew that indeed each future Saturday would be extremely precious...........

Well, I thought that was a great idea, however, doing the math, 1000 marbles would require a large container, so I modified it from a gardeners perspective and decided to use river rock and only one for each year that my wife and I probably had left on this earth.....with my father rockin and rollin at 86 I put enough rocks in there to reach 90.

I have one clear container with 18 rocks in it symbolizing the 18 years we have been married with a label on top which say's Cheryl and Glenn's Past with the following list .......... Great Memories, Good Times & Bad Times, Losses, Reflections and Personal Growth........we also have another conatiner with 40 rocks in it which is labeled Cheryl and Glenn's Future with the following list........Travel, Dreams, Goals, Anticipation, Possibilities.

Each year on our anniverary we will take one rock from the Future and place it in the Past and talk about what this past year has meant to us........these containers sit on our window sill for a daily reminder of what was and what is yet to come........this simple gift could be presented to anyone for their birthday, anniversary or new business venture.......an inexpensive gift with great potential......

Tis the season........Yesterday, I was pruning the plantings at one of our larger clients on a crisp cold day that I would compare to any ideal summer day on a level of Mother Nature at her best. No wind, clean white snow and I was able to enjoy it while shaping up the gardens at this clients site. I did not have to wear my one piece suit, simply fleece warmups under my Carhartts and a few layers on top with the great gardening secret on my hands...What is that you ask?

When you are out working in the garden in the winter or fall, we have learned to wear nitrile or latex gloves under our work gloves. Kind of the wetsuit concept......when your hands sweat, they build up a thin layer of water between your skin and the nitrile gloves which in turn is warmed up to 98 degrees by your body and you stay warm...I have worked like that for four or five hours at a time....take a break for lunch, put on new nitrile gloves and then go back out to work.......-5 degrees this morning and on my way back out to prune where I was yesterday.....should be another great day.

My sisters passing (see previous post) has been perhaps the greatest gift I have ever recieved, as I thought I was thankful for my life, my family and my love of gardening, but now a day doesn't go by that I don't think about seeing my sister lying on her bed out in Denver and the outstanding strength she displayed during her final days. In the past I may have grumbled about having to work in 14" deep snow, but now I actually find myself excited each day to be able to do the work.....as I think my sister would perhaps give anything to be able to do what I am doing!

I am still tossing a book around in my head about gardening and life, but I need a lot more time in my favorite gardens to work through it. I can tell you that when I was pruning this fall and into the winter, I could see it as a great metaphor for life. I see the pruning as getting rid of the unnecessary things/appointments in your life to truly enjoy the important things. In pruning one thing you look for are crossing branches that are rubbing on each other and this causes the bark to be worn away and eventually the branches will die or grow weak. You then look at which branch is in the best position for future growth on the tree and remove the other branch and sometimes for the health of the tree you need to remove both branches. My father in law once asked me what was my most important asset and I was thinking cash, equipment, trucks and along that line...he told me my most important asset was time.....you can't save it up and add it to the end of your life and time is the great equalizer.....we each have so much.

So it is with that thought it mind that I now choose very carefully what, where and when and I reinforce for myself each day the importance of time with the thought of my sister who will not have the opportunity and I can only hope to have the impact that my sister has had on those around her......so this Christmas season give yourself the best present you can....the gift of time with family and friends and realize that work will be there when you return, because I can gurantee you that there are no luggage racks on hearses....you can't take anything with you........

My passion is family and sharing my passion for gardening with others and I look forward to the next 40 years of doing just that!

It has been awhile since my last post and there have been tremendous changes in our business and personal lives since that post. Over the years we had become aware of the fact that patients facing cancer and their families have been walking through our display gardens to gain inner peace and simply enjoy the tranquility of the gardens as a respite from the challenges they were/are facing.

That fact was brought home to me on September 13 when my 56 year old sister called me to tell me she had run out of options in her cancer treatment and she had 2 weeks to a month left on her journey here on earth. My sister was a relatively private person and had told no one in the family of her challenges 1000 miles away from us. I now realize that was because of her great inner strength and probably not wanting to worry my 80 year old parents until she had no option.

During her call to us, she had asked if I would be able to travel to Denver to be with her during these final days and my response was of course....yes. She knew I am not a great fan of flying and so I took a cross country train trip that was to change my life in ways that I could not imagine when I began.

During my train trip, I met great people from all over the country who were on their way to points hither and yond to do this and that. I had one of my most enjoyable conversations in years with an autistic adult who was excited about everything in life and could tell me just about anything I wanted to know.....which taught me.......that we are all challenged, just in different ways, some challenges more visible than others.

While I was in Denver, I experienced a food bagger at a Soopers Supermarket in Denver who was severely mentally and physically challenged and worked with a smile and kept right up with the cashier..........or when I was in the train station in Chicago and looked up to see a woman grab a blind man by his arm who was having difficulty negotiating the station and take him to where he was attempting to go. Or the hospice worker who was taking care of my sister who I asked, "What do you like best about doing this?" her response was that she considered it a gift to be asked to care for people during their final days and people in hospice care did not judge her skills by the color of her skin (she happened to be an African-American)..........

And my sister's friend Bobbie with whom she worked at the library and who was given three weeks paid time to be with my sister to care for her. And Bobbie's husband who was so understanding that his wife was taking care of my sister. Before hospice came in she would sleep at my sister's bedroom door at night on the floor to insure she didn't miss anything that my sister might need.

And the entire staff of the Agape Hospice from Greenwood, Co. who could not have possibly been more helpful to my parents, myself, my brother or of course my sister. These hospice members are special people and soften the heartache.

I told my sister I had to leave late on Tuesday the 20th and gave her a big hug, told her I love her and that her spirit would continue in the healing gardens we create and the funds we raise for hospcie care. She and I sat and listened to a couple of her favorite CD's one afternoon and it was some of the most peaceful time I have ever spent.........

My return train was late in leaving from Denver and I was fortunate to have a sleeper car and my room faced south and the full moon. As I listend to John Tesh's love songs album and watched the dance of the silouhettes of the large trees on the plains of Eastern Colorado and Western Nebraska, unbeknownst to me, my sister was drawing her last breaths as I listened to the music and tears ran down my cheeks as I thought of my sister.

I relate the above to you only to share with you why I have this newfound importance of developing our non-profit foundation healinggardens.org to raise funds to create healing gardens whereever they are needed and to also raise additional funds to insure everyone can have the gift of hospice caring for you in your home during your final days here on earth.

If you would like to help us, either as a national sponsor, or need help to organize the people necessary to build a healing garden in your area, please contact us through our website at http://www.gardenhaus.com

I feel lucky to love what I do and have always loved gardening since I began mowing lawns when I was about 12.......I now have even a greater drive to not only make our businesses successful, but to also share our expertise to create healing gardens.........

Here are a couple of before and after pics on a project we installed in the Burlington Vermont area. It included the installation of a paver walkway, boulders, and specimen plant material along with a small watergarden.

The next few journal entries will show part of our first bloomingourmet(tm) Tastebuds(tm) event which was held yesterday, to review new products for inclusion in our gift baskets and our retail store. It was extremely hot and some of our guests started off tasting Fizzy Lizzy which caused reactions like Wow! that is refreshing...... 

This picture shows the size of a mature Ligularia. Ligularia is a perennial in the Northeast that thrives in deep shade. If planted in partial sun/shade the leaves will wilt when in the sun and then become turgid (full) when it is once again in full shade. The foliage of the plant is about 15/18" in height while the flower spikes achieve a height of about 2/3'.

The flower spikes are a great feature of this plant, however, I think the irregularly serrated edges of the leaves are outstanding.

This showy plant is an outstanding addition to any heavy shade garden. This Ligularia is in a small raised planter about 12'x4' and 3' in height. In addition to the Ligularia, you can see Algerian Ivy which does well in sun or shade and lasts well into the fall. The Algerian Ivy you can just see behind the Ligularia is in an iron obelisk and is watered through a drip system which also provide micromist for the Christmas Ferns in the rest of the raised planter.

When you look at Ligularia you never notice the detail of the flowers unless you look very closely. Ligularia is a great deep shade plant which deer do not eat....ever.......

So you want to hide something in the garden.......

We have clients who want to always hide something in, near or by the garden that detracts from it's surroundings. The answer almost every time........black paint! Black is the least visible color in nature. You would think green or brown would blend in, when in fact anything painted that color tends to jump out at you.

We have painted 4", white, septic field cleanout pipes, manhole covers, holding tank covers, large propane tanks (check with your propane vendor about that one and see what their regulations are) In fact in the previous entry, in the before picture you can clearly see the large white propane tank and in the after picture, it's not that the tank has moved or is hidden, the client has painted it black.

If you are going to install a chain link fence in your yard, use black vinyl coated fencing and posts. Not only does it blend in, it won't rust or require maintenance. We suggested this to a client who had several tennis courts in their yard and they were going to use green 15' tall fencing........whooooooooooo, that would have been ugly.

The deer fencing made by Benners Gardens, http://www.bennersgardens.com is 7' tall and black for the same reason. Once installed it is not visible in the woods and is why you need to tie white ribbons on it for awhile to keep the deer from running into it and condition them.

One of our clients installed deer fencing himself and much to his amazement, watched deer one morning, running into it, it would strectch a tiny bit and launch them back and they would get up again and do the same thing. This went on for awhile. They didn't ever do it again, so either they were having a party and this was their version of a bungee cord or they were riding the short bus for deer and didn't quite get the concept of the deer fencing.

So remember, when you want things to dissappear, paint it black....oh just fyi, this doesn't work on mother-in-laws or nasty neighbors!

This client wanted to create a backyard entertainment area which would blend a semi-secluded area adjacent to the master bedroom with a larger entertainment area complete with a propane powered firepit and an area big enough to comfortably place a large table and more than just a few chairs for guests.

As you can see from this picture we would need to raise the soil level which would allow us to create a multi-level hardscape patio and meet the existing grades of the MBR French doors and the kitchen doors.

We would accomplish this through bringing in soil and 40 tons of boulders to act as the retaining wall for the soil. Then a multi-level paver patio would be installed and large specimen plant material to provide scale for this large home. The trees used included a Flowering Dogwood, Japanese Tree Lilac and a clump River Birch.

The copper structure atop the fire pit is to keep rain and debris out of the base of the fire pit and adds a great focal point when the fire pit is not in use.

In this picture you can see the main patio. If you were to take a step up to the left you would be relaxing on the MBR patio area, hidden by a clump River Birch.

Nectar of the Gods.......

This bee is enjoying an early dinner on this Purple Coneflower in our main display garden. He was trying to avoid the buzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......... of the newly opened Butterfly Bush.

Copper firepit cover........

I was working with a longtime client this morning showing them how to install the drip and micromist irrigation system themselves on a very large landscape project we had done for them over a two year period,

The gardens are beginning to grow in, but what caught my eye was the new copper cover for the firepit. The firepit we had designed for them and which was installed by the owner, is blended into a large paver patio adjacent to the master bedroom and kitchen. To keep debris out of the propane powered pit they had a relative who is a sheet metal worker create this outstanding cover.

Summer watering....................

On the Eastern Seaboard we are experiencing a long, hot, dry summer. During this time it is critical to thoroughly water your gardens and trees. If you simply run a hose over them, this will not completely saturate the ground. This is especially true for any large containers that you use say on your deck or patio.

After running the hose on them for 30 seconds you may see water coming out of the bottom holes. This usually means one of two things....the water you see is a result of the plant being pot bound and not able to hold any water or the water is running down the inside of the pot between the soil and the pot and then out the bottom.

I recommend watering the plant several times when watering. The first watering will moisten the layer of mulch that should be on top and subsequent waterings will actually penetrate into the soil. If you water your containers thoroughly twice a week, they should be fine.

Our display beds are watered using both drip and micromist irrigation twice a week for about an hour to an hour and a half. This will develop healthy root systems and consistent growth. We have most of our irrigation on timers for 4- 6 in the morning, prior to us needing showers. Since we are on a well, this works.........well for us!

Any watering should be done early in the morning so it can soak into the mulch and soil and not evaporate as will happen if you water mid-day. Watering in the morning also allows leaves to dry during the day and hence not cause powdery mildow or other fungus'.

We use Antelco(tm) brand drip and micromist irrigation. Almost every head is adjustable at the head to provide you with complete control of the flow rate. We have used this system for many years due to the ingenious design that has gone into it and the low cost. The average garden will cost about $300 to irrigate, not counting timers which can be purchased at the orange place or the blue place for about $30.00 ea.

We use these systems in our vegetable garden, to irrigate the many containers on our deck and our display gardens. Deep, thorough watering during the growing season, especially during very dry periods will promote the growth and health of your plants. You can also add an inline fertilizer which will deliver liquid fertilizer right through you irrigation system. This is call fertigation.

The picture shows a 180 degree adjustable sprinkler in one of our display gardens.

This White Poppy is located between the edge of our deck and our back pond. When the leaves of Poppies turn brown after blooming we will usually cut them back to 4" tall and they will at least push out green foliage for the rest of the summer and not be a pile of unattractive brown leaves.

A Japanese Iris in full bloom is even more beautiful up close! This Japanese Iris is a resident of our smaller watergarden and has been on the edge of the pond for about seven years.

Here is picture of iris in our front stream. This is a rubber liner stream with gravel and boulders placed on top of it to create it's own ecosystem. When you use this system, we use only Aquascape Designs systems, you place the marginal plant right in the stone in the bottom of the stream or along the edge of the pond.

The roots become established in the gravel and draw nutrients out of the water and starve single cell algae which result in a crystal clear pond. Our 6' tall iris in our other pond can verify they are getting all the nutrients they need.

In the fall, we simply cut the iris back like we would any other perennial and it pushes out the next spring just like a soil planted perennial.

This is the first post for The Gardenhaus' new blog garden journal. Please join us here with your thoughts on gardening. I will be updating this site with pictures of current construction projects, dates for open houses, garden tours and motorcoach trips to the flower show and Longwood Gardens.

I will also be sharing what is happening in our gardens, good or bad, which should be a good rule of what you may want to be doing to your gardens. I may review garden books, new garden products and everything in between....so stop back often and share your passion for gardening!