GEUMS ARE GEMS

I discovered this flower only a few years ago and now cannot imagine living without it.  In early spring it pops out like orange polka-dots all over my zone 5 sunny perennial border.  The foliage is wide and round giving much needed coarse texture to the garden.  The flowers balance above about 12-18". There are many different cultivars, so I may be creating my own sweet little geum collection soon. Be warned that it does not transplant well.  My greedy side wanted more, so I attempted to divide and move them around, but only lost some in the process. I guess that is a a good reason to go plant binging shopping again.

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HOW TO LABEL PLANTS

When we create a landscape design it's important that we communicate what's on the plan. The plants are one of the most important elements and typically take up most of the design, so an organized system to labeling them is a must. A beautiful design can look messy and unprofessional if plant labels are not laid out well. Below are the rules I use when labeling plants in plan view (looking from the sky down towards the garden).

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A GARDEN HOLIDAY GIFT

Over the last few weeks I've made a lot of big decisions in terms of how I want to focus this blog and share my love of garden design.

In celebration of my birthday and the holiday season, I'd like to toss in one more twist...sharing my eBook, The Peanut Butter & Jelly Garden with all of you.  This book focuses on my theme garden development process in a whimsical (yet practical) way.  I've been developing this process for a long time and just want to share it with the world (no need to hide behind a price tag anymore). 

Once you read through this book you'll begin to understand me as a designer and illustrator...and hopefully be inspired along the way. The only thing I ask in return is that you sign up to receive my email updates (which really isn't a lot...typically once a week). That's it!

You can read more about my eBook here or just sign up for your free copy by clicking the blue circle below.

I hope you enjoy this new journey into the magical world of garden design...and happy holidays!

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KEEP IT POSITIVE IN THE GARDEN

Let me tell you a little secret about garden design. It's important to keep your livable spaces positive.

What do I mean? Often we'll lay out beds, think about their shapes meticulously, plop them in our yard, then fill them with plants...creating a negative space for our main livable area. This main area becomes leftover space, even though it should be the main focus of our garden. The main space is often the lawn (though it could be a patio or deck too). This is very similar to rooms in your house.  Each room has a strong shape with walls that reinforce it.
Try designing this way instead...

1. Identify where you would like your main lawn area.
2. Determine what shape it should be...an oval, square, circle, kidney bean, etc.
3. Keep the bed lines clean and/or in broad strokes (not a lot of small wiggles).
4. Place planting beds and plant materials to reinforce your shape (along the outer edge, not in the middle).
5. Now you have an amazing garden where you can place garden furniture, read a book, have a picnic or play a little croquet.

A couple of thoughts...though the positive garden I'm showing you above is formal, your garden does not have to be.  This process works for both formal and informal gardens.  Also, your lawn shapes do not have to be totally surrounded by plants.  You can place them sparingly to still give the idea of a lawn shape, without totally enclosing it.

In the end, I want you to remember that garden design is about creating space.  This space is formed by plants and hardscapes, but you must always remember to create the space first.

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A SET OF BERRIES

In early 2012 I created this set of berry illustrations. I must have been dreaming of sweetness in the midst of winter.

I've included these on a set of cards in my Etsy Shop too. You can take a peek here.

A SET OF HERBS

Here are some more illustrations from the past...a set of herbs that I eventually made into a poster. These are just a few from that collection back in 2011.

FREEZING THE GARDEN

I am thrilled to finally have our gardens popping with lots to eat! Our first harvests include strawberries, spinach, broccoli and lettuce. The first three are perfect for freezing to savor this winter. Each day I tuck a little more away in our big basement freezer.

FREEZING STRAWBERRIES
These are so simple. I just clean them, remove the greens, slice in half (or keep them whole), pop into a freezer bag, then into the freezer for winter. That's it! If you love strawberries and have a small space, I encourage you to grow a few plants. They do like to spread though, so make sure you contain them well.

FREEZING SPINACH
Pick leaves, clean them, and remove the stems. You can blanch spinach or simply place leaves and a little bit of water into a blender, then freeze in ice cube trays. I like to pop one spinach ice cube into a smoothie. You really don't taste it, but it adds lots of vitamins.

FREEZING BROCCOLI
Pick broccoli heads, clean and chop as desired. Soak them in a bowl of salted water for 30 minutes to remove any insects.  Blanch by placing in boiling water for three minutes, then directly place them in cold water.  Now you can pack them into freezer bags and place them into the freezer.

You can learn more about freezing and blanching foods at the National Center for Food Preservation. Enjoy!

DESIGN WITH ME - TRANSLATE IDEAS TO PHYSICAL FORM

Wow! Here we are at step four of the theme garden design process! Below are all five steps as a quick review:

1. Pick a theme 
2. Brainstorm
3. Research 
4. Translate ideas to physical form (we'll discuss this below!)
5. Create the plan

TRANSLATE IDEAS TO PHYSICAL FORM
We have finally reached the most exciting step (aside from making the final plan).  This is when we get to take all those great ideas and create the garden components. This step will also take the longest because we have a lot to pick out....including:

colors
structure
hardscapes
furniture
ornamentation
plant materials

In the next few posts we'll take inspiration from our idea lists and translate them into the items above. 

Can you help me with the first one?  I'd love for you to read through our brainstorming and research lists and let me know what COLORS pop out at you.  Share in the comments below, on Facebook or Twitter.  

For those that would like to stay in closer touch with this process, you're invited to sign up for my NEWSLETTER too.

DESIGN WITH ME - RESEARCH

I have finally completed step three of the theme garden process!  Again, here are all five steps as a quick review:

1. Pick a theme 
2. Brainstorm
3. Research (we'll discuss this below!)
4. Translate ideas to physical form
5. Create the plan

RESEARCH
I mentioned in my last post that it's important to make your idea list as long as possible, since that's what feeds the rest of your design.  The research step helps lengthen this idea list.  Research allows you to find out more about your topic....things you wouldn't necessarily know off the top of your head.  It makes your design so much richer.  You can put as much time into this step as you'd like...visit a library, interview an expert or simply Google your topic.  Ten minutes or ten hours, but it's important that you don't skip this step. It often leads to amazing ideas.

Below is my very simple research on heavy metal.  I apologize up front for the condensed version.  I could have written a 25 page paper on this topic, but for this purpose a broad, bulleted overview will do.  

I'd like  to thank www.hardradio.com and, of course, www.wikipedia.com for this information.  Visit both sites if you'd like to learn more.

Now that we have our brainstorming and research lists complete it's time to start designing!  Woo-hoo!  

I'll explain step four: translating your ideas to physical form in my next post, then I'll need your help again to bring this garden to life.

DESIGN WITH ME - PICK A THEME

Over the next few weeks we'll be designing a theme garden together by following my five magical steps:

1. Pick a theme (we'll discuss this below!)
2. Brainstorm
3. Research
4. Translate ideas to physical form
5. Create the plan

PICK A THEME
What is a theme?  It's the idea that pulls all the elements of a garden together.

Before designing a garden I always encourage the selection of a theme.  Why?

• To focus your design
• To help in the selection of materials (plants, hardscapes, furniture, etc.)
• To tell a story

Designing a garden is similar to writing a paper. Before you write it's important to choose a topic, then have the content support it. You can write about thousands of things, but the topic helps you focus. This is the same in garden design. There are thousands of ways to design your garden, but by narrowing in on a topic or theme, choices become a lot easier. Honestly, it's a lot more fun too and your creativity just spills over.

First let's look at some traditional themes:


Traditional themes are great, but I'd like to show you how to develop a garden around any theme. Our garden will focus on something nontraditional and out-of-the-ordinary. To help us get started I asked for your help on facebook, twitter, this blog and my newsletter to pick a theme. Wow, did I get some great ideas!

Here are some of them: shoes, fashion, heavy metal, pez, photographs, ceramics, music, video games, murder mystery books, jeans, wellies, Christian Louboutan red sole shoes, punk, jazz, Great Gatsby, Italy and quilts. Below are garden themes that can be created from some of these ideas.

The most fascinating themes have no relationship to gardening. When you combine gardening with an unrelated topic the design gets very interesting (I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it!).

Now to pick a theme (drum roll please...). I'd like to choose something that seems far, far away from gardening (to show that this can indeed be accomplished), be a topic I'd like to learn more about, and finally something that will challenge me outside my illustrative comfort zone (opposite of cute and whimsical). The only logical choice is HEAVY METAL! I'm a little frightened, but excited to get started!

My eleven-year-old daughter would say to me at this point...mom, how are you going to create a heavy metal garden?  My reply..."not sure, I plan to follow the process to find out."  I typically don't have preconceived ideas, I just let the process inspire me.

Please stick with me! I'll need your help with the next three steps. It's time to BRAINSTORM now. What comes to mind when you think of heavy metal? Let me know in the comments below, on facebook or twitter.

For those saddened that I didn't pick your topic, no worries. I plan to design more gardens with you in the future and tap into a couple more of your fabulous ideas.

THE POLKA DOT HEDGE EXPERIMENT

With the help of MAIEDAE (a fabulous web design company in Atlanta), I have finally been able to combine my love of food and gardening into one blog! If you look above you'll see two flowing blue ribbons...one for The Lunch Box Project and the other for my new garden blog, The Polka Dot Hedge Experiment. Click on either one to sort my posts or neither to get the full potluck.

The Polka Dot Hedge Experiment is a major transformation of my previous garden blog, Topiary & Tiramisu. Though I loved writing my earlier garden blog, it did not fulfill a desire to share my quirky outlook on garden design.  I want to start a new experiment...one that combines artful technique with artful approach (I'll explain this more in a future post), using the same illustrative savvy as The Lunch Box Project.  Though you may see some photographs pop up here and there, you'll see a lot of my garden design shenanigans in hopefully a fresh way.

For those that are already gardeners - I hope you'll learn something new.  For those not interested in gardening - I hope to tweak your interest a little.  To get both groups started I made you a little gift.  When you sign up for my newsletter, I'll send along your first set of HEDGE NOTES.  These are basically plant journal sheets to help develop your interest (and possibly new love) of the garden. These are great for adults and kids. There will be more information included in the HEDGE NOTES package.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER: SNACKING BEHIND THE HEDGE
(and receive your set of HEDGE NOTES!)

FYI...My newsletter will highlight both of my blogs, so be ready to snack and tinker in the garden at the same time.

Oh, so much to talk about and so many posts ahead!

Kale!

Being a gardener I've always used kale as a beautiful fall annual in the landscape. What a nice surprise to find out it's also a super healthy food...perfect for cooking and salads.

Dorothy from Cut 'n Clean Greens generously sent me some kale so I could try it myself.  I'm used to the thin leaves of lettuce, so was nicely surprised by the hardiness of kale.  Paired with the fabulous Cut 'n Clean dressings, kale makes a great side salad.  I have to admit, I like that it was already chopped up in a nice storage container.  I could take out a little each day as needed.  I tried several kales, plus had the bonus of a spinach and beet greens kit (yum-my).

Here are the kits I had the privilege of trying:
Organic Rainbow Kale Salad Kit
Rainbow Kale Salad Kit with Zesty Orange Vinaigrette (my favorite!)
Organic Rainbow Kale Salad Kit with Toasted Sesame Vinaigrette
Rainbow Kale Salad Kit with Avocado Tomatillo Dressing (a tasty kick!)
Spinach and Beet Greens Salad Kit with Bacon Spinach Dressing

Big thanks to Dorothy (from Shockingly Delicious) and Cut 'n Clean Greens for expanding my greens palate!

Oh, and I do have a print available also...visit my shop here.

Beets

Ah beets.  I still don't know what to do with them.

I love pickled beets, but how else do I eat them?

Any suggestions?

Tomato

Though our tomatoes are not quite ripe yet, I had to include them...because of my mom. She has been asking me daily, "are the tomatoes ready yet?".

I am personally not a huge tomato fan, but my mom lives for them.

You can learn more about her tomato infatuation here...and more here (I seem to write a lot about this tomato craze).

Peas & Flowers

Another freshly, picked from the garden pattern...peas!  You can find this postcard here.

Tuber Vegetables

This is an example of thinking too much rather than just doing.  I kept worrying about not being able to create an interesting enough image with just tubers, so allowed time to just slip away.  This morning I decided to just draw and realized tubers did indeed have some unique qualities...enough to have a simple, fun image.

And, in case you're wondering I'll be continuing my vegetable craze into May, since I have several more images I'd like to explore. Thanks for allowing me to chug along at a slower pace the last few weeks. You can find the print here.

Oregano

This is considered the "pizza herb" for obvious reasons.

I think this is one of the first herbs I learned as a kid because it topped one of my favorite foods.

Sage

This is one of my favorite herbs...purely because it's fun to draw. I just love those simple leaves.

How do you use sage?