Learn the Japanese art of landscaping with stones
Every 6-year-old who has put pebbles from the beach in his pocket and then started a rock collection in a shoebox confirms this fact:...
Garden design lessons from the High Line, New York City
Design My Garden recently visited New York’s famously inventive High Line, a public park that has been made over from a defunct, elevated...
Small Trees for Small Spaces
A small tree is a great addition to even a small garden because it draws the eye upward, giving the illusion of space. Here are 8 trees to t
Elements of Japanese garden design
There are four essential elements (rocks, water, plants, and ornament) and five garden design principles (asymmetry, enclosure, borrowed...
Garden design lessons from ‘Old Master’ landscape painters
‘Old Masters’ were landscape painters in the period 1600 to 1800. Painting landscapes was a pan-European art movement, in part motivated...
Did you know that flowers are a language?
Everyone knows that you’re supposed to give red roses to the woman you love on Valentine’s Day. Red roses mean love, right? Symbolic...
The 10 best garden design books
If you’d like to learn more about garden design, here are our “Top 10” picks for design books. Many are not new, but thanks to the...
Why the best time to design a garden is in the bleak midwinter
Plant in near-ground, mid-ground, and back ground to make a garden more interesting. Add upright shrubs to break a horizontal feeling. Add c
Gifts of the Magi: where frankincense and myrrh come from
January 6th, known as Epiphany (epiphania, Greek for manifestation), is the date biblical scholars believe the Three Wise Men, or Magi,...
Over-planting a garden design costs you money
Recently, we were called by a client in Oakville with zero gardening experience. She and her family had moved to Oakville and bought a...
