Tag: shade garden

DESIGNING A SHADE GARDEN BORDER: HOSTAS, FERNS & STUMPERY STRUCTURE IN A NORTH-FACING WOODLAND SPACE

On By PETERIn BORDERS & BEDS, DESIGN & NARRATIVE, GARDEN JOURNAL, PHILOSOPHY OF THE GARDENLeave a comment
The Great North Border viewed from the lower slope, with stone walls, obelisks, and developing planting along the path.

A planting philosophy for the cloistered summit of the Great North Border: structure, shadow, and the poetry of repetition.

There is a hush at the top of the Great North Border.

Down below, roses rise and shout, clematis jostles for grandeur, and paths wind between drama and delight. But up here—up here—something older stirs. The light is green. The ground is dark. And everything is listening.

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MY NAME IS RED: ACTS I & III — MIRROR AND ECHO

On By PETERIn BORDERS & BEDS, CHARACTERS & COMPANIONS, DESIGN & NARRATIVE, GARDEN JOURNALLeave a comment
Close-up of pink blossoms on Malus ‘Laura’ against spring foliage.

A garden border as a stage—divided not by theme, but by tone. This post introduces Acts I and III of ‘My Name is Red,’ a narrative planting with theatrical intent and emotional depth.

This is not a linear telling. (But then again, what gardener ever planted anything in a straight line—narratively or otherwise?)

The border does not begin at one end and finish at the other—it breathes in three acts, each with its own rhythm, palette, and emotional register. This post introduces the two outer chambers of that unfolding structure: Act I, the entrance, formal and upright; and Act III, the close, shaded and solemn.

Continue reading “MY NAME IS RED: ACTS I & III — MIRROR AND ECHO” →