A friend with an eye for objects to embellish her small garden called me one day about "a find." When I got there, I was a little shocked to see a rustic rock pedestal holding an oversized houseplant type fern like the ones you see on porches in summer.
I guess that's the difference in a real garden designer and me. It was a stunning composition, with a charming juxtaposition of rustic materials, unassuming plant material, clipped boxwood and formal paving. Never would I have thought that this rough planter (I'd seen a much cruder one in a vernacular garden in a yard in my hometown) could look so refined.
Every year, after the weather turns warm, I set what houseplants I have outdoors. They always seem to thrive during the summer, and when I bring them inside in fall, I feel sort of sorry for them. They barely hold their own until the next warm season.
Next year when I bring the plants out, instead of placing them randomly about, I'm going to remember the placement of this fern. If the plants have to be outside, they might as well fit into a garden setting in an attractive way. It will soon be time to bring everything indoors, but I'm filing this away for next season - tender house plants to beautify the garden in a not-so-mundane way.
No comments:
Post a Comment