What is this critter found on a rose of Sharon leaf?
16.08.2024 - 19:41 / southernliving.com
When tapped to design a series of planters for our2024 Idea House in the Kiawah River community on Johns Island, South Carolina, plant pro Steph Green of Contained Creations in Richmond, Virginia, knew exactly what the waterfront property needed. “We wanted to create the most beautiful and biggest statement container gardens, but they needed to be durable and last a long time with minimal upkeep,” says Green. “That’s why picking evergreens or really tough perennials from the Southern Living Plant Collection was kind of the launching point for each individual design.”
Shop The Southern Living Collections Featured In The 2024 Idea House The Selection ProcessShe also considered sun exposure, shade, the presence of deer, as well as the Lowcountry landscape and the home’s interior color palette. “I wanted to create something that was stunning but seamlessly transitioned from the interiors to the exterior living spaces to the natural landscape that surrounds the home,” she notes.
Steph Green is the container garden designer and educator behind Richmond, Virginia-based Contained Creations.
Why Evergreens Are A Smart Pick for Containers“An evergreen is still going to need nurturing, but the beauty of them is their durability and the way they can go from season to season in the same spot, as if they were in the ground,” says Green.
That’s why the gardening expert chose evergreens as the anchors of most of her designs, relying on other plantings to layer in additional texture and color. For example, in a backyard planter at the Idea House, she used Clarity Blue™ Dianella as the centerpiece. “In the summer, we had superbells around it and some euphorbia, but in the fall, that would be stunning with a little sedum and some
What is this critter found on a rose of Sharon leaf?
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A Goldfinch perching on teasel
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Happy Friday GPODers!
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Collaborative post
For our 2024 Idea House in the Kiawah River community on Johns Island, South Carolina, the natural surroundings proved a generous source of inspiration. This was especially true of the landscape design, notes Scott Parker, the project’s landscape architect and co-founder of Charleston-based DesignWorks. “One of the things that we wanted to do with the landscape and the garden design was really to ground it in the DNA of the Lowcountry,” he says. That meant tailoring their plant selections to mimic the maritime forest that covers parts of the property, as well as choosing more formal ones to reflect Charleston’s long-standing garden traditions.