Susan Morrison's Blog

Vancouver Design Inspiration

A while back when I told a friend I was thinking of a driving visit to the Northeast, she began to enthusiastically list the gardens I should visit. But the reality is, when I’m on vacay, I don’t necessarily WANT to visit a lot of gardens. This is partly in difference to my husband, who already tolerates a LOT of shoptalk around our house when my gardener friends drop by. Beyond that, a vacation is supposed to be a break from work, even when it is work that you love. So a garden or park has...

Small Space Garden Design – Welcome to my Garden!

I’ve included photos from my own garden in posts from time to time, but I haven’t done a complete virtual tour since my last renovation in 2009. Ready for an update?

The side yard view is still our favorite.

But the whole garden is shaping up nicely.

In January I replaced the original flagstone stepping stone and gravel path with flagstone set in DG. Although it’s not as artistic as the original (I mixed three different sizes of gravel and hand-set the largest), it IS much easier to keep free of...

2014 Garden Book Round-up

Busy with clients and with my own garden, I’ve been neglecting my blog of late. But while I may have let blogging slide, in my ongoing search for design inspiration and gardening advice, I’ve still made time to check out the latest crop of garden books. Here are three that caught my attention:

Groundbreaking Food Gardens: 73 Plans That Will Change the Way You Grow Your Garden by Niki Jabbour

More than a short-lived trend, food gardening is firmly in the mainstream, and Groundbreaking Food Garde...

The Designer magazine - re-imagined, re-designed...and free!

In between designing gardens and traveling here and there on speaking engagements, I’ve had been working on another project that I’m excited to share with you. This year I became editor in chief of The Designer, the quarterly magazine from the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. The spring issue is now available!

Previously available only to members or with a traditional hard copy subscription, The Designer has moved to an all digital format and is now free to everyone! But that’s...

Bay Area Garden Events – March 2014

As winter winds down and spring begins to tease us with a few early blooms, what better month than March to take in a gardening presentation or workshop? Here are a couple of events happening in the Bay Area this month.

Filoli

The Clocktower at Filoli, taken at last year's Garden Bloggers Fling

Billy Goodnick, landscape architect and author of Yards: Turn Any Outdoor Space into the Garden of Your Dreams is leading an all day design workshop at beautiful Filoli on March 15. Billy's promise: "Spen...

Trees for Small Gardens: Paul's Scarlet Hawthorn

Let me introduce you to one of my all-time favorite trees for small gardens: Crataegus laevigata 'Paul's Scarlet', commonly referred to as English Hawthorn.

Pronounced kruh-TEE-gus lee-vih-GAY-tuh, Paul's Scarlet Hawthorn sports deep pink, showy flowers in spring, and bright green leaves that turn yellow in fall. In winter, this tree displays plump red berries, making it a showy specimen for all seasons.

Unfussy and well-behaved, Paul’s Scarlet English hawthorn is a reliable, easy-care tree we...

Refresh Your Garden Design - Virtual Book Party

I’m excited to announce friend, co-author and designer extraordinaire Rebecca Sweet has written a new book:Refresh Your Garden Design with Color, Texture and Form. To celebrate, I’m joining a group of six talented bloggers for a virtual book party – and you’re invited!




Even experienced gardeners reach a point where they know the garden needs an overhaul, but just can’t figure out where to start. Inspired by her years of garden design consulting, Rebecca’s book is filled with easy-to-implement,...

Front Yard Design Strategies

Photo courtesy of Rebecca Sweet

A few days ago I attended an excellent seminar presented by the Garden Conservancy titled "Front Yard Gardens Take Center Stage." As I am acquainted with some of the speakers, I was a tad concerned all talks would center on replacing lawns with gardens. While this is a worthwhile topic I often blog about, five hours of lose-the-lawn ranting is a bit much, even for a true believer like me.

Happily for me, the seminar instead dished up a broad range of information...

Master Gardener Sustainability Fair – Bee Boxes, Winter Veggies, Canning and More!

This Saturday, September 7, the Contra Costa County Master
Gardeners are hosting a sustainability fair at Our Garden in Walnut Creek. 2013
marks the 30th anniversary of our master gardener program, and what
better way to celebrate than doing what we do best – sharing our passion for
gardening with our community.

If you’ve been to an Our Garden presentation held
Wednesdays throughout the summer, you’ll be right at home listening to one of
the talks under the oak tree. Presentations include an introdu...

Succulent Container Design

Recently, I had the pleasure of giving a succulent potting
demonstration in my clients Carla and Lennart’s garden to benefit a very worthy
cause: St. Vincent’s - The Children of Kibera. A part of the One World
Children's Fund, the charity supports orphans and underprivileged children in
Kibera, Kenya.

We covered a lot of things in 40 minutes – potting, propagating
and container care just to name a few – but for this post, I’m sticking with
the heart of the demonstration: designing with succulents in...