Seneca Hill Perennials is calling it quits....this was a nursery so unique it's irreplaceable

There's nowhere else to go for many of their plants. I sure am glad I got that Morea reticulata last year, and the Brunsvigia. This is yet another of those times when I regret my regular exaggeration. When I say that I want "everything" in a catalog, I don't really mean "everything". I mean that I like their inventory but maybe only really want 10% ? of it. Or something like that. Except with Seneca Hill it's more like 60%. Honestly. I've got a weakness for South African geophytes and where else in the world will I find a nursery that's assembled a large list of these plants hardy to USDA Zone 6? And all those Cyclamen. And the ridiculously choice listing of native plants, most with provenance....? Nowhere. That's the answer. At least not in this country.

I opened my email Friday morning to find this message and was depressed the rest of the day. This morning, at a Beltsville Garden Club Sale, I spoke to a few fellow fanatics and all of us had mental lists of plants that we had one day intended to buy from SH but just hadn't. It would have been wonderful to have had, say, a one month warning. I know I would have ordered 20-30 plants. Oh well. Such are the rewards of procrastination. Let this be a lesson to us. I only hope Ellen realizes what a treasure their nursery has been and how strongly so many of us felt about it.

Beltsville Library Garden is looking good after two years, but....

There are problems of proportion, the same problems of proportion that I'm facing with the Florida garden. I ought to know better; after all, this is what I do. I design gardens, and when you go from jump street, the proportions require a bit of time to align themselves. Shrubs grow faster than trees so that after a year or two the shrub elements are typically way ahead of the trees. The first impression we have of a space usually is a visceral awareness of the relationships between the visible physical masses. When the trees aren't "trees" yet, we feel that something's wrong. And it is. Time passes, and if the concept is good, the growth of shrubs tops out, and the trees continue. Groundcovers fill in, we make minor adjustments to edges and curves shifting perennials and small shrubs as required and suddenly it begins to work. That's a good time and a good feeling.

The problems in Florida and at the Library are a bit different. I inherited both understory trees  and a large Heritage Birch at the Library so it's the shrubs that have some catching up to do; that's a much quicker process and, looking at the picture, the garden doesn't look horribly out of sync. On the other hand, in Florida the trees I inherited were giant Live Oaks so the understory trees, including palms, are what I'm waiting for and that'll take a bit longer.

Although most clients respond to their installations with enthusiasm and optimism, I know that once in a while the response will be one of polite approval or even overt skepticism. These people often call back in four or five years very happy and wanting to do more. I've had two of these calls this week and it's a wonderful experience.Now I just have to make myself be patient about Florida!