How to Create a New Garden Border - For Beauty and Defense against Deer & Ticks

Under the rubric where the “cobbler’s kids have no shoes,” it’s a miracle that our own country house home garden is as beautiful as it is…

But just like my clients, my husband and I have to be mindful of budget and schedules. Plus, there never seems to be enough time after working in my clients’ gardens. You get the idea.

We usually take on one or two “garden rooms” to produce each summer season. (And phew - almost completed all my garden dream rooms throughout the property).

Our garden rooms include the Water Garden, the Ladies Border, the Red Arbor, St. Francis Rock Garden, the Farmette, the Shower Garden, the Orchard -- and more… We’ve been featured on House & Garden tours and will appear next month in NJ Monthly Magazine.

This year, we agreed the focused project would be the driveway. My goal is to take up the paving (bad chemicals, non-permeable, ugly) to a more permeable, and more garden-inspired design. More on that soon as we begin the work.

The start of the driveway work was displaced by the need to rip out and replace what is the border in our backyard.

Let me set the stage and put this into context.

Our front and side yards are where the designed, sculpted gardens are. The back yard looks out with an 180 degree water views from Sandy Hook National Seashore to the South Shore of Long Island and the Rockaways to Brooklyn (love seeing the ferris wheel at Coney Island lit up on summer nights) to Manhattan’s “castles in the sky” to Staten Island.

There is no need to create a visual competition with gardens. Outside of the edible garden “farmette” and the mini orchard -- it’s a bird’s eye view.

However, there is a lot of trash plants growing on the hill there. We’re at the highest point on the East Coast and the properties go from yards to impenetrable pseudo-forest of tangled invasive plants including sumac, honeysuckle, invasive cherry tree and vines, and Porcelain Berry  - Ampelopsis brevipedunculata (here plus full list of Garden State invasives).

While for the most part these “plant thugs are out of site descending as they do down the hill, there was a series of them, layered, and covered with the god-awful, invasive Chinese Honeysuckle, Lonicera maackii. 

Sure it smells nice - for about a nanosecond - but you’re left with ugly, branches and a fighter who won’t budge.

Furthermore, according to the New York Botanical Garden’s (NYBG) “Mistaken Identity” scientific paper on Invasive Plants and their Native Look-Alikes, “Wherever invasive honeysuckle shrubs displace our native forest species there is a huge potential impact on these migrating bird populations due to the reduction in availability of native food sources.”





If you really want honeysuckle - please plant our Native alternative to the Asian honeysuckle. There are various types of trumpet honeysuckle Lonicera sempervirens from which to choose.



If all that wasn't bad enough, what really prompted me - dare I say drove me - to rip out these plant thugs was that earlier in the spring, as Bill and I were enjoying our evening garden walk with our cocktails, a deer head just beyond the border -- a young buck - was perusing the yard from behind the “border hedge” we’d created - looking for all the world like that neighbor character from the Tim Allen Show where all you saw was a nose and eyes above the fence. Young “Buckie” was not to be deterred despite a slingshot and me charging him. Harummphh. He jumped out!

I shrieked. Not because of the cloven-hooved satan, or big rat that he is was now in my world - but because my garden was not designed with deer in mind. We’ve lived here 20 years and nary a fawn has been seen. In a flash, I saw all the years of designing, planting, and luxuriating in the glory of our gardens go up in smoke.

We learned there was building going on up the hill; probably forcing them out of that habitat to seek yet more food.

Please know that deer are now rutting two times a year vs. one.  Many are giving birth to twins and triplets as a result of their fattened state.  There are more deer now than when the settlers first landed on these shores. And where there’s deer, there’s the mice and the dreaded ticks.

Please people, do NOT feed these predators. I just read where a local homeowner was allowing this tick-infested Bambi to swim in her pool!  We need to work as a community to rid our neighborhoods of these admittedly cute creatures (oh why did Disney ever produce Bambi?) and see them for the enablers that they are.

Not too long ago, I saw this at an extended family's residence in Hunterdon County.  This is not pretty.

Plants in Jail -- Result of Deer Menace

Deer and Ticks and Mice; a most unwanted Menage à Trois fueled by -- Acorns!
Bear with me - there’s a connection to the heading….

Some of my garden design clients do, of course, have deer in their yards -- some of the properties are in fact, in the middle of what I call, “deer highways!” But I have incorporated that element into the overall garden design and plant choices. We’re meeting the enemy head on and with eyes open.

Here, I felt blindsided!

I immediately researched the deer and tick and mice situation near us. The news was grim. According to NorthJersey.com, “Oak trees go through a boom-and-bust cycle with acorn production, and 2015 was a boom year in the Northeast. With a plentiful food source that can be stored over the winter, the mouse population often swells the following year. We saw the acorns in 2015 and then we saw a plague of mice in 2016.”

The text bubble in my head was saying, “I love nature’s symbiosis and the natural food chain but please not with all these nasty elements….” And honeysuckle interrupts the food chain, I read. Not unsurprisingly.

Further, this year, there is a “new” dangerous tick-borne disease called the Powassan virus that is carried by the same tick that transmits Lyme Disease. Double the problem…I’m also figuring that none of these circumstances are helped by climate chaos -- because the winters are not cold long enough to kill off those critters and plants that would normally die off.  As a result, we now spray our clothes with tick repellent.  This one is good and lasts for five to six washings.

Far too many of the good horticulturists I work with have this growing Lyme plague -- that is woefully misdiagnosed and treated far too often almost as an afterthought. “It’ll cripple the health care system,” is what one of my stricken hort men told me who has been battling the crushing Lymes for years.

Then, I read that deer just love to canoodle in the honeysuckle - which means essentially that our “border hedge” could become a love nest for Mr. & Mrs. Buckie Deer.

Not on my watch!

I found this in my research from 10 Reasons to Remove Honeysuckle:

(This is number 11!:)

The presence of Amur Honeysuckle may be increasing the risk of tick-borne diseases, especially in suburban areas where homes are built near woodland edges.

“Invasive bush honeysuckle might be increasing tick-borne disease risk on a pretty large spatial
scale,” says Brian Allan of the University of Illinois. Allan has studied how honeysuckle, deer and ticks interact, and he has learned the shrub attracts deer, and as a result, attracts more ticks. That means people don’t have to go to the woods and prairies to find ticks anymore. The deer are bringing them to us. And it has the effect of concentrating deer in locations where honeysuckle is present, particularly in suburban landscapes. The shrub produces several stems that arch outward, forming a canopy that creates ideal bedding areas for white-tailed deer. “Deer are using the shrubs for shelter,” Allan says. “There’s nothing that really compares to it in terms of native vegetation.” Areas invaded by bush honeysuckle have a higher density of ticks infected with pathogens than areas of native vegetation.

Deer ticks are the main carrier of Lyme disease. “Deer are a food source for adult ticks and a transport mechanism,” says Linn Haramis, entomologist from the Illinois Department of Public Health.Thank you, Chris McCullough, President, Greater Cincinnati Chapter Wild Ones cincywildones@fuse.net

That was more than enough for me. No canoodling in our yard!

Soooo - the back border hedge got moved up to the number one position.

Garden Border Hedge
We needed a hedge that could stand up to a true “cat walk” and other animal species, including raccoons and groundhogs, one that would be deer resistant, in case these deer ever do return, evergreen, and good looking. A tall order you say. Indeed. While I might prefer boxwood, it too has issues of late; moreover it was too expensive for our budget at this time.

So after research and input from several of my best local nurseries, I determined to plant the Ilex ‘Compacta’ holly - Aquifoliaceae Genus: Ilex Species: crenata Cultivar: 'Compacta'

It will grow four to five feet high and wide. It’s evergreen. It looks like boxwood.

I needed 25 of the Ilex to cover the border area and Scott and his son, Mike, from Coastal Nursery - one of the best in the Garden State and family run and owned - came through.

And while not inexpensive - it was doable.

The Six Degrees of Hell
And yet, therein lies the trauma of beating back the satanic invasives. Face it folks. We all need to deal with them one way or another.





It was a week of cutting back the invasives; finding the original border (with metal edging!) and cutting, clearing, hacking … You get the idea. It’s horrible. These invasives have survived because they are so strong -- which only means one cannot easily rid them from the landscape.

We gardeners are hopeful and optimistic folk. We are steadfast. Our forefathers had to hack away to make way for agriculture. Those thoughts kept me going.

It was horrible. Did I just say that?!




Finally, with help from my Duchess Designs team - especially Darin, the Master Gardener, Bill, me - and a lot of dedicated hope for a better, healthier yard -- we’re looking at the upside of a sustainable, clean, garden design. I know we will need to be vigilant to keep the plant thugs at bay.

Neighbors do need to be respectful and keep their yards tidy too…

We’ll plant/sow turf outside of the newly created steel borders. But it’s a good start and a world away from what was.







Please share your experiences to thwart the thugs and to enjoy true garden glamour.

Inspired landscape design …  A work in progress.  

Artful Garden Design in Ecuador

Just after stepping out of the airport terminal at Quito, Ecuador, the majestic mountains greeted me, thus rendering the horror of travel due to the ineptitude of two, supposedly top-tier US airlines – a passing memory that will be dealt with another time.

Now, it was the time to be awestruck.

After our driver from Hacienda Cusin, Angel, had us swept up - baggage in the car in no time – he pointed out our first Q-Tip-topped volcano in the distance: Cotopaxi. 

Angel was the unofficial tour guide for the approximately one-hour drive through the Pichincha Province to the breathtaking sierra of Imbabura Province where the hotel cum Garden of Eden is located. Angel really earned his wings, though, driving like something out of “The French Connection” – passing groups of cars, taking on the hairpin turns that course the highway – all while playing a sophisticated guide. 

We – our driving companion was a delightful woman, Lorna Traube from San Francisco, who came to enjoy the gardens and horse-back riding here for the first time while visiting her son who is teaching English in nearby Quito. 

The drive up to Hacienda Cusin was precarious given all the switchbacks and steep mountain roads (and passing).  Think Alps – but green.

Angel pointed out another volcano in the distance – and the surrounding area’s landscapes that drive their unique enterprises: growing roses, dairy, and so on while I hopped from window to window.

The highway is a feat of engineering – with this strip just eight month’s old – the road is cut onto/into the mountain as part of the Pan American Highway – the one traversed by Che Guevara’s transforming adventure. So too, it is for me and other visitors to Ecuador. 

This is my first to Ecuador’s sierra but already I can say that it will not be my last.  Here it’s an explosion of things to do. Or not do.

Poised at the crossroads of the Equator and 8,500 feet nearer to the sky, the hacienda resort and hotel is an artful retreat.

It’s a sensory immersion at Hacienda Cusin and its 30 acres of bliss. 

What do I mean?

For starters, there is the boundary-less flow of indoors and out that is indulgent and calming at the same time.  You are part of the silky-smooth air and cinema-worthy landscapes – inside and out.

It’s the details here that whisper to you… Taken together it’s an experience that needs to be savored...

A faint fragrance that conjures licorice wafts the rooms and salons, punctuated by the spicy incense of the wood-burning fireplaces that are in every room, including the bedroom casitas.  Forget or never knew how comforting it is to fall asleep with nothing but a crackling fire and a hot water bottle as a lullaby?  (And no TV in the rooms :). This is the place to rejuvenate your sleeping circadian rhythms.  Take notice, Arianna Huffington  ("Thrive" better ways to sleeping to success)    

Here at Hacienda Cusin, the sounds of the wind rustling, sweeping --almost assertively roaring -- through the trees is a symphony of sounds. Speaking of music -- joyful,

classical music plays throughout the hacienda and grounds, lending an element of heightened sensory happiness.  

The décor and furnishings could be a movie set design.  They could also serve as a living museum of the decorative arts’ furnishing and design – where Spanish colonialism, religious artifact, and Ralph Lauren got tumbled together and created this intriguing elixir. 

More on the incredibly sculpted wood doors,

(and keys!)

wood banisters and railings that hug the steps, stairs, and balconies.

I’ll also be sharing the glorious fountains, vistas, and did I mention there are llamas on the grounds!  Calling Dr. Doolittle to this patch of sylvan folly!

And of course, the most beautiful sensory experience is the garden art that embraces the visitor with dazzling color, fragrance, and texture while playing the good host to all sorts of buzzing, creeping, whizzing, and flying creatures.  Oh, the birds!  

Nothing, nothing – can replace the sensation of having sparrow-sized, emerald-green, glamorous hummingbirds greet you while sitting; chirp-chirping as they zig and zag.  So flirty and fast. 

Why are they so shy?

Then I looked up and saw the green beauty had landed in her equally chic abode/hacienda, perched on the side of a wrought iron lantern, looking for all the world like a Victorian hat ornament of the most fanciful style.

Guess I know where I’ll be writing from over the course of this garden adventure – right under the hummingbird nest filled with two thimble sized heads and their tiny as a sewing needle beaks, awaiting their next feeding.  All while being serenaded by songbirds.  What a show.  

Look closely - you can see the baby birds in the nest - beaks aloft

Welcome to Paradise.

Nik, the owner and our host, reminds me we are right on the equator – despite the mild 77-degree temperatures. The sun is hot. 

He has offered some sound advice helping me to overcome my first-day altitude issues, which he assures me, is a very rare occurrence.   

Having gone to school in Switzerland and being in good garden or “fighting” shape, I am dismayed my body is betraying me. 

He kindly explained that at 8,500 feet, the air is thinner.  And learning I’d just come from sea level Aruba  (and the Garden State’s shore for a mere few hours before hopping back on an airplane)  – compounded by the foul, artificial air of all that plane travel, too little sleep – the body is stressed.  The blood needs to thin.  He recommended lots of water, no alcohol, staying warm, and rest.  Eat modestly.  The brain should not be in competition with the body so avoid the need for heavy digestion.  Interesting…

So my running will have to wait, as does my garden work with the team today. They are so understanding.

See, I’m here to work on garden design and plant care with my fellow gardeners from The New York Botanical Gardens’ (NYBG) Landscape Design Alumni (LDSA) group. 

LDSA is a terrific group of landscape design professionals.  During the winter months, we have monthly meetings, followed by lectures – all geared to improve our work and to support one another, in the same way. 

Mel Bellar, owner Zone 4 Landscapes and fellow LDSA garden designer, has been working and visiting Hacienda Cusin, along with his talented and beautiful wife (and blogger), Peggy. 

This is the first year that he is leading a team of us working together in Paradise, er, Hacienda Cusin. 

It’s a terrific group.  I’ll provide more background on these talented artists but for now, let me introduce these irrepressible gardeners: Amy, Linda, Becca, and Agustin aka Gus – who is Mel's business partner  at Zone 4 Landscapes, and Peggy.  

Becca works her pruning mojo on the wild honeysuckle!

Peggy - deadheading a canna composition she & Mel created last year

Left to Right - Linda, Amy & Becca

Left to Right: Amy, Becca, Nik - owner of Hacienda Cusin - me, Mel, Peggy & Gus

I am so looking forward to sharing our glamorous garden adventure with you. It’s so breathtakingly beautiful here. I think I’ve already taken a bazillion images…

How To Design and Build a Grillscape Garden Room for Seasonal Entertaining; Plus Overcoming a Crucible with Fortitude

It came together rather quickly once the new grill “ignited” the obvious need for a better BBQ experience.

But truth be told, I had been turning over design concepts for a new garden room for some time. I kept the kind of “back of envelope”/notepad sketch I did some years ago while sitting on the beach during our annual holiday to Aruba.

With few exceptions, the main design remained true to the original.

I wanted easy egress from the speakeasy/bar area in the house - out to the garden room.
So there would be a 4 x 12 foot walkway to the room.
Because the backyard has a more pronounced grade up on the right side and the farmette is on the left side - I could center the room ever so deftly on flatter ground without too much grading…

The main design concession was dropping the idea for the custom cement table with the built-in water rill (for floating candles, wine, flowers) into a water feature. My budget could not accommodate.

Our existing - and was later had pointed out to me - vintage, wrought iron and glass table would do quite nicely. (This vintage element comes into play later in the story…)

Updated garden design sketch overview & material metrics

For my husband Bill’s birthday, I got him the top-of-the-line Genesis grill (Kalamazoo notwithstanding) from our local hardware store, Jaspan’s. They assembled it, brought it to the house and took the old one away! Shop local. There’s no substitute.

With the gleaming new grill it became all the more apparent that the lame, sorry excuse for a BBQ area had to get a makeover.

I dusted off the garden design plans and began in earnest to secure the elements/components necessary to turn this blah, somewhat gnarly space into a chic, sophisticated garden room that we’d be happy and proud to entertain our beloved guests in.

Oh, and I have to add that the design makeover needed to be complete by July 4th because we host an annual Independence Day soireée to celebrate Mother’s birthday (July 3rd), and the town where our country house is sets off spectacular fireworks in the marina below us so we celebrate all the special occasions. This year, the fireworks were scheduled for Friday, July 5th.

I am also blessed to have world-class garden design clients and they also needed their gardens ready and beautiful for the same event -- so lots on the “to-do” lists. It’s always a “silly season” race to the 4th. I plan. I do spreadsheets. I train for this! Ha.

Grillscape Garden Design

The first thing to go was the slate from what was laid (plopped?!) there after the terrace above was redone years ago and relocated here.

It’s lovely slate but the weedy grass was growing up through it and so even when mowed it felt kinda “itchy” sitting on top of. To me, anyway.

In the center of the above circle - under the chair - was the bird bath fountain.

Nice to watch our feathery friends bathing - and for parties I floated candles and flowers; however it was a weed incubator under it - a thankless job to keep it clean and really - it was just a disconnect to the space.

Next I had to measure out the space to accommodate the table and chairs, grill, and soon-to-be- accessories.

I wanted to get a cooler that was good looking, naturally, and easily accessible.

Previously, Bill would fill the low, plastic (!) cooler and then walk to the cooler in the shade and bend over for every suite of burgers and dogs, and run in and out for more ice… Time and effort wasted.

I wanted a storage area for the rolls and cutlery and more. So when my friend and client Angie asked if I needed anything while she was out shopping, I asked, “If you see one of those six-square storage cases - please pick it up.” She’s an angel - and did. I had already ordered the collapsable bins.

I knew I wanted custom couches so that I could get the expansive seating - and angled the way I wanted it in order to take advantage of the spectacular view we have overlooking Sandy Hook Bay and the New York skyline beyond.

We already had the red, solar-powered lighted umbrella from last year. And when we contemplated what color to paint the soon-to-be seating, Bill suggested red. I LOVED that assertive, heart-throbbing color for the finished look.

I was already committed to a red, white, and blue plant color palette.

And because the Grillscape Garden Room is primarily for Independence Day Birthday celebration through Labor Day: a red, white & blue -- and black color scheme as part of the exterior design worked.

To soften the overall look and to add a level of sophistication, I selected a soft graphite for the rug near the speakeasy door entrance to the Grillscape Garden and for the seating custom cushions - and accent pillows and cocktail tables.

I shopped extensively for the flooring. I needed to find a beautiful yet rugged material that would not only stand up to the foot traffic (and nighttime animals -- we host fox, the occasional groundhog) but also the seasonal weather elements.

I found these rather Moroccan~Moorish looking interlocking tiles at Wayfair (I’m part of the Trade program) and ordered them in Shadow Grey (soft white). They are very glamorous yet easy to take care of. And except where we needed cut to fit my trapezoid edges of the Grillscape Garden room design - most all of the tiles were laid down in about 30 minutes.



Construction
In order to determine the quantity of the construction materials: ¾ inch stones, Stone Dust or Decomposed Granite (DG), and soil, I had to do the arithmetic. We needed to remove the weeds - er grass/turf - and dig out approximately 7-8 inches and grade away; soil - 1-2 inches; 3-4 inches of stone and about 2 inches of stone dust or DG, topped by the flooring at ½ inch.


Darin - who is not only a Master Gardener but is someone who can make and build just about anything me or our Duchess Designs clients want - installed the metal borders around the new space and then we layered in the materials.

He tamped down the DG all around prior to putting the flooring down. Darin did the walk and Bill and I did the main room - in our dinner clothes - as we were meeting family for a birthday dinner at a restaurant (yeah for Lobster Rolls!) with Bonnie and Gerry.

And I wanted to get the flooring down before night fell. The adorable baby foxes had been using the new space as their private sandbox. They are too cute; however I didn’t want then to corrupt the tamping that was done!

Can you see the frolicking foxes?? 

Just look how cute they are -- you can’t help but love them! They just don’t always respect the design work. (Smile)

Seating
To make the seating, I explored more than a few DIY sites to locate one that would be a good base or template for Darin to work from. He got the materials from a local lumber store - pressure treated wood and screws, nails.

He set up the saw table nearby on the lawn.

Darin can readily improvise too. For example, he made the seating more as it appeared in the DIY but when I saw them - I found them too big. So in a kind of Goldilocks process - we modified the design in order that the furniture would angle ever so slightly for expansive seating and to allow for better bay viewing.


Too big.

 

Just right. 

Once all the materials were laid in and the seating was complete, next up was to cut out the garden beds for the border plants. 

The added issue here - that I’m all too aware of - is the hostile environment presented by the mountain there - just beyond - that elevates us from the marina and the water but that is riddled with invasive plant material.
As if that’s not bad enough, neighbors don’t police the ever-encroaching wicked plant stew, including, kudzu, English ivy, Ampelopsis glandulosa/Porcelain Vine, Buckthorn /Rhamnus cathartica, Chokecherry/Prunus virginana, Aralia elata/Japanese angelica tree, Berberis thunbergii/Japanese barberry, Celastrus orbiculatus/Asian bittersweet, Sumac, Chinese honeysuckle (we took out our honeysuckle a few years’ ago, replacing it with a long border of boxwood-looking Ilex ‘Compacta’. I did a Garden Glamour posting on that hellish redesign - learn here).

This year, I was worried about what could creep in from the “lawn.”

In order to help the new, ornamental plants as much as possible, we lined the new beds with fabric, put in new good/manured soil, and fronted each new bed with Mexican Grey “Pebbles”/Stones that I found at Rysers, my local landscape supply yard here, with the help of a patient staffer. Nothing was hitting me until he said, “I have one last stone you may like. A little expensive but…”

They are perfect. Heavy to move but good-looking - their grey, organically-looking pebbles complement the graphite and black of the garden room look. In addition, this pebble border will further distance the beds from the “lawn.”


Garden Beds




I kept the Patriotic-themed Red, White and Blue plant palette simple:

• Boxwood for structure base and winter interest; 
• White is Achillea ‘The Pearl,’ 
• Blue is ‘Tiny Tuff Stuff’ hydrangea and dwarf purple Salvia ‘Merleau Blue,’ (Sadly, the nursery had no more delphinium) 
• Red is Echinacea - a fragrant one! ‘Hot Papaya’ -- I love their shape too. 
• And two rosemary for the front bed ends -- to use for grilling! 

I very much wanted black mondo grass and couldn’t source it locally. With some trepidation, to be honest, I found a source online -- at Etsy: Daylily Nursery Well, I was more than delighted! The plant plugs arrived so clean - pristine, in fact. And so very healthy. I highly recommend Daylily Nursery - not only are the plants perfect but they are also a dream to work with. So very nice and accommodating. Thank you Merrill.

I usually source all my plants from our local nurseries in the Garden State, Brooklyn, or Long Island and the Bronx for my in-town clients but these more exotic plants couldn’t be had locally. Moreover, I wasn’t at the house for a few days so asked Mother to open the boxed delivery and water till I returned. She’s the best admin you could hope for. The black mondo grass all looked beautiful days later when it was time to plant.


I love the look of black mondo grass. Like that little black dress.
Years ago, I used these plants in a design for my client’s front border walk and they have done so well. Beautiful. I’m so glad I did it then.
For the Grillscape, I tucked the mondo grass in the beds on either side of the walk. Perfect.

Time to Paint the Custom Seating
I took a photo of the red umbrella to match up a paint for the seats. Reds are tricky. And there are so many shades, hues - a little one way or the other and the look can seize up. I chose Benjamin Moore’s Rose Parade - a bit like a happy geranium but decidedly red.

We knew we had to wait for the pressure treated wood to rest for a good while. But I also knew they use less chemicals than they used to. We washed it. It rained. A lot. But we got in a number of dry days, thankfully. With the calendar tapping us on the shoulder, we tested - sprinkling droplets of water onto the wood. The water droplets were absorbed confirming the wood was ready to be painted.

Bill first primed the two pieces of furniture.

Bill had purchased a spray painter - both he and Darin noted this would make the painting go faster than a brush.


Next was the spray painting.

The Grillscape Garden Room was coming together.




 

Oh - and I got a great deal on new black cushions from Pier 1 so table setting would be more coordinated.

My fabulous cushion and pillow seamstress, Donna, made these perfect, custom seats. She recommended a source for the graphite-colored high performance material, and cushions. She’s so smart. She came to the house and using my drawing tissue paper, made a quick pattern guide.

The final cushions were created with zippers in back and velcro on both edges of the sides of triangulated cushions -- therefore - as Donna explained, we won’t have be “rubik's cubing” the cushions trying to figure out which side and end goes where. Brilliant!

Further, Bill spruced up the chairs with a coat of spray paint and his artful spray of just a scinch of color on the chair’s floral designs - this time in rose. Just a hint.

I also saw these adorable cocktail cooler tables in House Beautiful magazine and had to have them.
The Keter Cool Bar can be adjusted to two heights. The top locks into place. At the high end it can hold 80 pounds. When closed it holds up to 300 pounds. When raised, it’s like having a resort high top table - with ice and beer and wine (or soda) - in the belly of the barrel. So guests don’t have to juggle their drink and their plate. I resisted ordering a red color and went with a classic grey. But that cherry red is happy cute. Too much red would be much too hot -- needlessly stimulating guests in the Grillscape Garden.

 
I love these table coolers! What a great design concept. You’ll see them later in the garden room’s completion below.

I got solar powered lights to sparkle up the garden room - and for safety too.
So glamorous. 

Here, you can see a bit of the new grey rug I purchased from Houzz (I’m part of their trade program. And I love my account manager, Cassie. I am trying to update my profile and include my tablescapes there -- puff, puff. I’ll get there. But in the meantime, you can follow me there - or here. Smile) 

Everything was going according to a slightly deviated schedule. (Ha. Longer story.)

Until it wasn't...

For all intents and purposes, the Grillscape Garden Room was complete.
The other garden rooms were now being groomed.

All the entertainment elements were already delivered (new blue melamine plates, the new blue denim napkins we made last autumn with the help of Mother and Angie’s pinking shears, new glasses, compostable cutlery.)
The menu food and dessert and hostess drink recipes were waiting their turn in the party spreadsheet.

The arborists were scheduled to cut the invasives from the hill/mountainside. I just had to pay for the permit that morning - July 2nd. Two days till party time. All according to plan.

My favorite aunt - Aunt Margaret - was up from Florida that morning. She and Mother stopped by while I was working in the Physic/Herb Garden. They gave two thumbs up to the new Grillscape Garden.

But all was not to last.

Here was the last photo I took while prepping that morning before disaster struck.



When Nature Gives You a Poke in the Eye
I was moving the slate pieces that had been the “floor” under the table in the old space to the arbor.

Out of nowhere - and I mean that fervently. Suddenly, big, fat raindrops were pounding down. No warning. Just like someone (mmmm, angry Mother Nature?).

She turned on a spigot.

Hard, Heavy. Pelting rain. And the wind! Take that, earth! - she punched back...

I had to race/run up to the loft office because my Mac is there and uncharacteristically, I had opened all the windows fronting the desk! In spite of being in my now mud-stained garden clothes, I bounded up the spiral staircase. Cranked closed (why did it seem to take forever?!) first one, then the second and third big one, then the last one.

What next? Oh gosh. I had also left the French doors in the bedroom open that morning onto the Juliette balcony while doing my Spanish lesson and emails. I almost “fire-maned” my way back down the spiral staircase and proceeded to kinda’ grand jeté up to the bedroom. I had to fight the wind and rain to close the doors. Was I in a remake of the “Perfect Storm?!”

I heard a crrracckk! Was it a masthead? I couldn’t see what it was exactly because of the driving rain. With a sinking heart I knew it came from the new Grillscape Garden.

I raced back down, grabbing my rain slicker on the way.

When I arrived in the Grillscape I honestly didn’t know what I was looking at. While there had been times when the sun umbrella pulled a Mary Poppins and popped out of the table to land on the lawn, in this case something else was awry. Wiping wind and rain - it became nauseatingly apparent that the umbrella had lifted the entire glass table -- and in a bad Mary Poppins way - transported the table about 10 or 12 feet east to the other side of the Grillscape Garden room. Shattering the glass!

It was still a driving rain. I tried to pick up the broken pieces. Like a bad cartoon or animated action film where things curiously melt away, the tempered glass crumbled into scads of pieces before I could get any of that handful.

I got a bag for what would now be teeny pieces. My hands were bleeding. In the rain. On my new white/grey mist Bergo flooring.

Couldn’t use gloves as they weren’t flexible enough for this strangely morphing tempered glass.
As I writer, I was already thinking how will I describe and relate this story…

Tempered Glass looks like ice 

Tempered Glass splayed on new garden room floor 

And then, just like that. The wind subsided. The rain stopped. I wanted to blink back the 15 minutes of damage and destruction. Was it a bad dream? No. It was all too real.

Mother Nature is understandably mad about how she’s been treated lately… But please, don’t take it out on me! I’m one of your most steadfast advocates…

But this was my crucible now - my test.
I would not let this “disaster” stop the garden room completion nor allow it to mar the party.
I recognize there are bigger world issues. It’s just that I live in this world… This bubble…

New plan. I needed to get the umbrella and glass table replaced.

I took measurements.



I started calling and texting and searching the internet. The few options were winnowing for a two-day turnaround with Independence Day obscuring most commerce for what was a looonng weekend coming up.

I thought back to earlier in the day when Donna, the seamstress, had asked to see a photo of the cushions in situ - and besides noting how good it all looked - she remarked about the vintage wrought iron dining set that was similar to hers. At the time, I gulped, writing back, “Vintage? I didn’t think that much time had passed.” Ha.
At this juncture, I wrote back to Donna, describing the crazy tragedy, asking if she knew the name of the maker. She did. They still haven’t written back even though they are still makers..
Donna was such a comfort - she found a smaller table at Home Depot that could work.

It did.

My joke for the party was, “Honey, I shrunk the table!” But it worked fine. Thank you, Donna.
The other joke is that Bill vacuumed the lawn after my glass pick up and had the entire table of glass pieces in a small bucket so he could show guests, “This was our table!”
At the same time, I got our local glass and mirror makers to do the custom replacement.
Should be ready in a few weeks.

In the meantime, we turned the original vintage table upside down and it became a big holder for the metal wash bucket and a beautiful hydrangea.


Bill gerry-rigged the umbrella so while it was a wee bit bent - it worked for the party. I ordered a new one (still disputing their lack of a 2-day delivery but that’s another story).

It was all a very bad Lemony Snickets’ series of unfortunate events if there ever was one.

This was the next day!

We enjoyed a pre-birthday celebration with Mother - and Marissa - who shares the same birthday. And my sister Linda from North Carolina now - and Aunt Margaret and Riley from DC. There’s Bill at his new grill. Happy man.
Almost as good as new…



Marissa, you left your “M” - it’s waiting for your return!
I painted a G for Mother in blue (the G for Ginny was prettier than the V for Virginia).

The night of the Fireworks Independence Day Birthday Party, we were back in the good “bubble”:

Glow balls ~ two sizes - from Ballard Designs. Inspiration from a favorite restaurant in Aruba

The magic prevails...



Celebrate the season, family, gardens, glamour, fireworks, and yes, Mother Nature.

And overcoming obstacles. Garden design and gardening is nothing less than a series of challenges - it’s an art that cannot be controlled. We garden and landscape designers and horticulturists learn patience. Fortitude is our badge of honor.

Cheers to you. And good garden design. Plants make people happy.