Composing the Picture: Views From the Inside, Looking Outward - Page 2
© Georgene Bramlage
Some ideas are simple and just a matter of refocusing. My son and his wife recently moved into a new house and asked for ideas of what to plant around the base of their deck. Because most of their relaxation and entertaining take place on the deck and in the dining room behind, I recommended for a far view, colorful plantings along a slope backed by woods about twenty-five feet from the deck, and then for a more close up view, flower boxes along the deck railing, leaving the area in-between to grass.
On the other hand, a friend who also uses his deck and the room behind it in the same manner, wanted birds and butterflies coming right up to the deck at all seasons of the year. The solution was to plant a colorful variety of butterfly bushes, landscape roses and other shrubs to attract birds. None of these plants are pruned until spring, which leaves many railing-high perches for the birds that fly in during winter for fruit and seeds left on the bushes as well as the supplemental food put out for them in feeders.
Coming up with ideas to enhance my own home can become a very extensive project. Like many other households, ours is one of a certain amount of habit. My husband and I occupy the same seats at our table no matter what meal or even snack we're eating. My seat allows me to look northwest during the summer months where my view is of a board fence on the property line, a magnificent tulip tree with sentimental attachments, some azaleas and epimedium groundcover.
Several summers back I began to be anxious that something was missing from this scene. Fortunately, I could put my finger on the fact that there was no transition from huge (fence and tree) to small (azaleas and epimediums.) The puzzle was "what could I use to fill in that intermediate space?"
For several summers I imagined, researched and then tried different ideas:
Huge pots planted with small flowering
trees;
Different arrangements of lawn furniture
and,
Water garden features.
Yes, I did take pictures of some of these schemes for more visualizing during our cold winter months. At this time, the one that really captures my imagination is the water garden. And, of course, this is the project which will take the most research and physical labor to realize. But my vision will remain firm as I pursue this scheme.
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