Blog
I love fall. It is one of my favorite seasons. The air is clear and the colors are bold. In many ways, fall reminds me of spring. In the fall, green foliage may turn red. In the spring new foliage may be red and then mature into green. One of the interesting features of fall [...]
October’s Helpful Hints and Gardening TipsAutumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” ~ Albert Camus Custom Gardens, LLC welcomes you with an invitation to enjoy news, tips, and our monthly spotlighted plant! If you like what you see, be sure contact us for more ways to beautify your life’s landscape. Plant of the Month We are [...]
Planting Bulbs is a Reminder that Spring is ComingI love planting bulbs in the fall. First there is the fun of pouring through catalogues, matching colors with clients’ preferences, looking for plants that are deer resistant, finding plants for sun or shade. Many plants, such as tulips and daffodils have different times for blooming in the spring and, of course, come in different [...]
September’s Helpful Hints and Gardening Tips“My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant’s point of view.” ~H. Fred Dale Custom Gardens, LLC welcomes you with an invitation to enjoy news, tips, and our monthly spotlighted plant! If you like what you see, be sure to visit us [...]
Dogs in the LandscapeWe meet a lot of dogs in the landscape business and have gotten to know some of them well. Emma, Tara, and Oliver are rescue dogs, another expression of our clients’ personalities that make them so much fun to work with. As these clients give their landscapes a new lease on life, they do so [...]
The Allure of OrangeColors are very personal. I have found that people have definite likes and dislikes about colors. One person loves pink and would be happy with an entirely pink garden. Another person “hates” pink and cannot ever imagine it in the landscape. Some people “hate” white because they find it boring, while others find white cool [...]
Measuring SuccessCustom Gardens was honored this past week by the Main Line Chamber of Commerce. We received the first Growing Business Award. Growth was measured not just by numbers, but by services and other measures of success such as repeat clients. I have been thinking about how one measures success in very concrete ways and came [...]
It’s OK. My Mommy has a Washing Machine.We had just started to work on a client’s property and I reminded him that the dogwood needed thinning in the area where we would be planting. He said he had used a tree company a few years ago and agreed that it needed work. I responded with, “It’s Ok; I have a chain saw” and we [...]
SPRINGing AlongYes, it snowed today. The heavens may be a bit confused, but down on the ground plants are busy with new growth and flowers. Many people do not realize that all trees flower, not just the ones we usually think of like dogwood. Right now, silver maple and red maple have wonderful color that stands [...]
Spring is Coming!It is starting to feel like spring. The days are longer, the air feels softer, and temperatures are no longer freezing. The earth is stirring with new life. Plants are starting to wake up and shrug off the vestiges of last year. See new green shoots at the base of perennials. Look at buds swelling on trees [...]
What’s Cooking in the GardenWalking through your garden, notice the wonderful fragrances and scents. Create even more of a feast for the senses with a specialty herb garden. Try interspersing herbs in containers among the plants. Containers add height and winter interest to the garden when so much else has gone dormant. Containers make it easy to pick seasonings for [...]
Buried TreasureRecently a client came home from vacation to discover that the entire property was overcome with vines. Everything was buried by them. We removed over 70 bags of debris and found a tree that had died and other trees that were severely stressed, with very few leaves. We rescued a climbing rose that was being pulled over the [...]
Seeing With Your Ears and NoseIt is winter – nothing pretty to see, nothing fragrant to smell, and no landscape to enjoy until spring. Step into your garden and close your eyes. Listen to the wind as it rustles through the grasses and hugs branches so that they brush together. Is the brook still babbling and gurgling? Of course. As [...]
All is Well at the Cole Wellness SpaThere was a lively and responsive group in attendance at the Cole Wellness Spa in Wayne, PA (www.colewellnessspa.com) last Saturday. We listened to reiki and acupuncture practitioners, a natural hair and color expert, a certified health counselor, and Custom Gardens. My topic was Specialty Gardening and the Role of Natural Surroundings in Your Health. [...]
Caring For Your Inner LandscapeWinter is a great time of year to explore new ways to nourish yourself and renew your inner landscape. I will be discussing indoor meditation and labyrinth gardens and will have examples of my work at the Cole Wellness Spa (www.colewellnessspa.com) Open House January 16 at 6:00 PM. The Spa is located at 101 N. Wayne [...]
NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONHere comes 2010. A new year for the world and business year number four for Custom Gardens. I did not make a resolution to start this business. Rather, it arose from years of dedication to outdoor gardens and landscapes, reading, garden tours, and the like. One could say that I grew into my business. So [...]
WELCOME TO THE CUSTOM GARDENS BLOGI am delighted to welcome readers to the Custom Gardens Blog. My name is Ellen Covner and I am the founder and President of Custom Gardens. Our business is concentrated in the greater Philadelphia area. Our goal is to help clients realize their landscaping dreams, whether it is a rehabilitation of an existing landscape, creating [...]