Custom Gardens, LLC

January’s Tips – And YOU Decide Our Next Video

Ellen — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:13:39 +0000

“Nature has undoubtedly mastered the art of winter gardening and even the most experienced gardener can learn from the unrestrained beauty around them.” ~ Vincent A. Simeone

Custom Gardens, LLC welcomes you with an invitation to enjoy news, tips, and our monthly spotlighted plant!

Plant of the Month

January’s plant — the hellebore – is an outdoor plant in bloom … now! The common name for this plant is Lenten Rose since it frequently blooms around Lent. Gold Collection (white) is blooming now while others are getting ready to do the same. This wonderful plant is evergreen and deer resistant. Preferring shade, it is gorgeous in flower boxes and provides fresh cheerful color that is visible both from the street and from the house. These plants are very easy to grow and appreciate a little lime in the soil. Custom Gardens is happy to offer its clients this fabulous winter wonder.

In the Garden with Ellen

We tested the soil around the azaleas on a client’s property. Despite leaf compost, which renews the soil with lots of nutrients, the foliage has been a sickly yellow green. This indicates chlorosis–a lack of chlorophyll, which is the key to photosynthesis. There are many possible causes of chlorosis, and over time we eliminated most of them. The plants had good drainage, the roots were in good condition, and we had given it a broad nutritional supplement. Testing the soil demonstrated that the soil was very alkaline. Some plants (such as hellebores, our plant of the month) like an alkaline soil, but azaleas do not. They want a more acidic soil. We will be treating the soil to make it more acidic, which should make the azaleas happy and healthy.

Custom Gardens loves caring for ailing plants, and we invite you to contact us if you would like our assistance with plants on your property.

Did You Know …

Indoor landscaping is a wonderfully warm enjoyment option for those who prefer to wait until springtime to revisit their outdoor landscape. Custom Gardens creates indoor landscapes with its Indoor Specialty Gardens and will design one that is both easy to care for and tailored to your tastes in color and personal style.

What would YOU like to see? We are preparing to make a third video and would love to address our readers’ requests, so reply to this email right now with any thoughts, questions, or suggestions!

All the Time

Custom Gardens invites you to contact us at 610.613.7506 to schedule a complimentary consultation on your property. Available to discuss indoor and outdoor specialty gardens and landscapes, we are in the business of making your home or office — your everyday view — more attractive and enjoyable.

Believe this newsletter may interest a neighbor, friend, or associate? We will be happy to add them to our contact list at your or their request.

Sincerely,

Ellen Covner
Custom Gardens, LLC

December’s Helpful Hints and Gardening Tips

Ellen — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:38:39 +0000

“The gardening season officially begins on January 1st, and ends on December 31.” ~ Marie Huston

Custom Gardens, LLC welcomes you with an invitation to enjoy news, tips, and our monthly spotlighted plant!

Plant of the Month

When the freshness of spring, the warm rays of summer, and even the cool of autumn have passed … the gardening season is not over! Custom Gardens is creative in helping clients enjoy blooms and foliage at all times of the year.

Would you believe that Pennsylvania has a native cactus — and that it is in bloom right now? It’s true! The Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia humifosa) is native to PA, among other states. You can find it flourishing at Jenkins Arboretum in Tredyffrin Township. Tolerant of low-nutrient, acid, and alkaline soils, this cactus grows three to four inches high and is winter hardy. You are able to eat the stems, fruits, and seeds of Eastern Prickly Pear; the stems are typically singed to remove the spines — they are then either roasted and peeled or deep-fried. The fruits can be dried or eaten fresh and can be used to make jelly or syrup!

In the Garden with Ellen

Even though we are still able to enjoy color outdoors during the winter months, not everyone is particularly attracted to the prospect of outdoor winter gardening. Custom Gardens delights in handling the design and maintenance for you. And if you insist upon giving your outdoor view a rest as winter’s chill settles firmly …

Did You Know …

If you saw the video in my last newsletter, you were able to get a glimpse of me at home, making a one-of-a-kind Indoor Specialty Garden.

Oh Deer, What to Do?

Deer generally do not like plants with strong fragrances (of course, you may not either). Boxwood, lilac, lavender, and peony are all good choices for deer resistant plants.

All the Time

Believe this newsletter may interest a neighbor, friend, or associate? We will be happy to add them to our contact list at your or their request.

Sincerely,

Ellen Covner
Custom Gardens, LLC

Indoor Specialty Garden..Videos

Ellen — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:08:12 +0000

Indoor Specialty Garden

3 Indoor Specialty Gardens

Click above to see video of Ellen preparing her well-known, luxurious Indoor Specialty Gardens.

These videos invite you into my home, for a few short minutes, to see me prepare and explain one of our Indoor Specialty Gardens. Hand designed personally by me, they are a very popular choice among Custom Gardens clients — for their own homes and as glorious gifts.

When I started Custom Gardens, I hadn’t thought about indoor gardens — although I held lots of experience working with outdoor pots, planting them for four season color. The request from a friend in need of a condolence gift started our Indoor Specialty Gardens. I wanted to design a beautiful, soothing piece that would provide visual respite for the individual in mourning. The gift was a success and resulted in many interesting requests: an herb garden, a new baby garden, an ‘I will last, unlike last year’s Valentine’s Day flowers’ garden, and gardens at the dinner table to become presents for the guests.

Color–Whether you choose flowering or non-flowering plants, our Indoor Specialty Gardens pair colors that complement one another beautifully, playing with each hue to offer wonderful contrast. They are all designed to the recipient’s personal taste in color, texture, and fragrance — either yours or the person to whom you are gifting this little, luxurious landscape.

Ease of Care – In addition to providing instructions to keep your indoor garden lively, I always blend plants that hold similar light and

watering requirements. Often told they are the perfect gift for ‘Black Thumbs’, I craft the designs with particularly hardy plants.

Themes — I am able to use a variety of containers — perhaps a Pyrex baking dishfor a kitchen garden or a hat box for someone fashion conscious — to set the right ambiance for any number of settings in the home or office. Our Indoor Specialty Gardens are wonderful treats for the upcoming holidays, Valentine’s Day, new home congratulations or decor (how about a lovely herb garden?), office promotions, hostess gifts, and even table arrangements. And consider centerpieces of cut flowers — wouldn’t an Indoor Specialty Garden offer a lovely, longer lasting option for the occasion?

If the recipient likes bright colors — we do that.
If the recipient wants to feel tranquil at work — we do that.
If the recipient has a black thumb — we cure that.

The giver is happy for giving something unexpected and special; the recipient is happy in receiving something unexpected and special … to enjoy for quite some time. Recipients report enjoying their indoor gardens for over a year.

If you are interested in enjoying an Indoor Specialty Garden for yourself of someone else, please call us. You can also contact Custom Gardens, LLC by on this site.

Also, check our portfolio for new pictures here.

Sincerely,

Ellen Covner
Custom Gardens, LLC

November’s Hints and Gardening Tips

Ellen — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:12:17 +0000

“November’s sky is chill and drear, November’s leaf is red and sear.” – Sir Walter Scott

Custom Gardens, LLC welcomes you with an invitation to enjoy news, tips, and our
monthly spotlighted plant!

Plant of the Month

We are busy helping clients put pansies in their landscapes for fall color. The pansy is an extremely versatile and hardy “annual.” It provides wonderful spring color — and, to the surprise of many people — is actually also a fantastic plant for fall and winter! In fact, they winter over quite well, and it is not unusual to see them in bloom during the winter … or peeking through the snow. The trick to keep pansies blooming is to pinch off spent blossoms and their stems; this promotes new blossoms and allows the beautiful flowers to keep their full appearance instead of a long, stringy look.

In the Garden with Ellen

I often get requests for circles of flowers around a mailbox. To this I say, let’s do it even better! The circle has been done, and done again … and again! Not to mention, this design doesn’t necessarily relate well to the rest of the property or other gardens in your landscape. But there is no need to worry — we can do incredibly interesting, colorful, and low maintenance plantings that provide year round color. For example, how about a curved bed that goes from the driveway to the edge of the property? This makeover for your landscape provides lots of visual intrigue and offers an interesting change from the norm …

Did You Know …

Did you know that many of our clients are also avid gardeners looking for another, expert set of eyes? We recently worked with such a client — an enthusiastic gardener — who was concerned her property did not look as good as it could; she had some plants that she felt were misplaced, and others that were overgrown. She also had areas in the backyard where she wanted to add plantings and extra color. Custom Gardens had a wonderful time addressing these concerns with her!

After uncovering in our consultation that lilac is one of her favorite garden participants, we removed a couple of plants she no longer wanted and added two lilacs to build on the one already existing. We were happy to gave her this sweep of color that she will enjoy in the spring and long thereafter. We then showed her how to care for her lilacs so they will stay shrubby and floriferous … as opposed to tall, sparse, and unappealing.

We also moved two beautiful hydrangeas that were crowding out her lovely dwarf Japanese maple and used them to create a new bed in one of the blank spaces on her property. Dividing some of the larger clumps of perennials, we sprinkled them on either side of the path to offer even more color and continuity in design.

Oh Deer, What to Do?

Plants with fuzzy foliage are generally not palatable to deer. A good example is Lamb’s Ear (Stachys). There are several cultivars on the market, which makes this a versatile plant in the garden.

All the Time

Custom Gardens invites you to contact us at 610.613.7506 to schedule a complimentary consultation on your property. Available to discuss indoor plants (what and where) as well as indoor and outdoor specialty gardens and landscapes, we are in the business of making your home or office — your everyday view — more attractive and enjoyable.

Believe this newsletter may interest a neighbor, friend, or associate? We will be happy to add them to our contact list at your or their request.

Sincerely,

Ellen Covner
Custom Gardens, LLC

Fall is Full of Color

Ellen — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:55:17 +0000

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 color is where it is found. Not only does foliage change colors on trees, shrubs, and flowers, but other features change color as well. The stems of red twig dogwood for example, turn a rich red and hold their color throughout the winter. Other dogwoods have bright yellow stems or stems that combine a range of reds and yellows. Ilex verticillata (winterberry) produces beautiful red berries that last all winter, unless the birds eat them first.
Heavenly Bamboo (nandina domestica) produces bright red berries. Other cultivars of nandina have foliage that turns crimson, pink, and red and lasts all winter.

Pansies are great in the fall. They come in many colors, both vivid and pastel, large and small, and with and without “faces.” Pansies last all fall and winter and are a real treat to see peeking through the snow.

Fall isn’t just the end of summer or the beginning of winter. Fall is a full season of interest all by itself.

October’s Helpful Hints and Gardening Tips

Ellen — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 20:56:18 +0000

Autumn 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 busy putting in chrysanthemums for fall color. These are great plants, and the color options are ever expanding. Mums offer long lasting color, especially when they are planted in full bud and ready to “pop.” Many people do not know that mums actually bloom early; the reason they look so spectacular in the fall is that they have been pinched back to prevent blooming until then.

Clients sometimes ask me whether mums are perennials, and the answer is … it depends! For example, many mums available at grocery stores are quite beautiful, but they are not hardy in this area. If you see mums that you like with very large blossoms, make sure to inquire whether they are winter hardy. Nurseries generally offer mums at this time of year that are winter hardy, but it is still important to ask. Even then, since the plants have not been in the ground all season, they may not develop the root structure to enable them to winter over and return next year.

In the Garden with Ellen

A client and I were looking at a plant (skimmia) — the last dying example of what had been three really beautiful plants. It looked droopy, and my client wondered whether the plant was not getting enough water. Surprise! The problem was too much water. Skimmia does not like “wet feet,” and the plants had been done in by all the frequent heavy rains we’ve received. Many plants that can tolerate more moisture can still be undone by too much water with roots that have rotted from all of the rain, or overwatering.

When planting, always make sure you know the water requirements. The symptoms of too much and too little water are very similar — yellow foliage and droopy looking foliage; sometimes the edges of the leaves are curled under a bit. Overwatering may be the reason some people say they have a “black thumb.” If you are not sure what is killing your plants, we are happy to offer a complimentary consultation to help diagnose the problem.

In the News …

A story on the Arcadia Land Company in The Philadelphia Inquirer featured a picture of one of their beautiful new houses in Narberth that was recently landscaped by Custom Gardens. The photo appeared on the front page of the Main Line section (under Business) on October 3. You can see the picture and find a link to the article in the About Ellen section of this website.

More on Arcadia Land Company –
www.arcadialand.com

Oh Deer, What to Do?

The web can be a good source of information about deer resistant plants, BUT consider the source. Plants that are deer resistant in one part of the country may be deer candy where you live.

All the Time

Believe this newsletter may interest a neighbor, friend, or associate? We will be happy to add them to our contact list at your or their request.

Sincerely,

Ellen Covner

Custom Gardens, LLC

Autumn Gardening – - Perfect for Bulbs

Ellen — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:01:03 +0000

“Faith sees a beautiful blossom in a bulb, a lovely garden in a seed, and a giant oak in an acorn.” ~ William Arthur Ward

If you are of the mindset that as this cool weather encroaches, the planting season is over, entertain removing your shovel and gloves from the storage box and heading back into the garden! Autumn is in fact the ideal time to plant the bountiful bulb.

From just one planting, you can expect enjoyment for decades. Many bulbs are native to this area, deer resistant, and low maintenance. Many of them also naturalize, which means they spread throughout the area you’ve planted, so you are able to fill a large area with just a few. They typically fare beautifully as cut flowers, and while some bloom early, others bloom late. This offers great variety and a prolonged season of fabulous blossoms.

Bulb flowers and foliage offer lots of shapes, colors, and varieties — not just the traditionally thought of daffodil, tulip, and crocus … though those come quite varied in color and shape as well.

Be sure to show off your bulbs properly by including the tall bloomers in the back of a border or bed and the short bloomers up front, where their colorful flowers will have the biggest impact. By marking

planting location with color coded golf tees, you can remember which bulbs you placed where, in order to avoid planting over them with perennials when springtime welcomes us again.
Check out height, bloom times, and sun/shade requirements before you make your selections. There is truly a perfect set of bulbs for each garden. Feel free to plant many different varieties at once to enjoy a symphony of color!

If you are interested in enjoying bulbs in your landscape or garden, but would prefer to have a professional’s help, please feel feel to give us a call to take advantage of a complimentary consultation.

Also, check our portfolio for new pictures at The Great Outdoors.

Sincerely,

Ellen Covner
Custom Gardens, LLC

Planting Bulbs is a Reminder that Spring is Coming

Ellen — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:39:43 +0000

I 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 heights and colors. I can plant a bed that highlights these characteristics so that it is in bloom from April – June.

Bulb foliage can be hidden as ferns and other plants spring up. This allows the bulb to continue to take in energy from the foliage which will support a healthy bloom the following spring.

It may be cold when we are planting but it feels springy to me!

September’s Helpful Hints and Gardening Tips

Ellen — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:36:02 +0000

“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 for more ways to beautify your life’s landscape.

Plant of the Month

In client consultations this month, I am frequently suggesting the beautiful Eupatorium coelestinum. Also known as Conoclinium coelestinum — or blue mistflower — it is often seen in blue, but also flowers in pink or white. This perennial in the aster family requires very little care and blooms in late August-October. A beautiful complement to chrysanthemums, black eyed Susan, coneflower, etc., this plant is also deer resistant!

In the Garden with Ellen

We received a request through the Custom Gardens site earlier this month from an astute gardener, who knew that now is an excellent time to plant bulbs. The inquirer was frustrated with her current method of marking bulb location.

It is important to mark bulb locations so you know where to expect them to appear in the spring — and are sure not to plant over them because you have forgotten! Golf tees are affordable, easy to locate in soil, and do not disintegrate. If you are planting multiple types of bulbs, consider color coding the tees by type of flower, marking the “key” in your calendar, so as not to lose it.

From lilies and dahlias, to tulips and daffodils — there are many invigoratingly colorful varieties of bulbs, and most are deer resistant. Be sure to read the label before buying and planting so you know the bloom time, height, sun/shade requirements, etc. Custom Gardens is busy planting bulbs for our clients. Contact us today for a complimentary consultation.

If you have a question, please contact me through my site. It might be featured in next month’s article!

Did You Know…

We currently have the joy of working on a cottage style house in an urban area. The homeowner’s vision was for us to landscape using plants that are harmonious with the architecture of the house, integrating the property’s overall appearance. The result is a perfect pairing in which the landscaping and architecture beautifully blend for the mutual enhancement of each.

Custom Gardens is very experienced in this type of work for a variety of home styles, and we would be happy to do the same for your property.

Oh Deer, What to Do?

When seeking a professional landscaper, if he or she does not ask if you have deer on your property (whether you do or do not) — keep interviewing. Or call us, as mentioned below …

All the Time

Believe this newsletter may interest a neighbor, friend, or associate? We will be happy to add them to our contact list at your or their request.

Sincerely,

Ellen Covner
Custom Gardens, LLC

Dogs in the Landscape

Ellen — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 16:03:28 +0000

We 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 with these pets as well. Some of them, like Beans, keep us company while we work. In fact, we call this property Casa Frijoles in his honor.

Smaller dogs, like Beans are easy on the landscape. They rarely destroy garden beds or plants. Some clients protect their gardens with invisible fencing and the dogs learn to stay out of the beds.

Some of the larger dogs love to run and play in the backyard. We learn their habits from their owners and plant top meet the needs of the dogs as well as the homeowners. For some dogs, we leave paths through beds where they like to run. They stay on the path and the plants flourish. Others understand that one foot edging means “Keep Out” and stay onout of the beds when they play. For others we leave lots of room and focus on larger plantings of trees and shrubs that are sturdy, ornamental, and leave the dogs room to play without damaging anything.

We like to keep owners and their pets happy!