From page 26

school graduate who com-
bined her love of plants with
her fine arts training to create
her design business.

Like a home that works
well and expresses
your sense of style,
a garden should
offer vou 3 sense of
comfort. In fact,
landscape experts
say you should aim
for a garden that
works like a series
of rooms.

Gardeaing
philosop! phy

One gardener/philosopher
has observed that the most
appealing gardens are those
which offer us a sense of enclo-
sure, that feel like the hidden
places we liked to tuck our-
selves away in when we were
small children.

Even the smatlest yard can
offer opportunities to test that
theory, with areas given over to
perennials and shrubs, another
to herbs and others to beds of
annuals, Walkways and sitting
areas draw you and your visi-
tors into the garden in ways
that vast expanses of smoothly
clipped lawn cannot.

If you have neither the time
nor the temperament for gar-
dening, yet want a green and
welcoming place to look at and
linger in, what do you do?

Professional advice
Call a landscape architect or

a garden designer. And when

BEAUTIFUL
Design rooms into your garden

thev leave, hire on the services
of a tilemted gardener or rep
utable vard maintenance firm.
Then, just sign the
cheques.
But be prepared to clean
dirt trom under vour finger:
nails. There's a rea-
son that gardening is
the (pardon the
inevitable pun)
fastest growing
hobby. Once you get
out there, the green
stuff (ne, not
money) gets in your
blood.

Survey prope

Back to the drawing oan
Before vou head to the nurs-
ery, before your straggling daf-
fodils come up, put on a
sweater, take paper and pencil
in hand, and walk your proper-
yy.

If your “property” is only a
patio, an apartment balcony or
a townhouse terrace, put on
your sweater anyway. Stand
out there and really look.

Remember that your yard,
your garden, is not just to look
at — although that’s impor-
tant too. Ideally it should offer
you a connection to nature, a
respite from the workaday
world ... not to mention vases
of cut flowers, baskets of pro-
duce and your very own basil
and chives.

“Decorating project
Growing things is very cle-
mental, very essential, yet plan-
ning your garden is not unlike
planning a decorating project.

MAKE A BOLD

BEDROOM
STATEMENT

Xo one should presume to tell a tady
what to do in the bedroont. We are

asked, at frequent intervals, how to
A opersiude a husband lacking in
anistic flair (not urconinion), to
accept a new colour and design on

the bed.

The majority of nuptially anached
males fave cunnel sisi
comes to bedrooms -
one design on mind!

when it
they only have

WIN

Even so the bed is the focal point of a

bedroom. All of us would be most surprised if on being invited 10
"come into the bedroom” to discover it did not contain 4 bed,
instead of trying to camouflage the bed niake a “bold” statement in
colour and design. Make vour bed the centre of attraction with al
the Mair with which ladies aire so generously endowed.

Victuri:ins emphasized the bed with canopies and curtains “in many
cases” mounting blocks of steps on either side. With a riot of
frippery and lace they even wore Lace caps to match the pillowcases.

No wonder they had such kirge {amilies!!

When we - at North Shure Linens - buy bed linen we have three
criteria in mind. (a) Quality (b) Vadue (c} Statement “a statement
thar this is the bed and the bedroom”. The plice where wll

important thought and action take plice.

Come and browse. Our “valued” opinions are {ree - even if a lie
presumptive, pretentious and ambiguous, (we also know three

KING
17" BBQ

(protect your

other big words not often used in polite company).
We carry a wide selection of things that go on the bed and round

the, for things that go under the bed you may need to frequent

antique stores.

‘NORTH $

. of
"BOLD"
Duvet covers
plaid 6 patterns 100%
cotton includes pillowcases

$ 36”

COUBLE/ $ 2%
‘top a $39”

hands and elbows)

$598

Matching Pot Holders

So owhile voure walking
around your yard, think about
the things that are important
in a comfortable room.

“People often don’t put
cnough thought into. color,”
says Landry. “How they go
together.”

So get an idea about the
colors vou like to like to five
with, and colors which go well
together,

Think too, about texture.
Maureen Gilmer’s Landscape
Garden Forum, a weld site for
enthusiasts, offers the observa-
tion that “contrasts of color
and texture, leaf and flower,”
can make a garden area seem
larger than it is.

Color carefully .

There are those gardeners
who believe that anything in
nature goes with anything else
and that you cannot go wrong
mixing your reds, purples, yel-
lows and oranges, since
Mother Nature often does that
very thing.

But consider the lament of
garden writer Allen Lacy, as he
contemplates the unsubtic
flowers chat grow happily
together in the heat of August.
These flowers, he says, tend to,
“come in garish colors that
neither soothe the eye nor
calm the soul.”

So, if your garden is meant
to soothe, choose your palette
with care. And, a garden — a
yard, is not simply about flow-
ers of course.

Outdoor elements
Lawn, trees, shrubs, vegeta-

Designer
Embroidered

QUILTS
(Blowout)

reg. HT

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bles, herbs, small buildings or
sheds, arches, benches, walk
ways of gravel, stone and brick.
bird baths, bird houses, gates,
tences, decks, patios and trellis

es are all possible clements of

your vard ... all things about
which to make decisions.

Those elements can serve as
the furniture and walls if vou
begin to think of vour vard asa
series Of rooms.

A child's playhouse needn't
stand out like a sore thumb,
but can become part of your
landscape if you soften it by
training easy, fast-growing
vines like scarlet runner beans
or sweet peas up a wall.

That sottened
architectural point in
turn can serve as a
backdrop tor a chil-
dren’s garden where
they can grow their
own lettuces, carrots
and marigolds. The
whole can become a
site to draw the eve
across the vard, with
the addition of a
flowering tree.

Seek guidance

If ee walk around your
yard fails to cause the garden
fairies to alight in your imagi-
nation and vou’re feft thinking
that once again you'll just dash

to the nursery for a whack of

annuals, maybe you just need a
fictle guidance.

Garden designers and land-
scape architects will consult on
your garden, often at an hourly
or flat consulting fee, doing as
little or as much work as vou

italian
Terra-Cotta

Wednesday, March 25, 1998 — North Shore News — 29

choore.

A consultation may help
vou clarity what it is vou are
anit tor in vour vard and the
capertise of the professional
will let vou know what will
grow well in the various expo-
sures and soil conditions of
your vard.

If you're satistied with vour
own pencil work and you've
goran overall plan in mind,
maybe its time to get down
and dirty.

Sample your soil

Before you plant this spring
think about the soil you're
working with. Could it use

enhancement,
whether to
improve the tex-
ture or build up
nutrients? You
may want to take
2 soil sample to
the local nursery
or garden center
for testing.
Those that don’t
offer this. service
will have a range of home tests
to determine nutrient quality
and soil acidity. County exten-
sion agencies and provincial
agricultural agencies may offer
this service for a nominal fee as
well.

Composted materials and
well-rotted manure are the
familiar “amendments” for
your garden soil.

Remember that while April’
showers may bring May flow-
ers — those showers can also
make vour soil difficult to
work with and the amend-

ments may not blend well.
Wait until the soil is reasonably
dry before vou prep) your
planting areas.
showers is the problem in your
area, or if conservation mea-
sures have vou doling out the
sprinkler time very carefully,
think drought-resistance.

Balconies & patios

[ff vour garden is an apart-
ment balcony or a small patio,
create density and height with
a background of vines trained
up a section of lattice atrached
to a wall.

Ser pots of plants, herbs
and flowers at varying levels in
front of your wall of green.
Window boxes at railings and
windows or set along the
patio’s edge will add color and
dimension co your outdoor
area and may be the pertect
place for a handy herb garden.
Window boxes should be at
least nine inches deep and have
a layer of gravel for drainage.

Prune, please

If it’s once more into the .

jungle for vou this year and
you already have a thriving gar-
den, Suzanne Gosman says
your first chore this spring
should be pruning.

“Pruning is the most
important job for spring so
that chings are not wild and
overgrown looking by mid-
summer,” she says.

And that’s why you're
doing the work this spring
isn't? So you can rest on your
laurels and enjoy a green and
pleasant place come summer.

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