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iidetail

 

above: a mix of native annuals and dry perennials.

 

 

 


fresh and clean

consider this...
What would happen if you never gave your car a tune up? Sure, it would function, but not at its best. The same holds true for a garden, and because a garden is a living thing, not detailing your garden is like not getting your teeth cleaned or not getting regular physicals.

What is detailing? It's like detailing a car and getting a manicure for your garden. Getting in there and cleaning out debris that others missed, tackling a nasty looking pruning job, removing weeds, reshaping old hedges, refining, refreshing, renovating. It's giving your living garden some loving attention.

Light and air are the immediate benefits of detailing. Sunlight stimulates new growth and helps beneficial animals find pests for food. Air circulation discourages pests and diseases that thrive in damp, stagnant conditions.

Edging helps define your garden, just like putting your favorite photograph in a frame. Create a border and the wildest patch starts to look like a work of art. Sometimes you want to highlight a gate or statue, a birdbath or a favorite plant, edging helps guide the eye to what's important.

Blurring is the opposite of edging, and can extend your garden beyond its edges, making it look bigger or part of the surrounding landscape. You can also blur between indoors and outdoors, making your garden an extension of your home. Both blurring and edging can be used in the same garden.

Vines offer many solutions in the garden, but too often they don't get the attention they need and become large tangles harboring lots of dead material that blocks light and air, traps moisture that feeds decay, which in turn attracts pests. It takes time to untangle, clean and retrain vines, but the benefits- healthier plants that perform better- are worth the effort.