Growing up in a beach town, I saw my fair share of sunburns. (We were a bit more lax about sunscreen in those days). Luckily my stepmother always had an aloe vera on hand to soothe my sun-kissed shoulders. Ever since then, I've thought of aloe as a handy succulent that no home should be without. Fortunately, it's extremely easy to propagate.

There are more than 250 species of aloe in the world, but it is aloe vera (also known as Aloe barbadensis) or "true aloe" that is most commonly associated with health benefits. Though the debate still rages around the more extreme claims of aloe's miraculous powers, most people agree that it does help with minor skin injuries. 

See below for step-by-step instructions for propagating aloe from a mature plant:

Photography by Justine Hand.

Above: Ever the stalwart soldier in the battle against minor scrapes and burns, my aloe vera bears the scars of life with little kids, but it still has lots of life to give.

The tradition of using aloe vera for medicinal purposes goes way back. Thousands of years before my resourceful stepmother, the ancient Egyptians placed it in the pharaohs' tombs to aid them in the afterlife. Even if you don't believe that aloe is the "Plant of Immortality" as the ancients did, you might agree that it makes an auspicious present. At the very least it adds character to a home and helps clear the air.  

Step 1: Identify the offsets. Since aloes spread by producing easily transplanted offsets, they are quite easy to propagate. Here you can see two offsets in light green; the larger one to the left is ready for its own pot. The tiny one just beginning to emerge on the right will have to wait a bit.

Step 2: To successfully transplant an offset, one must wait until it is big enough to have its own roots. I hold off until it has four or more leaves several inches long.

Step 3: To separate the offset from the mother plant, take them both out of the pot and gently pry the offset and its roots away from the larger aloe. 

Above: My son, Oliver, prepares a new home for the aloe offset. 

Step 4: Repot your offset. A semi-tropical succulent, aloe prefers soil with good drainage. We placed a bit of gravel on the bottom of our pot, to aid drainage and prevent the aloe roots from sitting in water. On this we layered good potting soil with extra perlite. (You also can use sand.) 

Above: Oliver gently packs soil around his transplanted offset.

Step 5: After potting your aloe, give it a good soak. In the winter, your plant will become somewhat dormant and require less water. In the summer, water thoroughly, but always allow your aloe to dry out completely between waterings. Cacti fertilizers can also be used once a year in summer. 

Above: With shallow roots that tend to spread, aloe prefers a wider pot with a drainage hole. 

Above: A gift fit for a king, or anyone really, our baby aloes await a new home. 

Above: To extract the gel of an aloe vera, simply split the outer skin of a mature leaf with a knife and rub directly onto skin.

N.B. Erin discovered that aloe not only is great on scrapes and burns, it also helps to take the sting out of bug bites.

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• DIY: Louesa Roebuck's Wild (and Edible) Bouquets
• Gardening 101: How to Prune Wisteria
• The 7 Best Climbing Roses for Your Garden

Maybe you just moved to an apartment with a balcony you want to turn into an outdoor living space. Or a rooftop begging to become a garden. Wouldn't it be nice to have a top garden designer help you pull everything together with the right plants, planters, furniture, and accessories?

Enter Brooklyn-based garden designer Julie Farris. Her new website, Landstylist, is a blueprint for how to create a stylish and comfortable outdoor room. Farris and partner Mark Thomann have assembled a quirky and highly personal mix-and-match collection of furnishings and hand-picked plants (much of which Farris has tested in her own rooftop garden in Brooklyn).

From dining tables to outdoor lighting, the products' designs and styles vary—but nearly everything on the site would look good in combination with other Landstylist picks.

Here are some of our favorite picks from Landstylist:

Above: Landscape designer Farris tested plants and products on her own rooftop. For more of her garden, see A Piet Oudolf-Style Rooftop Meadow in Brooklyn. Photograph by Sylvia Moreno-Bunge for Gardenista.

Above: On Landstylist, Farris suggests a planting scheme that includes drought-tolerant Achillea 'Moonshine' (the yellow variety is in her own garden; pink and white yarrows also are available): "I love it coupled with the dusty purple Russian Sage, and also looks great with Echinacea, Salvia, and Monarda."

Above: For many items, shoppers can click through from Landstylist to retailers. For instance, Farris recommends buying Perovskia Russian Sage for $10.95 apiece (discounts available for bulk purchases) from Great Garden Plants.

Above;  "I actually have this sofa on our roof in Brooklyn, and what I like is that it's modern, comfortable, clean, and simple, and has aged very well," Farris writes on Landstylist, where shoppers can click through to buy the Monterey Teak Outdoor Sofa; $2,395 from Teak Warehouse.

Landstylist features 20 sofas, of varying styles and sizes but with a common design DNA. They're modern, have clean lines, and are durable outdoors.

Above: On her own rooftop, Farris has low-profile lights embedded into the surface of the boardwalk. On Landstylist, she recommends the same LED In-Ground Luminaires by Bega; $207 each from Y Lighting.

Above: A Self Watering Planter by Vondom comes in 13 colors including white; $150 from 2 Modern. Farris writes, "What is self watering, actually? It basically means there is a tube inside the planter that you fill up with water, and it releases on a slow drip into the roots so that irrigation is not required. This is not a no-maintenance solution, but then again nothing is."

For more of our favorite outdoor furnishings, see:

• The Gardenista 100: Best Outdoor Sofas.
• 10 Easy Pieces: Picnic Style Dining Tables.
• Living Small: A Hanging Window Box Planter.

More Stories from Gardenista

• Landscaping 101: Pros and Cons of Homemade Weed Killer
• 9 Foolproof Ideas to Add Color to a Flower Garden
• Wolf Hall: 12 Garden Ideas to Steal from Henry VIII's England

Poison ivy was making enemies as early as the 17th century. Upon discovering it in the New World, Captain John Smith noted in 1623, "The poysoned weed is much in shape like our English Ivy, but being but touched, causeth rednesse, itching, and lastly blisters." 

The rednesse, itching, and blisters are the main reasons that 400 years later gardeners are still trying to get rid of the vine (touching the oily substance called urushiol on the plant's leaves and stems causeth more than 70 percent of us to break out in a painful rash).

But Toxicodendron radicans is not an easy plant to kill. To get rid of poison ivy, you have to dig out or kill its roots as well as its stems and leaves. The last time I tried this, I ended up with a prescription for prednisone and instructions from my doctor to go home and sterilize my Felco pruners. 

There's a better way to kill poison ivy in your garden. Here's how:

Leaves of Three, I Hate Thee

Above: Photograph by Virens via Flickr.

The first step to getting rid of poison ivy is identifying it. It's tougher to ID than you might think. Yes, it has clusters of three leaves. Yes, the leaves are pointed and—if mature—have ridges along their edgeth, as John Smith might say. This much is known.

But poison ivy also can look a lot like poison oak, or like furry raspberry leaves (which you don't want to kill), and is frequently mistaken for Virginia creeper (which has five-leaf clusters). 

If you're not sure if you have poison ivy, put on a pair of heavy gloves and snip off a cluster of leaves to examine more closely. Photos abound on the Internet. If you're still not sure, take the leaves to your local nursery to get a positive ID.

Learn Its Tricks

Above: Poison ivy likes dappled sunlight but also lurks in shady spots. It will climb tree trunks, attach itself to a fence or wall, and run rampant in moderate climates along the Eastern Seaboard.

In a wooded area, it will intertwine itself with other low-growing plants, such as ferns, which makes it harder to kill without hurting its neighbors. But don't give up.

Pick Your Poison

Above: Photograph by Courtney 065 via Flickr.

You have two choices when it comes to killing poison ivy: a natural method or a chemical poison. Both will work, but chemicals may work faster. For more on the pros and cons of DIY natural weed killer versus a chemical herbicide such as Roundup, see Landscaping 101: Homemade Weed Killer.

Natural Born Killers

Above: Photograph via Good Housekeeping.

If you want to avoid chemicals, you have a few choices:

Manual Labor: Put on long sleeves and pants, tape your pants and shirt cuffs to prevent skin exposure, pull on a pair of heavy gloves, and dig out as much poison ivy as you can. The trick is to get the roots, which means digging down a few inches—at least 6—beneath roots and then reaching in to pull them out. This job is easier if the ground is soft; try it after a rainy spell. Be warned that you will inevitably overlook a few little roots. Watch for new growth and pull it out as soon as possible to weaken the plant, or at least to try to break its spirit.

Boiling Water: I am a big fan of pouring a kettle of boiling water onto weeds to kill them. This works best if the plant you want to kill is growing in a crack in a path or next to the driveway or somewhere other than a garden bed full of desirable plants. Boiling water will kill anything it touches. Caveat: when it comes to poison ivy, the underground roots will survive a dousing. After the boiled leaves and stems die back, new growth will emerge. As soon as you see it, pour on more boiling water. Over time, the rate of new growth will slow.

Smothering: You can cover a patch of poison ivy with a plastic tarp or big piece of cardboard to kill it. Afterward, check the perimeter of the treated area for new growth; underground roots that were outside the jurisdiction of the tarp may send up shoots.

Potions: The main ingredients in DIY homemade weed killer are salt, vinegar, water, and dish soap (which helps to broadcast the spray farther). Justine investigated the pros and cons of homemade weed killers—some of which are not as "natural" as you might think—and offers a comprehensive report at Gardening 101: Pros and Cons of Homemade Weed Killers.

Chemical Warfare

Above: Photograph by Doug J. via Flickr.

The two most commonly used chemical herbicides in the war against poison ivy are Roundup and Brush-B-Gone, whose respective active ingredients are glyphosate or triclopyr. These are chemicals I don't use in my garden, but if I had a backyard overrun by poison ivy and small children tromping through it, I might feel differently. If you spray chemical herbicides on poison ivy, it will die fast. As with other methods, watch for new growth and spray again immediately.

Dispose of the Body

Above: After you cut, pull out, or dig up poison ivy, do not put it in your compost pile. Do not touch it with bare hands. Do not burn it (it can release harmful, irritating fumes). Instead, bag it in plastic and dispose of it as trash (unless you live in a municipality that offers an alternate plan).

After you finish killing poison ivy, strip off your gardening clothes—gloves too—and put them into the clothes washer on a hot setting. Hose down or clean off your shoes or boots before wearing them again (urushiol can remain active on the surface of clothing and shoes for as long as five years).

Weed warriors, unite. For more suggestions, see:

• 5 Favorites: Digging Tools.
• 10 Easy Pieces: Garden Gloves.
• The Claw: A Tool Weeds Will Fear.

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• Gardening 101: How to Use Eggshells in the Garden
• DIY: The Flowerpot Pendant Light
• Steal This Look: Mattress Springs as DIY Wall Art

Pack up your plants, Chelsea Flower Show. The second annual GROW London garden fair is coming to London's Hampstead Heath next month. We had so much fun co-sponsoring the contemporary design fair last year that this time around we'll also be curating a pop-up Gardenista Market, featuring garden furnishings and accessories from our favorite artisans and makers.

The fair will run from June 19 to 21. Stop by Hampstead Heath for fresh gardening ideas, modern garden accessories, outdoor furniture, and planters for small-space gardens, plus a wide variety of new and unusual plants. For more information, see GROW London.

Here's a sneak peek at some of our favorites among the more than 80 exhibitors at the fair:  

Above: With a company name derived from the Old English term "bosky" meaning "a small forest," Boskke makes hanging sky planters to make it possible to have fresh herbs and greenery all over the house. All you need is a little ceiling space. For more, see The Hanging Kitchen Garden by Boskke.

Above: The guerrilla gardening gurus from Kabloom will be at the fair with Seedboms, compressed bundles of seed-impregnated soil ready to toss into vacant lots or forlorn dirt patches. For more on the movement, see Throw It, Grow It: London's Guerrilla Gardeners.

Above: As our UK correspondent Kendra Wilson said recently of Rush Matters, "It's hard work, being the last harvester of bulrush in the UK. Every summer Felicity Irons spends three months in the river wielding a rush knife, which is a three foot blade attached to a six foot pole, like a scythe. She cuts two tons of rush stems a day, which is punted back to her farm and dried against a large hedge."

Clients include The Conran Shop and David Mellor Design, but Irons' rush mats also can be seen covering the Tudor floors of Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire and other National Trust properties.

For more, see Medieval and Modern Rush.

Above: Favorites in the year-round garden that supplies menu ingredients for London's The River Café, family-based Franchi Seeds from Italy is known for varieties of winter-hardy chicories, chards, and spinaches. Franchi Seeds also are available from Seeds of Italy for European gardeners and from Grow Italian for US gardeners. For more, see Sow Now for Winter Salad.

Above: With items in tow from her eponymous garden store in Hampstead village, plantswoman Judy Green will be exhibiting new products and gardening accessories for 2015. We recently spent a day with her in the garden; see At Home with Judy Green in London's Leafiest Suburb.

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• Table of Contents: Landscaping 101
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Working with a budget of €650,000 and a desire to bypass "outdated planning regulations," Paris-based architects Djuric Tardio envisioned a new kind of family home in suburbia. The result? A thoroughly modern, 3,000-square-foot prefab house that took two weeks to assemble on site:

Photography via Djuric Tardio.

Above: Shaped like a peaked pergola, the roof extends to cover a second floor terrace, providing shade and creating an open-air dormer.

Rapid development in the 20th century created architectural eclecticism in Antony, a southern suburb of Paris, setting the stage for architects Djuric Tardio to imagine a new kind of modern family house.

Above: Facing the street, stainless steel mirrored panels mounted on the facade reflect surrounding greenery.

Wall and roof panels, made from wood sourced sustainably from Finnish forests, were built offsite and then transported intact to the clients' property, where they were assembled atop a stone foundation.

Above: The mirrored panels are a blank slate to reflect nature as the surroundings change seasonally.

Above: The oversized windows and patio are scaled to capture as much sunlight and warmth as possible in dark winter months.

Above: The pergola above turns the second floor balcony "into a vegetated terrace, intimate and sunny," the architects note. "The choice of plants proposed for the landscape—grasses and vines on the pergola, including fruit (kiwi, squash, grapes)—will allow owners to enjoy a vegetable garden suspended above ground."

Above: Insulated with wood fiber, the pre-cut panels for the facade "arrived at the site almost finished, reducing pollution to a minimum," the architects said, a plus because "the site is located in a dense suburban fabric."

Above: The pergola roof creates an intimate open-air lounge area on the terrace.

Above: Planter boxes (visible at the edge of the terrace) are irrigated with rainwater collected on site.

Above: Built for a blended family, the interior of the house has a modular and flexible design.

Above: Sliding partitions create flexible indoor space to wall off the library or open up the floor plan as needed.

For more prefab houses, see:

• A Modular Danish Summerhouse—Ready to Go in Six Months.
• Beach Cabins from Sommarnöjen.
• A 290-Square-Foot House Built for Two.

More Stories from Gardenista

• Secrets of Brooklyn: Shop Outdoor Style from Landscape Designer Julie Farris
• Landscaping 101: Pros and Cons of Homemade Weed Killer
• 9 Foolproof Ideas to Add Color to a Flower Garden

A good garden is always in flux, introducing new colors, and textures throughout the season. The same can be said for the best bouquets. But while we celebrate the vicissitudes of nature, we tend to think of the cut floral arrangement as static. Frustration ensues as some flowers fade before the rest, or if overeager specimens that continue to grow after being snipped disturb the structure of our composition. Cut flowers never seem to last long enough.

But like plants in the garden, a bouquet is a living thing. It evolves as blooms open, follow the light, and die every day. So why fight Mother Nature? After you learn to embrace this evolutionary nature of a floral arrangement, you may learn to delight in its changeability.

Photography by Justine Hand for Gardenista.

Day 1

Above: My choices: fresh spring blooms from Winston Flowers included lilacs, ranunculus, narcissus, and leggy French tulips.

Above: I also chose grape hyacinths and sweet peas for their more demure stature.

Above: Freshly arranged, my bouquet added a much-needed touch of spring to the Halloween Hall decor that I never took down!

Rather than reduce the dramatic heights of my larger blooms to bring them into scale with the petite flowers, I created a tiered vignette with sweet peas and grape hyacinths in a smaller vase up front.

Above: I dubbed this version of my arrangement "Bodacious Spring," and used pink ranunculus, lavender lilacs, and sherbet frosted narcissus to create a look that was both breezy and lush.

Day 2

Above: Still fresh and opening up a bit.

Because this experiment required me to embrace change, I decided not to (ahem) stem the growth of my tulips by piercing the base of the bloom with a needle. After one day, my swooping tulips gave my previously vertical arrangement a more horizontal aspect. Groovy.

Day 3

Above: Calamity: one of my ranunculus blossoms broke. In addition, one narcissus had already faded and the tulips had run completely amok.

I tried to "fluff up" the taller arrangement by cutting down the tulip stems, but it still looked weak. The old frustration started to creep in.

Then I remembered: "Wait, I'm supposed to be embracing change here, not fighting it." And so, taking a deep breath, I grabbed a pair of scissors and headed outside to see if my yard had anything to offer. A single just-budding azalea branch later, I was enjoying the second phase of my bouquet, which I called "Victorian Romance."

Day 5

Above: After the lilacs, narcissus, and sweet peas all wilted, it was finally time to remove them from the arrangement and merge my two bouquets into a smaller arrangement. With this change, I decided to also try a new location. This compact composition seemed more suited for the bedside table than in my lofty hallway. You'll also note that I saved the broken ranunculus, which looked charming in a small teacup.

Day 7

Above: Eking the last life out of my arrangement, I cut the tulips even shorter. At this point my blooming azaleas added not only structural support, but also a potent shock of color as the buds opened. Interestingly, this was my favorite version of the arrangement, and I never would have discovered it, had I not embraced the evolutionary process.

For some other unruly arrangements that embrace change, see:

• Foraged Ikebana Floral Arrangements.
• 10 Tips for Floral Arrangements With Native Flowers, from Brooklyn Florist Emily Thompson.

Want more fresh florals that keep on giving? Over at Remodelista, Christine explores some Wallpaper for Spring and Meredith reveals our favorite architects' choices for Paint and Palettes: Schemes for Spring.

More Stories from Gardenista

• 15 Favorites: How to Forage for Wedding Flowers
• 10 Easy Pieces: Wedding Planning Apps
• Bride on a Budget: DIY Wedding Flowers for $20

Julie and the Remodelista editors issued a spring manifesto this week, "to take the pulse of everything new and interesting in design." Under scrutiny: leather butterfly chairs, un-grandmotherly tiles, and 13 radical tiny cabins (in case you're looking for a summer escape).

Above: Margot covets 13 Radical Tiny Cottages, including a 120-Square-Foot Boho Surf Shack in Topanga Canyon and the Ultimate Backyard Writer's Studio.

Above: The eternal quest...How to Choose the Perfect White Paint. Meredith has the answers (and reveals her favorite designers' go-to colors, including Simply White, Swiss Coffee, and White Dove).

Above: Your butterfly lounge chair just got a serious upgrade from deck to living room; Julie spots it among 10 Pale Leather Lounge Chairs she admires.

Above: Trend alert: 5 Ahead-of-the-Curve Bathrooms With Floral Patterned Tile. 

Above: Julie visits LA creative Sophie Buhai (co-founder of fashion label Vena Cava) at home in her Spanish-style bungalow in Silver Lake and finds the doors flung wide open to the garden.

And that's what you missed on Remodelista. Plus, the rest of Spring Awakenings week.

More Stories from Gardenista

• Current Obsessions: La Dolce Vita
• GROW London: A Contemporary Garden Fair Returns to Hampstead Heath
• Table of Contents: Landscaping 101

With outdoor dinners and patio parties on the mind, here are a few things that piqued our interest this week:

• Above: We love this DIY patio seating idea.
• How to cook artichokes.
• A genius air-purifier for the plant enthusiast.
• Projects for the long weekend.

• Above: The evolution of the peony.
• Potatoes, late-night gardening and DIY power.
• Fearless vegetable gardening in Santa Fe.

• Above: We love any bathroom with a dose of green, particularly this Melbourne space.
• Perfect for outdoor entertaining: a succulent centerpiece.
• An inspiring look at communal gardening.

• Above: Hosting game night, en plein air.
• In case you missed it: killing the enemy.
• Tips for better Instagram photos.

Instagram and Pinterest Picks of the Week

• Above: Creative Jessica Menda finds some of California's best secrets (@jessicamenda).

• Design Quixotic's Flowers and Plant board is a celebration of just this, and more.

More Stories from Gardenista

• Trending on Remodelista: Tiny Summer Cottages to Covet
• GROW London: A Contemporary Garden Fair Returns to Hampstead Heath
• Table of Contents: Landscaping 101

We're counting down the days to summer. Join us this week for landscaping tips from the wild gardens of London and the roof gardens of Brooklyn—plus, ideas for mown paths to make the world feel green and cool on even the hottest afternoon.

Above: Kendra discovers design tricks to keep a garden feeling cool in the heat of summer.  For more, see Jacqueline Morabito on the French Riviera.

Monday

Above: Happy three-day weekend! If you're headed to the farmers' market, pick up ingredients for Erin's Garden-to-Table Rhubarb Hand Pies. (And if you're headed to a Memorial Day parade, put a pie or two in your pocket.)

Tuesday

Above: Jeanne goes up on the rooftop in Fort Greene, Brooklyn in this week's Designer Visit. Tempted to build your own roof garden in the city? It may be easier than you think; see Hardscaping 101: Green Roofs.

Above: We were captivated by the tiny trugs on display at last week's Chelsea Flower Show. Michelle rounds up 10 garden trugs to buy in this week's 10 Easy Pieces.

Wednesday

Above: In London, Kendra finds 10 Garden Ideas to Steal from gold medal winner Dan Pearson at the Chelsea Flower Show.

Thursday

Above: Nothing says summer like a mown path (bonus points for being eco-friendly and easy on the budget). Michelle wanders down 10 of her favorites in this week's Roundup post.

Friday

Above: As you pack books to bring along to the beach this weekend, be sure to include one or more of Alexa's all-time favorite Classic Garden Books (see her full list in this week's Required Reading post).

On Remodelista, catch up with the editors this week On the Waterfront.

More Stories from Gardenista

• Current Obsessions: La Dolce Vita
• Trending on Remodelista: Tiny Summer Cottages to Covet
• GROW London: A Contemporary Garden Fair Returns to Hampstead Heath

A never-ending real estate dilemma is whether it is better to rent or to buy. For one lucky Brooklyn tenant, renting is clearly the way to go.  Her apartment is on the top floor of an elegant, newly renovated Fort Greene brownstone. Just beyond her front door, her "backyard" is a lush roof garden, designed by Marni Majorelle of Alive Structures, a specialist in bringing natural beauty and native plants to the urban landscape.

Although the roof garden is a natural place for relaxation, the brownstone's owners (who live below the rental apartment) installed it mainly for its value as insulation. They are not fans of air conditioning and say the garden on the roof helps cool the building in summer.  And, being a couple consisting of a cook and a gardener, they enjoy other benefits as well. The roof basks in bright sunlight so they are able to raise an abundant supply of herbs, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, habanero peppers, and other vegetables in a custom raised bed.  The owners share the crops with their tenant and produce such generous quantities of mint, basil, coriander, oregano, and dill that they frequently urge her to do more cooking to take advantage of the bounty.

Photography by Marni Majorelle except where noted.

Above: Photograph courtesy of Ari Burling.

The clients requested a wild, natural look, which precluded the use of pre-fabricated tiles of low-growing sedums commonly found on green roofs. Instead Majorelle used grasses and native plants liberally to give the project the feel of an unruly, indigenous space.

Before

Above: During installation, lightweight growing medium was laid down to reach a uniform height even though the roof itself is sloped. This allowed for a deeper bed of soil at the far end of the roof where larger plants such as the towering Joe Pye Weed could thrive.

After

Above: Inside a tall periphery border, shorter species including creeping phlox, succulents, low-growing grasses such as Seslaria autumnalis. Thyme varieties ‘Minimus Russetings’ and ‘Purple Carpet’ provide a rich tapestry of textures.  They are mixed with some medium-height growers such as Mexican Feather Grass (Nassella tenuissima) lavender, dianthus, and Amsonia hubrichtii.

Above: Photograph by Jeanne Rostaing for Gardenista.

Lolling on the chaises or sipping coffee at the mosaic table while listening to bird song is guaranteed to be a quiet, calming experience.  In summer when the surrounding trees have leafed out, the nearby buildings almost completely disappear.

Above: The green roof is small, just under 500 square feet. However, it feels much larger, easily accommodating the raised bed as well as a path, and both dining and seating areas. Majorelle designed the roof with a periphery border of tall plants to provide privacy and give the space "a feeling of enclosure." The roof is on a densely populated city block, but Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum ‘ Little Red’), New York Ironweed, Liatris scariosa, Ascepias incarnata, and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) grow high enough to soften the intrusions of city life, both visual and audible.

Above: Photograph by Jeanne Rostaing.

Baptisia ‘Purple Smoke’ provides spring color along with early blooming phlox, dianthus, alliums, and amsonia.

Above: Although Majorelle checks in from time to time, the owners of the house manage the routine maintenance themselves. In early spring they cut down the grasses. Over-enthusiastic spreaders, such as the creeping phlox, frequently have to be trimmed back to prevent them from crowding out other plants. In keeping with the owners' concern for sustainability, rainwater collected in a row of high-tech containers is used for irrigation. 

For more on green roofs, see:

• Architect Visit: Green Roof Design by Goode Green in New York.
• Hardscaping 101: Green Roofs.

More Stories from Gardenista

• Prefab in Paris: Chic in Suburbia with a Modern Family House
• Secrets of Brooklyn: Shop Outdoor Style from Landscape Designer Julie Farris
• Landscaping 101: Pros and Cons of Homemade Weed Killer

Centuries ago, the idea came from Sussex: bentwood baskets with a handle to transport vegetables from the garden or market. But it wasn't until Queen Victoria fell for a garden trug she saw one day in London's Crystal Palace that the wooden baskets became gardening's first truly chic accessory. Which they remain.

Here are 10 wooden garden trugs—big and small, round and oblong and oval—that deserve a Royal Warrant:

Above: Available in three sizes, a Traditional Trug Basket is available for from £33.80 to £40.80 depending on size from UK-based The Natural Gardener.

Says Louise McCall of The Natural Gardener: "In Sussex a style of trug basket was developed in the early 19th Century by a chap called Tom Smith.He sacrificed carrying liquids for the sake of lightness, and the ‘modern’ trug of slats nailed to a frame and handle that has been steamed, and then shaped by hand, was born."

Above: Handmade by Thomas Smith in East Sussex, England, a Rothers Garden Trug is constructed of weatherproof Latvian and Finnish birch plywood fastened with durable (and attractive) copper tacks and nails; $119 at Kaufmann Mercantile. 

Above: Made of chestnut and willow, the Original Sussex Trug is £78 at Labour and Wait.

Above: From Esschert Design, a set of three nesting Sussex Trugs is $70.29 from Amazon.

Above: Made of sweet chestnut and willow, a small, round Genuine Sussex Trug is "one of the trickier shapes to make," notes craftsman Charlie Groves. It measures nearly 8 inches in diameter and is £40 from Nutley Kitchen Gardens.

Above: With hand-shaped wooden slats held in place by solid brass pins, a Large Wooden Garden Trug is £17.95 from Woodentops.

Above: Available in two sizes, Natural Timber Trugs handmade of shaped strips of wood are available for from $65 to $79 AU at Lisa Ellis Gardens.

Above: A wide, shallow wooden Joseph Bentley Garden Trug stained dark has two curved handles and is $24.95 from Park Seed.

Above: A Small Garden Trug made of myrtle wood and held together with copper nails measures 14 inches long; $72 from Archer Hard Goods. 

Above: Burgon & Ball's large Traditional Wooden Trug with solid brass pins and screws is £29.95.

It's the kickoff of basket season. For transporting harvests from the garden or market (or if you need to pack a lunch for the beach), see:

• The Perfect Picnic Basket.
• 10 Easy Pieces: French Market Totes.
• A Stylish Garden Bag with Pockets.
• To Market: Bushel Baskets from New Hampshire.

More Stories from Gardenista

• 10 Easy Pieces: Gardening Shorts for Warmer Weather
• Wedding Season Gift Picks from the Gardenista Market on May 9
• 10 Easy Pieces: Straw Hats

In our ideal world, green roofs would be ubiquitous—we're thinking Scandinavia from the time of the Vikings until the late 19th century. And no, it’s not because we are nostalgic for a more picturesque past. We’re actually looking to create a new future, one where entire town roofscapes are living and green, leaving the legacy of a healthier environment. How difficult would that be, we wanted to know? Here’s what we found. 

Above: A green roof tops an artist's cottage, designed by Feldman Architecture. Photograph by Joe Fletcher.

What is a green or living roof?

A green or living roof is a specially engineered rooftop that supports vegetation and plant life to the benefit of the environment. There are three categories of green roofs; depending on how deep the planting medium is and how much maintenance they require: intensive, semi-intensive, and extensive. Intensive green roofs recreate the conditions of a traditional garden above ground and are require substantial effort to maintain. At the opposite end of the spectrum are extensive green roofs, which are self-sustaining with tough and drought-resistant plants, making them relatively maintenance-free (they're the ones we'd like to see everywhere).

Above: A living roof designed by Rothschild/Schwartz for a couple nearing ninety in Sausalito, CA keeps the house cool in summer and warm in winter. Photograph via Rothschild/Schwartz.

How are green roofs good for the environment?

We all know the benefits that plants and vegetation provide for the environment. Green roofs in urban environments pack an extra punch because they replace greenery lost to dense neighborhood blocks of buildings.

Green roofs reduce air pollution through plant respiration while mitigating against heat gain as the plants absorb and retain the sun's warmth. Traditional roofing materials, on the other hand, re-emit the sun's heat and cause temperatures in cities to be higher than in surrounding rural areas.

With their ability to absorb rainwater and act as a filter, green roofs decrease surface runoff, keeping water supplies freer of pollutants while reducing the chances of flooding. Buildings with green roofs have built in thermal insulators and do not require as much power to heat and cool. And finally, green roofs create valuable habitats for wildlife, helping to preserve and promote biodiversity for the future.  

Above: A detail of the drainage and gutter system for a green roof designed by Feldman Architecture. Photographs by Joe Fletcher.

How are green roofs made?

Modern green extensive roof systems are from 1 to 4 inches thick and are composed of manufactured layers that support a growing medium and vegetation. The five primary layers include a waterproof membrane, a root protection barrier, a drainage layer, a growing medium, and plants. 

Above: A diagram of a green roof and its component layers. Image via Safeguard Store. 

What types of plants will grow on a green roof?

The two most important factors to consider when choosing plants are how much maintenance you want to undertake and how sunny your roof is. Remember when selecting your plants that many will have a dormant period, so if you want green color year round, add some evergreens to the mix. A general rule of thumb is that the more variety you plant, the thicker your growing medium must be, which increases the weight of your roof.

Above: Pallets of plants ready to be installed on a 1,000-square-foot green roof designed by Alive Structures. Photograph via Marni Majorelle.

How much maintenance does a green roof require?

At the minimum, an extensive 4-inch green roof system planted with mixed sedums (low-maintenance plantings) in its first year requires watering and weeding every few months. In the second year, it only will need to be weeded three or four times and after that, just once a year. You will need to fertilize once a year.

At the other end of the spectrum, depending on what you plant, maintenance requirements can increase to the point where you might want to consider an irrigation system. See Hardscaping 101: Drip Irrigation for details.

Above: For a residence in downtown New York City, Goode Green designed a 6,000-square-foot green roof that includes a wildflower meadow. Photograph via Goode Green.

Does the weight of a green roof require additional support?

Green roofs weigh more than traditional roofing materials and if you are considering installing one, it is best to consult with a structural engineer. While new construction can easily be designed to incorporate the weight loads of a green roof, retrofitting existing buildings requires careful consideration.

Above: A green roof in San Francisco by Feldman Architecture. 

How much does a green roof cost and how long will it last?

Standard 4-inch flat, extensive green sedum roofs are estimated at costing between $10 to $20 per square foot including materials, preparation and installation (which is significantly more expensive than the installation of a Traditional Asphalt Shingle Roof at an average of $1.20 a square foot). By protecting the roof membrane, however, a green roof can extend the life of a roof by two or three times beyond its typical lifespan. In Europe, where they have been building with green roofs since the 1960s, green roofs have been known to last for from 30 to 50 years. 

Above: Prickly pear (L) planted with blue fescue and native wildflowers on a New York City roof designed by Alive Structures.

Green roof recap:

Pros:

• Good for the environment
• Lower utility costs because of a green roof's thermal insulation properties
• Low-maintenance
• Long life

Cons: 

• Significantly higher initial installation costs than traditional roofs
• Heavier weight may mean incurring additional structural costs

Want to see more? Remodelista Architect and Designer Directory member Jonathan Feldman and landscape architect Jori Hook design two green roofs for Cottages in the Mill Valley Forest while we take a tour of the Academy of Sciences' Rooftop Garden. For more renovation ideas, see our catalog of Remodeling 101 and Hardscaping 101 posts.

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Dan Pearson has been designing gardens since kindergarten, and in adult life he has embraced the opportunity to shift landscapes (the Tokachi Millennium Forest in Japan) and create new ones in odd places (a planned garden bridge in London). So it was no surprise when he moved boulders from Derbyshire to London on flatbed trucks in order to create his Chatsworth garden at the 2015 Chelsea Flower Show last week, delighting the critics, mesmerizing visitors, and winning a gold medal.

Here are 10 ideas to steal from the Best in Show garden:

Above: Photograph via The Observer.

Building a garden for Chelsea was not a particular ambition for Dan Pearson, whose studio in Waterloo, London, attracts international clients with big ideas. However, the sponsor (Laurent-Perrier) was very persuasive, enabling him to work with the legacy of legendary head gardener-turned-eminent-Victorian Joseph Paxton to revitalize a part of Chatsworth that is unusually human in scale.

The Ungarden

Above: Photograph via RHS.

The genius of Pearson's space was that while existing within the artifice of a well-known flower show—visited by around 160,000 people in less than a week—it managed to look completely natural. A little triangle of calm below the BBC outdoor studio.

Despite the plastic hoardings and all the busy-ness, this appeared to be a piece of ungardened landscape. The unlikely sense of peace within was a lesson for those of us who are merely trying to escape noisy neighbors. If you can't manage boulders, think about trees.

Minglers: Humble and Exotic

Above: Photograph by Jim Powell.

Any doubters as to whether this was a proper garden (or in fact a piece of borrowed landscape) need only have looked to the planting of exotics, such as the candelabra primula (Above). Not only are they perfectly suited to the boggy conditions of a stream, their ancestors also would have traveled from the Himalayas via the great Victorian plant hunters. Grand estates like Chatsworth were the natural homes for unusual findings, and Joseph Paxton and his boss the Sixth Duke of Devonshire were keen plant hunters themselves. 

Turf To Order

Above: Photograph via Wildflower Turf.

During the week before the show's opening, huge racks identified this Chelsea garden; on each shelf was a large mat of turf. Grown with either campion, or a wider mix of wildflowers including daisies, the turves were ready to pull down, roll up, and roll out. These are the kinds of flowers that spring up after being rolled up like a Persian carpet.

Cameo Appearances

Above: Photograph by Kendra Wilson for Gardenista.

White thalictrum brightened up the layers of green, its foliage mixing easily with ferns and grasses.

Above: Photograph by Kendra Wilson for Gardenista.

Its common name of 'Turk's Cap Lily' reminds us that the martagon lily has only been here for a few hundred years and is more commonly seen in continental Europe. Seen growing among the woodlanders in Beth Chatto's garden, it brings glamor to an unpretentious setting while naturalizing with other homegrown friends of the shade.

Boulders

Above: Photograph by Jim Powell.

Boulders. "It's not about replicating," says James Alexander-Sinclair, one of the judges who nudged Pearson toward a gold medal. "It's about seeing combinations that work, including rocks piled up in a certain way."

Hard And Softscaping

Above: Photograph via RHS.

Pearson's garden had a hard edge, which stopped it from becoming too woolly and untamed. Raised wooden walkways cut through the green, complemented by monolithic benches around the perimeter. Most show gardens are roped off but this one ended in a naked kerb. (A wineglass tossed into the rather trampled undergrowth told a story on Saturday morning).

Anti-Snob Planting

Above: Rhododendron luteum. Photograph by Jim Powell.

A few years ago reliable gold-medal-winner Chris Beardshaw added rhododendrons to his Chelsea garden and caused quite a stir. Were we ready? Not quite, though he was not punished for it. Dan Pearson's version of rhododendron this year was so refined (with flowers like honeysuckle borne on wiry trees) that no one really noticed that they were rhododendrons at all. The main point was that they were beautiful and yellow and confounded the plant snobs.

Pollarded Willow

Above: Photograph by Kendra Wilson for Gardenista.

Pollarded willow is sculptural and efficient, the tree that keeps on giving. By pruning back the bendy new growth every year, you force the tree to constantly renew—and provide wands for making structures around the garden. This is the traditional way of maintaining willow. Originally there were two on Dan Pearson's garden, but one of them interfered with the sewer on the show ground, owned by the 17th century Royal Hospital.

Edgy Flowers

Above: Plants and pavement. Photograph by Kendra Wilson for Gardenista.

"You can still call it gardening, but it's with a different eye," Piet Oudolf told me during the show. Here, at garden's edge, we see no fence, no preamble, just wild planting right up to the gutter. The plants are tough enough to stand a bit of trampling.

Wild Water

Above: Photograph by Kendra Wilson for Gardenista.

The stream in Pearson's garden trickled through the plants, relaxing convincingly at water's edge. Besides a cut grass path meandering through the londer grass, this was another way of being drawn into the garden, away from the traffic all around. "There are lots of opportunities for looking," as Dan told me during the set up.

For more of designer Dan Pearson's work, see:

• Garden Visit: Dan Pearson's Old Rectory.
• Required Reading: Contemporary Designers' Own Gardens.
• Sneak Peek: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the 2015 Chelsea Flower Show.

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• Wolf Hall On Location: Chalfield Manor
• Brooklyn Oasis: A City Roof Garden, Before and After
• Prefab in Paris: Chic in Suburbia with a Modern Family House

Great Chalfield in Wiltshire was built a year before the birth of Henry VIII, so it was still sparkling when he came to the throne at the age of 18. Playing the part of the Cromwell family home in the TV adaptation of Wolf Hall, Chalfield is a National Trust property, lived in and passionately gardened by its "resident donors."

Above: Wiltshire is a county in southwest England. Wide valleys and rolling greens characterize the countryside.

Above: Currently in use as a well-appointed apple store, the gazebo (read: "gaze-about") was a key feature of Tudor gardens. Nestled into the outer edge of the upper terrace, it commands a view of the house, the lake below, and the countryside beyond.

Low-growing alpine plants as well as the occasional spire of verbascum (as shown Above), punctuate the path while relaxing the formality.

Above: Beyond candlelight (and plot), Wolf Hall is about texture. Exterior walls are laden with roses, wisteria, and vines. The ironstone of Wiltshire is a sublime backdrop for any color put against it.

Above: The Tudor building was re-imagined in 1912 when the interiors as well as the gardens were given an Arts-and-Crafts shakeup. A dilapidated 15th century property would have been a heavenly project for any self-respecting Pre-Raphaelite and artist to have had a go with the garden. Great Chalfield is therefore happily layered: the original model, its early 20th century version and the current approach.

Above: One of several loggias at Great Chalfield which appear at crossroads and require passing through at some point while traveling around the garden. According to Patsy Floyd who lives on the National Trust property with her husband Robert, the loggias were tall and pointy when they arrived, echoing the steeple of the church which is very much in view from this upper terrace of the garden. A gardening novice when she arrived, it was already clear that lines had to be softened.

Above: Happy shade residents Allium nectaroscordum and a carpet of sweet woodruff.

National Trust resident donors make a deal on handing over their property, to live there (sometimes "in perpetuity" which is the case at Sissinghurst). Here the residents take a very active part in the garden as well as the main house.

Above: A well-stocked fish pond was an essential feature to a manor garden, both for food and sport. This pond is linked to a moat, delightfully surrounded by informal meadow planting.

Above: Red campion is a classic English wildflower that makes an appearance in woodland areas from early spring. The meadows around the water at Great Chalfield and in the orchard may owe more to Arts-and-Crafts ideas, but it's a version of Tudor which really works.

Above: Long walks or allées are a feature of Tudor gardens. This one is on the middle terrace, running along the side of the house. It was possible to immerse oneself in the outdoors without getting muddy, while remaining within close dashing distance of the house in case of rain.

For more Tudor inspiration, see:

• Wolf Hall: 12 Garden Ideas to Steal from Henry VIII./li>
• Helmingham Hall in Suffolk: Shouldn't Every Garden Have a Moat?
• Front Door Fashion: 9 Ways to Create Curb Appeal with Boxwood.

More Stories from Gardenista

• 10 Garden Ideas to Steal from the 2015 Chelsea Flower Show Winner
• Brooklyn Oasis: A City Roof Garden, Before and After
• Prefab in Paris: Chic in Suburbia with a Modern Family House

Victor Berg started out as a florist in the Norrebro neighborhood of Copenhagen in 1942; he was successful enough to add two additional locations and to start a flowerpot import business, sourcing his wares from Tuscany. Now known as Bergs Potter, the business continues, with several of his family members running the show. Go to Bergs Potter to see the range.

Above: The Helena scallop-edged line of pots was inspired by the work of Italian potter Roberto Rosso, who worked in the 1800s in Bologna. The range shown above is available from Artilleriet; prices start at 89 Kroners for the smallest Helena Pot.

Above: The pots have drainage holes and come with matching saucers.

Above: The Copenhagen pattern is based on a pot found in a disused nursery in Tuscany. 

Above: A selection of pots on display at Bergs.

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Every summer there's a peak season, when all the flowers in my garden decide to bloom in concert. This grand collusion lasts for...a day? Maybe two. The rest of the year I spend coaxing everybody into re-blooming. The best encouragement: deadheading. 

Grab a pair of clippers and let's get started. First, a definition. To deadhead means to remove spent blooms from a plant so it doesn't waste energy setting seed when you would prefer it to put its efforts toward more producing flowers. 

Most gardeners know it's a good idea to deadhead annuals—such as cosmos and other one-season flowers—to keep them blooming all summer long. But if you grow mostly perennials, like me, deadheading is still worth the effort. You will be surprised to see how many more buds your shrub roses produce and how bushy the yarrow clumps get if you keep after them with the clippers.

Here are some examples from my own flower garden to give you ideas about how to deadhead perennials and annuals:

Photography by Michelle Slatalla.

Step One: Technique

Above: From a distance, you may not suspect that there are past-their-prime flowers lurking in this corner of my garden. But if the dead aren't excised with ruthless efficiency, plants soon will turn their attention to producing seeds for next year rather than more colorful flowers.

As we wade in with our pruners, remember: The general rule of thumb, when deadheading, is to cut off a flower—the whole flower, not just its petals—and its stem just above the first leaf below it. Don't leave a naked stem sticking up in the air; cut it back cleanly to encourage new growth from the base of the plant.

Here are some examples from my garden:

Cosmos

Above: An annual in cold climates, cosmos is a prolific bloomer with a long blooming season. Many gardeners, including me, grow it as a reliable cut flower. For our growing guide, see Field Guide: Cosmos.

Cosmos buds look like tight round buttons, and as new petals unfurl (as at L) you can see their beautiful golden centers emerge. 

Above: To remove spent flowers from a cosmos plant, clip the dead bloom's stem at the spot where it intersects with the first set of healthy, feathery green leaves.

Above: Mother-daughter dance?

Salvia

Above: Spiky salvia is a bee magnet, which is one reason I grow it. Another is for the deep, true purple bottle brushes it sends up. After it's done blooming, those wands turn brown (as at R) and you can clip them at the base of their stems, just above the low-growing cluster of green leaves.

Coreopsis

Above: Feathery, low-growing Coreopsis 'Moonbeam' is a favorite of mine. It will bloom all summer if you remove its brown, spent stems (as at R).

Foxgloves

Above: When foxglove spikes finish blooming (as at R), the plant starts to expend serious energy on the seeds in all those pods at the base of the flowers. Rather than deadhead it immediately, I leave foxglove alone until after the pods dry out, open up, and scatter seed because next year's volunteers are welcome wherever they grow. (My neighbor, Susan, has a volunteer foxglove this year that looks like it blew over from my garden.)

Heliotrope

Above: White heliotrope is hardier than purple varieties (which have never survived a winter for me, even in California), and the fragrant clusters of flowers last a long time. You can see above how one of the stems is starting to look browner and furrier than than the rest; I'll cut the stem back in a few more days (I'm curious to see how it looks as it ages).

Roses

Above: My white shrub roses will keep blooming all summer if I deadhead them religiously. Because there are multiple flowers clustered on each stem, I will do a preliminary snip to remove a single dead blossom (like the one shown above), and then go back and remove the whole stem after every flower has finished.

When you deadhead roses, always cut the stem at a juncture where it meets a grouping of five leaves (rather than a group of three leaves). Cut cleanly at a 45-degree angle.

Above: Here (at R) you can see where I clipped off a spent stem from a rosebush; the cut has hardened off already and multiple new spikes of growth will soon start to shoot out.

See You Tomorrow

Above: The last and most important thing to remember about deadheading is to keep at it. It's time consuming. Some people think it's tedious. But if you clip off even a few dead stems every day, you will amazed at how many more flowers you will have this year.

Is this wonderful weather luring you outdoors to accomplish gardening chores? See:

• Gardening 101: How to Use Eggshells in the Garden.
• Dirty Secrets: 10 Ways to Improve Garden Soil.
• Gardening 101: How to Prune a Rose Bush.

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• Landscaping 101: How to Kill Poison Ivy
• Gardening 101: How to Use Eggshells in the Garden
• DIY: The Flowerpot Pendant Light

Our favorite Pinterest discovery of late? Weathered finds for indoors and out, dog throne included, from Agapanthus Interiors. The company storefront in Stockport, England (near Manchester) is aptly named The Hoarde. We've been browsing the inventory online, and here's what we have our eyes on:

Above: A vintage Wrought-Iron Side Table, £95, newly finished with three shades of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (Agapanthus also specializes in antique restoration and reinvention.)

Above: Does your pooch deserve garden-side seating? This early 1900s Painted Metal Dog Chair comes from France; £295.

Above L: One of the shop's many weathered Wooden Apple Crates; £25 each. Above R: A Bottle Dryer, £245, awaits pots and drying herbs.

Above: An only slightly wobbly Watering Can, yours for £25.

Above L: A French Wicker Chair from the fifties in great condition, £168. Above R: A Vintage Wrought-Iron Plant Stand, "characterfully rusted in patches"; £65.

Above: Agapanthus labels this a Wooden Curio and says it "possibly came from a grand gate post." It's £75 (and heavy, so think twice before shipping).

Above: Agapanthus sells vintage industrial lighting, too. Black Enamel Pendants are £75 each, and come with braided cording in a choice of colors. 

Above: Vintage Photo Developing Trays as plant saucers, anyone? They range in price from £22 to £52.

Above: Antiquing online is far more leisurely than at a flea market, but you still have to act fast: This painted pine chest vanished just as we were admiring it.

For the best Watering Cans, Garden Trugs, and more, browse our Garden Accessories posts. And did you see Julie's latest obsession?: Stylish Planters from Copenhagen, By Way of Tuscany.

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If you have a small space, a grass path is green enough to telegraph the idea of a rolling lawn. And in a large garden, a mown walkway is a low-cost alternative to an expensive stone or brick path (and nothing feels better under bare feet when you're headed toward the beach).

For the cost of a bag of grass seed (and a lawn mower to keep it clipped), you can have a seductive green ribbon running through your garden. Let it lure you toward the horizon.

Here are 11 ideas to design a budget-friendly grass path for summer: 

Heaven's Gate

Above: Garden designer Miranda Brooks undercuts the rigid lines of a perfectly straight path with a rustic garden gate made of woven branches. For more of her work, see Dream Landscapes: 10 Perennial Gardens Inspired by Piet Oudolf.

Drought Tolerant

Above: Photograph via Fiona Brokhoff Design.

Edged by billows and pillows of greenery, a scrubby grass path is treated as a hardscape element. You wouldn't water stone pavers or a gravel walkway, and you don't need to irrigate here, either.

Color Story

Above: Designer Tom Stuart-Smith is the dean of modern English landscapes; here he shows restraint with a sure hand. For more of his ideas, see 9 Garden Secrets to Steal from England's Tom Stuart-Smith.

Mowing a swath of high perennial grass exposes the green stems beneath the tassels and creates a pleasing color palette. Scatter seeds of low-growing wildflowers in the low grass for further charm.

To the Lighthouse

Above: Garden designer Edwina von Gal's seaside landscape for Roger Foley includes a mown grass path that follows the lead of the land, with just enough meandering to make it a relaxed journey to the beach. 

For more of von Gal's work, see Designer Visit: At Home with Barefoot Contessa Ina Garten in East Hampton.

Blurred Edges

Above: Photograph via Greenlee and Associates in Napa County.

In Northern California's Napa Valley, designer John Greenlee planted a meadow garden, with a grass path edged by tufts of low-growing perennial grasses that are encouraged to breach the borders.

Architectural Digest

Above: Purple lupines and yellow narcissus flank a mown path. Photograph via Don Statham Design.

Landscape designer Don Statham lives on a farm in New York state, where a simple mown path "creates a strong architectural element." Statham keeps the grass on the path low and on either side, "every three weeks, I mow the high grass on the highest level of the lawn mower." In the high grass, wild flowers such as daisies and Indian paintbrush appear each summer.

 Between Beds

Above: Complementing the informality of a wattle fence, grass paths surround beds in a Renaissance-style kitchen beds—and keep down the weeds. For more, see Renaissance Garden.

Tinkering With Turf

Above: For more see Gone Wild: Tinkering with Turf. Photograph by Kendra Wilson.

Notes Kendra: "Called 'tinkering with turf' and 'grassy wild gardening' by the garden writer Anna Pavord, gardening in this way brings to mind the ideas of avant-garde Victorian garden writer William Robinson, who loathed formality and bedding in particular. For those of us who already love the meadow style, this is even easier than scrubbing out a border, adjusting the soil conditions, and starting all over again with an annual wildflower meadow (and the promise of years of adjustments ahead)."

A Secret Garden

Above: For more, see A Reader's Secret Garden: Enchanted Burchetts Wood.

On the edge of a large heath land in the county of Surrey in the South of England lives painter and best-selling author Celia Lewis with her chickens and turkeys and sheep—and the occasional pig. They've all made appearances in her books (as well as in her rambling seven-acre garden).

It's the quintessential old-fashioned sprawl of an English country garden, woods and mossy paths that lead to a sunny wildflower meadow.

Well Groomed

Above: Photograph via A Gardening Woman. 

A traditional garden in the Cotswolds has velvety green walkways to define the perimeters of bordering flower beds. A tidy ribbon of mown grass provides interesting textural juxtaposition to lollipop alliums.

A Prince's Purview

Above: Photograph by Andrew Butler.

Known for its mown grass paths, Prince Charles' garden at Highgrove turns a simple landscape element into royal walkways. The secret to the transformation? Rich swaths of color and texture offset the velvety paths. For more, see Required Reading: Prince Charles And His Highgrove Garden.

For more easy summer landscaping ideas, see:

• 11 Best Backyard Landscaping Ideas of 2015.
• Lawn Begone: 7 New Ideas for Front Yard Landscaping.
• Hardscaping 101: Design Guide for Edible Gardens.

More Stories from Gardenista

• Wolf Hall On Location: Chalfield Manor
• 10 Garden Ideas to Steal from the 2015 Chelsea Flower Show Winner
• Brooklyn Oasis: A City Roof Garden, Before and After

Gregoire de Lafforest, a French architect whose projects include the Hermès Paris headquarters as well as boutiques for Cartier and mansions for Veuve Clicquot, took a more whimsical route when he designed his own loft in a converted warehouse on the rue Victoire. Using a greenhouse kit from the Garden Factory (painted and customized), he sectioned off a kitchen space and installed Ikea components to keep costs down.

Photography via Gregoire de Lafforest.  

Above: A preserved pine tree anchors the lofty space.

Above: The space is minimally furnished, with the greenhouse taking center stage.

Above: A view of the light-flooded loft from the greenhouse (for something similar, consider a steel Tuileries Greenhouse for 3,599 euros from Maisons du Monde).

We're admirers of inspired greenhouses. For more clever designs, see:

A Tiny Greenhouse on Wheels.

Best of Ikea 2015: A Glass Greenhouse Cabinet.

Steal This Look: An Industrial Greenhouse Kitchen.

More Stories from Gardenista

• Planting Patina: English Garden Antiques from Agapanthus
• Stylish Planters from Copenhagen, by Way of Tuscany
• Hardscaping 101: Green Roofs

While I'm always on the lookout for the latest small-space garden book (a very appealing topic to me of late), my best reads are usually unearthed at a used bookstore, with their covers worn out and sun faded. Those are the same sorts of books I find myself pulling from a friend's bookshelf for a good, quirky read. For instance, I spent my formative twenties very affected by the the controversial 1989 book, The Secret Life of Plants, and although I'm still unsure if it's a hoax I find myself worrying about my houseplants' emotional health.

Here I've gathered a list of my all-time favorite gardening and flower arranging books, most of which are vintage (with a few recent releases as instant classics).

Derek Jarman's Garden

Above: Photograph by Lily Stockman from her Book/Shop Summer Reading List.

A compelling and personal gardening book, Derek Jarman's Garden chronicles the filmmaker's adventures as he built a garden across the road from a nuclear power plant in Dungeness, Kent toward the end of his life (Jarman died in 1994). What I love about this one is Jarman's DIY approach to gardening (lining beds with seashells and building stakes from driftwood) and the evolution of his experience and gardening knowledge as the flower beds take shape; $15.95 at Amazon. 

For more about the book, see England's Best-Loved Garden: Derek Jarman's Prospect Cottage.

Sunset Western Garden Book

Above: My college beau was a budding landscape designer and would have clutched his edition of Sunset's Western Garden Book while sleeping if it was socially acceptable. For many West Coast gardeners, Sunset's guide is their bible, and while new editions are published often you can still rely on a good used copy today (while accounting for climate variation in recent years). The latest edition, The New Western Garden Book is $26.71 at Amazon.

The Flower Shop

Above: From author and aesthetics cognoscente Leonard Koren, The Flower Shop (Stone Bridge Press, 2005) is an exploration into running a small flower business told through a profile of Blumenkraft, a flower shop in Vienna. Having worked as a lead floral designer in a small shop for five years, I can attest to the timelessness of the owner and designers' daily tasks and the struggle of mixing nature with commerce. A good read for anyone with interest in the floral design industry or at-home floral arranging; $19.95 at Amazon.

Tropic Patterns

Above: A vintage book from photographer Anton Bruehl, who took a detailed look at native flora, à la Georgia O'Keeffe. All the images were taken within a minute's walk of Bruehl's house in Boca Raton, Florida. For the tropical flower lover or the '70s-era photography enthusiast; used versions of Tropic Patterns (Dukane Press, 1970) are available from 77 cents on Amazon.

A Flower With Love

Above: Bruno Munari's A Flower with Love (Corraini Editore, 2008) details a set of creative flower arranging skills to inspire adults and children. I like it for its accessible approach to flower arranging, which claims that everyone has the intuitive ability to design with flowers and promote a personal vision through the medium. It's currently available from used sellers on Amazon, starting at $7.54. Photograph from Book Stand.

Decorating With Plants

Above: Terence Conran's Decorating With Plants from 1989 puts houseplants first in the interior design process. Conran talks about how to plan out a new space with plants first, which will then dictate the type of furniture and accessories with which to couple them. A novel way of decorating! The book is available from used sellers on Amazon for $3.23.

The David Hicks Book of Flower Arranging

Above: I always like coming across old photos of British interior decorator David Nightingale Hicks, who stylistically seemed like a 20th-century Oscar Wilde with a sort of awkward opulence. It's no surprise that his 1976 book, The David Hicks Book of Flower Arranging, is having a renaissance among millennial bloggers. Used copies from $7.96 are available on Amazon. For more from Hicks, see our tour of his garden, The Grove, in Oxfordshire in Brit Style: The Garden With (Almost) No Flowers.

The Gardeners' Book

Above: The Gardeners' Book by Diana Craig is a more recent reference material (published two years ago) but on thumbing through it you can tell it's an instant classic for the gardening enthusiast. The book takes a similar approach to our own site, with a mash-up of gardeners' tales and tried-and-tested gardening tips. Craig calls it "a horticultural celebration." It's $12.96 at Barnes & Noble.

Garden People

Above: Photograph by Amy Azzarito for Design Sponge.

A photographic chronicle of gardens and their caretakers (a smorgasbord of British gardening style) from photographer Valerie Finnis. This book is really more of a tactile Pinterest board, but it does the job of inspiring readers to get out into the garden. Garden People: The Photographs of Valerie Finnis (Thames & Hudson, 2007) is $28.14 at Amazon.

Add to your reading list with our favorite new gardening publications detailed in our Required Reading columns, with books such as Private Gardens of Paris, The Gardener's Garden, and Gardens of the Garden State.

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