Instant privacy is the greatest luxury we can imagine in a world where Facebook sells us out to advertisers, hackers know our credit scores, and our eavesdropping Amazon Alexa lets out creepy, maniacal laughs at dinner parties.

Luckily it’s still easy to create privacy in the garden—without spending a lot of money or time. You can block visual intrusions with inexpensive barriers (panels, screens, planters)—and less-than-subtle sounds with a portable fountain. Lean back in a chair. Close your eyes. Smell the roses. Now, isn’t that better?

Here are 10 inexpensive ideas (all under $100) to create instant privacy outdoors:

Potted Tree on Wheels

See more ideas in 5 Favorites: Rolling Plant Stands.

Rollout Fence

See more options at Trend Alert: Instant Rollout Fences.

The Sound of Running Water

While blocking a bad view is one obvious way to create privacy, block unpleasant sounds can be just as effective. Close your eyes, focus on the soothing burble of water, and you’ll be miles away from intrusions. For everything you need to know about fountains—from wall fountains to trough fountains to floating fountains—see Hardscaping 101: Fountains.

Japanese-Style Screen

A Japanese-style panel or fence is designed to offer a simple, calming backdrop; made of natural materials such as bamboo or rush, it will disappear into the garden and perhaps make you forget exactly what you needed to block in the first place. For more options, see 10 Easy Pieces: Japanese-Style Fences and Screens.

Translucent Panel

Julie’s architect, Jerome Buttrick, spec’ed Polygal’s co-extruded polycarbonate panels for the outdoor shower. For similar sheets of translucent paneling to mount on a slatted wood frame, 10-foot Clear Corrugated Polycarbonate Panels are $50.72 apiece at Menard’s. Another option is 20-by-30-inch Corrugated Plastic Panels; $4.44 apiece at Blick.

If you’re designing an outdoor shower, start with our guide to Outdoor Showers 101.

Freestanding Trellis

See more ways to use trellis panels to create privacy in Everything You Need to Know About Trellises and 10 Easy Pieces: Garden Trellis Panels.

Railing Planter Box

Balcony railing planters with hooks or brackets create a natural visual barrier; plant tall flowers or compact trees or bushy shrubs to block the view. See 10 of our favorites at 10 Easy Pieces: Balcony Railing Planters.

Plant Shelf

For more options, you can make inexpensive DIY plant shelves from a few redwood planks and some cement blocks, as my neighbor Linda did, or buy a stepladder plant stand or portable folding plant shelves.

DIY Container Garden on Wheels

With a few inexpensive supplies (plus a power drill), you can make your own DIY container garden on wheels for under $100. Roll it around to create instant privacy where you need it the most. For step-by-step instructions, see Container Gardening: A DIY Planter on Wheels.

Outdoor Curtain

Are you dreaming of a quiet oasis in your backyard or on a balcony? Start the design process with our Hardscape 101 guides to Decks & Patios, Outdoor Showers, and Fences & Gates. See more ingenious solutions:

• Garden Hacks: 10 Genius Ideas to Hide Trash Cans
• 10 Best Garden Design Trends for 2018
• Garden Hacks: 10 Genius Ideas to Hide the Air Conditioner

Trade you my Tillandsia pup for your green zebra tomato seedlings? Call it the new sharing economy: Plant swaps are coming to a neighborhood to you.

Plant lovers have always shared the bounty over the backyard fence or at local garden clubs. But these days an upstart generation of houseplant lovers on Instagram is fostering a fast-growing movement of plant swaps as community-building, green-business-sponsored happenings: flower power powwows for the 21st century.

A leader of the plant swap movement is environmentalist/model/entrepreneur Summer Rayne Oakes, a force of nature who staged her first swap last spring in NYC and followed up with a how-to on her Homestead Brooklyn website and YouTube channel. Since then, swaps have starting popping up near and far, and Oakes is gearing up for her second swap next week in NYC. Here’s the lowdown.

What exactly are plant swaps?

Plant swaps are events where plant enthusiasts of all stripes meet in person and trade plants or cuttings and knowledge. Think clothing exchange turned plant party. Some are casual gatherings—a few people in a library parking lot—but more and more are ticketed forums that take place in indoor settings, such as co-working spaces and brewpubs. These typically begin with a meet-and-greet to check out each others’ plants followed by a Q&A session on plant care (sometimes live-streamed on Instagram), and finally the bartering. How that happens also varies: At some, participants walk around and strike trades; at others, all the offerings are arrayed on tables, numbers are doled out, and each person gets up one at a time and picks.

I spoke to several swap organizers and each emphasized that the vibe is low-key and inclusive: No grabbiness allowed. Oakes says she and her confreres make this possible by bringing extra plants to share and seeing to it that no one leaves empty-handed. “There’s a huge plant community on social media. These swaps are a way to get people to leave their four walls and meet each other,” she says, adding that #plantfriendsIRL (IRL for “in real life”) “is the new hashtag.”

What are the best plants to swap?

Healthy, pest-free plants of all sorts are welcome. Cuttings (also known as “starts”) and baby plants (“pups”), rooted or planted, are also good; at most swaps, you also can trade planters and seeds. (At the Fresh Start Portland swap, a new mother sent all her potted plants, so they’d go to homes where they’d be loved and tended.)

Whether the focus is on indoor or outdoor plants depends on the locale and time of year, but the majority of swaps of late are in urban settings and attract a jungalow-obsessed crowd looking to trade houseplants. For admission all you have to bring is one of something (but in most cases, you also have to have secured an advance ticket—and because space is limited, these go fast).

What are the popular plants to swap?

That, too, differs by location. A Dutch swapper commented recently on Instagram that you couldn’t give away a Pilea peperomioides in Amsterdam because they’re so ubiquitous. In the States, though there’s no longer a shortage, one of these Chinese money plants might get you a rabbit foot fern in a kokedama ball, says Oakes.

At Sarah Scott’s Victoria, Canada, March swap—where by group consensus everyone drew straws to decide the picking order—she reports, “A beautifully rooted Monstera delicosa cutting was the first to go. In general, there was a good balance of generic plants (jade, spider plants, pothos, succulents, dracaena stalks) and some really interesting/desirable things (a queen of the night cutting, hoya, cardamom).”

Tagging offerings is becoming standard practice—Columbus, Ohio, visual merchandizer and swap organizer Katie Schultz of @designandflowers came up with a swap sheet for participants to fill out with basic plant info. She also left space for the story behind the specimen, and that detail can make all the difference: at Oakes’s first swap, a hot item was a cutting of a “perfectly ordinary” Plectranthus: It had come from President Barack Obama’s Oval Office.

How is money raised at plant swaps?

A fund-raising element is often, but not always, added to these events. Oakes charges a nominal fee for tickets ($5 last time and $7.50 for this month’s event) and donates the proceeds to a good cause (this year, the money is going to help build the Los Sures senior services center chicken garden in Williamsburg). Ticketing ensures people show up and supplies a head count, so the space isn’t overcrowded. Equally important, her many sponsors supplying food, drink, and swag know how much is needed. (Oakes’s burlap gift bags are filled with things like Heath Aid Kombucha bottles turned into planters, basil seedlings, garden shears, and $5 coupons for The Sill.) Fresh Start (@startfreshfreshstart) is a nonprofit that helps organize plant swaps all over the country. Its founders—longtime friends Alison Hawley, the manager of a Seattle shoe store and Carina Oney, a Portland, Oregon, surgical nurse—offer raffle tickets to participants. At the Portland swap, their first, they made $980 for PAALF, the Portland African American Leadership Forum. Prizes were donated by area businesses: Allison Burt-Tilden reports that she bought six tickets for $20—and won a $500 bag and an $85 bottle of perfume.

Where can I find a plant swap near me?

Word about most swaps is spread on Instagram: Type #plantswap for the latest (you’ll also see many variations that may be of interest, such as #plantswapparis). Facebook is another source: Search “plant swap” and lots of groups near and far pop up. Plantswap.net is an old-fashioned digital bulletin board that lists events as well as individual plant want ads and offerings listings.

Here are a few upcoming plant swaps on our radar:

• April 14 in NYC:  Summer Rayne Oake’s event this weekend sold out instantly. Watch @homesteadbrooklyn for announcements about her next NYC swaps tentatively being planned for June and September.
• April 21 in St. Louis: For the details, including how to register, go to @designandflowers.
• Early July in Seattle: Fresh Start is planning its next swap close to home—with other locales to follow.
• Fall and spring in Victoria, Canada: Follow @botanic.creative.co for the alerts.

How do I organize my own plant swap?

It’s a fledging movement and everyone involved is eager to  trade info—and easy to reach via social channels. Oakes’s How to Organize a Plant Swap Like A Pro is, so far, the g0-to primer; also watch her video Plant One on Me: How to Organize a Plant Swap in 10 Easy Steps.

Oakes herself can’t get enough greenery: see How to Turn a Brooklyn Loft into an Urban Oasis and our followup visit at Living with Houseplants: Four Years Later in a Brooklyn Apartment. See more ways to connect with plant lovers:

• 10 Houseplant Lovers to Follow on Instagram
• 10 Garden Ideas to Steal from Instagram
• Curb Appeal: 11 Front Garden Ideas to Steal from Brooklyn

A fountain is a celebration. Thousands of years ago, the landscape feature was proof of a successful water delivery system. Water ran downhill into town—if a town was lucky—and there in a central square was a fountain, a burbling public service to announce the arrival of fresh water.

In architecture these days a fountain often is considered as a “decorative” feature, partly because it brings so much pleasure to a landscape. It sounds lovely, that burble. A jet of water is hypnotic to watch as it catches sunlight and throws a fine, bright mist into the air. Other, more prosaic water delivery conveyances—streams, aqueducts, pipelines, rills—handle the drudgery. But a fountain? It’s pure pleasure.

Other water features (including ponds, pools, and even bird baths) also can add life to a landscape. So how do you know if a fountain is the best element to add to your garden or landscape? Read on for everything you need to know about fountains.

What is the history of the fountain?

After 19th-century French archeologists uncovered the ancient city of Lagash (near Ash Shatrah in Iraq), on the 1.5-square-mile site bisected by a river they found a carved basin. It was a fountain that dated to roughly 3,000 B.C. Centuries later, the ancient Greeks and Romans elevated the fountain to an art form, complete with columns and carved nymphs and animals that spouted water from their stone mouths.

In Europe, where public fountains became common architectural features in the Middle Ages, an ornate example from the late 14th century survives in Nuremberg, Germany; the fountain’s 62-foot-high spire is a landmark next to town hall.

In the middle of the 19th century, the United States caught up to the fountain craze. In Frederick Olmsted’s Central Park in New York City stands a dramatic example, 28-foot-high Bethesda Fountain with two tiers of spilling water topped by a winged angel.

What are the different styles of garden fountains?

The first question to answer is which kind of fountain will best fit into your garden. Some different fountain types are:

• Wall Fountains: A good choice for a small garden or courtyard, a wall fountain typically requires less space. Whether freestanding or built in, a wall fountain can have a slim profile—consider the nearly invisible slot fountain shown in the photo above—and can be designed to blend into a landscape if you don’t want it to be a visual focal point.
  
• Trough Fountains: Fountains that draw their design inspiration from the barnyard, trough fountains are generally simple in style and shape, making them a good choice to complement almost any architectural style.

• Floating Fountains: A spray of water that emerges from a nozzle in the middle of a body of water is sent skyward from a partially submerged floating fountain.
• Courtyard Fountains: Freestanding fountains designed to make a visual statement, courtyard fountains are meant to be viewed from any angle. Generally symmetrical, they may have multiple tiers and a self-circulating pump system.
• Waterfall Fountains: A good choice for rock gardens or on a slope, waterfall fountains work with the force of gravity to move water from higher to lower basins where it can be recirculated by a pump.

How do fountains work?

In ancient days, fountains relied on gravity to move water, creating pressure inside a closed pipeline to push water upward. Modern fountains have the luxury of being able to rely on electric pumps and plastic pipelines to recirculate water.

DIY enthusiasts, garden fountain pumps, components, and full kits—which typically come with a submersible pump, flexible lengths of pipeline to recirculate water, and spray nozzles—are available from sites like DIY Watering, Home Depot, and Aquascape.

For a San Francisco garden, landscape architect Brennan Cox of Berkeley-based Groundworks designed a slim slot fountain surrounded by western black granite. “That whole wall is only about twelve to fourteen inches wide, and behind the wood is an existing concrete wall,” says Cox. “We had to figure out a way to fit in a fountain in basically four inches. Underneath the fountain is a giant bathtub that is a basin and there’s a pump you can’t see, and three supply lines behind the granite face,” says Cox.

For more of this garden, see Steal This Look: An Outdoor Kitchen Hidden from the Tourists on Lombard Street.

Are there design rules for fountains?

Here are some basic design rules to follow when you add a fountain to your landscape:

• Stay away from trees: “Fallen leaves, insects, and bird droppings contaminate the water and can clog up the suction filters in the pumping system,” says Royal Fountains.
• Consider ambient noise: One of the loveliest features of a fountain is the sound of running water. Site a fountain in a quiet spot (away from traffic) where you will be able to hear the burbling. Or place a fountain next to a walkway so you can hear the sound of running water every time you walk past.

• Don’t overwhelm your garden. If space is tight, consider an unobtrusive slot fountain instead of, say, a tiered courtyard fountain.
• Consider your power source. If your fountain has an electric pump, you need proximity to a grounded outlet.
• Save water. A shallow basin (with a depth of no more than 18 inches) will help conserve water.

Need more design inspiration for garden fountains? See our curated Hardscape 101 design guides and our recent posts:

• Architect Visit: La Noria in the South of France
• 10 Best Garden Design Trends for Fall 2016
• In Praise of the Water Fountain

Western Sword Fern, Polystichum munitum

Western sword fern is the sort of classic fern you are most likely to spot on a shady wooded trail, showing off its root muscles as it clings to rocky slopes or displaying its pack mentality as it nestles in a plant posse under stately redwoods. But keep in mind that it also is a highly versatile and useful perennial fern for a home garden.

Please keep reading to learn about this friendly fern:

Native to North America (from Alaska to California), Western sword fern gets its name from its elongated blade-like fronds. The robust, handsome leaves can grow several feet long and the plant can have as many as 100 leaves (you don’t need to feel guilty cutting a few to add to floral arrangements). Long ago on the California coast, Native American Miwoks used the long, sturdy fronds to thatch structures.

Definitely take a look on the undersides of the fronds as you will notice rows of curious brown sporangia, where each spot contains many spores which the fern uses as another way to reproduce besides through rhizomes.

When planting a sword fern, provide humus rich, well-draining fertile soil. Water deeply and regularly for the first growing season to ensure an extensive root system. Once established in the garden, sword ferns can grow to a sturdy 3 by 3 feet and be carefree. They become fairly drought resistant, very deer resistant, and add an evergreen textural interest to most garden spaces—but especially to a woodland, tropical or zen garden.

Cheat Sheet

• Good for hillside erosion control, as an under-story plant, and as a ground cover.
• Western sword fern pairs perfectly with Heuchera, rhododendrons, azaleas, and hydrangeas.
• Great color partners for western sword fern are white, chartreuse, and variegated leaves.
• Western sword ferns are one of the few plants that will tolerate dry shade under dense growth of Douglas firs, western red cedars and redwood trees.

Keep It Alive

• While appreciating all degrees of shade, western sword fern will tolerate some sun as long as its roots are provided sufficient moisture, especially for the first year.
• If good drainage is present, this fern can adapt to a range of soil conditions.
• Because dead fronds will stay attached all winter, unlike most leaves that fall off, you must cut them off in the early spring before new bright green fiddlehead shoots unfurl.
• Divide western sword ferns in spring and transplant to other garden areas for enjoyment.

For more growing tips, see Western Sword Ferns 101: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design. So many ferns, so little time—see our Garden Design 101 guides to Asparagus Ferns and Tree Ferns, as well. For more plants that love shady spots, read:

• 10 Shade Garden Ideas to Steal from an English Woodland
• Container Gardening: 12 Shade-Loving Plants in My Backyard
• 23 and Me: My Favorite Edible Plants to Grow in Shade

If you’ve not already heard of Jean-Martin Fortier, allow us to introduce you to a rising star, the Canadian organic farmer whose notion of human-scaled, “six-figure farming” is shaking up the fields.

Fortier is a busy man: He’s the founder, with wife Maude-Helène Desroches, of Les Jardins de la Grelinette, a 10-acre micro-farm in eastern Quebec where the couple live with their two kids. He’s also at the helm of La Ferme des Quatre-Temps, about an hour away, a social-enterprise experiment to train a new generation of farmers and demonstrate how diversified, small-scale farms can be profitable (while producing highest-quality crops and livestock).

“Profitable” and “six-figure” aren’t terms typically thrown around in discussions of micro-farms, but Fortier does things a little differently. He openly shares that his family farm is profitable, grossing about $100,000 per acre annually (on 1.5 acres of cultivated land)—enough to live well and support his family. He wants people to know that you can make money farming, he told us, “because, first of all, it’s true. And if we want to attract more young people into the trade, we must let them know that it is possible to make a good living as farmers.”

By “farmers,” he means knowledgeable, efficient stewards of the land. “The goal is to increase production and have more of a life every year,” said Fortier. “Grow better, not bigger, to optimize the cropping system, making it more lucrative and viable in the process.” To share the wealth, Fortier founded The Market Gardener—a set of resources (a book, film, master class, and website) to help both established and would-be farmers increase their organic yields, improve the quality of their produce, and ultimately buy more time for themselves and their families.

Photography by Alex Chabot, courtesy of The Market Gardener.

Les Jardins de la Grelinette provides more than 200 families with vegetables each week through CSA shares, produce baskets, and weekly farmer’s markets. They don’t grow fruit, says Fortier, “because I want to focus on what I am good at and have time to enjoy life.”

Fortier aims to help small farms use “human-scaled” tools that will make their efforts more efficient. Browse his list of recommended Market Gardening Tools for more.

Though Fortier sometimes uses the terms “farmer” and “market gardener” interchangeably, I asked for a definition of the latter: “It’s a scale thing,” he said. “We work in gardens, with no tractors, but we still bring to market what we produce.”

For aspiring farmers and market gardeners, Fortier offers The Market Gardener’s Masterclass, an online course about “applying a model of commercial vegetable production that is designed to care for the land, care for the farmers, and care for the people eating the food.”

The class is not meant for total beginners, says Fortier. Read the class’s FAQ for more detail or Sign Up for Info about the next cohort, which starts in June.

For more on farming across our sites, see our guide to Edible Gardens 101 and growing tips for fruits and vegetables, including Carrots, Lettuces, and Blueberries. Read more:

• Think Like a Greengrocer: Rules for Storing Fruits, Vegetables, Dairy, and Meats
• Killiehuntly Farmhouse: An Organic Garden in the Scottish Highlands
• Snug Harbor Farm: Your First Stop in Maine

Of all the ideas I file away for my someday-house (black-painted floors, a garden above a rocky beach in Maine), I never thought that teules pintades—painted roof tiles from the Medieval era on the Spanish island of Mallorca—would make the list. But after writing last week on Remodelista about Ca’n Rei, a 17th-century Mallorcan house on a cliff overlooking the Balearic Sea, the tiny painted pictograms are on my wish list.

Ca’n Rei—redone, and inhabited, by the young couple behind local Isla Architects—has some of the more original interiors we’ve seen in a while. But it’s the setting that earns the house its royal name (“Ca’n Rei” means “King’s House” in Mallorquin). With a charming potted terrace garden and sweeping views of the blue sea, the kingly exterior has ideas the rest of us can take away. Join us for a look:

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz, courtesy of Isla Architects.

Juan Palencia and Marta Colón, the couple behind Isla Architects, found the 17th-century house in the little seaside town of Banyalbufar when they moved to Mallorca last year from Basel, Switzerland, to set up their firm on the island. Colón is originally from the nearby town of Esporles and “had been always looking for a house with sea view in this part of the island,” Palencia says. They set about renovating the house for themselves, stripping back the dated additions from the last century and renovating the crumbling clay-tile roof and stone facade.

The couple added curb appeal with a summery vibe: brightly painted teal shutters, a small outdoor dining area for late-summer dinners al fresco, and—our favorite element—a garden with a jumble of terra cotta pots, with lavender, rosemary, ferns, agapanthus, aspidistras, amaryllis, and gaura (also known as bee blossom), all planted by Colón and her mother.

The architects used the house number as an opportunity for artfulness—and another nod to Mallorcan tradition. “In Mallorquin, the local dialect of Catalan, ‘ca’n’ means ‘house of’ and ‘rei’ means ‘king,’ although it’s more likely that Rei was a family name rather than being the house of a real king,” the architects explain. “The house had that name for a really long time and everyone in the village knows the house by this name, so there was no point of renaming it.”

Before

After

The couple painted the shutters in a cheerful teal: “The traditional color for blinds in this part of the island is mainly green and also blue, so we choose something in the middle that we liked.”

The architects had to make small adjustments since the house is built into the earth on one side: “It’s placed between terraces, so half of the house is sunken and in direct contact with the terrain,” they explain. They installed a clay ventilation system between the house’s inner and outer walls to keeps the inner walls dry, and treated the walls on the back of the house with a “highly-breathable mortar.”

We love the perpetual summer vibe of Mediterranean gardens. See more of our favorite Mediterranean plants in our curated Garden Design 101 guides, including Rosemary, Lavender, and Lemon Trees. See more our a few more favorite Mallorcan gardens here:

• An Architect’s Indoor-Outdoor Dreamscape in Mallorca, Spain
• Tranquility in Mallorca: Simple Living at a Rustic Finca
• Island Escape: Finca Son Gener in Mallorca

This week the Remodelista editors found eco-friendly design solutions: reuse, reclaim, recycle. Here are five of their favorite ideas, from non-disposable drinking straws to non-toxic limewash paints.

Shiplap Siding

Annie rounded up 15 Favorite Uses of Shiplap from the Remodelista Archives.

Rainforest Rattan

See more of their home furnishings with a high level of social and environmental commitment at From Java, by Way of Oakland: Rattan Chairs from Wend Studio.

Limewash Paint

See more in this week’s Remodeling 101 post about Everything You Need to Know About Limewash Paint.

Bamboo Drinking Straws

For more, see Beyond the Plastic Drinking Straw: 5 Eco-Friendly Alternatives (Including One Made of Straw).

Retractable Walls

On an island with no central power or water supply, a secluded cottage generates our own power, collect our own rainwater, and processes our own wastewater. See more in An Off-the-Grid Cottage in New Zealand, Available for Rent.

We think of the spring greens of spurge as heralds of a new season, but there are many evergreen varieties that have been keeping the show on the road all winter as well. While not all spurges are reliably hardy, they are reliably self-seeding, so a victim of frost is replaced by a selection of progeny. You just need to recognize when self-seeded plants have chosen a better spot than you might have.

Spurge’s horticultural name Euphorbia is easy to remember, sounding like “euphoric” (an emotion you will feel when it fills the garden in early spring).

Here are six of our favorite varieties of spurge.

Photography by Britt Willoughby Dyer, for Gardenista.

E. Characias Subsp. Wulfenii

Treading gingerly last month around designer and gardening writer Beth Chatto’s own back garden (which is mainly open to the public like the rest of the property), we noticed that self-seeded euphorbia has been given pride of place. One Mediterranean spurge grows against the house, naturally splaying to reflect the shape of a trained rose (above). Another grows in front of a Buddleia that has been espaliered against a wall; surely a pairing of happy accidents.

Before the sap starts to rise in Mediterranean spurge, overwintering flowering bracts draw attention in a gravel garden. This is the time to enjoy their self-determining stems and elegantly drooping flower heads. Hardy to USDA zone 8a.

Euphorbia Myrsinites

Resembling a succulent in winter, ground-hugging E. myrsinites flowers from April through to the middle of summer. Grow this spurge where you can see it, at the front of a gravel garden, and ideally near your back door.

Euphorbia Rigida

Like a larger, more upright version of Euphorbia myrsinites, E. rigida is a structural evergreen, with flowers that begin to glow in February. Its hardiness, like that of Mediterranean spurge, does not have a cast iron guarantee in the US but it is gently self-seeding.

Euphorbia x Martinii

For arresting color, the glaucous palette of Euphorbia x martinii will give you something to look at in winter before it bursts into lime green flower in spring. In other words, it looks good for most of the year.

Euphorbia Amygdaloides Var. Robbiae

Not all spurges hanker after a Mediterranean climate; some are better suited to a woodland situation, such as Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae. Its spreading nature integrates it into a tapestry of ground cover ,such as this one (shown). It is an excellent solution for dry shade.

Euphorbia characias ‘Portuguese Velvet’

E. characias ‘Portuguese Velvet’ prefers shelter and sun and brings an idea of sunnier places in its looks alone. When the flowers open they reveal dark eyes. When it is less wet, the leaves are soft and fuzzy.

See more growing tips in Spurges: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design and for companion plants, see Roses: A Field Guide and Daffodils 101. For more inspiration:

• Euphoric Over Euphorbia: 5 Perennials Every Garden Needs
• A Rich Seam: Quarry Gardening at the Chelsea Flower Show
• Menorcan Muse: Lessons from the Labyrinth in an Ancient Quarry

Among the things that piqued our interest this week? Upcoming plant swaps, a Georgia O’Keeffe–inspired Instagram series, and tips for a bountiful kitchen garden. Read on.

• Join Remodelista on Wednesday, April 18, at 11:30 a.m. EDT for a live tour of architect Jess Thomas’s “sentimental minimalism” brownstone, and a Q&A with Thomas and partner Andrea Fisk of Brooklyn-based Shapeless Studio. Get your pressing remodeling questions ready, then join here.
• This week we wrote about the new plant swap craze; if you’re in New York, you can take part in environmentalist/model/entrepreneur Summer Rayne Oakes’s second NYC swap today from 3-6 p.m. at 114 Fifth Ave. More details here (or learn how to host your own plant swap).
• All those in the Bay Area: Learn the secrets to a fruitful summer kitchen garden at a hands-on workshop at the Marin Art & Garden Center this Tuesday, April 17, from 10-11:30 a.m. More info and tickets available here.
• Alice Waters’s unusual way of cooking an egg has been stirring up controversy of late. Read more about it here; plus, take a tour of her Berkeley gardens.
• Margot is taking note of this series on Instagram by a Santa Fe photographer, yoga teacher, and fellow nature collagist for the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.
• Six small clues that your foundation might need fixing.
• The answer to drab garden hoses.
• And a French sneaker designer with a cult following takes on classic French bistro chairs and tables, color edition.

Elsewhere, on Remodelista and the Organized Home:

• An off-the-grid guest cottage on Great Barrier Island built for indoor/outdoor living.
• Eight small-space-living Instagram accounts you should be following (including not one but two Airstreams).

Recently in Obsessions:

• Current Obsessions: In the Greenhouse
• Current Obsessions: Spring in Scandinavia
• Current Obsessions: The Micro Garden

Seed bombs are the main weapon guerrilla gardeners can use to spread flowers in bare spots, creating pockets of beauty and habitats for pollinators. Gardening without permission is another way of describing these activities: not strictly legal but filed away by the authorities under the category of “What’s not to like.” Alex Mitchell in her book The Rurbanite shows us how to make seed bombs, using guerrilla tactics to spread cheer.

Read on for step-by-step instructions to make seed bombs:

A “rurbanite” is someone who has “a passion for the countryside but no intention of leaving the city,” says Alex Mitchell, adding: “A growing band of rurbanites is getting in touch with the green side of the city.” Enter guerrilla gardening.

“Seed bombs are best, and the most fun, when thrown into neglected roundabouts, central reservations, flower beds, and planters,” says Mitchell.

Many guerrilla gardeners arm themselves with trowels and work nocturnally. But with seed bombs it is possible to make a difference without that considerable commitment; lob a bomb from a bicycle, a car window, or when passing on foot.

Seed bombing is best done in spring and autumn, says Alex Mitchell. Or, time your attack to coincide with heavy rainfall.

Before seed bombing, assess a site for sunniness and choose your seeds accordingly. They do not need to be sun-loving annuals: foxgloves would suit a shadier site. Cosmos (as shown above), a classic annual, is a perfect candidate for guerrilla gardening.

Different types of seed may be combined to make a seed bomb, says Alex Mitchell, but check that they can all be sown at the same time of year.

Best flowers for seed bombs: for sunny areas, annual meadow flowers including poppies, cornflower, marigold; Californian poppies; cosmos; hollyhocks; nigella; verbena bonariensis; viper’s bugloss. For shady areas, use a woodland seed mix; foxgloves, tobacco plant, honesty.

Wildflower Seed Mix collections for various growing zones including Texas, California, Midwest, and Southeast  are $5 apiece from Urban Farmer Seeds & Plants. In the UK Pictorial Meadows offers a wide choice of meadow seed for any situation.

The instructions are simple enough, a bit like making chocolate truffles. Takes 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

• Flower seed
• Potter’s clay powder, from any craft shop
• Peat-free compost
• Water
• A bowl
• A baking tray

Instructions:

Mix the seed, clay, and compost together in a bowl to a ratio of three handfuls of clay, five handfuls of compost, and one handful of seed. Then carefully add water slowly and gradually (you don’t want it too gloopy), mixing it all together until you get a consistency that you can form into truffle-sized balls. Lay them out to bake dry on a sunny windowsill for at least three hours.

Targets for seed bombing should not be brownfield sites, derelict and depressing as they seem. They may be privately owned and will have their own micro eco-system, best left alone. Ditto parks and other people’s gardens. Instead, rescue neglected planters and flower beds as well as civic spaces to which the planting plan has long been lost.

Now is the time to fight the good fight, says Alex Mitchell: “Urbanites the world over are looking at public green spaces around their homes with a new sense of responsibility and pride.”

The Rurbanite published by Kyle Books is available for $10.48 from Amazon.

For more about the British guerrilla gardening movement, see: Throw It, Grow It, London’s Guerrilla Gardeners.

Wondering where to begin when it comes to paths and pavers? If you’re choosing materials or designing a path or walkway, start with our Paths and Pavers Design Guide:

We’ve explored the pros and cons of using materials such as bluestone, limestone, brick, decomposed granite, concrete, and gravel. Maybe curb appeal is your greatest concern. Or how a path feels underfoot. Or matching the style of your house.

For prices and facts–and design tips to maximize curb appeal–here are 17 of our most popular posts about paths and pavers:

Design Guidelines

A front path is the first impression your house makes to a visitor. Make sure it’s a welcoming width (from 4 to 6 feet wide) and that it points the way clearly to your front door. Should it be a solid path or stepping stones? Straight or curvy? What paver material will best suit the style of your house? For everything you need to know about designing a front path, see Hardscaping 101: Front Paths.

Side paths are another story. Depending on how you use a side walkway, you can make it ramble or pave it in a whimsical material. To see some of our favorites, see 5 Favorites: Rambling Paths and Uneven Pavers.

Materials: Decomposed Granite

Decomposed granite–or DG, as it is referred to commonly–is like gravel, but finer and less likely to wash away. An inexpensive material for pathways, it feels soft underfoot and its permeability makes it an environmentally friendly choice.

Is pea gravel the right material for your path? See Hardscaping 101: Pea Gravel.

Boxwood is a handsome edging plant for a path. For more ways to use boxwood, see Shrub Facts: For the Love of Boxwood.

Materials: Bricks

Bricks are made of clay soil, combined with lime and sand. Depending on the proportions, colors will vary. For brick types, prices, and patterns, see Hardscaping 101: Bricks.

Materials: Bluestone

Materials: Limestone Pavers

When the poet W. H. Auden tried to imagine paradise, he wrote, “What I see is a limestone landscape.” So do we. Or at least a limestone path. Among the most luxurious of hardscaping materials, limestone is three times as expensive as bluestone. But it will last forever. Dense, durable, and available in a wide range of colors, it’s a serious investment. Is it right for your path? Explore the pros and cons at Hardscaping 101: Limestone Pavers.

Materials: Concrete Pavers

Concrete pavers are affordable, durable, and easy to install (and replace). Is concrete the right material for your path? For the pros and cons, see Hardscaping 101: Concrete Pavers.

Pathway Lighting Design

Canopy garden lights that direct light downward are typically from 18 to 24 inches tall. Avoid a runway effect by staggering their placement alongside a path or walkway. For more tips on how to choose pathway lighting, see Hardscaping 101: Garden and Pathway Lighting.

For more of our favorite paths and walkways, see our curated guide to Hardscape 101, including Pavers 101 and see:

• 5 Favorites: Rambling Paths and Walkways in English Gardens.
• Hardscaping 101: Seashell Paths and Driveways.
• Design Sleuth: Modern Concrete Pavers and Gravel.

Finally, learn how to successfully use pavers in a landscape or garden project with our Hardscaping 101: Pavers guide.

How does a French family dine outdoors? In style, of course, with a certain insouciant mix of high-low: outdoor furnishings that look just as good indoors during winter months.

To create a similar elegantly relaxed backdrop for outdoor meals, look for flea market finds that can hold their own next to classic European designs. Leverage your landscape—site tables in shady spots, frame a view, or rely on turf grass to create a velvety carpet—to create a dining space that requires no fussing. Set it up once at the beginning of the season…and for the rest of the summer turn your attention to the food.

Here are 10 ideas to steal to dine outdoors like a French family:

Flea Market Furniture

With thrifty purchases that don’t sacrifice style (think: secondhand stores and flea markets), set up a permanent dining area under a shady pergola without worrying about the weather’s effect on the furniture. See more of Amanda Pays’s and Corbin Bernsen’s patio in A Family House in the South of France, Hollywood Edition.

Gravel Courtyard

The quintessential French courtyard is paved in gravel, and no wonder. Natural stones’ range of soft colors creates a soothing backdrop a dining spot, feels good underfoot, makes a pleasing crunching sound as you walk, and stays cooler than larger flat paving slabs. See more design ideas and everything you need to know to choose the right gravel at Gravel 101: A Design Guide to Styles and Materials and 10 Things Your Landscape Designer Wishes You Knew About Gravel (But Is Too Polite to Tell You).

Shady Spot

Site a table and chairs in a shady spots to beckon diners on hot afternoons. All you need is a mature tree with a broad, leafy canopy.

Colorful Chairs

Against a backdrop of greenery, bright-colored chairs can create an instantly bright mood (especially if they’re sunshine yellow).

Flowerpot Candle

Simple metal candle clips make it easy to create strategically flattering pools of light on the dining table.

Candle Clip

10 Things Your Landscape Designer Wishes You Knew About Gravel (But Is Too Polite to Tell You)

The Long View

What’s the loveliest part of your garden? That’s where you should put a dining table and chairs, to give guests something to feast on with their eyes. With a simple setup—a lightweight table and chairs—you can move furnishings around to frame a sunset or take advantage of a distant horizon.

Pedestal Dining Table

With a pedestal base, you can always squeeze in one more chair around a table. See more at 10 Easy Pieces: Round Wood Dining Tables.

Double-Duty Furniture

Particularly useful: a bench to pull up to an outdoor table which, if you flip the top, instantly becomes a potting table or planter box for herbs. Look for dining benches that can double as cocktail tables, rolling bar carts that can become serving sideboards, and daybeds that can seat three if called into service as a sofa.

Linen Tablecloth

Location, Location, Location

Proximity to the kitchen and a spot that gets warm morning sun are key if you want to lure diners outdoors for breakfast.

Water Carafe

Keep guests hydrated on sunny, hot days with a carafe of cold water. See more options at 10 Easy Pieces: Water Carafes on Remodelista.

Embrace the outdoor dining and entertaining season with more of our favorite design ideas; see our curated guide to Decks & Patios 101 if you’re starting from scratch or steal more ideas from sunny Mediterranean climes:

• 10 Garden Ideas to Steal from France
• Outbuilding of the Week: A Chic Chicken Coop in France
• La Dolce Vita: 10 Garden Ideas to Steal from Italy
• Landscaping Ideas: 11 Lavender Gardens Around the World

With warm weather approaching, our thoughts turn to alfresco dining: here’s a roundup of the essentials our editors keep on hand to make outdoor dining and entertaining easy:

Indestructible Glasses

Linen Tablecloth

Bistro-Style Flatware

Bistro-Style Wine Glasses

Hardwood Bowls

Glass Carafes

Wooden Trays

Hurricane Lanterns

Water Pitchers

String Lights

See more ideas to create a serene outdoor space for dining, entertaining, and lounging in our curated Hardscape 101 design guides to Decks & Patios and Outdoor Kitchens. Get inspired by some of our favorite spaces:

• • Steal This Look: The Deconstructed Outdoor Kitchen
  • Landscaping Ideas: A DIY Flagstone Terrace for $500
  • 10 Best Garden Design Trends for 2018

How to make living with plants extra-easy for urbanities? In an already overgrown industry, Justin Mast saw a new way in: fast, affordable delivery of mature potted specimens in sizes small, medium, large, and extra large.

Mast is a fifth-generation plantsman: on his father’s side, his Rotterdam-born grandparents worked in greenhouses, and his mother comes from a family of florists. Growing up, he worked in his parents’ Michigan nursery that catered to the trade, then went on study architecture and design. He’s now back in the business: his just-launched company, Bloomscape, sends “living-room-ready” potted plants from the greenhouse to your door, candid care requirements and a help hotline included. The business is based in Detroit—with backing from Shinola’s former marketing chief, among others—and is much like The Sill, jungle version. Join us for a look.

Majesty Palm

Pothos

Shown here, a Golden Pothos, $35, one of Bloomscape’s 9 Houseplants Anyone Can Grow.

Sansevieria

Fiddle Leaf Fig

Hedgehog Aloe

Ponytail Palm

Pinstripe Plant

Peruse our guide to Houseplants 101: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design for more inspiration, including:

• 10 Easy Pieces: Self-Watering Planters
• Succulents Explained: How to Identify and Grow 12 Favorites
• The New Sharing Economy, Plant Swap Edition

The effusive spring froth of fothergilla flowers brightens shady green garden corners and sparkles when planted to catch the backlighting of morning or afternoon sunlight. Long after the flowers are gone, these multi-interest North American shrubs end the season in a blaze of sunset-orange foliage.

Read on to learn how and where to grow these low-maintenance, pest-free, and beautifully hardy shrubs.

Fothergilla’s invitingly fluffy flowers—white with exquisite chartreuse tips—appear on naked branches before they leaf out, making the shrubs especially striking. The blooms do not have petals. Their showy softness is all about their stamens: white filaments and yellow anthers. Shrubs planted in full sun bear the most flowers and will appear more compact and dense in terms of branch structure, while very shaded plants will develop a graceful and more slender habit.

Fothergilla gardenii

Dwarf fothergilla (Fothergilla gardenii) is native to the low coastal regions south of North Carolina. For petite gardens or for simple structural variation within a mixed border, it is an excellent choice, rarely growing taller than five feet. Specific cultivars (such as ‘Harold Epstein’) can be much more compact. This species generally flowers a little earlier than its larger cousin F. major, so planting cultivars of both species will extend your enjoyment of their fragrant white blooms. Dwarf fothergilla requires ample moisture and will be unhappy if it dries out. Hardy in USDA growing zones 5 to 8, it grows especially well in its native range and in the Pacific Northwest.

Fothergilla major

Fothergilla major is a large shrub, sometimes exceeding 12 feet. In smaller spaces it is an excellent alternative to a tree. And in a large space a group of three (odd numbers works best in informal gardens), it makes a stunning spring and fall backdrop for smaller shrub and perennial plantings. Unlike dwarf fothergilla, this shrub is more tolerant of soils that are near-alkaline, and it can handle some drought stress, too. It is hardy from USDA zones 4 to 8.

As the growing season closes, fothergilla shines. “It is one of the great American native shrubs for fall color,” writes Michael Dirr, author of Manual of Woody Landscape Plants (a staple reference book for serious plant geeks).

Regardless of whether it is planted in full sun or in semi shade, fothergilla’s leaves will offer a wide and intense range of warm hues, from yellow to deep orange and red, often on the same plant.

Fothergilla x intermedia

Many of the fothergillas sold in the nursery trade actually may be a naturally occurring hybrid, Fothergilla x intermedia (only identified at a genetic level in 2007). They combine qualities of both species, with the smaller stature of dwarf fothergilla and the adaptability of F. major.  ‘Blue Shadow’ is considered by botanical author Rick Darke to be “one of the most promising new shrubs yet to appear in the current century.” Even its summer leaves offer interest, maturing to powder blue.

Cheat Sheet

• Fothergillas belong to the same family as witch hazel.
• On paper fothergilla’s common name is witch alder, but no one uses it.
• Fothergillas were introduced to England in the 18th century.
• The shrubs are named for Dr. John Fothergill (1712–1780), an English
  physician whose 18th-century garden included one of
  the earliest North American plants.

Keep It Alive

• Fothergilla prefers acidic soil of pH 5 to 7 (7 is neutral); test your soil’s pH.
• Soil should be rich with organic matter and well-draining; avoid heavy soil or clay.
• Dwarf fothergilla is less adaptable than F. major; make sure it never dries out.
• Mulch the root zone of fothergillas to conserve moisture in the soil (never mound mulch against the bark).
• Water newly planted shrubs regularly until they are established.

See more more growing tips at Fothergilla: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design and explore our curated design guides for Shrubs 101, including other flowering shrubs such as Paperbush, Rhododendrons, and Forsythia which put on a show in early spring. Read more:

• Flowering Quince: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design
• Lilac Love: A Guide to Spring’s Best-Loved Flower
• Landscape Ideas: 10 Problem-Solving Plants

Think of tomato cages as scaffolding: You need a support system to keep vines from sagging (or snapping off) under the weight of heavy fruit. Match the right size cage (or trellis, obelisk, or tepee) to the kind of tomatoes you’re growing.

Cherry tomatoes can grow in containers against a flat trellis. Large beefsteak varieties will fill their cages and need sturdy galvanized wire or steel supports with large openings to make it easy to reach in to pick fruit. Plum tomatoes, depending on the size and variety, can grow in tepees, obelisks, or A-frame trellises.

Tip: Be sure to space tomato cages at least three feet apart to allow air to circulate around mature plants.

Here are 13 tomato support systems to consider this summer.

Cages

Obelisks

Tepees

Trellises for Containers

A-Frame Trellises

See more tips for growing tomatoes successfully at Tomatoes: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design and see our curated Garden Design 101 guides for more edibles to plant in this year’s garden, including Basil, Lettuces, and Chives.

Finally, learn how to successfully design and create an edible garden with our Hardscaping 101: Edible Gardens guide.

Butterbur, Petasites japonicus: “Waterside Posy”

Petasites japonicus is a decorative waterside plant that dies down in winter, reemerging as cabbage-like posies that are ready to go when everything else is just waking up. As a ground cover it is certainly effective by summertime, when 4-foot leaves form an impenetrable thicket.

Happiest when they have wet feet, Petasites japonicus thrives on river banks and at the edges of marshes, where we recently discovered some lovely specimens in bloom. We wandered among pale rosettes that emerged above the mud like a galaxy of cauliflowers:

Photography by Britt Willoughby Dyer, for Gardenista.

If you happen to have a large property with a featureless bank next to water, in shade, then this is the plant for you. The effect is similar to that of gunnera in summer: in other words, giant (round) leaves which can be admired from close up but not wandered through.

The natural habitat of Petasites japonicus is a mountain stream-side in East Asia. Their roots make a kind of net, binding the slippery landscape together.

So captivating are these pale bouquets that visitors to the Beth Chatto gardens in Essex in the east of England have had to be gently dissuaded by observant staff from taking them home to decorate their rockeries. Known as the giant butterbur, Petasites japonicus var. giganteus needs space.

This plant defines the Beth Chatto philosophy of “right plant for the right place.” In her book The Damp Garden, a chapter discussing the places of origin of her community of garden plants is a persuasive argument for this philosophy, and lyrically written.

Cheat Sheet

• Depending on the variety, butterbur’s flowers can be a soft pink or cauliflower white.
• Plant butterburs en masse on a shady, wet slope to prevent erosion.
• A cousin, Petasites hybridus also thrives in marshy situations, but has large round leaves and pale pink flowers.

Keep It Alive

• In wet soil, butterburs will thrive in USDA growing zones 4 to 9.
• Butterburs prefer sandy, loamy soil, or clay.
• You can expect butterburs to spread through underground rhizomes to form a dense ground cover.

For more growing tips, see Butterburs: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design in our curated Garden Design 101 guides to Perennials 101. For more plants that thrive in moist conditions, see:

• The Poet and His Garden: Ian Hamilton Finlay in Scotland
• Beth Chatto’s Garden: Shade-Loving Plants for Year-Round Interest
• 10 Garden Ideas to Steal from Ireland
• Groundcovers 101: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design

Mosquito repellent plants are garden heroes: colorful flowers and herbs with natural fragrances that chase away buzzing insects even as their perfumes soothe humans.

The first step in your plan to thwart mosquitoes? Grow plants such as lavender, basil, mint, scented geraniums, and marigolds. But unless you’re planning to plop your chair down in the middle of a flower bed, you may not enjoy the full protective benefits. So we came up with a plan to bring the full power of your anti-mosquito forces to the deck or patio: a mosquito repellent floral arrangement. (We placed ours on a side table next to our favorite reading chair.) Read on for step-by-step instructions.

Photography by Mimi Giboin for Gardenista.

Lavenders

Lavender’s strong scent, which comes from essential oils that can be distilled from its flowers, is often used for aromatherapy. While there is little scientific evidence to back up claims that lavender oil has health benefits, inhaling its fresh, herbal scent calms many people. But not mosquitoes.

I asked a couple of aspiring florists named Clementine and Eve to arrange the mosquito repellent plants and flowers in a few clear glass vases: a deconstructed floral arrangement. (If you don’t have vases of different heights and shapes on hand, you can just as easily arrange the flowers in mix-and-match drinking glasses or glass jars to get the same effect.).

Scented Geraniums

Scented geraniums have “many varied and exotic fragrances,” writes Justine. Rub a leaf between fingers and you may smell lemon, chocolate, almond, apple blossom, or rose. Learn more at Scents and Sensibility: The Scented Geranium.

Basil

See more varieties of basil and growing tips to keep this Mediterranean herb happy at Basil 101: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design.

Marigolds

When arranging marigolds in a vase, strip off any leaves below the water line to prevent them from rotting and turning the water cloudy.

Mint

If it seems like there are a million varieties of mint to grow, that’s because there probably are. Rejoice. Read more about our 9 Favorite Mints to Grow in a Cook’s Garden.

And if one of your winged enemies manages to chomp on you anyway? Try our DIY: 7 Best Natural Mosquito Bite Remedies.

Ready to design and plant a spring herb garden? See Everything You Need to Know About Herb Gardens and read more at:

• Expert Advice: 10 Tips to Get Your Garden Ready for Spring
• 10 Easy Pieces: Heirloom Seeds for Spring
• Edibles 101: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design
• The New Vegetable Garden: 8 Favorite Edible Backyards

Treat yourself to a time out in a hanging chair. Here’s a roundup of our rattan-inspired favorites.

Take note that natural rattan is best when it’s kept in a dry location—perfect for hanging on a covered porch or indoors from a ceiling beam (bring that summer swing feeling inside). Want to hang a chair from a branch in the garden? Synthetic rattan to the rescue. Several of our selections are made with weather-resistant synthetic fibers.

Need something that will hold more people? Check out the Lollygagger Sofa in our recent post, Outdoor Furniture Spotlight: Colorful, Recycled Designs from Loll.

N.B.: This post is an update; the original story ran on August 13, 2013.

Here in the northeast as we desperately await winter’s last gasp, I’ve taken solace in the invented, season-less worlds of Steffen Dam. Working entirely in glass, the Danish artist builds natural specimens that allude to the images he pored over in his paternal grandfather’s natural history books and insect collections. But Dam’s creations are entirely his own.

He trained and worked as a toolmaker before discovering glass, a medium that enables him to combine his extraordinary abilities as a technician with his poetic approach to science. Over the past 30 years, his work has been shown all over the world and is in the collections of the Danish Museum of Art, the Corning Museum of Glass, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among many others. Dam says, “My jars contain nothing that exists in the ocean, my specimens are plausible but not from this world, and my flowers are still unnamed…my aim is to describe what’s not tangible and understandable with our everyday senses.”

Photography courtesy of Steffen Dam, unless noted.

Dam’s work is represented by the Heller Gallery in New York City and the Joanna Bird Gallery in London; he makes commissions on request.

“Steffen Dam invites the viewer to relish the sheer beauty of his ‘specimens,’ but also to reflect on the meaning of nature as a mirror of the human mind and spirit,” writes David Revere McFadden in the catalog that accompanied Dam’s 2017 solo show at New York City’s Museum of Arts and Design.

Some botanical art to go with your plants? Here are some more ideas:

• Portraits of Houseplants from Dutch Painter Maaike Koster
• Steal This Look: Botanical Art in the Workspace
• Favorite Botanical Illustrations: Our 10 Best Sources for Vintage and New