We think crushed seashells should be on the short list for surfacing paths and driveways. After all, they’re natural, beautiful, functional, and remind us of the sea. Read on to find out if crushed seashell is the best hardscaping material for you.

Shells are used as a paving material all over the world. In the US, seashell paths originated in Colonial times as a result of early-American recycling efforts. Oysters and other shellfish were a primary source of food, and thrifty settlers put their discarded shells to use as a paving material. Later, this practice became common in New England as a way to recycle waste from the seafood industry.

Why surface paths with seashells?

A great alternative to gravel, crushed shells can be used on paths, patios, courtyards, driveways, and even bocce ball courts (the shells don’t hold water or imprints from shoes and balls). As the shells are walked on or driven over, they break into smaller pieces that disperse evenly, creating a stable surface that’s not prone to the ruts and holes you get with crushed stone toppings.

Another benefit is that, as long as they come from a sustainable harvesting operation, shells are environmentally friendly. They provide excellent drainage, since rainwater runs through them to percolate into the ground. And shells are a natural material that benefits the ground below as they decompose.

How do you install a seashell path or driveway?

Coverage is key. The experts at Emerald Landscape Supply in Massachusetts recommend a 3-inch-deep application. Some installers suggest starting with a gravel base, but it must be compacted and leveled (preferably by a professional) so the surface doesn’t become soft. You want to ensure that tires drive over–not through–it. The shells will compact and become more stable over time.

The general rule of thumb is that one cubic yard of seashell will provide a 3-inch-deep cover for a 100-square-foot space.  Another tip: Shell hardscaping is best for level surfaces. A steep drive is not a good application, as the shells are likely to collect at the bottom.

What are the best shells to use?

The most common shells used for hardscaping are oyster, clam, and scallop. Their differences are subtle: mostly in color and how they break down. Oyster shells, primarily off-white and gray, break down in a way that makes them more compact and, subsequently, more stable over time. Clam shells, mostly off-white or yellow-white, are slightly more fragile and will break down faster than oyster shells. They also compact nicely for vehicle traffic. Scallop shells add brown coloration to the mix. Despite initial variations in color, all the shells bleach under the sun and become lighter over time. Your choice will most likely depend on what’s readily available in your area.

Do seashells smell?

Shells that are sold in bulk for hardscaping purposes are left over from seafood harvesting, so the shellfish have been removed. Typically, the shells have been thoroughly washed, so there should be little left to generate stink. That said, they may arrive with some natural aroma, but that should dissipate within a day or two. (To one homeowner, they smelled like the beach, not dead seafood.)

How much do seashell paths cost?

When bought in bulk, seashells are on the more affordable end of the spectrum: comparable to crushed gravel; less than asphalt, concrete, or stone. Clam shells seem to be the least expensive, offered at about $40 per cubic yard, or $50 per ton. We priced crushed oyster shell at $385 per ton. The Atlantic coast is the primary source of shells; if you live elsewhere, shipping may be the most expensive part of the project. Contact your local landscape supplier for availability. Alternatively, suppliers like Myco ship crushed shell all over North America.

Buyers’ tip: Buy in bulk for the lowest price. Unless you’re covering a very small area, avoid purchasing small bags at a feed store or the like.

What about maintenance?

The good news: Shell paths and driveways can’t crack, so repairs aren’t part of the package. Cold and heat won’t damage the shells, and they don’t develop ruts and holes. Assuming a generous layer was applied at the outset, the material will last a long time. Because of compacting it will eventually need replenishing, but not every year (or even every other year). And unlike gravel, crushed shell hardscaping rarely encounters issues with weeds or pests: The shells’ sharp edges act as a natural deterrent (but they’re not so sharp as to be an issue for tires or shoes).

Seashell Path and Driveway Recap:

Pros:

• Natural product
• Durable
• Affordable
• Low maintenance
• Light colors mean cooler surface in hot climates
• Provides excellent drainage and prevents runoff
• Visually appealing
• Won’t crack or break, requiring repairs

Cons:

• Rough surface that is not barefoot friendly or conducive to bikes, trikes, and other smooth-surface toys and activities
• Not a good covering for steep drives or paths
• Snow removal difficult
• Not readily available in all areas, and shipping may be expensive

See our curated guide to Driveways 101 for more design ideas. For more ways to use shells in a landscape, see:

•  Garden Visit: Secrets from an Earlier Century at Colonial Williamsburg
• Landscape Architect Visit: Clamshell Alley on the Coast of Maine

If there’s a rock star garden designer worthy of a biopic, then Piet Oudolf is probably the one. Revered and admired, the Dutch landscaper has become famous the world over for his breathtaking projects: from from New York’s High Line to Hauser & Wirth’s sublime prairie garden in Somerset, England, to his private garden and test beds at Hummelo in his native Holland.

So it was a stroke of genius for filmmaker Thomas Piper to convince Oudolf to allow him to film his creative process and what he has created in Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf is an elegant, poignant, and unprecedented glimpse into the 73-year-old designer’s world and thoughts.

Piper’s original intention was to make a short piece about Hummelo. But the project soon grew and ended up being shot over two years with a further year for editing. For gardeners everywhere, the film is a tantalizing 75 minutes in which to lose yourself in one man’s vision and passion.

Screenings are scheduled in theaters throughout the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia from now through September. See Five Seasons to find a theater near you.

Photograph courtesy of Five Seasons.

Piper begins with Oudolf working in his studio, pouring over the squeaky marks he makes on paper to create  mesmerizing sketches of landscape design plans. (The beautiful documents once had their own gallery show.).And perhaps one of the most surprising elements of the film is how solitary Oudolf’s work is, no matter how vast the landscape he designs.  Oudolf’s work process is a source of intrigue for the filmmaker.

“Maybe the most genuine surprise was learning that what I took for granted, that Piet worked alone in his studio, was actually so extraordinary,” Piper says. “I was initially drawn to the aesthetic aspect of his work, so for me that he fit such a romantic profile of an artist, toiling away uninterrupted in his studio, conjuring something from nothing, was in a way what I was expecting I’d find.  That he’s been able to maintain that approach even as he works on very large-scale public projects, knowing what I know now, retroactively amazes me.”

Those vast projects are certainly awe-inspiring. Fortuitously, during filming Oudolf was about to embark on the planting at Hauser & Wirth so we get ringside seats for the astonishingly complex arrangement of 54,000 plants being laid out. The designer strolls around the garden calmly, surveying the sea of tiny black pots for any inconsistencies in the design and pointing out tweaks to the planting team.

There were plenty of challenges for the New York-based filmmaker (his geographical distance from Oudolf for one), yet getting access to Oudolf’s projects and pilgrimages wasn’t among them. “Piet was remarkable in letting me know when something interesting was coming up, especially all the excursions that are a big part of the movie: the walk through the post-industrial woodland in Pennsylvania or the visit to see the wildflowers in the Texas Hill Country,” says Piper.

“My idea to capture year-long time-lapse sequences was an enormous logistic headache,” says Piper. “Otherwise, it was more of a challenge just to figure out how to shoot the gardens in an appropriate way.  Up to this point I’d shot lots of architecture, i.e., static buildings, where maybe the light is changing but otherwise nothing’s exactly moving around.  Shooting gardens and landscapes was completely new to me.  So it was the aesthetic or stylistic decisions that took a little while to find, things like letting the camera movement be ‘looser’ and a little ‘messier’ like Piet’s gardens, versus static and composed.  Even ‘uglier.’ with things like focus going out or camera flares.”

Oudolf strives  to have his designs be visually compelling at any given moment, not just a “peak” season, says Piper. “It’s of course subjective. He readily admits (maybe even takes a bit of pride?) that plenty of people don’t find his gardens attractive, especially in winter.  And I do think it takes a little training your eye to see the ‘beauty’ of what he’s seeing.  But then that was always the attraction for me to do the film in the first place: that he’s compelling us to change the way we see.”

But the weather was not an issue. Instead of dealing with challenging conditions Piper realized that every time he had travelled to Hummelo to shoot he was blessed with perfect light: “There was a point after nearly two years of shooting where I realized it hadn’t rained once while I was shooting there.  Which, in the moment was a blessing, but who would ever believe a film about Holland without rain? I had to resort to asking Piet to take his own camera out any time it rained and get whatever footage he could.  So the rain scene during summer in the movie is all cut from Piet’s footage.  I don’t know what anyone else thinks of it, but for me that scene is like a cathartic release from disbelief.”

On June 13 both Thomas Piper and Piet Oudolf will attend two New York City screenings at IFC Center with question and answersafter the movie. Piper also will attend subsequent screenings. Locations, dates, and links to buy tickets are all listed at Five Seasons.

Do Piet Oudolf’s landscapes inspire you to add four-season perennials and grasses to your own garden? Start with our curated guides to Garden Design 101, including our field guides to designing with Grasses and Perennials. Read more:

• Designer Visit: Piet Oudolf’s Otherworldly Garden at Hauser & Wirth Somerset
• 10 Garden Ideas to Steal from the High Line in New York City
• 10 Garden Ideas to Steal from Superstar Dutch Designer Piet Oudolf

Your garden is like a stage set, and to keep the spotlight on the main players you need props to help them. Plant supports will prevent top-heavy flowers such peonies and floppy vines (looking at you, sweet peas) from toppling over in the garden. Here are 10 favorites to buy:

We’ve rounded up 10 stylish plant supports, each with its own specialized purpose. Get them onstage now, before the hollyhocks grow too top heavy for help:

See more ideas at our curated guides to Garden Design 101, including Perennials 101 and Annuals 101. Browse our newly updated collection of 10 Easy Pieces posts, and don’t miss:

• 10 Easy Pieces: Tomato Cages
• Plant Belles: Wire Supports for the Well Tamed Garden

You have 12 days left to submit your garden design and home remodeling projects to the 2018 Considered Design Awards. Our contest is open to both professional and amateur gardeners and designers in separate categories, and open to readers in the US and Canada (excluding Quebec). Each of our category winners this year will receive a $500 gift card to shop Schoolhouse, plus full project profiles on our sites (and professional winners get automatic entry into our Architect/Designer Directory). You have until midnight Pacific on Friday, June 22 to enter. For more details, read our full Rules & FAQs and visit the Gardenista and Remodelista contest pages to enter.

In late June, after we receive all entries, we’ll name five finalists in each category, chosen by a panel of guest judges. (The eventual winners will be selected by reader votes.) We’re thrilled to introduce you to our 2018 judging panel of design luminaries.

Brook Klausing

From 10 Things to Know About Brook:

1. 1. Favorite work of architecture: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater.
   2. Favorite design book: Can I go off-script and say my old collection of World of Interiors magazines?

Erica Tanov

From 10 Things to Know About Erica Tanov:

1. 1. 1. Latest DIY project: Wallpapering my powder room with pages of a vintage book, Know Thyself.
      2. Favorite wine: Domaine de Fontsainte Gris de Gris rosé; beautiful wine, beautiful label, beautiful price.

Stephen Alesch

From 10 Things to Know About Stephen Alesch:

1. 1. 1. 1. Favorite thing to cook: Curries.
         2. On my wish list for my house: Japanese bathhouse addition.

Jenni Kayne

From 10 Things to Know About Jenni Kayne:

1. 1. 1. 1. Biggest design influence: I am constantly inspired by nature and living in California.
         2. Pets: Chachi and The Dude are our dogs, Lavender and Rocket are our bunnies, and Saphi and Daisy are our horses.

Wiebke Liu

From 10 Things to Know About Wiebke Liu:

1. 1. Favorite item in my closet: My “Supermom capes,” aka cashmere shawls.
   2. Most organized area of my house: My pantry, for sure.

Don’t forget to enter our contest by Friday, June 22, by midnight Pacific time. For more, explore the 2018 Gardenista Awards and Remodelista Awards pages.

When a large family of several siblings started having children of their own, they wanted to vacation together in their beloved Cap Ferret, France, while retaining some semblance of normalcy for their individual families. “Their desire was to have a good time together,” said Paris architects Atelier du Pont, “and still have privacy and calm.”

The architects designed a series of cabins—three structures in all—perched atop the Cap Ferret headland about one-third of a mile from the ocean. The buildings have a combined area of about 3,500 square feet, linked via wood terraces, with distinct sleeping quarters for each family plus shared lounge and play spaces and a generous kitchen. The surrounding landscape, designed by local firm Ferret Vert, more than doubles the living space, with a lap pool with sandy “beach,” a sprawling wood deck, and untamed stretches of pine forest. The homeowners wanted to have a limited impact on the land, so terraces step lightly on the sandy soil, and cabins were sited to minimize the removal of existing trees.

Photography by Philippe Garcia, Takuji Shimmura, and Bernard Touillon, courtesy of Atelier du Pont.

Though the adult siblings wanted the vacation home to have the feel of a cabin, they’re fond of modern design; the designers obliged their inclinations with triangular windows and diagonal lines to frame views of the surrounding pine forest and ocean beyond.

Though the architecture of the vacation home is modern, its design was inspired mostly from the surrounding environment, said the architects: “We wanted to create a house and a garden in perfect harmony with the context and the nature.”

See more ideas in our guide to Swimming Pool Design 101, including Poolside Furniture, Underwater Lights, and Landscape Plants for Swimming Pools. For more in France, see:

• How to Garden Like a Frenchwoman: 10 Ideas to Steal from a Paris Balcony
• Outbuilding of the Week: A Chic Chicken Coop in France
• Landscape Architect Visit: La Noria in the South of France
• Design Sleuth: Industrial Kitchen Stools from Nicolle in France
• Romantic, France-Inspired Tiles from Tabarka Studio

Unlike freestanding grills which you can wheel around to avoid a downdraft if the wind changes while you are cooking, built-in grills are in a fixed position. From a design standpoint, the message they send says “outdoor kitchen” instead of “last-minute plans.”

If you have sufficient space, an outdoor kitchen with a built-in grill can be configured with a generous countertop space for food prep and (and under-counter storage for other built-in appliances, such as a refrigerator). In the photo above, New York City-based landscape architect Robin Key (a member of our Architect and Designer Directory) created a comfortable outdoor kitchen workspace in a Manhattan garden.

Another benefit is a built-in grill powered by natural gas can connectto a dedicated fuel line—and never run out of gas again. (With a propane-powered grill, you’ll still have to swap out empty tanks.)

For more design tips for configuring an outdoor cooking space, see Hardscaping 101: Built-in Barbecues.

See how Artisan’s built-in grill looks in an outdoor kitchen (paired with a Broan exhaust hood) in our recent post: Sleekness in Seattle: Modern Garden, Midcentury House.

If you’re designing an outdoor kitchen for any size space, start with our Design Guide to Outdoor Kitchens in our Hardscape 101 series of guides. For more outdoor kitchen ideas, read:

• Designer Visit: An Indoor-Outdoor LA Garden by Judy Kameon
• 10 Easy Pieces: Undercounter Refrigerators for Outdoor Kitchens
• Hardscaping 101: Built-In Barbecues
• Outdoor Kitchen Workstations

Fleabane, Erigeron: “Dependable Daisy”

Why is fleabane such a favorite? As a garden designer, I admittedly have a go-to list of plants curated over time and I reflexively consult it for any new project. Yes, this is to save time, yes to avoid reinventing the wheel, and mostly because I know can rely on these plants. Example: When I need a low-maintenance flowering perennial that resists marauding deer, flowers enthusiastically for many months, can be used as a ground cover, softens edges, and has a casual feel, I always reach for Erigeron daisies. Done and done.

Please keep reading to learn more about fleabane, a tried-and-true trooper that will bloom enthusiastically from spring through autumn.

Erigeron, a proud member of the aster family, is a diverse genus of plants with more than 170 species found in temperate climates around the world. A gardener’s favorite, depending on the variety these daisies may behave like annuals, perennials, or biennials. Distinguished by perky rays of narrow petals formed around a bright center disk, erigeron flowers smother a landscape in pastel blooms.

Erigeron comes from Greek meaning “early” and “old man,” which references the plant’s tendency for blooming in late spring and for producing fuzzy white seed heads while simultaneously producing new flowers. The common name, fleabane, is possibly derived from a long-ago superstition that the dried plants repelled fleas or that the plants were poisonous to fleas.

Fleabane is often seen thriving in pastures, in open spaces, or along roadsides because it produces seeds prolifically; the fluffy seed heads easily disperse by wind and water. Unfortunately many types of erigeron are invasive weeds that displace native plants (but luckily there are more restrained varieties to choose from—read on for a list of our favorites).

Popular and well-behaved cultivars of Erigeron:

• E. ‘Wayne Roderick’: A California native and an evergreen perennial, at maturity it is 12 inches tall and forms a 24-inch clump bearing a profusion of lavender-blue flowers. Clay tolerant, perfect for edging, and excellent at attracting native bees and butterflies. This daisy also shrugs off salt spray, wind, and low water.
• E. glaucus ‘Sea Breeze’: An evergreen perennial, it forms clumps 10 inches tall by two feet wide and has gray-green foliage and wide lavender pink daisies with chartreuse centers.
• E. x moerheimii ‘Pink Santa Barbara Daisy’: Low-growing, this evergreen perennial will reach a height of 18 inches and a diameter of 36 inches, with light pink flowers. Very similar to Erigeron karvinskianus, this variety does not spread as wide and has larger, light-pink flowers (and does not reseed).
• E. karvinskianus: Known in the US as a Santa Barbara daisy, this prolifically blooming and fast-spreading evergreen perennial has golden yellow center disks surrounded by a fringe of white to pinkish petals. It can thrive miraculously in wall crevices or paving, where it rapidly spreads and can reseed to become a carpet of flowers. It grows as high as 24 inches and as wide as five feet.

Cheat Sheet

• Erigeron is a top pollinator-attracting plant; butterflies and moths especially adore these daisies. In fact, many species of moths and butterflies feed exclusively on erigeron.
• Fleabane fits well into a cottage garden when situated under bare-bottomed roses or at the base of shrubs such as hydrangeas and lilacs.
• Because erigeron thrives in quick-draining soil, it’s also a great choice for rock gardens, slopes, and seaside gardens.

Keep It Alive

• Depending on the species, erigeron will flower from late spring through the beginning of autumn. Deadhead it after the first flush to promote reblooming. Cut back stems to the ground at the end of autumn.
• Fleabane is relatively drought resistant, but happier with a regular supply of water.
• Deer resistant and low maintenance.
• Erigeron is a sun worshipper but also accepts part sun.

Are you designing a cottage garden from scratch (or filling in a few bare spots in a flower bed)? See more growing tips in Fleabane: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design. Browse our other Garden Design 101 guides to find the best Perennials and Annuals for your garden, including Lady’s Mantle, Foxglove, Cosmos, and Hollyhocks. See more of our favorite cottage gardens:

• Everything You Need to Know About Cottage Gardens
• 10 Ideas to Steal from English Cottage Gardens
• Bleeding Hearts and Dutchman’s Breeches: A User’s Guide
• Landscape Architect Visit: A Cottage Garden on the Connecticut Coast

Portugal’s gardens are a lesson in Europe’s long history of conquest. The Roman and Moorish invaders who descended centuries ago on the sunny Iberian peninsula brought a predilection for colorful tile courtyards, elaborate ironwork, and formal designs.  And yet Portuguese gardens look like no other landscapes in the world.

The country’s climate is special. With a long coastline the Atlantic Ocean and inland expanses of dry, mountainous terrain, Portugal’s hot summers and mild winters create a long growing season. Wild violets bloom on the outskirts of Lisbon in winter and orange trees drop fruit on city streets. Bright flowers spill from window boxes and terraced terrain on steep hillsides.

A Mediterranean climate, with pitiless sun, ocean winds, and a mishmash of architectural influences collected over the past centuries can offer inspiration for any landscape. See 10 garden ideas to steal from Portugal:

Azulejos

Since the 14th century, decorated tiles called azulejos have adorned facades, floors, benches, columns, and ceilings. In the garden, consider using patterned ceramic floor tiles on a patio to create the same anchoring effect as a rug. For more inspiration, see The New Outdoor Rug: Perfect Patterns for Tile Patios.

Loggias

The ancient Romans brought their architectural elements to Portugal, including covered corridors at ground level. Loggias can serve as shaded scenic overlooks in a hot climate.

Peristyle Gardens

Roman ruins at Conímbriga in central Portugal tell a story of garden design trends from nearly 2,000 years ago. Walls of precisely spaced columns edged the perimeters of courtyards, creating sheltered courtyards. Peristyle gardens, an idea borrowed from the colonnades built by the ancient Greeks, are calm oases even in the middle of a busy city. For more ways to create privacy, see The Cult of the Courtyard: 10 Backyard Ideas for Small Spaces.

Orange Trees

Along with Spain, Portugal has an ideal climate for growing oranges; Citrus sinensis thrives in regions with hot summers and mild winters.

In USDA growing zones 9 to 11, you too can grow orange trees in your garden. In other climates, you can grow potted citrus trees on a patio (bring them indoors to weather the winter). For more growing tips, see How to Keep an Indoor Citrus Tree Happy.

No-Water Landscapes

It may sound counter-intuitive, but one of the worst things you can do to a garden in a dry climate is to water it. By watering, “you may think you are making life easier while in fact all you’re doing is limiting the range of plants that can survive in your garden,” writes Olivier Filippi in Portugal Resident. “Automatic watering systems are one of the worst inventions of the modern Mediterranean gardener” because many plants “simply cannot tolerate the combination of heat and moisture. Irrigation during our blazing summers generally proves fatal to them.”

Ferro Forjado

From wrought iron balcony railings to forged iron fences, ornate and lacy metalwork is a common architectural feature in Portugal’s gardens. (In Portugal’s historically agricultural economy, ironworking, glass blowing, and textile production were 19th-century innovations.)

Introduce ironwork into a garden with a metal trellis, arbor, or pergola and train a vine to grow up it to soften the shape. See more in Everything You Need to Know About Arbors and 10 Easy Pieces: Arched Arbors.

Thermal Pools

Moorish “water tanks, which tend to be much larger in Portugal than the average garden pool, are another legacy left by the peninsula’s Arabic settlers. They are often built directly over a spring,” writes Helena Attlee in the Telegraph. “These tanks created a focal point in the garden, a place for relaxation and contemplation or livelier activities involving boats or fishing nets. Stone benches are sometimes set into the base of the wall and a shady pavilion often stands beside the water, or on an island at the centre of the pool.”

You can mimic the effect with a small pond or large fountain, and a stone bench.

Camellias

A 16th century import from Japan camellias arrived in Portugal to find growing conditions they liked. If you live in a similar warm climate, you can plant camellia bushes that will grow into small trees and create privacy hedge or visual punctuation in your garden. See more ideas in Camellias: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design.

Whimsical Topiary

Inject a note of whimsy with a fancifully shaped shrub. See more ideas in Boxwood Topiaries: 6 Tips for Trimming Shrubs from Niwaki’s Jake Hobson.

Window Boxes

Even if you don’t have a front garden, you still have a facade, don’t you? Window boxes filled with colorful, hardy plants such as red pelargoniums or planters with bougainvillea vines will greet passersby with a cheerful welcome. See more in Pelargoniums: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design.

If you’re designing a garden from scratch (or rehabbing an existing landscape), start with our curated guide to Garden Design 101. For more garden inspiration for Mediterranean climates, see:

• Lavenders: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design
• Pool of the Week: A Manmade Beach in the Portuguese Countryside
• Salvia: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design
• Outbuilding of the Week: Portugal’s Casas Na Areia

One downside of living in a big apartment building, as I do, is that most efforts at curb appeal are irrelevant: I can’t affix a charming house number to my door, and there would be no passersby to see it anyway.

But had I the chance to choose a calling card of sorts for my place, I would go for pared-back, dark, and simple house numbers. These handmade versions from Germany, recently spotted on Manufactum, fit the bill. Surprisingly, they’re made of the same material as Limoges porcelain. But delicate these are not: Finished in a dark charcoal, they’re timeless with a twist of character. Take a look.

In a multi-step manufacturing process, the material first is “vigorously compacted in gypsum molds by hand,” then “wrapped in blotting paper and gently weighted down.” As it dries, the porcelain shrinks about three percent. “Only when they are completely dry are the edges wiped carefully with a damp sponge before being bisque fired at 980 degrees Celsius, after which they are given a color glazing and then fired in the kiln at 1,300 degrees Celsius,” according to Manufactum. “The wiping down with the damp sponge beforehand serves as the first quality check, when even the finest cracks in the material are revealed.”

Add curb appeal with suggestions in Exteriors & Facades: A Design Guide in our Garden Design 101 guides. More house letters to choose from, for every style:

• Curb Appeal: 9 Quick Fixes with House Numbers
• 10 Easy Pieces: Modernist Metal House Numbers
• 10 Easy Pieces: Lighted House Numbers

Passionflower, Passiflora: Passion Vine

Passion vine can solve many problems in a landscape. Like a strategically placed dab of concealer on the face, vigorous fast growing vines can quickly beautify a garden while mitigating almost any fault. Rusty chain link fence got you down? Tumbledown compost heap turned into an eyesore? Need to make the neighbors’ amateur backyard auto repair shop disappear? Gardeners know the quickest, most politic way to solve those problems is almost always a bushy, rapidly extending vine. Not only will it curtain off the ugliness, it also will replace an eyesore with beauty while expanding the greenery in your garden to new heights.

If you are in the market for a vine, you would do well to consider the amazing Passiflora. It can adorn your landscape with robust foliage and unforgettable blooms that look like miniature ballerinas dressed in frilly, ornate tutus (with crowns of antennas on their tiny heads). Many of its species are fragrant and will produce attractive round or oval fruits with a delicious juicy edible center.

Is passionflower the right choice for your garden? Read on to learn everything you need to know about this fast-growing flowering vine.

My first glimpse of a passionflower came when I was a young teenager in Memphis, walking along the railroad track behind my house. There among the tangle of weeds and discarded junk I caught a glimpse of something round and pale lavender with a spiky fringe around its middle. It didn’t resemble any flower I had ever seen before and I wasn’t sure it was real. It wasn’t until many years later that I finally learned what I had come across.

The plant I saw that day was most certainly Passiflora incarnata or purple passionflower, which is actually a native of the Southeastern United States and is hardy in USDA growing zones 5 to 9. It is commonly called “maypop” because its hollow, yellow fruits will make a loud popping sound when crushed.

Other members of the Passifloraceae family, which contains more than 500 species including some shrubs and even trees, tend to be evergreen tendril-climbing vines originally found in Mexico and South America. Even if you select one of the tropical climbers that is not hardy in your climate, it will probably grow fast enough over the summer to give you good coverage and provide a satisfying flower display. Fruit production, however, can require a long growing season.

Cheat Sheet

• Passion vine is ideal for growing on walls, fences, and trellises.
• In areas where the vine is not hardy, it can be grown outdoors in a container in summer and taken inside to a bright spot out of direct sun during winter (when it should be watered sparingly).
• Avoid having a passionflower vine run rampant over other plants by attaching it to a trellis or wireframe. It can easily grow 20 feet or more a year.
• Prune the vines in the early spring to control growth, promote lush foliage, and increase flower and fruit production.
• The vine’s flowers, which bloom for only one day, do not need to be deadheaded. If they have not been fertilized they will drop of their own accord. If they have been fertilized, (possibly by a bee, wasp, bat, or hummingbird) a fruit will develop at the site of the spent flower.

Keep It Alive

• Most passionflower vines will grow as perennials in USDA zones 6 to 10 (and some varieties will thrive in zone 5 and zone 11, as well) and are happiest and most likely to flower planted in a bright spot with a minimum of four hours of daily sunlight.
• This plant is not fussy about soil but does prefer a well-drained growing medium that is rich in organic matter.
• Keep your plant well watered during the summer to facilitate robust flower and fruit production. The use of an organic mulch will help to keep the roots happily cool and moist.
• Passionflower is delicate, so locate it in a sheltered spot away from wind that can damage tender stems and cause leaf burn.

Within this species there are two forms, purple and yellow. They have somewhat different cultivation requirements and the fruits themselves are different, with the purple considered by many to be less acidic and more flavorful.

The most dramatic forms of passionflower are the bold red varieties. Passiflora coccinea is a tropical plant hardy in USDA zones 10 to 12. Its blooms are a brilliant fire-engine red and as large as three or four inches across.

The passionflower got its name, it is said, in the 16th century when it was discovered in the New World by Catholic Spanish explorers who associated the flowers’ fringed coronas with biblical references to Christ’s crown of thorns and the 10 petals as the 10 loyal apostles (ignoring both Peter and Judas as betrayers of Jesus). It is not known how the indigenous people, who had long used the plant and flower in herbal medicine as a sedative and a pain reliever, might have reacted to the Spaniards’ religious interpretation.

For more growing tips, see Passionflowers: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design in our curated guides to Vines & Climbers. Read more about vines.

• 9 Ways to Create Curb Appeal with Flowering Vines and Climbers
• A Vital Vine: 11 Best Varieties of Ivy
• Clematis: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design

While I was in the midst of a major home construction project and feeling pretty good about some of my recent design decisions, the stonemason arrived and asked how I’d like the bluestone deck to look. “There are choices?” I asked.

Until that moment I hadn’t realized there were a number of details to consider, such as color, pattern, texture, and edging. Somewhat panicked and hoping to buy time, I took a crash course in Pennsylvania bluestone so I could make informed decisions. Is bluestone the right material for your hardscaping project? Here’s what I learned.

Above: A pool surround, laid in an ashlar pattern, in Marin County, California; designed by Ken Linsteadt Architects.

What is Pennsylvania bluestone?

Pennsylvania bluestone is a dense, strong, fine-grained sandstone quarried in the northeastern United States, mostly in Pennsylvania and upstate New York. It is an excellent material for decks and patios as it resists cracking and won’t discolor. It easily can be separated into slabs of varying sizes, making it suitable for other architectural details such as steps, walls, building facades, interior floors, and fireplaces.

Bluestone has a distinctive hard-yet-soft quality that makes it very appealing. Its texture is rough enough to provide traction in the rain, yet it’s smooth and soft enough to lie upon and bask in the sun.

What colors and textures are available?

Due to different clays and mineral deposits carried by groundwater during the stone’s formation, Pennsylvania bluestone can vary from its predominantly silvery blue color to any combination of brown, tan, rust, green, and lilac. Full range color encompasses all shades. For a more even effect, select blue or blue-blue includes variations of the silvery blue color only.

There are two choices of texture: natural cleft or sawn thermal. A natural cleft surface is created when blocks of bluestone are sawn out of the ground and split on visible seams. The surface has a natural texture and is non-gauged, which means the thickness is approximate. Curly rippled texture is a variation on natural cleft.

Above: In this urban garden by Foras Studio, designer Susan Welti uses bluestone with a sawn thermal surface. This surface is achieved when blocks of bluestone are gauged to a specific thickness, wet down, and burned. The heat agitates the moisture, causing the stone to bubble. When the loose flakes are removed, a textured but smooth surface is revealed.

Above: A closeup view of gauged pavers with a thermaled surface. Photograph by Ellen Jenkins.

What patterns are available?

There are two general categories of patterns used for bluestone patios: An ashlar pattern combines squares, rectangles, and color variations, and a fieldstone pattern joins irregular shapes together in a random pattern.

Above: Fieldstone set in mortar. Photograph by Ellen Jenkins.

Above: Fieldstone set in sand. Photograph by Ellen Jenkins.

Above: A herringbone pattern in natural cleft, full color. Photograph by Ellen Jenkins.

Above: Natural cleft fieldstone set in gravel at the Shelter Island home of designers Jonathan Adler and Simon Doonan. Photograph by Vickie Cardaro.

Above: A sleek bluestone courtyard designed by Coen & Partners uses gauged, rectangular pavers.

What are some design considerations when planning a deck or patio?

The first thing to consider is location: Is your deck or patio raised or at ground level, attached to the house or set farther away in a more natural setting? If the patio is at ground level, you have the option of having it set in sand rather than mortar. Sand-set stone has the advantage of being permeable, but can also allow shifting, which may cause it to become uneven over the years, especially if your area has gophers that can burrow beneath (though measures can be taken during installation to prevent this).

If you’re planning a raised deck and the edges will be visible, you may want to put some thought into the texture and thickness of the edge. A chiseled or tumbled edge will achieve a softer look. If your style is more tailored, you may opt for a thermaled edge. I chose an edge that was thicker than the field pavers (two inches rather than one inch) to make the deck appear more substantial. This was achieved by creating a 12-by-18-inch-wide border (two inches thick) set one inch below the level of the field pavers.

This extra inch of thickness, as well as a slope for surface water drainage (figure a quarter of an inch per foot), needs to be planned for at the earliest design stages while setting the level of the deck.

How do you clean and maintain bluestone?

One of the great things about Pennsylvania bluestone is that it does not need to be sealed, and it can be cleaned easily with a soft scrub brush and water. Vinegar or lemon diluted in water can be used for tougher stains. Every few years, you may wish to power wash your bluestone deck. If you do, please don’t repeat the mistake we made when we power washed the deck on the strongest setting, using a concentrated spray that left swirling lines visible on the stone (though at least it was clean). No amount of scrubbing could fix the issue and it stayed this way for a year until a helpful handyman suggested power washing it again, this time on the correct setting. Problem fixed.

Efflorescence is a powdery white substance that can appear on the surface a few years after your bluestone is installed. This cosmetic problem is not unique to bluestone. It can occur in many masonry products and can be prevented by using certain additives in the mortar (it’s a good issue to discuss with your contractor).

How much does Pennsylvania bluestone cost?

Pennsylvania bluestone costs from $16 to $26 per square foot installed. Factors affecting price include the area where you live, the pattern, thickness, and any special fabrication.

Pennsylvania bluestone recap:

Pros:

• Flexible applications: can be used both indoors and out on a wide variety of surfaces.
• Hard surface yet soft feel.
• Versatile style: can be used in both modern and traditional spaces.
• Requires little maintenance.

Cons:

• Limited color options: blue/gray predominate.
• More expensive than other deck materials such as wood.
• Is thicker than many other deck/patio materials (which can be an issue with clearance below doors).
• Does not adhere well to mortar alone: requires a thinset.

Above: A serene bluestone patio and home designed by Ken Linsteadt Architects; full color bluestone in an ashlar pattern.

Ready to embark on a remodel of your own? Start with our curated Hardscape 101 design guides for Decks & Patios 101, Pavers 101, and Driveways 101. Read more:

• Hardscaping 101: Poured-in-Place Concrete
• 10 Easy Pieces: Patio Pavers
• Hardscaping 101: Designing a Front Path
•  10 Mistakes to Avoid When You Remodel
• Hardscaping 101: Ground Covers to Plant Between Pavers

As much as I like working in my garden, what I really love is watching others work—squirrels furtively ferrying nuts to hideouts, bees on a tight schedule in the lemon tree, ants with plans. A comfortable garden bench is key to my surveillance efforts. Here are 10 wood garden benches (with deep seats and armrests) to keep you in the garden all afternoon.

Above: Danish designer Povl Eskildsen’s teak wooden Windsor Bench measures approximately 63 inches long (also available in a shorter length). For more information and prices, see Solpuri.

Above: Made in Italy, a teak Notting Hill Garden Bench is about 60 inches long and comes in a choice of finish (either pickled or natural teak). For more information and US distributors, see Ethimo.

Above: Designed by Aurelian Barbry for Skagerak, a Plank Bench 144 is about 57 inches long; $1,281 at Finnish Design Shop.

Above: A teak Sahara Garden Bench is 47 inches long; $599.99 at All Modern.

Above: From Scandinavian designer Skagerak, a teak Drachmann Bench with a cross-back design is 65 inches long; $1,699 at Horne.

Above: From Danish designer Povl Eskildsen, a Kingston Teak Bench is 52.5 inches long and 24.5 inches deep; for more information and pricing, see Gloster.

Above: With simple, modern lines, a Monaco Teak Outdoor Garden Seat from British designer Barlow Tyrie measures 47.25 inches long and is $1,995 from Didrik’s.

Above: A 46-inch Lancaster Eucalyptus Wood Garden Bench is $179.95 from Wayfair.

Above: An acacia wood Applaro two-seat bench is 48 1/8 inches long, available in brown or white; $90 at Ikea.

Above: A stackable Slatted Teak Stacking Bench is 63 inches wide; $998 from Terrain.

Before you choose outdoor furnishings, see our curated design guide to Decks & Patios in our Garden Design 101 section. For more reasons to lounge around outdoors, see:

• World’s Best Outdoor/Indoor Teak Furniture.
• The Gardenista 100: Outdoor Sofas.
• 10 Easy Pieces: Nap-Worthy Hammocks.

Pinks, Dianthus: “Savior of Sissinghurst”

Consider the “vast tribe of pinks, or Dianthus,” as the legendary English plantswoman Vita Sackville-West did when planting out the next season’s flower beds in her Sissinghurst Castle gardens.

“There are few plants more charming, traditional, or accommodating,” Sackville-West believed. “They make few demands. Sun-lovers, they like a well-drained and rather gritty soil; and if you can plant them with a generous supply of mortar rubble, they will be as happy as the years are long,”

And to think—I recently got rid of all my mortar rubble. From the pinks’ perspective, digging up enough big ugly chunks to fill two Dumpsters was a waste of time. The foxgloves seem happier, though.

But back to Dianthus. Although the horticultural name is synonymous with a certain sort of frilly, candy-colored flower with five petals that we commonly call pinks, it is useful to remember that Dianthus is also a genus of plants. Within this taxonomic category also live many cultivars of carnations (which belong to the species D. caryophyllus) as well as sweet William (a species of biennial pink popular for its ability to withstand colder temperatures).

Most pinks add a frothy layer of pink, white, candy-stripe, or red color at knee level and can be grown either as annuals (in USDA growing zones colder than 5) or as short-lived perennials, which one supposes means they really would prefer to be treated annuals even in warmer climates.

Are pinks a good choice for your garden? Of course they are—if they were good enough for Vita Sackville-West, they’re good enough for us. Read on to learn which species is best for you.

Above: D. plumarius in bloom in France. Photograph by Nicolas Gent via Flickr.

The species Dianthus plumarius is the one you’ll see most often. Nicknamed common pink or garden pink, it is typically a low-growing, front-of-the-border plant that will shower you with flowers. Use it as a ground cover in a sunny, well-drained spot.

Above: D. chinensis. Photograph by Bastus917 via Flickr.

Native to Asia and parts of Russian, Dianthus chinensis is known as a China pink. With many cultivars, its flowers can be pink (is it redundant to even point that out?), white, or red.

Above: D. alpinus blooming in Sweden. Photograph by Madeleine and Magnus via Flickr.

On to Alpine pinks. The species Dianthus alpinus is a low-growing herb native to Austria that will form a tight carpet (just a few inches high), which makes it an effective ground cover and a charming addition to a rock garden.

Above: D. barbatus. Photograph by Nicolas Gent via Flickr.

Sweet William grows taller than many other pinks and generally blooms in tight, explosive clusters of flowers. (In the photo above, you can see the tightly packed flower buds.) Flower colors can vary depending on cultivar, from white or pale pink to deep purple with stripes.

Above: Dianthus chinensis. Photograph by Sarah Ivey Rock via Flickr.

Another frilly cultivar of D. chinensis—this one with coloring you can’t ignore.

Above: Dianthus chinensis, Photograph by A. Yee via Flickr.

You can see how the growing habit of D. chinensis is different from sweet William; instead of tight-packed balls of blossoms, the flowers of the pinks in the photo above have a longer stem and are set off individually by cushions of foliage.

Above: Perennials in USDA zones 5 to 9, Dianthus ‘Mrs. Sinkins’ grows to a height of about 12 inches. Seeds are available seasonally (a packet is $5); see more information at Select Seeds.

Cheat Sheet

• For a fragrant flower edging a path, it’s hard to beat the cheerfully white Dianthus ‘Mrs. Sinkins’.
• Dianthus caesius, known colloquially as cheddar pink, “is almost as heavily scented as Mrs. Sinkins herself, and as easy to grow,” writes Sackville-West.
• Encourage repeat blooms by deadheading pinks after they finish flowering.

Keep It Alive

• Pinks prefer well-drained, fluffy soil (dig in sand or compost to lighten clay).
• In growing zones where pinks are perennials, you still should plant to replace them every two to three years (to avoid a straggly, tattered look).
• Pinks require at least six hours a day of sun and will reward you with more flowers if you give them more light.

For more growing tips, see Dianthus: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design in our curated guide to Annuals 101. Read more:

• Carnations: Rethinking a Supermarket Flower
• Container Gardening: Sarah Raven’s 7 Tips for Perfect Flower Pots
• Truffaut-Inspired Colored Carnations

Making sun tea is kind of like cheating. In the best way. It sounds fancy and tastes delicious, but requires less effort than you’d think. Our summer goddess sun tea recipe is from natural beauty expert Jessa Blades. It’s a bright, floral variation on the iced tea you’re probably already drinking. Sweetened with a brown sugar and chamomile syrup and packed with vitamin C-rich hibiscus and rose petals, this version is as tasty as it is nutritional. It’s also a showstopper.

Photography by Erin Boyle.

Above: Dried hibiscus and rose petals make a ruby-colored sun tea.

Above: Jessa blends equal parts dried rose and hibiscus flowers to make summer goddess tea.

Above: Leave the tea in a sunny window or a fire escape for an hour or two to steep.

Above: Dried chamomile flowers are used for making a floral-scented simple syrup that sweetens the tea.

Above: Organic brown sugar is a healthier alternative to refined white sugar, which is typically used in simple syrups.

Above: Chamomile flowers steep in the simple syrup.

Above: Strain syrup into a clean container and keep refrigerated.

Summer Goddess Sun Tea

• Equal parts dried rose and hibiscus flowers, blended
• 1 to 3 teaspoons of flowers per 8 ounces of water

Brew sun tea by leaving a jar of water and flower petals in a sunny window for an hour or two. The hibiscus imparts its flavor quickly, so the tea doesn’t take long to brew. A caveat: there’s some risk of bacteria growth when making sun tea. If you think you’ll leave your tea out for more than a couple of hours, consider brewing it overnight in the refrigerator instead, or making it the old-fashioned way with boiling water. If you use boiling water, pour it over dried flowers, cover, and let sit for 10 minutes before straining.

Brown Sugar Chamomile Syrup

• 1 cup organic brown sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup dried chamomile flowers

In a medium saucepan combine sugar and water. Bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and add chamomile flowers and cover with a lid. Jessa likes to add one cup of flowers for a strong chamomile flavor. If you prefer a subtler flavor, add just a half cup of flowers. Allow to cool and then strain into a clean container and enjoy. Syrup can be refrigerated for up to one month.

Are you looking for more healthy recipes for summer? Browse our Plant Based Diet archives and read more:

• Tisanes: Easy Teas You Can Grow, with 7 Tips from Emily Erb of Leaves & Flowers
• Plant-Based Diet: 5 Veggie Substitutes for Pasta
• 10 Ideas to Steal from Chefs’ Gardens Around the World
• Spice Kit: How to Grow Ginger, Turmeric, and Cardamom at Home

Small spaces can feel spacious with a few clever design ideas. This week the Remodelista investigated visual tricks to “move” walls, discovered simple furniture silhouettes, and found corner sinks to fit a tiny bath. See their favorite five small-space design ideas to steal:

Dried Flowers

Above: Along the exposed brick wall: imperfect and ad-hoc bundles of dried flowers at Davelle restaurant in NYC. Photograph by Arata Takabatake.

“A magic thing about New York is the way that, every now and then, you stumble upon a little jewel box—a room, a restaurant—on a side street, behind an innocuous storefront, where you least expect it,” writes Annie. Inside she finds a fresh way to use dried flowers and nine other design ideas to steal from New York’s Newest, Tiniest Jewelbox Restaurant.

Simple Wood Furniture

Above: Says Meredith: the Mysa Bed has a low profile and a midcentury-modern feel and is made of solid white oak with acacia and pine slats. It’s available in full, queen, and king, ranging in price from $780 to $980.

For flat-packed furniture that’s “clean-lined, some midcentury-inspired, and each piece takes less than 15 minutes to assemble at home,” see this week’s Furniture post.

Wainscoting

Above: Wainscoting can add character and depth to a room and mimic the look of paneling (without the panels). See more at Urban Sanctuary: The Margot House in Barcelona.

See this week’s Remodeling 101 post for A Quick Guide to Chair Rails, Picture Rails, and Wainscoting.

Corner Sinks

Above: The vintage-inspired Duravit 1930 Handrinse Basin Corner is $334 at Supply.

“When remodeling an extra-small bathroom—say a guest bath or under-stairs powder room—sometimes all you have is a corner to work with,” writes Alexa. See a roundup of our favorite corner sinks in this week’s 10 Easy Pieces post.

Leather Trays

Above: A Change Is Good Tray is handmade in Los Angeles of vegetable-tanned leather that’s molded, stitched, and branded by Billykirk for Ace Hotel; $35.

Corral spare coins, keys, rubber bands, guitar picks, and other flotsam on a tray. Suddenly a mess is transformed into a vignette.

Corydalis, Corydalis: “Bird in a Bush”

Shaped like the head of a crested lark (according to the ancient Greeks), corydalis flowers have a flitting, temporary look. They come and go all summer but the evergreen, filigree foliage is an indication of the plant’s permanence: once it chooses your piece of wall, gravel or shady patch, you’ve got it for good.

Photography by Jim Powell, for Gardenista.

Above: Corydalis ochroleuca, with more sedate colors than its relation, yellow fumitory.

Common names for corydalis include fumewort and yellow fumitory, although it is only distantly related to fumitory (Fumaria) within the Papavereae family. It bears a passing resemblance to bleeding hearts or fern, in its leaves. Flowers aside, the finely traced foliage of corydalis makes this a good ground cover plant. There are two main types, those that spread mainly by tubers, for instance C. solida and the seed propagating types, such as C. cheilanthifolia and famous yellow fumitory, Corydalis lutea.

Apparently people do sow yellow fumitory from seed but usually it just arrives. The white version—C. ochroleuca—is a more cautious choice, its neutrality making it a good companion to almost anything.

Above: Evergreen Corydalis cheilanthifolia at the Oxford Botanic Garden.

The other bright yellow corydalis, C. cheilanthifolia, is more dramatic, grown for its fern-like foliage and 8-inch spires of flowers. It spreads by seed and its leaves, tinged bronze in spring, make a good contrast in a woodland carpet.

Above: Corydalis ochroleuca, at the Oxford Botanic Garden.

Although corydalis is said to prefer shade and moisture, this is belied by its habit of seeding in crevices, in full sunshine. Like foxgloves, on close terms with walls and cracks in paving, it is the drainage that is most important, and a temperate climate (it is hardy to USDA zone 5).

Above: Mauve corydalis and blue brunnera make a spring ground cover.

Corydalis solida has an array of flower colors, including red, white and purple. At the Oxford Botanic Garden, its leaves make a ground tapestry with silvery brunnera and the arrowheads of arum, as well as hart’s tongue fern and emerging tulips, interspersed with yew topiary.

Above: Corydalis solida (fumewort) at the Oxford Botanic Garden.

Cheat Sheet

• Corydalis is generally evergreen, flowering periodically through spring and summer, before going dormant at the height of summer.
• The flowers can work with a spring palette, and the leaves a useful ground cover later in the season.
• Corydalis can be invasive. With named species, why not stick to recommended varieties such as C. solida ‘George Baker’ (red) and ‘Dieter Schacht’ (mauve, shown here) which have awards of garden merit from the Royal Horticultural Society? The tubular flowers of C. flexuosa ‘China Blue’ are a clear azure.

Above: Gravel appreciation. Yellow fumitory makes itself at home underneath my wormery, with lady’s mantle and wild strawberry.

Keep It Alive

• Corydalis grows in any type of well-drained soil, in a sheltered or exposed place. Sun to dappled shade preferred.
• Snails and slugs enjoy its cool, leafy shelter. Turn this to your advantage by checking through, just as you might look under a pot.
• The charm of common corydalis or yellow fumitory is generally appreciated in informal gardens but a little goes a long way and some editing, or thinning, will be required with these self-seeders.

Above: Corydalis lutea, meaning “yellow crested lark” in Greek and Latin.

Looking for a ground cover that thrives in shade? See our curated guides to Ground Covers 101, including Sweet Woodruff, Solomon’s Seal, and Hosta. For more ferny plants that look good under trees, see:

• Architects’ Secrets: The Best Plants to Grow Beneath a Tree
• Earth Inc. in Toronto: A River Runs Through It
• Hardscaping 101: Ground Covers to Plant Between Pavers
• Announcing Our New Guide to Ground Covers

Staying in the city this weekend? Here are a few ways to escape and stay cool—plus more, on our radar.

Above: How to grow strawberries in even the tiniest patch… plus, a recipe for a strawberry shrub cocktail. Read on in one from the archives: Tiny Gardens: 66 Square Feet for Alpine Strawberries in NYC.

• There’s only one week left to enter the Gardenista Considered Design Awards, for a chance to win a $500 gift card to Schoolhouse and a feature on Gardenista. Take a look at this year’s submissions here, then get your photos ready and enter. (Have an interiors or organization project? Enter on Remodelista or The Organized Home.)
• Have you read Michelle’s story about the latest interior design trend—call it houseplant haute—in the Wall Street Journal?
• Annie is stopping into some of New York’s hidden pocket gardens this weekend, starting with Saint Luke in the Fields, with ivy-covered walls, hundred-year-old trees, and climbing roses, all tucked away on Hudson Street.
• In the news: lawn-mowing Samaritans.
• Michelle’s weekend read: a beach book for gardeners. (And fans of Penelope Lively.)
• Staying in the city? Consider an urban hike. For New Yorkers, head to Williamsburg’s new waterside park, this hidden forest, or take our Brooklyn Bridge Park walk. In San Francisco, meander through this eucalyptus forest—the city’s best-kept secret. And in Paris, a walk best taken at sunset.

And, upcoming plant swaps around the world:

• June 16 in Omaha, NE.
• June 21 in Chicago, IL: Queer Plant Swap.
• June 21 in Hillsborough, NC: Backyard Butterflies Open House & Plant Swap.
• June 23 in Metz, France.

(Stopping in? Share your finds with us on Instagram by tagging #gardenista and #gdplantswap.)

Recently in Obsessions:

• Current Obsessions: In Bruges
• Current Obsessions: Seaside
• Current Obsessions: Into Summer

“Lilies as a group are very difficult,” wrote the late, great gardening writer Henry Mitchell. “What is especially difficult and infuriating about lilies is that they will grow like virtual weeds and bring on a great flush of triumph and, alas, hubris. Then they totally disappear or steadily decline, despite much activity and bustle with the leaf mold, aphid sprays, and urgent prayers.”

Consider yourself warned.

But note that lily’s fickle nature did not prevent Mitchell from loving lilies—or from cosseting them in his own garden in Washington, D.C. “Have them flower a year or two, and when they dwindle away (as they certainly will with anything less than first-rate drainage) you can pretend you got inferior bulbs.”

And oh, what a summer show lilies will put on in the garden during their short, sweet lifespans. From delicate, dangling earring flowers of martagon lilies (as shown above) to the heady perfume of Oriental lilies (not to mention the showy colorful flowers of Asiatic lilies), why not plant a few varieties and hope for success?

With nearly 100 species of Lilium, how to choose? Read on for growing and plant care tips:

Martagon Lily

Above: Martagon lily is known informally as the Turk’s cap lily, a reference to the curling shape of its petals. Photograph by Soube via Flickr.

With stalks that can reach heights of five feet and be heavy with dozens of dangling flowers, martagon lilies faded in popularity during the Victorian era when adventurous explorers discovered dramatic Asian lilies with enormous flowers and brought them home to Europe. The delicacy of the flowers on martagon lilies make them excellent companions in a flower bed, where they won’t try to overwhelm their neighbors with showiness.

See more ideas for using martagon lilies on a shady slope in 10 Ideas to Steal from the Romantic Gardens at Kiftsgate Court.

How to Plant Lilies:

• Well-drained soil is a must. Add compost or amendments to clay to make it fluffier.
• Plant lilies in groups or three or five, or seven bulbs for greater impact.
• Neutralize acidic soil by digging in some lime before you plant lily bulbs.
• Ignore the advice to plant lilies in autumn. Order them to plant in March (or whenever the soil thaws in your growing zone) to avoid having the bulbs sit in wet ground over the winter.

Oriental Lily

Above: Oriental lily. Photograph by Takashi M via Flickr.

Oriental lilies can reach stately heights (up to 6 feet) and can be excellent anchors in the back of a flowr border in July and August. Colors can range from pure white to splotched (with red or pink) to shades of reds and pinks. Their petals curve outward, inviting you to bend down to catch the scent of their perfume. For an unusual gray Oriental lily (‘Silver Scheherazade’) and other gray flowers, see 10 Easy Pieces: Gray Flowers.

Star Gazer Lily

Above: Star Gazer  is a florist’s favorite, a fragrant Oriental lily. Photograph by Takashi M via Flickr.

Star Gazer Oriental Lily Bulbs currently are on sale for $8.99 for a bag of three (a 50 percent discount) at American Meadows.

Asiatic Lily

Above: Asiatic lilies blooming in a garden in Tennessee. Photograph by A. Yee via Flickr.

Asiatic lilies are scentless, which differentiates them from fragrant Oriental lilies. They can grow to heights of 6 feet and have large, showy flowers that bloom in vivid colors including orange, yellow, peach, and red.

Easter Lily

Above: Lilium longiflorum is commonly known as the Easter lily. Photograph by A. Yee via Flickr.

The American philanthropist Bunny Mellon grew beds full of Asiatic lilies in the gardens of her sprawling, 2,000-acre Virginia estate, Oak Spring Farms. See more of the planting scheme in Garden Visit: Bunny Mellon at Oak Spring Farms.

Formosa Lily

Above: Formosa lilies. For more of this garden, see Rehab Diary: A Year in the Life of a Brooklyn Garden. Photograph by Marie Viljoen.

Formosa lilies are especially valuable as late bloomers which you can count on to flower from August to October when other perennials are flagging in the heat.  Their large, trumpet-shaped flowers can be as large as 10 inches.

Trumpet Lily

Above: An orange Leopard Lily (Lilium henryi) can grow as high as 8 feet. Photograph by Odonata98 via Flickr.

Hardy in USDA growing zones 4 to 9, trumpet lilies like full sun and well-draining soil.

For a tall, orange trumpet lily that will thrive in the summer garden, Lilium Henryi is $19.95 for three bulbs from White Flower Farm.

Regal Lily

Above: Lilium regale is a trumpet lily. For more of this garden, see My Brooklyn Garden Rehab: 1,000 Square Feet, Season Two. Photograph by Marie Viljoen.

Daylilies

Above Daylilies in bloom in the gardens at Sissinghurst Castle in England. For more, see Garden Visit: Vita’s Sunset Garden. Photograph by Kendra Wilson.

Despite a similar appearance to their flowers, daylilies are not lilies. They belong to Hemerocallis genus (not Lilium). But that didn’t stop Vita Sackville-West from planting daylilies at Sissinghurst and it shouldn’t stop you.

For more growing tips, see Lily: A Field Guide in our Garden Design 101 guides to Perennials and Bulbs & Tubers. Read more:

• Landscape Ideas: 9 Flowers to Add Color to a Garden
• 10 Things to Do in the Garden in June
• Salvias: Late-Season Saviors in the Garden
• Not a lily: Calla Lily: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design

Mild winters, cool summers, and flat stretches of landscape bordered by sandy shoreline characterize the growing conditions that gardeners in Denmark contend with. Wildly varied seasonal fluctuations in daylight (in Copenhagen the longest day of the year has 17 hours and 15 minutes of daylight and the shortest, in winter, only six hours and 44 minutes of sunlight) also create challenges.

Danish gardens are refined, with quiet style and an emphasis on structure, form, and foliage. Here are 10 garden ideas to steal from Denmark:

Bamboo Hedges

Above: A hedge of Pseudosasa japonica (arrow bamboo) starts to leaf out just a few inches above the ground to create a dense curtain. Trimmed precisely, it still manages to have a casual, shaggy air in the garden at Bertrams Guldsmeden hotel in Copenhagen.

Arrow bamboos are smaller (reaching heights of up to 15 feet if left to their own devices) and can thrive in colder climates (USDA growing zones 7 to 11) than some of their cousins in the bamboo grass family. Although arrow bamboos are running bamboos that spread underground, they are less invasive than many other bamboo species.

See more growing tips (and cautionary advice) about how to embrace bamboo without letting it smother you in Bamboo: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design.

Kolonihaver

Above: Kolonihaver in Denmark often have a little house—a kolonihavehus—as well as with garden plots. Photograph by Tom Lund via Flickr.

Kolonihaver is the Danish word for “colony gardens,” the equivalent of the allotments you see in England and community garden plots in the United States. Since the advent of 19th-century industrialization, the communal gardens divided into individual plots have been a popular way to escape from crowded urban centers. In Europe, rental allotments can become a social center to everyday life (or at least to weekend life); see more in Germany’s Rent-a-Gardens.

Rødkløver

Above: A European native, red clover (Trifolium pratense) is grown widely in Denmark as a feed crop. Photograph by Andreas Rockstein via Flickr.

A pollinator-friendly perennial plant, red clover makes a good companion to alfalfa and oats. Its flower heads are also widely used for medicinal purposes although studies of its effects have shown no clear benefits to humans, according to the NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.

Boardwalks

Above: Narrow and long, stone paver strips mimic the look and feel of a beach boardwalk in the garden at Bertrams Guldsmeden hotel in Copenhagen.

Boardwalk style is casual; it brings to mind sandy beaches, ice cream cones, and sunburnt shoulders. You can create a similar effect in a garden with a temporary, rollout walkway. See our favorite inexpensive and portable boardwalks in 10 Easy Pieces: Wooden Walkways.

Red Tile Roofs

Above: A red roof adds color to a landscape in Tejn on the northeastern coast of the island of Bornholm. Photograph by Lars Plougmann via Flickr.

Architectural elements can add year-round color to a landscape as surely as evergreen foliage. Red tile roofs, popular in Denmark since the 19th century, are equally striking in clusters in a town or on their own, surrounded by a landscape of golden grasses or against the blue backdrop of the sea. See more inspiration in Hardscaping 101: Red Clay Roofs.

Gudmund Nyeland Brandt

Above: An aerial view of gardens in Ordrup, north of Copenhagen, near where garden designer G.N. Brandt lived. Photograph by Lars Plougmann via Flickr.

The son of a gardener in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, in the early 20th centuryDanish garden designer Gudmund Nyeland Brandt designed modernist landscapes that also celebrated the nation’s sandy stretches of shoreline, meadows, and scrubby forests.

“What people are looking for in flowers, and the reasons why they cultivate them may be so different; some people are particularly fond of the purely decorative effect of the flower beds, while others are in a completely different intimate relationship with the plants, and especially appreciate the individual’s beauty and all vegetarian life,” wrote author Brandt in Stauder. “For the latter, the perennials are the plants that more than anyone else expresses the appearance of the dawn and the seasons.”

Follow Brandt’s lead in your own garden: soften sharp corners with spills of flowers. Before you plant wild drifts of perennials, make a scale drawing of the space so you can understand the underlying geometry.

Tranquility

Above: A shallow water feature at the Royal Library Garden in Copenhagen creates a peaceful atmosphere. Photograph by Bogdan Shuba via Flickr.

A copper sculpture is also a mesmerizing fountain in the Royal Library Garden in Copenhagen. Nothing is lovelier than the peaceful sound of running water in a garden. See more ideas in Everything You Need to Know About Fountains.

White Wisteria

Above: White wisteria. Photograph by Jean Jones via Flickr.

White wisteria grows on arches that frame the pathway that leads to the Paradehuset greenhouse at the Royal Danish Horticultural Society’s Garden in Copenhagen. For more see Wisteria: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design.

Half-Timbered Architecture

Above: A half-timbered house with a red tile roof (and modern skylights). Photograph by Lars Plougmann via Flickr.

With their structural support beams visible, half-timbered houses (a common sight in Denmark since the Middle Ages) are commonly whitewashed, created a strongly geometric backdrop for a garden. If the facade of your house has similarly strong lines, create a looser look in flower beds to soften the effect of the architecture. Think: wildflowers, vines, and shaggy hedges and shrubs.

For ideas on how to soften the look of boxwood hedges, see Boxwood: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design.

Rustic Backdrops

Above: With rambling paths, small lakes, specimen trees, and tranquil expanses of green space, Frederiksberg Gardens conveys a modern romanticism. Photograph by Lisa Risager via Flickr.

The lesson Frederiksberg Gardens in Copenhagen offers to the rest of us is it’s possible to use a restrained palette and layered texture to create a hazy, romantic landscape that promises a view in the distance.

If you’re designing a landscape from scratch (or updating an existing garden), start with our Garden Design 101 guides. Read more:

• Stylish Planters from Copenhagen, by Way of Tuscany
• 10 Garden Ideas to Steal from Scandinavia
• Studio Visit: Slow Ceramics from Tortus Copenhagen

The idea of turning retired boat sails into sun shades, shower curtains, and other useful things initially blew me away. That was about five years ago. Many giant sail tote sightings later, the concept seemed gimmicky and questionable: did anyone need such unwieldy bags and were real sails actually being recycled?  That was until Francesca and I happened upon the Dvelas display at New York’s ICFF last month.

Led by architect Enrique Kahle, the Pamplona, Spain-based company has been turning old sails into inventive (if pricey) outdoor furniture since 2011. Each piece comes with a reassuring “traceability tag” noting the original port home, sail type, and number of the boat it came from. More important, the new uses for the material feel both timeless and fresh, perhaps because, as Kahle says, “sailing techniques and the intrinsic qualities of the sailcloth” are the inspiration, “as is, of course, the sea and its poetry.” Here’s their latest plus a few greatest hits, all shown on the Spanish coast. Dvelas, take us away.

Above: The Butterfly chair‘s nautical cousin: the Trimmer Club Chair, $1,600, is a combination of stitched sailcloth, powder-coated steel, and taut rope. The brass and rope Garrucho Hangers  in the background make use of recovered bronze carabiners—see the details in A New Storage System from the Sea.

All of the designs and specs are on the Dvelas site and available from retailers throughout Europe, Australia, and Japan. The US distributor is Couture Outdoor of Southampton, NY, which sells to the trade and the public (in cases where prices aren’t included here, inquire with Couture Outdoor directly).

Above: Cunningham Armchairs come in a black-stained and natural finish; $1,120 and $1,020. Like all of Dvelas’s wooden designs, they have foldable frames of marine plywood with sycamore support bars. The Dinghy Table A is from a just-launched line of birch plywood folding tables with tops of sailcloth hardened with fiberglass resin

Above: The Crew Dining Chair is $650 in a natural finish. Dvelas washes all of its sails and re-waterproofs them before using them in their designs, which are all fabricated in their Pamplona workshop.

Above: The collapsible—and easily portable—Coy Daybed, $1,200, was inspired by sailor’s hammocks.

Above: Ris Low Stools are $460 in natural and $480 in black. (There are also counter- and bar-stool versions of the Ris.)

Above: The ingenious Fortuna design, $290, has a wooden support that sinks into the sand. When not in use, the sailcloth rolls up into a rope-tied package with the legs stored in the sleeve at the bottom.

Above: One of Dvelas’s greatest hits, the Vaurien Floating Lounger, $1,850, has an inner airbed and built-in sun protection courtesy of its fiberglass-enforced curved sail.

Have a sail you’re getting rid of? Dvelas is ready to talk. The company is also open to making custom designs and is currently working with the Volvo Ocean Cup Race’s Abu Dhabi sails.

Here are more clever uses for recycled sails:

• A Shady Solution: Sails as Awnings
• 13 Summer Essentials Made from Recycled Sails

Browse our archive for more Outdoor & Patio Furniture ideas.