Today’s postcard from Mother Nature speaks to just two of the benefits of rain.

My guest on The Garden Lady on May 4th was garden designer Andrew Fisher Tomlin.  He’s the author of The Modern Professional Planting Designer. For professionals and serious amateurs, this is a comprehensive, amazing book. 

Also mentioned on The Garden Lady was my recent visit to Chanticleer Gardens in PA. I was struck by their very creative use of sticks and pruned branches. They piled these around a central post, creating structures that resemble haystacks or bee skeps. If you have a large enough property, this is brilliant! It keeps everything on the property, provides shelter for wildlife, and is ornamental as well. There were many creative ideas to be had at this “Pleasure Garden.” The featured image of the pot with floating spring flowers was taken there too. You need to go. As I often say when I speak, “If you can go to one public garden in your life, make it Chanticleer.”  Although please do not stop at one. Coastal Maine Botanical Garden, The Chicago Botanical Garden, The Tuscan Botanical Garden… all must-see treasures. 

As we all know, things are appealing in groups of three, and there were three of these ornamental/functional brush piles near the greenhouse at Chanticleer.

A 4×4 put into the ground stabilizes the pile, and the clippings and brush are pilled up around it in a mound.