Birdbath in NE Portland Garden

As time passes after the installation of your garden, plant maintenance becomes more important. You may have questions on how best to manage certain plants. It's suggested we get together every six months to a year to address management questions. We can even prune together to illustrate recommended care.

From my clients ...

"You've really helped me to move towards a yard that I am starting to love more and more."

— Carmen R.,
NE Portland

In some cases, I can provide small-scale ornamental pruning services or recommend other professionals. Mulching techniques, methods for dividing perennials, taking cuttings of favorite plants, suggestions for in-fill plants, weed suppression techniques, methods for maintaining ornamental grasses, shrubs and perennials most efficiently and for best performance, how to manage a young tree's growth as it matures are all examples of what we can discuss during a follow-up consultation.

Whether we're working together to develop a garden plan over time, or a Master Plan has been drawn up to be installed all at once by a professional, the nature of the garden is growth and change. As gardens get older they often require 'strategic editing' to make the pieces of the garden puzzle continue to fit together in a graceful and majestic way:

From my clients ...

"... I'm watching some birds eat berries from the Rowan and Serviceberry trees. The Echinacea is just beginning to bloom. The Spirea has just been a wild kaleidoscope of different colors over the last three months; for a while, it looked like a different plant every few days."

— Cathy S.,
SW Portland

• Trees and shrubs get larger, providing more shade than they did initially;
• Some plants will thrive and some may not due to your property's specific microclimate conditions;
• Your eye will prefer some types of plant growth to others, and you'll discover new families of plants that now interest you;
• Some plants will need to be relocated, divided or removed as maintenance requirements change.

In short, you'll mature as a gardener.

One of the great challenges to a garden designer is to find the balance between creating a garden that is instantly satisfying and beautiful at installation with one that has plants spaced well and is coherent 10 years or more from that time. The answer to that dilemma is to continually modify your garden as your plants mature.

To make an appointment for a consultation about the current needs of your garden, contact me here.