How is your garden growing?  Now is the perfect time to plant for next year’s Spring Garden.  I highly encourage you to visit one of our local nurseries.  Here are just a few I tend to visit.  Colesville Nursery has an extensive inventory of native plants, knowledgeable staff, and great online resources for easy ordering.  Cross Creek Nursery has beautiful plants, sample gardens, and wonderful staff to help you get started.   My car often finds itself pulling into Sneed’s Nursery for a plant fix and it is my favorite place to get inspired with new plant combinations.  The staff is so great! And I have to mention… An afternoon spent hunting perennials and cruising around in a golf cart at Sandy’s Plants is a day well spent.  I highly recommend visiting a plant nursery to purchase your plants rather than a big box store.  You will receive expert help and tips from our local nurseries.  And these are just a few!  Visit whoever is closest to you.  Hot Tip:  Not sure what to plant? Bring a picture of your pot or plot to your local nursery.  And before you go, know your sunlight needs.  If you would like a customized approach, I would love to help you demystify plant selections and create a planting design just for you. 

Due to my current obsession with meadow gardens, I would love to lead you in a magical meditation.  Let’s imagine your garden abuzz with birds, butterflies, and bees.  Grasses sway in the backlight of the setting sun, aglow with dappled light.  Hummingbirds and butterflies flit about the flowers.  Intrigued? Do you have a sunny area in your garden with 6-8 hours of sunlight? Average soil?  I invite you to experience the magic of flowering meadows that evoke the romance and beauty of open wild spaces.  Modern meadow gardens feature lower grasses and perennials that fit into our current landscapes.  Even though the habitat is shorter in stature, it provides MIGHTY ecological benefits.  Not too big, not too small, this is a Goldilocks plan for you.  Say yes! 

Click here to download your own Modern Meadow Garden Plant Design and Plant Palette.  

Your Modern Meadow Garden Design is inspired by Kristin O’Connor’s landscape design featured in Richmond’s Modern Home Tour.  Her upper slope is planted with textural grasses and colorful blooms that soften in the glow of the golden hour. Featured Native Grasses include: Panicum virgatum 'Heavy Metal’ Blue Switch Grass, Panicum virgatum ‘Ruby Ribbons’ Switch Grass,  Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’ Switch Grass, and Muhlenbergia capillaris ‘Pink Cloud’ Muhly Grass.  

Perennial and annual native wildflowers seeds were added to provide colorful blooms and food sources for local pollinators and birds.  Some of her favorites include: Black-Eyed Susans, Blazing Star, Coreopsis, Purple Coneflower, Cosmos, Sweet William, and Blue Flax. I love this seed mix from Vermont Wildflowers and you can use this in the Fall or Spring to add some Meadow vibes to your garden.  Click here for the link to the native seed mix.  Would you like your own Immersive Garden Design?  I would love to help you demystify plant selections and create a garden just for you.  I am now booking for November consultations.   

If you would like to experience the magic of a meadow garden in real time, please visit Richmond’s Low Line Garden running under the train trestles along the James River.  This transformative garden, created and maintained by Capital Trees, is a feast for the eyes and our pollinators.  A walk here will reset your nervous system and that is a magical thing.