Inspiring Garden Design: A Lake Forest Garden Mecca

To refer to the North Shore of Chicago as a “a garden mecca” is an understatement…to include some of the most beautiful homes in our country, complete with their interesting…

Inspiring Garden Design: Pools in the Landscape

In this winter 2021 series of “Inspiring Garden Design,” I’m including a topic that on its own I would not have considered–pools. But as I was scrolling through and daydreaming…

Inspiring Garden Design: Before and After the Snow

It’s March, the sun is promising to shine for a whole week and all thoughts are turning to spring. This seems just the moment to venture into this new season…

Inspiring Garden Design: Revealing Lessons in the Snow

These past three weeks have been a flurry (excuse the pun) of one snowfall after another, each seemingly more beautiful than the last. This is why I love being in…

Inspiring Garden Design: Remembering A Glorious Private Garden Trip to England

Photo Credit: Margot Shaw of Flower Magazine When Margot Shaw, founder and Editor-in-Chief of Flower Magazine says,”…still the trip against which all others shall be measured,” you know it must…

Inspiring Garden Design: Green Animals Topiary Garden

Thirty minutes “up island” from Newport, but another world apart, the Green Animals Topiary Garden is the oldest garden of its kind (and one of only two) in the United…

Inspiring Garden Design: An Exquisite English-style Creation

“The owner’s first mixed border was developed in the pergola garden with the ornamental Bradford pear hedge as a backdrop. Her favorite colors–pink, fuchsia, lavender, and blue–can be seen in…

Inspiring Garden Design: A New Orleans Courtyard Garden

Traveling (and gathering with friends) are the two pleasures that I miss the most in these challenging times. No wonder I find myself reminiscing daily about “this garden” or “that…

Inspiring Garden Design: Chic-ing Up Parterre’s Solarium

Each winter plays out a bit differently at Parterre…some years I may be traveling, or immersed in a “master class,” or working diligently on a new project. For winter 2021,…

Travels with the Parterre Bench

Since travel plans have been so curtailed this past year, I’m now going to treat us to some mini “armchair trips,” with the focus on my favorite topic — gardens…