Monthly Archives: August 2007

I was just reading the Fall 2007 issue of BH&G Garden Ideas and Outdoor Living, when I did a double-take!  On pages 74-81 the magazine profiles the Tom and Carolyn Plank dwarf conifer garden in the German Village area of Columbus.  Before I read the owners’ names, I thought, “I’ve seen that garden!”  It was one of the beautiful compact urban gardens Dawn and I saw on the Perennial Plant Association tour!  I’ve never seen a garden in a magazine that I had actually seen in person! That was really a unique experience!

The Plank garden is just as charming and is even more private than it seems in the magazine.  Check out the issue on newsstands now.

Written by Lynn on the slope of Teasel Hill, where my mind is going a mile-a-minute thinking where I can install a dwarf conifer garden.

We are back again, this time from Columbus where we attended the Perennial Plant Symposium, and toured some wonderful public and private gardens that used perennials in creative ways.  One garden was that of Tracy DiSabato-Aust, garden designer, lecturer, and author of The Well-Tended Perennial Garden, and The Well-Designed Mixed Garden.  She lives in a wonderful log home surrounded by lush perennial and dwarf conifer gardens.  We were caught there in a downpour (which Columbus needed pretty badly) and passed some time sitting on the porch listening to the rain.  Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, really. 

Another day we spent in German Village touring small urban gardens, where we learned about the wise use of space.  Every square foot was used, not an inch wasted.  Yet the end result was not messy or overcrowded. 

Written by Lynn on the slope of Teasel Hill where it is still drizzling after a soaking downpour.