Articles by Rebecca Sweet
Rooted in Imagination: The Tanner Garden
As you wander through the garden beneath the towering trees planted by Freeland Tanner's mother and grandfather decades ago, you can almost hear the whispers of the past mingling with the vibrant energy of today. But it wasn’t until 1987, when Freeland and his wife, Sabrina, began building their first home here, that the garden blossomed into the paradise it is now.
Unexpected Surprises in the Garden
Ramp up your garden’s delight by incorporating plants with unique and surprising features, such as flowers that look like little slippers, heart-shaped foliage, a shrub that perfumes the air with a candy-like scent, or unexpected and oversized varieties of everyday favorites. Adding these whimsical wonders to your garden creates a unique experience filled with enchanting surprises.
Creating Winter Interest in the Garden
Late winter offers a unique perspective on your garden. Without the distraction of lush foliage and vibrant blooms, you can assess its true structure. A well-designed winter garden showcases architectural plant forms, colorful stems, textured bark, and attracts wildlife. This winter, evaluate your landscape's year-round appeal and identify areas for improvement.
Creating Echoes in the Garden
Echoes in garden design—the repetition of colors, shapes, textures, or features—serve important functions; they create harmony and rhythm between garden beds. Learn how you can establish visual connections across different areas and unify potentially disjointed spaces in your garden.
Make Your Garden Containers Work for You
Most gardens feature at least a few planted containers, often placed near entryways or grouped on patios. Gardeners cherish these containers for their aesthetic appeal, allowing them to grow some of their favorite flowering annuals. However, with thoughtful placement, you can make your garden look beautiful while also solving many common garden challenges.
Creating a Sense of Enclosure
Creating a sense of enclosure in the garden is an easy way to transform it from a simple outdoor space into a cozy, personal retreat. Enclosures provide a peaceful sanctuary to unwind, read a book, or enjoy a cup of tea, creating a sense of privacy, security, and comfort. Add depth and structure to your garden and transform it into a multi-dimensional space.
7 Tips for Beautiful Bulb Garden Design
Designing with bulbs can be an exciting way to create various "wow" moments in your garden. One common method of placing bulbs is to throw a handful into a garden bed and plant them where they land, which results in a natural-looking display of blooms. Discover many other ways to get creative and achieve fabulous results using bulbs.
Disguising Eyesores in the Garden
Transforming your garden into a captivating oasis often involves tackling unsightly elements that threaten to derail your vision and detract from the harmony of your outdoor space. However, with a bit of creativity, these innovative and practical solutions can help blend, hide, or soften these everyday garden blemishes.
17 Bulbs for Warm-Climate Gardens
When talking about growing bulbs, warm-climate gardeners often feel left out of the conversation, assuming there’s very few bulbs that will thrive year after year in mild winters. However, more and more providers are offering an array of bulbs that thrive and bloom in warm-climate gardens. Here are a few suggestions for bulbs that do well in warmer-climate gardens.
10 Elements & Principles of Landscape Design
Unforgettable gardens all share a common thread: they've mastered the art of blending the elements and principles of garden design. Elements such as color, texture, line, and form set the stage for an unforgettable journey; yet it is the guiding hand of design principles that ensures these elements are effectively arranged.
Structural Plants
Often called ‘statement plants’ or ‘architectural plants,’ structural plants have strong, unique, and striking shapes, whether from their form, foliage, flowers, or branching patterns. Structural plants, however, are more than just something to delight the eye; their functional aspects are critical to the success of a garden.
2024 Garden Trends
The 2024 trends in gardening can be summed up in two words: resilient and creative. Resiliency is required from gardeners forced to work with unpredictable climate change, and also from plants. For gardeners, resiliency leads directly to creativity, whether embracing new concepts, thinking outside the box, or adapting to a new "normal".
5 Tips for Planting Under Trees
Planting around tree roots (especially when they’re giant and growing above the ground) is a dilemma that frustrates gardeners. With little to no planting space available, gardeners end up feeling defeated and either 1don’t plant anything or end up planting a lawn around the tree—which has its own set of problems. Here are 5 tips to help.
Designing With Foliage Over Flowers
Flowers are fleeting, but foliage lasts much longer in the garden and provides just as much excitement. In fact, foliage is one of the garden’s most diverse and powerful elements. Besides color, foliage plants can also possess unique textures, sizes, or shapes to provide breathtaking beauty and act as problem-solvers in the garden.
Join Rebecca Sweet:
The Freeland & Sabrina Tanner Garden Experience
Imagine spending two days in a private, rarely-seen garden nestled in the heart of Napa, California. Join us as we tour and learn from the stunning private gardens of Freeland and Sabrina Tanner. You'll be inspired to see your own garden in a new light, with tours and classes such as Crafting Your Dream Garden and Creating a Year-Round Garden. Combine your love for gardening with the charm of wine country for an unforgettable garden getaway. Get more information and reserve your spot today!