MORE ISN’T ALWAYS higher, after all, however within the case of the gardens profiled within the new e-book “Backyard to the Max,” it positively is, whether or not extra colour, extra texture, extra drama or the entire above, after which some, well used for optimum impression.
The various faces of maximalist gardening, plus maybe some inspiration for turning up the amount in your personal panorama, was what I talked about with the e-book’s creator, Teresa Woodard, who gardens close to Columbus, Ohio. With photographer Bob Stefko, Teresa has created “Backyard to the Max: Joyful, Visionary, Maximalist Design” (affiliate hyperlink), which appears at 20 gardens across the nation–from a 700-square-foot patio to a multi-acre property–every created by excessive plant lovers with a maximalist strategy to garden-making, irrespective of the scale of their area.
Plus: Enter to win a replica of the brand new e-book by commenting within the field close to the underside of the web page.
Learn alongside as you hearken to the March 31, 2025 version of my public-radio present and podcast utilizing the participant under. You possibly can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify (and browse my archive of podcasts right here).
maximalist gardening, with teresa woodard
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Margaret Roach: Welcome, Teresa; how are you?
Teresa Woodard: I’m doing nice. The daffodils are in bloom, in order that all the time brings me numerous cheer.
Margaret: You’re forward of me; you’re forward of me; I don’t have any but. I’m nonetheless in winter and snowdrops. [Laughter.] Oh yeah.
Nicely, what a colourful and welcome e-book. It’s very, very, very, very, very cheerful simply to take a look at it. It’s simply so brilliant. So simply to start out, what’s maximalism, and when did you first encounter it in gardens?
Teresa: Nicely, maximalism to me is the other of minimalism. It’s form of embracing that “extra is extra” mentality, and that’s straightforward to do with vegetation as a result of there’s all the time another that we wish to add to our gardens. However for me to see how that transfers from the inside design world and vogue world into the gardening world, I noticed this in my backyard writing. I’d be drawn to those daring form of visionary gardeners, and those that had been most experimental of their gardens. And I’d come residence and take a look at a few of these concepts in my very own yard. And so I believed if a few of these daring gardens impressed me, maybe they might additionally encourage others with this maximalist fashion.
Margaret: And one of many attention-grabbing factors you make within the e-book is that kind of maxing out on vegetation, the abundance factor of an increasing number of and extra vegetation, it may additionally correlate with the ecological advantages that we’re all looking for, that we’re studying extra about as gardeners. That extra is extra by way of pollinator gardens and the abundance, not only one plant over right here and a whole lot of mulch in between till you get to the opposite plant over there [laughter]. However abundance is sweet otherwise too. Sure?
Teresa: Completely. And there are such a lot of eco advantages of an considerable backyard, whether or not it’s offering meals and shelter for wildlife and pollinators, or if it’s decreasing carbon footprint, and even simply bringing extra pleasure to your group and neighbors. I believe this considerable fashion has many advantages past simply private expression. It may be very purposeful.
Margaret: And I came across a phrase within the e-book quite a few occasions, which simply made all of it actually make a lot sense. The phrase “curation,” curating and curation, not simply gathering or amassing extra, extra extra extra extra, and having all of it collectively in proximity, however actually thoughtfully enhancing and showcasing. And that’s actually, I believe, a giant a part of the 20 gardeners that you just picked to profile, to showcase their gardens and their types and their obsessions, their passions. They had been additionally all curators, though they’d very totally different locations and really totally different pursuits of their maximalism. All of them had been curators, weren’t they?
Teresa: Completely, that’s an incredible level. All of them are curators, and I believe some folks suppose that maximalism means chaos, and the place’s the road between maximalism and chaos? And I believe it’s being intentional in your colours, and being intentional in your layering and your textures. And all of those gardeners had been extremely gracious to open their gardens to us and share the teachings from their gardens with us, and the way they do curate these areas. It’s very a lot an intentional look. There’s an artistry to it, and realizing tips on how to mix daring colours and layer vegetation.
Margaret: Yeah, typically it’s different… I imply, there was one backyard in Colorado the place it was textural layers. It was prefer it wasn’t even a lot colour as texture to the max. Wish to inform us about that?
Teresa: Yeah. Lauren Springer is in Fort Collins, and she or he actually prefers texture over colour, which I believed was attention-grabbing. And she or he advised me she likes to take a look at a panorama as if it had been a black-and-white picture so that you just see it within the grey tones, and that highlights the varieties and the textures, which I believed that was a enjoyable takeaway for me to start out taking a look at a backyard as a black-and-white picture. And she or he’s an artist in how she combines high-quality grasses, however then provides in these sculptural yuccas which have these nice silhouettes, or these cacti which can be prickly and comely. So she makes use of textures in a maximalist approach.
Margaret: Proper. Actually layers of them, in a way.
Teresa: Sure.
Margaret: So it needn’t all the time be intense colour, however certainly, a whole lot of the gardens within the e-book are fairly colourful. And so is the e-book because of this. And the design of the e-book itself, it has some kind of neon parts to it. It’s enjoyable. And so colour, daring colour palettes. There was one, I believe it was in upstate New York, I believe it was in Buffalo perhaps. The gardener, he didn’t solely have unimaginable colour occurring the bottom degree in entrance of his home and so forth, however cascading from the second ground. Beneath the second-floor home windows had been like these extra-large window containers simply spilling over with vegetation that kind of mimicked what was on the bottom. So it was like there was colour up and down and far and wide. Are you aware what I imply? It was multidimensional colour.
Teresa: Sure. That’s Jim Charlier’s residence. And he has this charming Dutch colonial residence and it’s painted, the trims are painted in purple and teal. And so he actually leaned into a few of these colours along with his plant palette. And also you’re proper, his house is simply maxed out with colour, and it’s one of many favorites on the Backyard Stroll Buffalo tour. And his factor is to lean into extra the colourful foliage vegetation like coleus and coral bells that are available in all these totally different loopy colours for the leaves. And he makes use of these as a substitute of as a lot flowers. I imply, he has flowers, however he actually favors the colourful foliage. And I liked seeing how he simply stuffed… I believe he had 100 containers and eight totally different pocket gardens. He simply maxed out his small-space backyard in a wonderful approach with colour.
Margaret: And so the containers, yeah, I do not forget that he had stated he had 100 of them. And in order that in itself is a maximalist aspect or maximalist strategy, to say: “Nicely, I’m not going to only have a vignette of three pots over there on the sting of the patio and two over there by the door. I’m going to go to the max on containers. I’m going to gather and curate containers in a approach, too.” So it may be any aspect, our assortment, so to talk, or what we’re curating, it may be something, from colours to kind of vegetation to vessels, the best way we’re showcasing the vegetation. Plenty of totally different ways.
Teresa: Sure. And I believe some folks suppose maximalist means luxurious, and it’s not approachable for everybody, however I believe it may be. We noticed a patio in San Francisco that had 300 pots on it, and it was superbly curated. So I believe that’s the enjoyable factor with the containers. You possibly can stack them on totally different ranges. You possibly can put bricks beneath them, you possibly can put them on cabinets and create this complete like stadium of vegetation on a again patio. So you possibly can have a whole lot of enjoyable with the maximalism, even in container gardens.
Margaret: And I believe a whole lot of occasions one in every of us, a gardener, might need 20 pots, however they’re throughout right here and there. And the thought of aggregating them and making, such as you say, a bit stadium so to talk, or an actual assertion, maximalizing them, it’s form of a enjoyable factor to consider doing. And it’s only a totally different twist. We could have already got them, however we’re not utilizing them in that approach.
Teresa: And Clarke de Mornay, he’s the gardener in San Francisco that has the small patio, however he would reap the benefits of a heat radiant wall to have extra tropical vegetation. And he truly hung them on the wall, or he would cluster all of his sun-loving vegetation in a single nook, however then have extra of his shade-loving vegetation beneath some palms. So even on this pint-sized patio, he took benefit of all of the microclimates and he artfully clustered a few of these vegetation collectively. And his different trick was to make use of a constant colour theme for the pots. So his was extra of an earth tone for all of his pots, and it actually form of unified his complete assortment.
Margaret: There was one other use of pots that basically stood out for me in one of many pictures, and I’m not going to have the ability to bear in mind, I don’t suppose, which one it was, however there was a path, a hardscape path, and on each side of the trail had been beds. However earlier than you bought to the mattress, adjoining to the trail was a double row of pots on each side. So it was such as you had been amongst these pots; the edging was pots, two deep [laughter].
Teresa: It was, that’s Jared Hughes, and he collects various succulents and cacti, and his favourite pot for that’s terracotta. Nevertheless it gave this constant look, lining his path with dozens of those small clay terracotta pots and his charming succulent assortment. He has a whole lot of oddball issues, and it’s fairly a press release for those who arrive and stroll this entrance path lined with these loopy succulents in all these terracotta pots. It’s fantastic. In order that’s one other factor, simply use one form of pot to carry the entire assortment collectively.
Margaret: And what higher technique to exhibit a set than to place it, to curate it, as you simply stated, however then additionally to place it in your most-traveled path? [Laughter.] You recognize what I imply? To make use of it as your edging, as a result of everybody who comes and goes and comes and goes and goes to see your assortment. So once more, if it had been out within the outback within the again 40, right here and there, a couple of over right here, a couple of over there, it doesn’t have the impression.
Teresa: That’s so true. These are actually the celebs for him, and he places them proper out entrance for everyone to get pleasure from.
Margaret: Yeah, that was enjoyable; that was a very enjoyable thought, I believed. Yeah, so some folks have collections, like there’s a explicit form of plant or a selected colour, however particularly this explicit form of plant. There’s one particular person within the e-book with a whole lot of moss, and I believe they had been in pots, too. Lots of the moss had been like mini moss gardens in pots. There’s a theme that’s then maxed out. In order that’s one other approach you can go, I imply, is {that a} explicit kind of plant may very well be repeated and repeated and repeated, sure?
Teresa: Sure. So there was a Dale Sievert’s backyard in Wisconsin is all moss [photo, top of page], and he was a world traveler, fairly an adventuresome particular person, and he didn’t uncover moss till age 62 and simply fell in love with it. And now he has his backyard coated with mosses. He has 700 coated rocks with mosses, and 300 moss bowls. So he’d actually maxed out on one species of vegetation, and even now in his travels, he loves to go to moss gardens everywhere in the world. So he’s a really attention-grabbing man. And his moss backyard simply is such a peaceable place to go to, with this all-green area. And he’s simply, he has this overzealous pleasure for moss. He will get excited when he sprays the moss with a hose and all of it turns inexperienced like instantly. So it was enjoyable to fulfill him and see his ardour for one form of plant.
Margaret: Yeah, and as you stated, it’s so peaceable. I imply, they’ve that mounding, sensuous… there’s not spiky or jaggedy parts to moss. It’s that it’s delicate and it’s sensual, and sometimes seen in a kind of mounted floor on prime of the bowl or the pot or no matter. It’s very sensual and really peaceable.
Teresa: And he encourages you to decelerate once you come to his backyard. I believe lots of people, after they tour a backyard, they only form of take the trail via in a single aspect out the opposite, and you actually must decelerate and observe in his backyard, as a result of there’s carpet mosses after which there’s additionally very tight mosses, or you can even see the seeds, or not the seeds, but-
Margaret: The spores?
Teresa: Sure. Thanks, Margaret. And so you possibly can discover all these particulars in his backyard once you decelerate and simply observe.
Margaret: Yeah, kind of in distinction, there was a backyard, I imagine it was in Indiana that was simply tropical abundance, though it was Indiana [laughter]. And so in all of the beds had been just like the pink Abyssinian banana kind of erupting, and amaranths in that deep purple-y, reddish-maroon form of colour. And so there was this kind of colour and tropical assortment theme factor occurring as nicely.
Teresa: That’s Irvin Etienne’s backyard. And he lives outdoors of Indianapolis. And we drove previous cornfields and soybean fields, and we arrived and also you see all these tropicals. There’s a giant banana tree once you pull within the driveway [laughter] and there’s cannas and golden sumac and elephant ears. And it simply appears so oddly, surprisingly juxtaposed with this backdrop of previous farm buildings and an previous barn and cornfields. It was such a enjoyable, shocking distinction. And Irvin, he simply has an actual aptitude for drama. And this positively has a dramatic aptitude by contrasting and shocking the customer, as a result of it’s so sudden to see this in rural Indiana.
Margaret: And it actually, from the images, it appeared prefer it actually spoke to the ability of repetition, like to select that amaranth–I don’t know which one it was significantly, however once more, it was one of many dark-colored ones, that maroon-purple form of colour, wine colour or no matter, and enormous in stature–and to not use one or two, however to have them dotted round so that you just’re feeling like you’re in a spot the place they reside. Are you aware what I imply? I like the repeat factor.
Teresa: So true. And he’s a grasp at that; very humble, however he has an actual aptitude for combining daring colours. So he would put that amaranth, that burgundy amaranth, however he would place it alongside a whole lot of chartreuse issues, whether or not it was this golden sumac, or he additionally had a golden pokeweed, which was actually form of shocking to me as a result of I contemplate {that a} weed. However he had a cultivar of it that was this brilliant gold and it appeared fabulous, lower in flower preparations. And simply the shocking distinction that he would put these two collectively, the gold and the pink in such a daring, dramatic approach. And he repeated them, as you stated, to an incredible effect-
Margaret: And never symmetrically, however like very spontaneous. It appeared like all of them sowed round right here and there, nevertheless it simply hung collectively. It was simply pretty. That golden pokeweed: I like pokeweed and let a few massive vegetation develop up right here, and I forgot there was a golden one. And now after all, I actually need it [laughter]. It’s so attractive.
Teresa: And it made you recognize it, too, as a result of Irvin has to take all of those indoors over winter, so it’s not a straightforward backyard to do, however he does it as a result of he loves it. And so he baggage them up and-
Margaret: His bananas, and he has to gather the seed from the amaranth or no matter, get that began once more and so forth and so forth.
Teresa: It’s not a straightforward backyard, however he embraces it. And he’s a giant fan of Dolly Parton, and she or he’s very massive and daring, and that’s what Irvin likes.
Margaret: Yeah. Earlier you talked about the all-green of the moss, and there was one other all-green backyard that was actually about kind of shapes, sculptural shapes. It’s a backyard that I bear in mind from 1,000,000 years in the past, and I hadn’t seen photos of it in recent times. And boy, it’s trying nice. In New Jersey, in Nutley, New Jersey, I believe.
Teresa: Sure. That’s Graeme Hardie and Silas Mountsier’s backyard in Nutley. And it’s on the Open Days tour if folks ever wish to go see it. Nevertheless it’s a really sculptural, shapely backyard. And it actually underscored to me the significance of scale, as a result of this property has some grand bushes. They usually labored with Richard Hartlage on the design, and he stated, this property requires a grand scale within the backyard design.
And they also put in these 160-foot mounds and so they coated all of them with Japanese forest grass, and so they seem like these massive fuzzy caterpillars. You see them. Nevertheless it reveals, I believe the impression that in the event you use one slightly easy confirmed plant in multiples, it may have a grand impact. And it actually did of their backyard with these mounds. Additionally they used hornbeams, and so they had 14 hornbeams that they pruned, rectangular, and so they’re most likely 17 ft tall. So you will have a really geometric backyard. Graham calls it a sculptural or architectural backyard. And it actually is, as a result of you will have these very cool shapes that the hornbeams kind and these mounds. However such as you stated, it’s all inexperienced and it’s all about maxing out on form and kind on this backyard.
Margaret: Yeah, it’s positively… I imply, these hornbeams, they’re not cubes. They’re rectangular, however standing on finish, however oh my goodness, they’re huge. And yeah, the pruning job alone should simply be like, wow.
Teresa: They’ve a devoted gardener and we acquired to fulfill him and see him in motion. Boy, there actually are items of sculpture that he transforms within the backyard. And it additionally is a superb backdrop, as a result of Silas has a beautiful assortment of artwork and sculpture that he shows within the backyard. And so having this all inexperienced form of sculptural backyard is the proper setting for his artwork as nicely.
Margaret: Yeah. So, kind of takeaways for folks: If folks suppose this sounds good, do you will have any kind of first ideas? I’ve form of alluded to some of the issues that you’ve got made me wish to do, like group the pots in a different way this 12 months, make extra impression with issues I’m perhaps already doing, rethink them a bit to intensify the impression. The colour mixture, that maroon-and-gold factor, that’s form of my factor, too. And I needed to right away exit and purchase all issues in that colour and actually lay it on heavy this 12 months. So are there locations that individuals might kind of get began, do you suppose? Are there issues that you just’ve performed which have upped the amount, form of, in your personal backyard?
Teresa: Positive. I believe a few issues. One is to start out off with containers, as a result of that’s a straightforward place to max out. Begin there. Then subsequent, perhaps go play with one space of your backyard and see in the event you can max out a nook of a backyard: layering, taking part in with layers, or taking part in with a succession of colours. As a result of we would like spring colours, we would like summer season colours and fall. And in the event you layer for that, I believe that seasonality, have a look at perhaps how one can max out perhaps only one nook of your backyard and see how you want that.
Margaret: O.Okay. Nicely I’ve let the time get away from us, Teresa, however thanks or making time right now.
(All photographs by Bob Stefko, from the e-book “Backyard to the Max.”)
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