I readily admit that forsythia seems to irritate more people than it inspires. The big bright yellows erupt before most other shrubs have even had a chance to bud. Used with a certain amount of discretion forsythia has a place in the 4 season garden. Tuck it into your shrub border somewhere out of the way. Use sparingly. After forsythia does it's thing the show is over. You won't notice it again until the following Spring. There are a couple of things to keep in mind when usi

Can Spring be far behind? Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is in full bloom in the North East over the next couple of weeks. A wonderful large shrub that flowers when everything else is drab. Deer resistant as well! #witchhazel #deer #resistant #sweetbay #landscape #design

A full grown deer needs to consume about 10 LBS. of leaves, shoots, flowers and twigs to get through the day. They often travel in groups and can do an incredible amount of damage in just one evening. Over the next year I will share some tips on how you can encourage these animals to dine somewhere else. Sweetbay has learned a lot through trial and error. But to start off with, there are a couple of good resources that rate plants by their unpalatability to deer. The first is

The unusually cold weather we have been having in the north eastern United States has got us wondering about hardiness. Sweetbay has a paticular fondness for Lagerstroemia indica (the common Crapemyrtle) and we have the plant on a number of our projects on Long Island. As many readers will know, the plant does great south of the Mason-Dixon line but can bet temperamental in zones 6 and 7. We have a great deal of success with the plant even though it is on the edge of it's har

Like everybody else in this business Sweetbay has an extensive library of design books. I tend to take them off the shelf whenever I feel stuck or uninspired. Throughout the year I'll share some of our favorite sources with you. Some of these books are available from bookstores or your on-line retailer but others you will find only at used book stores or garage sales. A book that we have been absolutely mesmerized by is Zen Gardens: The complete works of Shunmyo Masuno by Mir