My grandparents (both sets) were gardeners, not by profession, but because it integrated well with their needs and interests. My grandfather Morse grew flowers and vegetables for fun and to accommodate his Yankee frugality, but he was also by profession a cranberry farmer and owned what today we would call a Garden Center, so he did have a bit of an edge on the average gardener. As with carpentry, both of my grandfathers influenced my own appreciation and enjoyment of gardening and landscaping.

I have worked as a professional landscaper on and off for many years. In 1974 I went to work for Our Town Landscaping in Hancock, New Hampshire. The owners, George and Becky Lohmiller, remain good friends, and quite often in recent years I have spent vacation (from my publishing job) in the spring or fall working for them. My daughter Molly worked there for two summers after her first and second year of college, and developed an appreciation for gardening, as well as for the camaraderie of the crew.
At home, in recent years we have given less effort to trying to grow vegetables. At 1,800 feet elevation, we generally have a short, cool growing season, and our once-grand ambitions have been tempered down to a few potatoes, summer squash and zucchini, and lots of basil and parsley

The focus is now more on the landscape. Susan has a good way with flowers - has an eye for placement and a good memory for their names. I am more inclined to play with shrubs, incorporating them into complimentary groupings. I look for opportunities to exploit the “borrowed landscape” of Japanese origin. Our property has lots of pine trees, and I particularly enjoy the dramatic effect of the lower dead branches highlighted against the horizon.

Rotting stumps make an interesting component of plantings as well. Every year they crumble a little more, and finally cease to be part of the visible design, but by then something else has emerged.

Landscape designs should be fluid. To put in a hedge of yews and expect them to look the same year after year is to invite boredom and spiritual malnourishment.  

Basal pruning of this lilac provides a dramatic visual effect. From a distance (below) you can see how it accents the foliage by giving it the appearance of being on a pedestal.  Some amount of lower sucker growth is necessary on lilacs for replacement purposes. But by having a clean base, you can be selective of emerging growth rather than having to thin it down from a cluster of shoots. While pruning can be done to maintain consistency, it is in fact a way of facilitating an evolving landscape. Each year there are different elements to prune, which means that the remaining elements also change from year to year. Keeping a clean base also facilitates the inclusion of portable landscape components.

While efficiency might suggest a general fall cleanup, I prefer to procrastinate. Some elements are ready to be removed by late October, but others still provide visual enhancement. These grasses will be allowed to stay through the winter, and will be quite dramatic when sheathed in crystal from an ice storm.