Isaac’s Garden Design

(Isaac is our summer intern.  He’s finished one year of a horticulture program at Spartanburg Technical College)

Just before I set off for this wonderful internship, my mom told me that her friend Peggy would like for me to do a design for her. I was nearing the end of my design class, and I felt as though I had  enough plant knowledge to take up the task. Peggy’s garden had some great bones. Lots of Japanese maples, large beds, some older trees, and a small patio with a smoker. At first glance, it looked like it would be pretty easy.

I had a nice design drawn up with an American and Japanese fusion theme that Peggy loved. She gave the go ahead, and during some free time, we set out to start buying plants. This turned out to be a little stressful.

First, it was hard trying to find some specific plants. Plants that were just recently very popular such as ‘Lady in Red’ hydrangea were not to be found.

Second, we had to come up with selections on the spot that we could substitute with the same effect. The ‘Lady in Red’ became a ‘Limelight’ and Acer palmatum ‘Glowing Embers’ became a red Japanese maple with interesting distorted leaves and a name with too few vowels– that I wasn’t even going to try to pronounce.

Now that I’ve gone through this summer and seen the things I have seen, I have realized that my design was boring. Well, at least to me. A redesign is definitely in order that will have much more consideration towards the elements that I’ve seen this summer in gardens that designers took into consideration. I’m really just beginning to grasp everything I’ve learned this year and I’m extremely excited to apply it as I head into year two at SCC.