You can purchase your tickets by clicking here.

If/when we make it over, we will definitely report back with more information!  In the meantime I encourage you to check it out for yourself.. it looks awesome.

Above, Calocasia (Elephant Ears, aptly named) “Mojito”.

An elegant assemblage of tropicals in what used to serve as a fountain trough.  Each is planted into its own pot and brought indoors for winter.

Caladium “Garden White” with a companion Boston Fern, wonderful texture.

A full tilt tropical garden at the Fareway in Chestnut Hill.  Blue-flowering plant is the herb African Blue Basil.

Canna tubers can be dug and stored in the basement til spring.

Bananas in a classic perennial/annual border.  Banana trees can be left in the ground, cut back, stump covered with a plastic pot and a pile of leaves over all.  They’ll return in spring with lots of offshoots, even in harsh winters (as we discovered last spring).

Baby bananas!

I like words. Words are places, rooms, distant airs, thin and tropical. They make us feel and imagine we are more than our bodies.  Rickie Lee Jones

“And above all, watch with glittery eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.  Those who don’t believe in the magic will never find it.”   Roald Dahl

Our family moved to Philadelphia from Chicago 18 years ago and I still am in awe of where we, gardeners from birth, landed.  Not only did the Founding Fathers instill here a tradition of horticulture, but the climate allows for an array of trees, shrubs and perennials that is simply spectacular.

I have been so blessed to find a successful calling in Philadelphia for landscape/garden design, as much for its history and palette (a palette because it is indeed a process not unlike layering paint on a canvas that we do) as for the many warm and wonderful people we’ve worked with through the years and a crew that’s like family.   This season, my son Jackson rejoined us.  Photos here are of a corner of our beautiful, if too often like the cobbler’s shoes, 200+ year old property and two of the nursery areas taken in spring before brimming beyond their borders. (Current pics I won’t share with you…bordering on chaos!)

Distilling our mission these years to a few words: We Aim To Provide Delight.  It’s been a joy.  We’ve been thinking for some time of ways to spread that joy beyond the realm of the landscape and Philadelphia, too.  The web site you’re visiting now will be the launching pad for our new project.  I do hope your curiosity is piqued and that you’ll stay tuned and sign up to take the ride with us.  No annoying overkill of emails, we promise!  Along the way, lots of practical information, steals ‘n deals, style and relaxation and entertaining tips and hopefully for you, delectable inspiration.  Feel free to contribute your own ideas, questions, resources, tips, pics, and comments.

“Gardens are not made by singing Oh How Beautiful and sitting in the shade.”  

                                                                                                                                                                                                           Rudyard Kipling

IMAGES OF SPRING

from the archives: galkaoutdoor.blogspot.com

Nick is digging me out. The view out my window is of splendid white icing on the earth. But it’s cold! It helps to think of the colors  of spring, which will be here soon (wishfully thought).

Tulip at right is Sun Spot…a mid-season double with long-lasting bloom that we discovered last year. It’s a variable tulip…no two alike.

This is my first blog entry, and it’s a learning process. I’ll get it figured out and add to it regularly, to remind friends and client-friends of the beauty of nature and it’s possibilities for us! 

We’ll have many images and things horticultural to share, and hope you’ll share yours, too.

“So what do you need besides a miracle?  Tulips, lots of Tulips.”   Anonymous

from the archives: galkaoutdoor.blogspot.com

Today’s snow was of the large-flaked, fluffy type. Just beautiful. The first such snow we’ve had this year. The way the snow collects on trees and shrubs and what remains of summer plants reminds us of the four-season beauty of the landscape.

And I am reminded of Chicago winters…and happy to be in Philadelphia!!