Every time I go to the nursery in the spring, I slowly pass the zinnia section and try to decide whether I want to chance buying zinnias, and potting them up for my back terrace. Every single year they have gotten powdery mildew, withered, slowly died or just looked ugly after a few weeks.
Every once and a while my husband hands me an article from the New York Times or Washington Post that has great ideas for my blog. The one he most recently pointed out, however, made me grimace and feel a twinge of guilt.
Whenever my company took on a new client, the first thing we looked at was how and where water ran off their land. Grade was essential in capturing and redirecting water so rainfall didn’t destroy or rot plants, cause insect problems or hurt house foundations.
For this blog, I am reviewing only outdoor fountains with big reservoirs. I am not suggesting you get a pond or waterfall. These are a lot of work and money to put in and maintain.
In my busy days as a landscaper, I had one large estate where we developed dozens of different gardens or “outdoor rooms”. One outdoor room was along a driveway that wound through the property. It was sort of like an outdoor long wide hallway. All plantings were deer resistant. Flowering shrubs included rhododendron, clethra and itea.