Designer heeds nature’s lessons

BY Helen Ford Wallace Comments 0
Published: October 26, 2009

Landscape designer Judy Savage is subtly turning over a love of growing things to her children and grandchildren.

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Every Thanksgiving, she gives everyone a prepacked amaryllis kit with instructions to bring the plant back on Christmas Day for a competition to see whose plant has grown the tallest. Prizes include fast-food gift certificates.

In their homes, the plant growers try to figure out where the plants will grow the best. They water them well and check daily to be sure they are growing in the right direction. They learn how to take care of plants and look forward to the contest.

The blooming plants also serve as Christmas Day centerpieces along the length of the table.

And especially since people are trying to cut costs this year, the kits serve as an inexpensive party favor and decoration during the holidays, and they have a "green” environmental value of being of the earth. Savage said people can find the kits for $4.

For other decorations, Savage prunes her pine trees and broadleaf evergreens, gathers magnolia leaves and uses the natural decorations indoors in basket displays and as accents on wreaths and swags. She uses simple baskets filled with pinecones.

"There are many ways to decorate with natural materials at little cost,” she said.

"Berries and pinecones also provide an abundant source for decorating.”

Nature’s gifts

She has a keen appreciation for nature’s gifts and a bounty of ideas for using them at home. These skills have helped her in her landscape business, which includes creating arrangements in containers for clients.

For parties, she uses lined-with-leaves cylinders, adds a candle and surrounds it with her natural evergreens, branches and twigs and berries, pinecones and nuts. "When you use natural elements, you can return them back to the environment that created them,” she said.

Outside decorating tips she uses for herself and her clients include adding pinecones to terra-cotta pots. They can take up the whole pot or be placed around growing shrubs or trees where dead flowers have been extracted. She also uses miniature pumpkins in baskets or pots or around trees on decks and front porches.

"I don’t throw away pots that are cracked, either,” she said. "I keep using the authentic ones. It is more European. European people use everything they have.”

Outside, one client uses shatterproof, waterproof ornaments on smaller trees planted in pots. "You can have a Charlie Brown Christmas outside,” Savage said.

Savage has been on the job 20 years.

"What started out as a search for myself resulted in a career that is more like a joy and less like work. I create landscape designs for my clients which reflect their tastes and attitudes,” she said. "There’s a serenity to a garden which has a place in this stressful world. Flowers are what they are: beautiful, simple, positive.”

She was never a teacher but continues to instruct people she works with about their environment.

"I’m a perennial student to Mother Nature. She’s taught me more than I ever learned from my college degree. Mother Nature has taught me (more) about patience and acceptance than anything else,” Savage said.

"When you’re waiting for plants to bloom and seeds to sprout, you must have patience. When you experience the aftermath of a tornado or ice storm, you must accept. Being outdoors ... is like being in Mother Nature’s classroom; you learn something that stays with you for the rest of your life.”

Playing favorites

Pansies are Savage’s favorite flowers because they provide plenty of color in winter, when people emotionally need it the most.

"This hardy annual can be blanketed with snow and still survive to welcome the spring season. I’m also a huge fan of impatiens. Once established, you’re rewarded with waves of color that get bigger and better throughout the growing season,” she said.

She also likes the Knock-Out Rose. "This plant does it all: constant color from spring through late fall, low maintenance and attractive foliage. I also like the Encore azaleas. Not only do they afford a gorgeous display of spring color, but, hence the name Encore — more color in the fall,” she said.

To contact Judy Savage about her landscaping business, send e-mail to judysavage@cox.net.