Inside this edition of Natural Garden News

• I’m hiring for the season
• The land is not yours
• If you want a Grounded garden…
• Why cottage landscapes are all about edges
• What direction is your land going in?
• Catch our new show on Canoe
• So cool, it’s positively frosty
• Moon and sun
• Today’s recommended reading
• Today’s VIP (Very Important Plant)

I hope you enjoy the newsletter! If you have any questions or feedback, please reply to this email.

There are lots of images in this newsletter. If you can’t see them, please enable images in your email.

Simon Payn
Grounded
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Email: hello@groundedgardens.ca​
Web: groundedgardens.ca​

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I’m hiring for the season

I’m looking for a few people to join our field team this season — casual, on-call work from May through October doing hands-on ecological landscaping. This suits people who want flexible outdoor work without the commitment of a full-time job, or anyone who just wants to spend time outside doing something physical and useful. I’m also open to bringing on a student for more regular hours over the summer. If this sounds like you — or someone you know — details and how to get in touch are here.

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The land is not yours

…you are its.

That’s probably not what your lawyer told you when you signed the papers. We assume land is something to own, control, and improve.

But how about this. Go stand by your shoreline one summer evening, when the sun is golden and the dragonflies are circling. Smell the cedars, hear the bees on the honeysuckle, discover a song sparrow tutting through the shrubs.

Then maybe, if you’re lucky, something changes. You stop looking at the land and start feeling part of it. You see its life and realize it’s your life too. The land was there long before you arrived and now you get to notice it and be part of it.
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Then it stops being “my land” and starts being a relationship. That’s where it all begins.

The land is not yours. You are its.

Simon

If you want a Grounded garden… I’m currently booking garden and shoreline installs (and management services) for summer and fall 2026. We start by having a quick call to see if it makes sense for me to come look at your site in the spring. ​ Learn more To see some of my recent work, please see this page.

Why cottage landscapes are all about edges And how we can use them to combine biodiversity with beauty. Read more.​

What direction is your land going in? Before you decide what your cottage landscape should become, it helps to notice what it’s already becoming. Read more.​ Previously in this series: The myth of finished.​

So cool, it’s positively frosty

Yeah, I know: not a newsletter goes by without a mention of a Piet Oudolf landscape.

So as not to disappoint, here’s another.

I’m sharing this because it shows something Oudolf is a master at: choosing plants that look good long after the flowers have gone.
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Read more and see more pictures here.

Moon and sun

I’ve been telling people recently how much I like winter in the Highlands. Most of them look at me funny.
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But then there’s pictures like these, both taken steps from my front door.

Today’s recommended reading

Gardens for 2026: Never let it be said that we here at Grounded are not dedicated followers of fashion. Look, even the Chicago Botanic Garden says what we do is a 2026 trend! Read more.

Sun flowers: Native plants love it under solar panels. Here’s some examples, including one in Minnesota with plants that would be happy right here. Sounds like a win-win to me. Read more.

The darker side: Some inspiration for those of us (that’s most of us) cursed blessed with a shaded site. Not all the plants in this article work here, but the pictures do! Read more.

It’s easy not being green: Don’t you hate it when people talk about winter gardens… but there’s no snow? So for these articles, read November… Here’s one on shades of brown (Read more) and another on a moody flowerless garden (Read more).

Design + ecology: What? Another Piet Oudolf mention? Couldn’t resist including this short video, which is inspiring to all of us who are planting for the future. Watch the video and Read more.​

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Today’s VIP (Very Important Plant)

I’ve put together some information “cards” about native plants. These are plants I use in my designs.

Today let’s look at Hairy Beardtongue.

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Thank you for reading!

Simon

Email: hello@groundedgardens.ca​
Web: groundedgardens.ca​
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