Inside this edition of Natural Garden News

• More nature starts here
• Come work with Grounded this summer!
• If you want a Grounded garden…
• In praise of more
• How natural gardens create abundance
• Using disturbance in your landscape
• New here? Start with these articles
• Today’s recommended reading
• Today’s VIP (Very Important Plant)
• The light we can see
• From the socials

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

Simon Payn
Grounded
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Email: hello@groundedgardens.ca​
Web: groundedgardens.ca​
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​Follow Grounded on the socials!

More nature starts here

There’s a theme to this newsletter: “More”.

It’s a topic close to my heart because we need more nature in the world. Too much nature has disappeared so it’s up to us to put it back.

Natural gardens are all about more. We plant more plants than traditional gardens, we plant them more densely, and we plant more at once. Why? Because this is how nature does it.

In my ideal world, lots of us would be adding nature back. Stewarding the natural world is what humans did until we went off the rails.

The good news is, more nature makes us happy. What’s not to like about that?

Simon
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Come work with Grounded this summer! I’m looking for a right-hand man or woman to work with me at Grounded this summer. It’s an ideal job for a student! Please share this opportunity with anyone who might be interested. Learn more

If you want a Grounded garden… I’m currently booking garden and shoreline installs for 2025 and 2026. There’s too much snow on the ground to come look at your site, but my pipeline is starting to fill…so now’s the time to get in touch. To see some of my recent work, please see this page. ​ Learn more

In praise of more The new method of landscaping is about having more nature. And that makes us happy. Read more.​

How natural gardens create abundance Nature is abundant. So are natural gardens. Here are four ways we create ‘more’ when we plant naturalistically. Read more.​ ​

Good mess, bad mess: using disturbance in your landscape Whenever we do something in our landscape, we cause disturbance. But is disturbance good or bad? The answer depends on what we want to achieve. Read more.​ ​

New here? Start with these articles

Native plants and natural gardens 101 Links to my most important articles. Read more.​

Myths about native plants and natural gardens I hear a lot of myths. Here’s the reality. Read more.​

All about shorelines A look at shoreline naturalization: why it’s important and how to do it. Read more.​

Today’s recommended reading

Layer up! How someone used the concept of layers (something we talk a lot about here) to transform a woodland garden. Read more.

A new frame of mind: How ecological landscape design is a marriage of science and art. Read more.

Landscape ant-itects: How animals contribute an enormous amount of energy into changing the landscape. Read more.​

Human laws = ecological laws: The wonderful Robin Wall-Kimmerer (of Braiding Sweetgrass fame) on rethinking our relationship with the natural world. Read more.

Designs that look ‘right’: One of the skills of a natural garden designer is to balance coherence and complexity. Here’s an intro (I’m taking the course he mentions here, so I will write about this topic in the future.) Read more.

Get the free guide I’ve updated my guide to natural gardens in Haliburton County and surrounding areas. Download here

Now booking garden and shoreline installs If you’d like me to come and look at your garden or shoreline, please contact me. Learn 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 Bush Honeysuckle.

The light we can see

Here’s a classic Haliburton winter picture – a source of inspiration for many of our local artists.

Why is it so inspiring? I think it’s about the light. In the absence of most colour, light takes centre stage.

Natural gardens also use light. If you visited Lucas House in August or September on a sunny day, you might have seen the Little Bluestem shining in the sun.

Flowers are great. But we can go beyond flowers and see beauty everywhere.

Please share me! If you know someone who might like this newsletter, please forward it to them!

Did someone forward this to you? Get your own copy by clicking here and adding your email address.

From the socials

Here’s Adam Woodruff’s own garden. It’s one of my favourites.

If you look through the images, you’ll see how he contrasts the wildness (messiness?) of nature with the structure of garden design. This is what I strive to achieve.

​See the post here and read his article about it here.

Watersheds Canada is coming to Haliburton! The organization that promotes healthy lakes has chosen Haliburton as the venue for its first annual conference in May. Speakers include expert gardener Mark Cullen. I’ll be there… if you’d like to join me, you can find out more at this link.

Rufus would say Hi! But he can’t be interrupted on his polar expedition. ​

Thank you for reading!

Simon

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