Author Archives:

New e-Book Series– Japanese Garden Paths and Stepping Stone Paths in …

Leave a reply

San Francisco, CA, April 18, 2013 –(PR.com)– Tokyo-based garden designer Keizo Hayano and German garden designer Jenny Feuerpeil write short e-books about Japanese garden culture on their website “Real Japanese Gardens.” A new series about elements of the Japanese garden (Japanese garden fences, Japanese garden paths and stone lanterns) is to be released within the next weeks.

The first e-book of the garden path series has 11 pages and 47 quality pictures of typical Japanese garden paths (nobedan) in Japan’s best gardens – from rock gardens in Kyoto to pond strolling gardens in Tokyo –the most beautiful garden paths have been chosen for this e-book.

The Shin-Gyo-So system, which originated in Japanese calligraphy, is also applied to garden paths and is introduced in this book. Numerous examples point out the differences of “Shin,” the formal, “Gyo,” the semi-formal, and “Sou,” the informal style of laid stone paths (shiki-ishi).

Garden designer and member of the Japanese Garden Design Association Keizo Hayano points out the important role of paths in a Japanese garden: “Paths are not only a safe and comfortable way for the visitor to move through the garden; skillfully laid stone paths also manipulate how the visitor perceives the garden. On a wide and even Shin-style path, the visitor can take in the view of the temple architecture or garden features while walking. On a narrow and uneven So-style stepping stone path in a Japanese tea garden however, the garden experience will be very different. Here, one has to carefully place one foot after the other, looking down while doing so. It is not only a small journey from the garden gate to the tea house, but also a journey to your inner self.”

Jenny Feuerpeil is the photographer of the garden pictures for this e-book. She says: “Visiting a Japanese garden is a holistic experience. All senses are engaged. In traditional Japanese gardens, natural stone is used almost exclusively. The texture and surface structure of a traditional garden path, the smooth surface and rounded edges of century old cut stone paths (nobedan) have a premium textural quality. I can recommend every Japan traveler to visit the gardens of Daitoku-ji, Tofuku-ji and Katsura Rikyu in Kyoto to see the world’s finest examples of garden paths.”

Currently the website www.japanesegardens.jp features basic information, pictures and directions to around 90 gardens in Japan. To date, 12 eBooks about famous, secret and private Japanese gardens have been published. Another 3 eBooks have been released about typical elements of a Japanese garden – traditional fences and gravel patterns. The first eBook in the plant category is an introduction to Japanese bamboo.

About us:
Providing reliable information to our readers is our highest priority. Before writing the e- book, we visit the garden and take photos of the garden and its features. Up to 80% of the research is done using Japanese resources (books, journals and interviews) to stay as close to the Japanese garden tradition as possible.

Keizo Hayano is a Japanese garden designer with 20 years of experience under his belt. He is the owner and head designer of the garden design studio Niwashyu in Shibuya, Tokyo (www.niwashyu.jp). He studied the fine arts at the Kyoto City College of Arts and loves small intimate gardens that soothe the soul. Member of the Japanese Association of Garden Designers.

Jenny Feuerpeil is a German garden designer who came to Japan hoping to soak up the essence of Japanese design. After leaving her job at a global IT company, she studied garden design in Chelsea, London and founded the garden design label Dendron Exterior Design (www.dendronexteriordesign.com).

In 2010, she decided to go to Japan to learn the Japanese garden tradition first hand as an apprentice in a garden maintenance company near Tokyo. She loves the rough texture of natural materials, the boldness of stone arrangements and dry landscape gardens.

“We love Japanese Gardens. And we want the world to know more about Real Japanese gardens.”

Meet author of ‘Private Edens, Beautiful Country Gardens’

Leave a reply

Is there a better way to welcome and remember nature’s gift to us than beautiful gardens?

Not likely, according to garden design expert and noted horticultural author Jack Staub, whose latest book, “Private Edens, Beautiful Country Gardens” (Gibbs Smith, $50), is a testament to his love of such beauty.

Three years from research to publication, it’s not a how-to garden book. Rather, it’s a book filled with wonderful photographs and vivid text, providing an intimate look at 20 unique private gardens on the East Coast.

As a bonus, it’s filled with inspirational views and ideas for gardeners thinking about enhancing their property, regardless of its size.

Because Staub grew up in Litchfield County, Pergola, a home and gardens shop at 7 East Shore Road, New Preston, is hosting a launch/book-signing for “Private Edens” on Saturday, April 27, from 2 to 5 p.m.

Staub and his photographer, Rob Cardillo, visited and photographed gardens in Virginia, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Massachusetts, as well as in northwest Connecticut, in Lakeville, Washington, New Preston and Southbury.

None are open to the public and, for purposes of privacy, their locations and owners’ names are omitted. So checking out Staub’s book is your chance to peek beyond their gates.

The properties were chosen, said Staub, “because they have features that are most interesting to me. They are large and small, with a variety of gardens and there was a personal story behind each owner.”

Staub highlights the variety found within each garden, including Asiatic flair, Zen features and classic English garden motifs. Many of the gardens also boast such specimen shrubbery and trees as maples and a host of conifers.

All are dotted with colorful ceramic pottery and/or small statues or figurines, with pieces placed to invite the eyes to rest.

Staub, who with his life partner, landscape designer Renny Reynolds, owns Hortulus Farm, a historic property in Wrightstown, Pa., was raised in New Preston, near Lake Waramaug, on land that had been in his family for four generations.

“If you look at the picture of Lake Waramaug in the section of the book titled `A New Perspective,’ you can see where my great-grandfather, Nicholas Staub, pastured his cows,” he said.

Creating a garden on that property, as well as all the properties featured in the book, took time, devotion, planning, taste, money and a passion for gardening.

Today that land is home to a modernist Tuscan villa. Staub writes that one particular garden features an “informality of plantings, tucked as if by nature in rock and gravel.” Those tucks, he added, give this garden deceptively unstudied charm.

Asked what was common to all the gardens they visited, Staub said, “Everybody had to learn to deal with their own space. What they created was site-specific. They realized the challenges on their property and worked around them and have dealt with them in a most interesting and successful way.”

The Litchfield County launch and signing for “Private Edens, Beautiful Country Gardens” will take place Saturday, April 27, 2 to 5 p.m., at Pergola, 7 East Shore Road, New Preston. 860-868-4769, pergolahome.com.

Sybil Blau is a freelance writer in Connecticut; sibby3@yahoo.com

Successful garden design begins with plan

Leave a reply

Now that we’ve highlighted the elements of good design, it’s time to outline a plan. Consider the site and surroundings, your objectives for the space, plant preferences, the design elements of color, form and texture; and the principles of order, unity and rhythm. Thinking about all these aspects at once can be challenging. That’s why we put it on paper.

Follow these five steps for successful design, outlined by Tracy DiSabato-Aust in “The Well Designed Mixed Garden”:

1. Draw a base map of your landscape area to scale on graph paper with pencil – so you can erase if needed. Graph paper with four squares to one inch equates to each square being one square foot in the garden.

Indicate existing plant material that will stay, plus windows, doors, unsightly meters or air conditioners that need screening. Draw paths, walls and other hardscaping that will be retained or added. As you do this, think about existing colors, textures and style of the house, fencing, hardscaping and landscape. Think too about where you want focal points.

Place tracing paper over the graph paper. Trace the bed or border outline on tracing paper. If you want to alter your design plan, a clean sheet of tracing paper is all you need.

2. Draw in structural plants, starting with trees. Trees, shrubs, hardscaping and large artwork are considered the bones of the garden. Site trees with circles indicating mature width. They are dominant features, so use them to anchor corners, as an accent or as screening. Choose trees with mature heights suitable for the size and scale of an urban landscape. This is essential when planting under utility lines.

If you use evergreens as a screen or hedge, consider planting a bit closer together (five feet, rather than six, for a tree that reaches a mature size of 12 feet). This will create the screen sooner.

The rest of this content is only available in our print edition.

Subscribe or locate a newsstand.

Brent Batten: We’ve been down this sidewalk before

Leave a reply

Photo with no caption


Naples Park, consider yourself notified.

A study is under way that could lead to improved sidewalks and better “walkability” in the neighborhood.

The innocuous-sounding study is raising fears, however, of a repeat of the disastrous 2003 Naples Park Community Plan, an episode that led to no improvements and bitter feelings that linger to this day.

Also known as the Dover-Kohl Plan after the consulting firm that worked on it, the 2003 plan discussed ways to enhance Naples Park. Ideas included more sidewalks, better landscaping, on-street parking and even a new street to be built between Eighth Street and U.S. 41.

The Dover-Kohl Plan was accompanied by a media blitz to get the word out, a weeklong open meeting allowing residents to express their ideas and a door-to-door campaign to pass out fliers explaining the process.

But the ambitious plan that came out of the meetings also drew criticism. Many who hadn’t participated in the early stages later claimed to have been left in the dark. They balked at the fundamental change the plan would have meant for the neighborhood and the price that Naples Park residents would have had to pay through their property taxes.

It eventually disintegrated amid squabbling, accusations and counter accusations.

Now, 10 years later, comes the Naples Park Walkable Community Study. The Collier County MPO, made up of county commissioners and City Council members from Naples, Marco Island and Everglades City, heard an update on the plan last week.

The main similarity between the 2013 and the 2003 plans is that both consider the possibility of more sidewalks. The 2013 study won’t even broach subjects such as elaborate landscaping, better drainage, a new street or revamped zoning, all features of the Dover-Kohl plan. It doesn’t obligate anyone to build anything and funding for any new sidewalks would come from grants, not from residents’ property taxes.

But the mere mention of sidewalks is enough to rekindle the bad memories for some.

At a public meeting held April 3 and through emails and letters, Naples Park residents have been commenting to the MPO staff about the walkability study. Summarizing the sentiments so far, MPO staff member Sarah Layman on Friday told the MPO board, “People do not want sidewalks on the avenues.”

Naples Park resident Chris Carpenter is spearheading the effort to make sure there’s no repeat of 2003.

“It was a very divisive issue. It was horrible,” Carpenter said, recalling an instance when a proponent of the 2003 plan made an obscene gesture to opponents at a public meeting.

“What upset people the most was the lack of communication. People felt like it was done behind their backs. I’m seeing some signs of a lack of communication this time around,” she said.

Carpenter asked the MPO to send out a survey to all Naples Park property owners asking their opinions on sidewalks. A 2003 survey on the issue showed about 68 percent opposed them, she said. If there isn’t enough money to do a survey this time, the entire walkability study should be dropped, she said.

Collier County Commissioner Fred Coyle on NewsMakers 9-23-12.

Collier County Commissioner Fred Coyle on NewsMakers 9-23-12.


MPO board members all agree that public input needs to be a part of the 2013 study.

But Commissioner Fred Coyle argued that without a survey of every property owner done early on, any other attempts at engagement will fail.

“My inclination about this, knowing what happened last time, is to say don’t go through this process until you actually poll the people in the neighborhood,” he said. “People will not go on the Internet and seek out information. You can mail them a letter notifying them of a meeting, they will not attend. You can do everything you want to try to get people involved and they will not get involved until you bring it to the board for final approval and then they’ll say, ‘Nobody told me.’ That’s just the way it is.”

Coyle said he doesn’t believe sidewalks will be any more popular now than they were 10 years ago: “Send out ballots to each property owner and ask them if they want sidewalks, if they want lighting. The answer is going to be, “No, I don’t.”

A dilemma arises when the neighborhood doesn’t want sidewalks but safety, in the area around a school for instance, demands them.

“I don’t know that somebody should be able to say, ‘There can’t be sidewalks on the streets because I don’t want them,’ when you’re talking about schoolchildren,” Naples City Councilwoman Dee Sulick said.

The MPO board took no action on the report, allowing the walkability study to proceed without an immediate survey of Naples Park residents.

The question now is will, after whatever public outreach follows, those residents complain that no one told them about it?

__ Connect with Brent Batten at bebatten@naplesnews.com

Your Green Life: "Building A Green Community"

Leave a reply

By
KBJR News 1


April 18, 2013

Updated Apr 18, 2013 at 8:45 AM CDT

Duluth, MN
It may not look like spring, but a few landscaping professionals are already looking forward to start digging in the dirt for a good cause.
This newly formed group has a goal of helping their community through green practices.

Louise Levy, the Owner of Levy Tree Care and the one who brought the group together told me, “So we have 2 main goals of the ‘green industry group” in Duluth. The first one, service to our selves, promoting increased professionalism and knowledge and expertise within our professions but also service to our community.”

One of their projects will start when the ground thaws is at MAC–V, the Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans. They hope to build a better place for homeless veterans to garden and relax.

“Putting in some raised beds that would be accessible for handicapped folks,” Says Keegan Hartley, the Owner/Designer at Bella Terra Landscaping, “and then they can actually plant vegetables and enjoy the maintenance and also the fruits of their labor as far as vegetables and what not. So those are a couple of the ideas here.”

Doing this as sustainably as possible is a big goal for the group. But they also want to help build a sustainable community.

Jeff Grover, the Owner Grover Tree Experts INC said “I think this is a great start, which levy has created and I think that the skies the limit as far as community service goes.”

And with a diverse group of professionals comes a diverse list of ideas on ways to better our community and our environment.

“We can add to that by adding rain gardens to collect surface water runoff, even better. And when we have Lake Superior right here, I feel as a golf course superintendent to be a good steward of the land, it’s good for us to do.” Says Jake Ryan, the Course Superintendent at Northland Country Club.

The second project the group has planned for this spring is trimming brush at the Oneota Cemetery. They will begin once the weather cooperates more.

Meteorologist Adam Lorch

To submit a comment on this article, your email address is required. We respect your privacy and your email will not be visible to others nor will it be added to any email lists.

Designers reveal new ideas at ’20s era mansion

Leave a reply

Enlarge Image

COURTNEY HERGESHEIMER/THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The Women’s Board of the Columbus Museum of Art is eager for guests to visit the Decorators’ Show House at 21 S. Parkview Ave. in Bexley, where this private patio is one element of charm in the $1.8-million home on 1.4 acres. Tours of the Show House open Tuesday, April 23 and continue through May 12.

Buy This Photo

By

MELISSA DILLEY

THISWEEKNEWS.COM

Wednesday April 17, 2013 9:40 AM

Those who might be decorating or redecorating a home and looking for inspiration — or who just can’t get enough of the home improvements featured on Pinterest and HGTV — will find plenty of ideas at 21 S. Parkview Ave. in Bexley. The $1.8-million home that sits on 1.4 acres at that address is the site of this year’s Decorators’ Show House.

The 20th biennial event, which will be held Tuesday, April 23 through May 12, is hosted by the Women’s Board of the Columbus Museum of Art and will showcase the work of 16 local interior designers and four local landscapers.

“The Show House is a great way to get some really new, cutting edge design ideas while supporting a cultural organization,” said show house co-chairwoman Subha Lembach.

As soon as the show site was announced last fall, designers began cultivating ideas for the rooms. Work started in February and finished in early March.

Each area of the home, from the butler’s pantry and upstairs laundry room to the formal dining room and the guest bedroom, showcases a different design team’s work.

“With two staircases, the house flows wonderfully and the rooms are large and spacious so the designers had a great opportunity to create beautiful rooms,” said Show House co-chairwoman Dawn Franz.

Susan Matrka Interiors contrasted the neutral colors in the living room with pink furniture and blue and white porcelain vases, and John Wilson of CRI/Creations created a dark, masculine bedroom with a custom-painted, bronze-colored ceiling. The master walk-in closet has been transformed by Kellie Toole Interior Design into a vintage sewing room and the formal dining room by Phyllis Craver Fine Designs is set for an elaborate Kentucky Derby party.

Franz said because there inevitably will be guests who want to know the exact paint color of a room or where the rug or bed set were purchased, designers will be on hand to talk inspiration with visitors every Wednesday night. Since the house is for sale, the rooms will be returned to their original condition following the show and designers will be at the house selling their items on May 13, Franz said.

According to public documents, the home has been on and off the market since February 2009, and most recently housed Ivan K. Fong who was sworn in as general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security in May 2009. Built in 1922, it’s also been home to Erie Chapman, OhioHealth’s former chief executive, and M/I Homes CEO Robert Schottenstein.

Jane Kessler Lennox, the home’s listing agent through New Albany Realty, was integral in helping the Decorators’ Show House committee find the perfect location for this year’s event, Franz said.

“We loved the property as soon as we saw it,” she said of the house that is expected to draw as many as 10,000 visitors during its three-week showing. “It’s absolutely a beautiful lot and Bexley is great location that has always been popular.”

The event co-chairwomen were specifically looking for a property that had a lot of landscaping potential. In finding that, they were able to build a new partnership.

For the first time, Dine Originals Columbus has paired with the show to cater an outdoor dinner series that will feature local restaurants Due Amici, Barcelona, G. Michael’s Bistro, The Top Steakhouse, Skillet, Hubbard Grille and The Refectory. Dine Originals will also man the cafe area during the day.

“It makes sense and it gives people a huge dose of what’s available in Columbus,” said Katharine Moore, Dine Originals executive director. “They’re showcasing local designers and we’re showcasing local foods — it’s all about local.”

Dinner tickets are $35 and include a glass of wine. Other special events at the home include the preview party on April 20, which will take on a roaring ’20s theme and feature a live auction, raffle and open bar with speakeasy inspired drinks. Tickets for the preview party are $100 per person or $175 per couple.

On May 5, Cinco de Mayo will be celebrated on the house’s lawn with Mexican food and margaritas for $35 per person.

Tickets to view the house from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday are $20 at the door, $15 in advance.

All proceeds from the Decorators’ Show House will benefit the Columbus Museum of Art.

For more information on the house, details on special events and to purchase tickets, visit columbusmuseum.org/dsh.

Impatiens, a shade garden workhorse, goes lame

Leave a reply

The official advice is that if your impatiens melted and died abruptly last year, skip them for this growing season. Even if they didn’t, planting them will be a big risk as humid and moist conditions — read, the Washington summer — will promote the downy mildew in the months ahead.

Finding them might also be tough: The disease is so devastating that some nurseries are not selling them in 2013 and major growers have cut back impatiens production drastically.

This is a big deal in the flower trade. In the past 50 years impatiens have become one of the major bedding annuals by volume and dollar value as breeders figured out how to grow impatiens that were bushier and had more flower punch.

Homeowners and commercial landscapers developed a large appetite for them.

“It’s one of our most popular annuals, second for us only to petunias,” said Gary Mangum, whose company in Elkridge, Bell Nursery, supplies Home Depot retailers in much of the Mid-Atlantic. His growers have reduced impatiens production by more than 50 percent this spring.

Meadows Farms, a major garden center retailer with 22 locations in the region, announced it was not selling disease-prone impatiens this year. Usually, the plant represents 30 percent of its sales in annuals.

“People don’t understand the extent of the problem,” said Barry Perlow, a designer at Meadow Farms Landscaping in Chantilly. “By planting them now, they’ll be compounding the problem. The spores live for years.”

Actually, even if everyone were to stop growing impatiens — an unlikely scenario — a moratorium might do little to block the disease, said Margery Daughtrey, a plant pathologist at Cornell University, because its spores appear to survive on other host plants. One of them is the native jewelweed, that rangy, orange-flowered wildflower found along streambanks and noted for its coiled, explosive seed capsules.

Daughtrey said the golden age of the impatiens may be over.

“Long-term, I think we’ll see impatiens being a minor bedding plant instead of a major bedding plant,” she said. “This is something that has changed it from a plant with almost no diseases or insect problems to a plant with a real Achilles’ heel.”

The long-term solution might be for hybridizers to breed resistant strains but “we are a long way from getting resistant . . . varieties,” said Mary Ann Hansen, a plant pathologist at Virginia Tech. “We need to learn a different approach, not planting those large beds of a monoculture.”

The fungal disease, which surfaced in Europe a decade ago, showed up in commercial greenhouses in the United States soon after, but was controlled by fungicides unavailable to consumers. The disease appeared in gardens in New York in 2009 and by 2011 it was widespread, discovered in California, the Midwest, Florida and the Northeast. It hit our region last year.

The Garden Club of Forest Hills grows

Leave a reply

Some memorable dates for the Garden Club of Forest Hills:

• 1923: The club was formed with a dozen women who called it the East Edgewood Acres Garden Unit. The group changed to its present name in 1938.

• 1933: The club joined the Garden Club Federation of Pennsylvania.

• 1934: A delegation of members petitioned Forest Hills Borough Council to acquire land that became Forest Hills Park. Council bought the 26-acre tract for $25,000.

• 1936: In July, the club received a letter from council authorizing the garden club to assume the responsibility of planning and landscaping the park. In November, the club hired landscape architect Ezra C. Stiles to plan the park.

• 1942: Activities were directed toward the war effort, and victory gardens were planted. Trees and money were donated toward the construction of a Blue Star Memorial Highway marker and plantings located at the Irwin exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike commemorating members of the U.S. military.

• 1949: Blueprints were drawn for a landscape design for the Forest Hills Junior High School by landscape architect Ralph E. Griswold; club members bought and planted trees and shrubs.

• 1982: The club was awarded the Hunt Trophy by the Pittsburgh Civic Garden Center for outstanding and exceptional community service activities.

• 1990: Since the white flowering dogwood is the club flower, then-club president Barbara Momo started the Dogwood Award. A dogwood pin is given each year to a club member who goes above and beyond club duties.

• 1991: The club was again awarded the Hunt Trophy.

• 1993: Members cleaned a hillside inside the entrance to the Forest Hills Park and started the Hillside Garden, which members have taken care of ever since.

• 2008: The club received a Community Greening Award from the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society.

• 2012: The club donated $1,968 to organizations in the Pittsburgh community, such as the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and the National Aviary, Forest Hills emergency service providers and state scholarships.

‘Garden of the Month’ awards to begin in May

Leave a reply

LOCK HAVEN – The annual “Garden of the Month” award program, sponsored by the Dogwood Circle Garden Club of Lock Haven and The Express, will present its first award in May. This year is the 19th consecutive year for this popular community event.

The program recognizes area gardeners who live within a 10-mile radius of Lock Haven. This year’s garden categories include: commercial landscaping, pond gardens, porch and patio standouts, small eye-catching additions to the gardener’s landscaping as well as the usual street-front gardens. In order to be considered, any garden from these categories must be visible from street or alleyway.

Each month two different club members will judge and select the winning garden from nominations received. The owners of the selected garden will be asked if they wish to accept the award before it is presented. Owners of the honored garden will receive a commemorative certificate, a photograph of the owner and garden will be featured in The Express and photographs of the garden will be posted on the club’s website. In addition, the “Garden of the Month” sign will be placed in the winning garden and remain on the property for a month, until the next garden is honored.

Factors considered in judging gardens are: seasonally appropriate; street/curb appeal; variety of plants used; use of color and texture; overall design flow (height, form, harmony); integration of plantings with architectural features; and originality.

Enhancing the community, promoting community spirit and making the public aware of the relationship between landscaping and property value have been goals of the garden award program since its inception in 1994. The Dogwood Circle Garden Club is looking forward to another exciting and colorful season and the opportunity to recognize and acknowledge the pride and commitment of local gardeners.

Nominations for the month of May are welcome and can be submitted by calling May’s judges at 748-7334 or 748-8379.

For more information on the Dogwood Circle Garden Club, visit www.lhgardenclub.com.

Tips on helping endangered birds

Leave a reply

The RSPB is advising wild life watchers on how to help take care of some of our most endangered garden birds.

The results from the annual Big Garden Birdwatch survey 2013 show numbers of house sparrows, starlings and song thrushes have fallen.

Now the RSPB is advising how to manage gardens to support them.

The author of RSPB Gardening for Wildlife, Adrian Thomas, said: “Gardens can offer a real lifeline for wildlife. 

“Just doing a few simple things in our gardens can mean they provide food, shelter and nesting spaces for birds, which are most vital for the species that are struggling.”

Here Adrian gives his tips on helping the struggling species.

House sparrow:

Try leaving some areas of grass to grow long. You can still give it neat edges and make a design feature of it, but crucially this will allow certain insects to thrive and the grasses to set seed. Or why not plant deciduous shrubs where are likely to gather for a good natter? They love a vegetable patch too.

Starling:

In summer starlings seek out insects such as beetles, flies, flying ants and worms, and especially leatherjackets, so gardens with a lawn will help. In autumn they love fruit like elderberries, so try planting an elder tree. 

You could also put up a starling nestbox high up on the shady side of a house, which is a large box at least 25cm deep with a 45mm round hole.

Song thrush:

Plant berry-bearing bushes and try to avoid sweeping up all the leaf litter as they’ll hop around in it, flicking over leaves to find food. 

They like moist and shady areas, and will really benefit from a garden full of worms and snails, so keep up the mulches in your flower beds, which will help you control weeds too.