Private Tours of the Schumacher Garden

Please accept our invitation to attend a personally guided tour of Liz & Ralph Schumacher’s Home Garden.

For many years now, you may have read articles and information on the Schumacher’s award winning tiered and terraced hillside garden. The Schumachers are opening their garden for tours this month.  Reservations for private tours are being taken currently for Saturday, May 16 and Sunday, May 17.  Please contact us via telephone at 610-825-5525 or email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it to reserve your spot.  Tours are approximately 45 minutes.

When:  Saturday, May 16
Tour Times:   11 am and 2 pm

WHERE DO WE MEET?
Meet at Garden Accents Showroom, 4 Union Hill Road, West Conshohocken, PA 19428 at 10 am for the 11 am tour where you will receive directions to the garden in Gulph Mills, PA.  We will have light refreshments available.  Depart for garden in your vehicles at 10:45 am.  Tour begins at Liz Schumacher’s residence at 11 am.

OR

Meet at Garden Accents Showroom at 1 pm for the 2 pm tour where you will receive directions to the garden in Gulph Mills, PA.  We will have light refreshments available. Depart for garden in your vehicles at 1:45 pm.  Tour begins at Liz Schumacher’s residence at 2 pm.

When:  Sunday, May 17
Tour Times:   11 am and 3 pm

WHERE DO WE MEET?
On Sunday, tours will meet directly at Liz & Ralph Schumacher’s residence and garden.  Please contact us to make your reservations and receive directions directly to her garden.  Please contact us via telephone at 610-825-5525 or email us at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it to reserve your spot.
 

Vertical Gardening for Heightened Drama:

Spring is the perfect time to gain a fresh perspective on your garden vista.  Before everything is in full bud and bloom, take an objective look at your yard.  Are your beds and borders lacking dimension?  If your landscape suffers from too many flat planes, shake things up a bit and incorporate a few vertical elements into the garden.  With the strategic placement of color, you can guide the viewer’s eye to your desired focal point or, conversely, away from a not-so-great view.  This can be as simple as setting a pot brimming with blooms up on a wall ledge, training sweetpeas or thunbergia up a tuteur or coaxing climbing roses over an arch or arbor.  Well-sited vertical elements add visual interest all year, even when there’s no plant material covering the structure.  Garden Accents has a great selection of high quality, well-constructed metal and wood obelisks, arches and tuteurs to choose from including these furniture-grade mortised and tenoned cedar creations by a local artisan.  By staggering heights with the use of these vertical elements, you can create a layered or terraced effect even in a tiny garden.  Get creative and continue the vertical approach on your terrace or patio.  Instead of just using pots placed on the ground and hanging baskets at or above eye level, don’t neglect that middle layer.  By strategically placing containers approximately waist-high (which is at eye level when seated), you can create a private nook for reading or dining.  In lieu of placing pots on a table or traditional plant stand, try something unexpected like a freestanding candelabra to hold a bounty of small potted plants.  Imagine how beautiful this would be on your terrace with flowers cascading down from each level!
 

New Haddonstone Pieces Have Arrived!

We’ve just received our spring order from Haddonstone and the pieces are stunning.  Not familiar with Haddonstone?  Established in 1971 in the UK, Haddonstone’s ornamental and architectural pieces have been chosen for the construction and renovation of some of the world's most famous buildings including palaces, National Trust properties, international hotels, state buildings and gardens, as well as private houses and gardens of every description.  Haddonstone’s dry cast limestone mimics carved stone in almost every way and just gets better with age as the crisp details and classic shapes become accentuated by a patina of moss and lichens.  Vintage Haddonstone planters have been spotted at auctions over the past few years and commanded several times their original price making these true heirloom-quality investments.  Garden Accents is proud to be the area's representative of Haddonstone.  New arrivals to our showroom include a pair of extremely elegant finials featuring an acanthus ball on a collared base, a 19th century reproduction Victorian jardinière complete with dragon feet, a pair of Roman vases, and two Crucible planters.  The Crucible is one of Haddonstone’s newest designs and is sure to be a best seller—clean, simple and elegant with a very generous planting area.  The Crucible’s pestle-like shape appears as if it was carved of a large block of stone and will complement contemporary, Craftsman, Arts and Crafts as well as traditional architecture.  Stop by soon and see our entire Haddonstone collection including balustrading, fountains and statuary in addition to a plethora of planters.
 

Spring Cleaning:  Water Features and Statuary:

Now that the danger of a deep freeze has passed, it’s time to uncover those fountains and get those water features up and running again!  Inspect closely for winter damage and make sure tubing and all piping is free of debris and obstructions.  Cracked, brittle tubing can easily be replaced at this time.  Check to make sure pumps are working properly--if your pump has seen better days, you might want to replace it now at the beginning of the season to avoid potential trouble down the road.  Garden Accents stocks a great selection of different sized fountain pumps as well as replacement tubing and replacement basins.  It’s much easier to work on the mechanics of the fountain now before it’s filled with water and surrounded by plantings.  Don’t have a fountain or ready for something different?  We have an incredible selection of fountains here at Garden Accents.  From diminutive wall-mounted or tabletop fountains to massive scale estate-sized fountains, we’re your source!  It’s always helpful to have photos and dimensions of your desired site when you visit so we can best assist you in selecting the perfect water feature for your home. 

It’s also a great time to take a few minutes to make sure statuary is level and secure on its base.  The freeze/thaw cycle can wreak havoc on an improperly prepared base—and a wobbling statue can easily fall over and hurt someone.  If you need to redo the foundation for your statue, remember to dig down below the frost line (30” to 42”) and fill the hole with crushed stone.  Tamp and top off with bluestone or concrete to create a stable, level base for your valuable statuary.
 

Featured Artist:  Marian Flahavin

Do you remember catching fireflies or lightning bugs as a child?  Those warm summer evenings seemed magical, with the gentle flicker of yellow or green beckoning you to give chase across the soft backyard grass, empty jar in hand just waiting to be the temporary home of one of those luminescent wonders.  Washington artist Marian Flahavin has captured the essence of this innocent time with her famous garden sculpture “Fireflies”.  Visitors to our showroom are always delighted by the sight of a young child peering into a mason jar to get a closer view of the flickering inhabitants inside.  These bronze sculptures even have a solar panel incorporated inconspicuously into the base which gathers enough energy during the day to bring the fireflies to life at night in the garden.  Best known for her ability to capture the innocence of children in her artwork, Marian was asked to do a series of collector plates for German company Goebel entitled “Little Hugs”; matching figurines were then produced by the world famous Hummel factory.  In addition to her sculpture, Marian is an accomplished and celebrated artist in both pastel and oil and is in high demand for her outstanding portraits and commissions which she balances with her gallery works.  Her artwork has always been an expression of her love of and fascination with the human figure - most importantly, the spirit and the "life" that makes the figure who it is in addition to its bone and muscle forms.  Please visit Garden Accents to see Marian’s wonderful bronzes.  We are proud to offer “Fireflies” in two sizes (both boy and girl), and two charming bronze fountains from Marian, “Fairy Music” and “The Race”.
 

Bat houses…

Bats in your belfry?  Don’t chase them away—Give them a home of their own and make them want to stay!  Despite the bad press from cartoons and horror movies, bats are really quite harmless and are one of the best all-natural pesticides out there.  The most common bat here in Southeastern Pennsylvania is the little brown bat or Myotis lucifugus who is capable of catching up to an astounding 1200 insects an hour!  Little brown bats hibernate from October to April or May, often returning to the same location year after year to take up residence for the winter.  Like honeybees, bat colonies have suffered a dramatic drop in numbers over the past few years.  Researchers believe it may be due to a virus, fungus or from our increased use of pesticides in an attempt to combat West Nile virus.  If bats completely vanished from our area, the impact would be long-reaching—bats do a great job keeping mosquito populations in check and helping protect crops from insect damage.  If you’re interested in nurturing your own colony, we have some great little bat houses here at Garden Accents which are both decorative and functional.  These high-style houses are constructed of cypress which is naturally resistant to harsh weather conditions, fungus and insects.  Our Bat Haven can accommodate up to 48 bats while our larger porticoed Victorian can comfortably house up to 75 bats.  Highest success rates for occupancy are when the house is mounted on the side of a building or on a pole in a location that receives 10 or more hours of sun per day.  Optimum height is 15-18’ off the ground, and to decrease vulnerability to predators, bat houses should never be attached to a tree.  One of our attractive bat houses will add an interesting decorative element to your home and provide a safe haven for your mosquito patrol.  For more information, here’s a great website to learn more about these mysterious little creatures.
http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/FreePubs/pdfs/uh081.pdf

If after reading this you’re still not ready to extend a warm welcome and make Myotis your Otis (I know, I apologizeJ), we have some great hanging metal bats to add a quirky, fun accent to your garden.  Each of these three-dimensional bats is handcrafted out of metal by the artist, a former aircraft welder and manufacturing engineer.  The bats feature a rust color body and are accented with bright ball bearing eyes.  These are available in large or small sizes, with open or closed wings and are suitable for indoor or outdoor use. 
 

Wildlife Alert:

Late spring marks the time of year when baby birds and animals are everywhere.  If you spend a lot of time outdoors, odds favor that one of these days you’ll come across a sick, injured or orphaned critter.  Baby birds just learning to fly and baby rabbits just old enough to venture from their nests are especially susceptible to injuries and are easy prey for dogs, cats and other wildlife.  If you encountered a wild animal or bird in distress, would you know what to do?  To avoid furthering injuring an animal or bird and to prevent you from getting hurt while trying to help, visit this helpful link to the Schuylkill Nature Center’s website.  This site offers some great advice on what to do, what not to do and who to contact for help and advice in the event of a wildlife emergency.  A must-read for any outdoor enthusiast!
http://www.schuylkillcenter.org/departments/wildlife/whattodoif/