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Most of us who love to garden cognize it can easily become an obsession . But few take it to the same extreme that nurseryman Roger De Muth has .
“ What set out out as a hobbyhorse taking some exercising time away from my computer ended up as a large jungle enveloping the house , ” he says in his bookA Hobby Gone Berserk . However , one could scarcely call De Muth ’s gardens a “ hobo camp . ” They are as knavishly composed as this book , which combines his talents as an prize - winning illustrator , garden house decorator , painter and photographer .
A skunk path and mandrel lead to the Sunday garden , with the edge flanked by Funka , Oenothera fruticosa and Scottish thistle . Photo by : Roger De Muth .
horticulture has become such an obsession for De Muth that after spending more than 25 years transmute the one - acre property beleaguer his white clapboard home in Cazenovia , New York , he add the property across the street to set about anew . “ I ’ve broken one of my most of import rules of gardening , which is to keep the garden small-scale , ” he enjoin . “ My gardens started out as reference of the household and views out the windows , but maintain growing and growing . The garden have marched around the property and now across the road . ”
The gardens in front of the theater are populated with Sedona Coleus and eatable kale . Behind the kale are cerise castor beans and taller unripened castor bean plant , with yew in the ground . picture by : Roger De Muth .
This garden on parade is beautifully captured in the book ’s stunning photography , which displays his various garden bed at their peak of beauty . “ I dart pictures of the gardens virtually every day , using my iPhone and digital camera , ” says De Muth . “ Quite often , I shoot down diorama photos by stitching multiple shots together . The image give me a record of each year , showing what works and what does n’t do work . ”
De Muth inherited his passion for gardening from his English - bear grannie , Hannah , who grow “ one of everything ” in her garden in New Jersey . De Muth takes a alike anything - break down approach , mixing plants commonly grown in Central New York gardens — dusty millers , flowering kale and cabbage , flame nettle and Funka , to name a few — with the unexpected and spectacular , including tropical banana plant andelephant ears . “ In each of the box of the front gardens , I have plant red and green bananas in potentiometer . The huge leaves are a real contrast to all of the other plants , ” he says .
The giant leave of a red banana tree plant add a touch of the jungle to the sun garden . pic by : Roger De Muth .
Despite the eclectic admixture , Demuth repeats plant patterns throughout each of his garden beds to create harmoniousness and cohesion . One of his gardening ruler of pollex is to always to have a background , as he does in his paintings . “ There is usually an evergreen , a tree , or improbable plants that help give lower plants a background . Sometimes there is a trellis with vines , espaliered apple trees , or tall arborvitae hedgerow along the back boundary of each border . In the front of the household , there are marvelous topiary yews along the back to give the flower and leave more definition , ” he say . De Muth also trains Tree over metal and wire underframe to make natural archway and life fences .
Around the border of each garden bed is dusty miller and violent coleus . This repetition of plant life blueprint throughout the garden create harmony and cohesion . Photo by : Roger De Muth .
De Muth likes to give his garden a desktop , usually using evergreens or marvelous plant . In the foreground are bright xanthous Oenothera fruticosa in full heyday . exposure by : Roger De Muth .
In addition to the book ’s fabulous photography , De Muth let in reproductions of some of his picture , render everything from quaint garden gate and bower to small-scale flower and garden shop class he has visited topically and abroad . A section is also devoted to garden design De Muth has drawn for his clients : “ raft of ideas , chop-chop sketched on paper then sully with water to tone the images , ” he says .
One of De Muth ’s innovation , a frog fountain . Photo by : Roger De Muth .
De Muth has been lauded for his horticulture obsession , winning several landscape gardening awards and accept his property featured in a National Garden Conservancy spell . InHobby Gone Bezerk , he only further proves that prevail in the garden are meant to be break , peculiarly when it comes to size of it and the use of untraditional industrial plant sexual union . “ I trust readers relish my garden layout , design , and selection of plants . It takes me all summertime to get the gardens looking the direction they do now , ” he sound out .
The writer ofHobby Gone Bezerk , Roger De Muth .
Plants around De Muth ’s garden . exposure by : Roger De Muth .
De Muth ’s book is available from the autonomous book publisher , Blurb . you could see a preview of his bookhere .
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