Gino Sky is a Utah author and poet who loves extravagant flowers as much as he loves words. He learned his love for bright and eye-catching flowers from his mother. "I do it for show, because that's what my mother taught me, to always have something showy."
We visited Gino Sky this month to get a closer look at his beautiful and fragrant landscape.
Gino and his wife Barbara moved into their home in 2003. At the time, the front yard was mostly grass. Over a period of a few years, Gino worked to transform the lawn into a rock and flower garden by hand.
Gino's flowers provide a blooming show from spring into fall, with spring bulbs like daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths issuing forth the first bursts of color. A dwarf weeping cherry displays its "petticoat blooming glory," as Gino's wife Barbara calls it, early in the spring as well.
Pansies, peonies, and bleeding hearts follow in the late spring, along with lilac bushes along the yard's perimeter. Gino says that his decision to have as many blooms as possible in his yard is "more a matter of love than anything. I please them and they please me."
One consequence of having a beautiful front yard full of beautiful flowers? It gets a lot of attention! Gino and Barbara have become used to the interest from passers-by, even encouraging them to pose for photos.
"[Flowers make] beautiful living," Gino says. "We started this yard and then everyone got into it and started planting more flowers as well."
When we asked Gino for tips about starting and maintaining a beautiful landscape like his own, his advice was simple.
"It's really just a matter of mating the dirt with the plant."
Daily walks around your yard will help you see what your plants need, when they need it. Gino loves his morning walks around his garden, saying "They have incredible power, flowers. Life, new life growing, and it's everywhere. You've just got to walk around and it will calm you down, make you happy."
Gino also recommends walking through your neighborhood and taking note of the plants and flowers that you find attractive. Ask your neighbors about them. Aside from getting better acquainted with your neighbors, this technique also simplifies the decision-making process in landscaping—chances are good that if the plant is thriving in a neighbors yard, it will likely also do well in your yard. (Although it doesn't hurt to do research to be sure that they will, and that the plant isn't invasive for your area.)
If you’d like to learn more about spring bulbs, check out our blog post about the Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival: https://www.pbsutah.org/blogs/modern-gardener/tulip-festival-at-thanksgiving-point/
When we asked Gino how gardening has helped him during this stressful time, he said that his flowers provide him an opportunity to meditate on the continuity of life. He pointed to his perennial peonies and said, "Peonies are amazing flowers. [In the spring] You think they are going to croak, but they always come back."
"It's like falling in love again, getting married, having your children," he says.
We hope this walk through Gino's beautiful landscape has been inspiring, and that his tips for starting your own showy landscape give you the confidence to try!
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