Blue Planet Garden Blog

Look Ma! Real Weather!

Heard about our recent, unseasonable cold snap?

Here's how we rock a snowman, Bay Area style.

Artistic snow sculpture, courtesy of Anya.  Droid photo, courtesy of her mom, Roxy.

Does your Garden Designer Practice what She Preaches?

 

If you follow the world of fashion, you may have noticed that most designers don't seem to dress very fashionably.  Michael Kors (pictured), one of the celebrity judges on Project Runway, is rarely seen in anything but a black tee and black jacket.  Ditto for Vera Wang, whose uniform of choice is a black dress and black tights.

Ever wonder if you took a peek in a landscape designer’s garden if it would embody the same principles she natters on about with clients? I can’t speak for other designers, but if I were graded on consistency, I wouldn’t score straight As.  Following are a few examples of where I follow my own rules, and where I ignore my own inner designer.

Favorite Time to Visit the Nursery? Fall.

Last week I stopped by one of my favorite retail nurseries, Orchard Nursery in Lafayette, to pick up some bulbs.  Of course, I’m always looking for inspiration so made sure I had time for a quick tour.  Here’s what I found:

Fall Color

If you’re a fan of both Japanese Maples and fall color, now is the best time for those of us in mild weather climates to choose a tree.  For my money, the stand-out cultivar for brilliant red foliage is Acer palmatum ‘Tobiosho.’

 

Book Review - The American Meadow Garden

Today's post is by guest blogger Shelley Somersett, APLD

Are you ready for a change from the American lawn as we know it?  John Greenlee’s The American Meadow Garden, Creating a Natural Alternative to the Traditional Lawn, is inspiration for designers and homeowners alike, especially in California. An experienced nurseryman, award winning horticulturalist and designer, John provides a detailed guide for the reinvention of sod lawns that includes site preparation, plant selection, installation, maintenance and how species and cultivars perform in different climate zones. The design focus is supported with stunning Saxon Holt photographs of mature meadow gardens both public and private that demonstrate John’s principles of an American Meadow Garden.

Garden Feng Shui for Dummies

Let me begin by saying that the title of this post is not meant to insult the razor sharp intelligence of the average Blue Planet Blog visitor – because, dear reader, you are far from average – but rather is a nod to my own amateur status in the art of feng shui.

My first encounters with garden feng shui happened when potential clients scheduled consultations with me after first meeting with a feng shui practitioner.  Inevitably, they had been given suggestions about what to include in the garden and where things should be placed with little thought given to views, neighbors, circulation, scale, etc.  Suffice to say, this did not make me a feng shui fan, but it did convince me I needed to understand it well enough to work with clients who are.

After m

uch research, I discovered a plant-centric approach to feng shui that I continue to incorporate into my designs. My guiding principle is simple – rely on plants and other traditional garden features like terra cotta and wood to ensure all five elements of  feng shui exist within the garden.  My aha moment came from reading the books of Gill Hale (many of which are sadly out of print), which showed me that each element can be represented literally or symbolically via a plant’s shape or color. This chart demonstrates the Creative Cycle, which occurs when all five elements are both present and balanced by supporting elements (those on either side of it on the Creative Cycle).