Blue Planet Garden Blog

Garden Dos and Don'ts

Or what I saw on my walk this morning

This morning I took advantage of a break in the rain to head out for walk.  Not surprisingly, my favorite aspect of this choice of exercise is the opportunity to see what people are up to in their front yards.  Of course, most of my energy goes towards mentally redesigning the landscapes I pass by, but I often get ideas that are particularly useful because they are real world examples - not something out of a glossy shelter magazine.  So, in the inimitable style of Glamour Magazine's Dos and Don'ts, here are some of my observations:

DO  replace lawn with low water plants

 

 
A little dated, the phormiums to either side of the pathway have gotten too big, and this garden could use a bit more color contrast, however, this is an excellent example of a low maintenance, no lawn front yard.  Scale and balance are first rate, something much more difficult to achieve in lawn-free environment.  I sometimes forget the KISS principle - keep it simple, stupid- and this garden is a good reminder for me.

DON'T - create a fortress of green around your home

 

An oversized, looming wall is always unpleasant to be around - the fact that it's made of plants instead of wood doesn't make it any better.  Regardless, Italian cypress is a horrible choice for this sort of thing as it gets way too big, looks shabby up close and can't really be pruned attractively.  Leave it where it belongs; punctuating the countryside in France and Italy.

This one looks like some bizarre suburban game of hedge shearing one-upmanship. 

DO  make it easy to see the path to the front door

 

Another slightly dated lawnless front, but that just shows the owners were ahead of the curve. The path to the front door is easy to see and not overwhelmed by the plants, an important design objective in the front.  Love the red accents. 

 

DON'T  make the front door the only feature there is

This much hardscape is expensive!  Couldn't a little of the budget been spared for even one plant?

   

This is actually a charming entry and looks like it was recently done, but the no-plants look should have been a no-go and the funky path needs to be replaced.  Although speaking of paths...

 

...at least there is one!  I have the uncomfortable feeling I've somehow walked in on this house before it had time to dress.

 FYI, if you're wondering about the black blindfolds, in true Glamour Magazine Dos and Don'ts style, this is my attempt to black out the house's "eyes" to ensure anonymity.  And no houses were harmed in the photographing of this post.

Blotanical - High School Redux?

 

After a grueling day at the drawing board and computer working on my current designs (or as I like to think of it, making the world a safer place for bees and butterflies), I decided to wrap things up by visiting some of my favorite garden blogs.  As I browsed new posts and comment pages, I couldn't help noticing that I was seeing a lot of the same commenters on every site, and furthermore, that many of them joined Blotanical in the past several months, just as I have myself.  And I started wondering, have I wound up in a blogging clique?

For those of you who aren't familiar with it, Blotanical is a wonderful garden blog directory listing over 1000 blogs.  It has nifty features like the ability to click on a map of the world to find bloggers who live close to you - helpful if you want to read about gardening strategies that match your climate or conversely, if you want to read what gardeners are up to in more exotic locales.  Beyond that, though, Blotanical is a social networking site, with the opportunity to friend (or fav) other bloggers and blogs, cast votes for current blog posts (and here's some of the high school part) receive both a personal ranking and blog ranking based on how active you are and how popular your blog is.

Blotanical vs. High School - My Observations:

Blotanical: People who join about the same time tend to visit each other's blogs and vote for each other. 
High School: Freshman class bonds over their shared newbie experience - although fortunately no wedgies are involved at Blotanical.

Blotanical: More experienced bloggers have much more popular blogs, but many are kind about reaching out to newer bloggers to make them feel welcome.
High School: Seniors who want to pad their college resumes may agree to tutor freshmen.

Blotanical: You tell yourself being popular and climbing up in the rankings doesn't matter, but then your numbers move and you're secretly thrilled.
High School: You tell yourself going to the dance is no big deal, but then you get invited and you're secretly thrilled.

And here I am writing what could only be considered an "insider's" post - what could be more high school than that?

Just for the record, anyone who reads my blog is welcome to join my clique.  I would even give you a cool nickname, if you all didn't have one already.

Garden Advice from 'What Not to Wear'

Or as Stacy London would say "shut up!"

A while back I had the pleasure of hearing first hand fashion advice from Stacy London, co-host and fashionista extraordinaire from the makeover show What Not to Wear. My sister Kathy was the top bidder in a Salvation Army charity auction for a personal consultation in New York.  Once her husband realized she expected her travel companion to only take a break from shopping in order to talk about shopping, he happily agreed to let me take his place.

Even though Stacy's advice was about clothing and accessories, I think her words of wisdom apply to gardens as well.  So what did I learn?

1.  You can wear silver and gold jewelry together
Great advice, and works in the garden as well.  When I first started designing, I was very rigid in choosing a color palette, particularly with foliage plants.  For example, I would include plants with either silver leaves or chartreuse leaves, but never both.  I'm much less conservative now, and realize that a plant grouping that isn't matchy-matchy can not only look great, but also has the potential to rise above the ordinary.  I've shown this photo before from a garden my friend Roxy designed, but it's a great example of a lot of "onesies" mixed together, and I think it's spectacular.

2.  Your necklace is lonely
Although I was not the specific recipient of her fashion makeover advice, Stacy directed a few comments to me. According to her, my tasteful Venetian glass necklace was too small and not nearly enough bling to carry the outfit.  In the garden I consider this the "moustache effect" - a thin border of plants around a too big lawn that doesn't allow for any layering.  You should always leave room for at least two levels of contrasting plant heights, and three (or even four!) is better.  On a side note, I always wear at least two necklaces now, and often manage four.

 

before

   

after

3. Bold color never goes out of style
What she actually said was "jewel tones look good on women as they get older", but I'm slightly reinterpreting that bit of unsolicited advice to "be bold with your color choices and combinations".  Yes, lavender and pink look good together, but why not try something more exciting, more bold?  The strappy bronze foliage of Cordyline 'Festival Grass' and delicate silver leaves of Artmesia 'Silver Mound', highlighted by peach daylilies and classic white Iceberg roses makes a gorgeous combination.

By the way, I thought about titling this post "My sister never reads my blog" in hopes of luring her in, but as she is an unapologetic non-gardener, I'm not holding out much hope.  Maybe if I change my blog title to "Fashion Chick's Clothing Tips"?

Forget the Daffodils. Go Native

By Guest Bloggers Troy McGregor and Jess Kolman

Mention bulbs to most gardeners and you are likely to start hearing names like Daffodils, Tulips and Crocus. What most aren’t aware of or don’t consider garden ready are our own Californian native bulbs. Though their range is vastly reduced from ‘white-man magic’, it is still possible to see many species in open grasslands, redwood forests, rocky slopes and oak woodlands. For the sake of a quick post I’ll group corms and rhizomes under the term bulb. Here are some of my favorites that work well in gardens. I've asked my friend and fellow native plant gardener Jess Kolman to write the descriptions for this post.                               

Allium unifolium (Single-leaf Onion)

               In late spring, our grasslands and chaparral are dotted with the pink of Allium unifolium. From tufts of grassy foliage arise sturdy 1-2’ stalks, topped with showy flower umbels, pale pink with a darker stripe through each petal. The blossoms’ large size and pastel colors make them at once bold and dainty. The flowers gradually dry to tan, but remain upright and decorative for some time. Eventually, the plant disappears for fall and winter, but spreads via bulblets and seed for an increased show each spring.

This unfussy plant is at home in many conditions including heavy clay, as long as it has at least part sun while growing. Supplemental watering will extend bloom time by several weeks, and after flowering, either moderate irrigation or complete drought is acceptable. The plant’s garlic scent is subtle to humans, but repels deer. The flowers attract birds, bees and butterflies.

Dichelostemma ida-maia (California Firecracker)
This distinctive flower brings a hint of flamboyance to the spring garden. Bare stalks of 1’ or taller produce bunches of vivid red capsule-shaped flowers, tipped with apple-green. Later, the green tips open and fold back, revealing a yellowish underside and white anthers. As the dangling flowers reach seeding stage, they stand up, so a single cluster may at times have a combination of pendent and upright capsules. The basal leaves are long and lily-like, emerging from the ground in spring and withering by the time flower stalks rise.

California Firecracker prefers part shade and is not fussy about soil. After flowering it can handle a little moisture, but will happily go completely dry. It attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirds like a magnet.

Calochortus superbus (Superb Mariposa Tulip)
Calochortus is Greek for “beautiful grass”, and is an understatement in the case of Calochortus superbus. The “grass” is the long, narrow leaves that emerge in spring, and the “beautiful” is the large, bowl-shaped flowers posed atop erect 1-2’ stalks. They may be any number of colors, including yellow, lavender, pink or red, but most often they are pristine white. In all cases, the flower center is mottled with reds and golds, and partway up each petal is a spot of crimson with a gold lining like a halo. These flowers should be given prominent placement so their patterns and beauty spots can be noticed. Nectar-loving pollinators will greatly appreciate them also.

The plants die down late in spring, at which point water should be withheld until fall. They need sun and tolerate various soils, but good drainage is best. These flowers make gorgeous container specimens, if the pots are put away somewhere dry through summer. They also make superb cut flowers.

He said, She said - Disagreement in the Garden

I'm working on a design right now which includes a fairly substantial slope in the front.  When I discussed some options for breaking up the the planted space, the husband (H) liked one idea and the wife (W) liked another.  Both were having trouble visualizing what I was describing, so I suggested showing them a couple of perspective sketches to help them decide.

Idea number one:  break up the space with vignettes anchored by large landscape boulders:

Idea number two:  weave a dry stack retaining wall through the slope.

 

Unlike a true two point or three point perspective drawing, which is a specific technique involving grid-lines, precise measuring and a lot of other stuff I've half forgotten from design school, this cheater method is fairly easy to do.  Simply take a photo of the area  from the angle you want to view it from.  Then put trace paper on top of it and sketch in your ideas.  Here's the original photo.

Although I did this to help the clients make a decision, it helps me as well.  One of the challenges of this slope is creating a lighting plan that in addition to highlighting the landscape will make the curb at the bottom of the driveway visible, as visitors routinely run into it when backing up.  A pathlight is the obvious solution but I know from backing down the driveway myself that you can't see the curb unless you adjust your mirror, so lighting is only part of the problem.  This drawing made me realize a better solution is to plant some evergreen shrubs that will get about 3' high and then downlight them from the tree, essentially creating a green wall as a guideline.

The sketches turned out to be an effective visualization tool and a lively discussion ensued. Unfortunately, the drawings just reinforced that they both preferred their original choice, so agreement was only reached by H graciously deferring to W. Which version do you like?

Edited on February 11 -

Blossom Blooms asked me to contribute to her meme on "Show Your Garden" so I'm amending the above post with a specific tip.  I've designed a lot of gardens, and getting the vertical aspects right (ultimate height of plants, maintaining and creating views, working with the borrowed scenery around you) can be much tricker than the layout in birds eye view.  Taking a photo and overlaying your ideas on trace paper is a great way for a gut check and you don't have to be an artist to do this.