Blue Planet Garden Blog

Design Inspiration: The Vibrant Colors of Quintana Roo

Last week I enjoyed a welcome break in spectacular, tropical Cancun, a resort destination located in Quintana Roo, Mexico. While I was (mostly) diligent about avoiding emails, like many people in a creative field, my design brain never quite turns off.

 If you are a regular reader, then you know that color has been a reoccurring theme of late, whether via the symbolism of Feng Shui, or in more tangible ways, such as exploring unusual combinations on the color wheel. Although I gravitate towards subtle shades in most garden designs, while in Mexico I found myself continually captivated by the explosion of color that greeted me almost everywhere I went.

 A few things that inspired me:

 

From Casa de los Suenos website

Brilliant color is everywhere, most notably on Isla Mujeres, a tropical gem just a short ferry ride from the mainland. While touring the island on golf carts, we were drawn to the small but stunning restaurant and resort of Casa de los Suenos. It was not just the views of the ocean visible through the lobby, or the cool and inviting infinity pool, but the artfully painted stucco walls that made us choose this as our lunch destination.

 

This photo is also from their website – I couldn’t get enough of the narrow pink staircase and was disappointed the shadows meant my own pictures didn’t capture its charm.

 

 

Usually I find electric pink bouganvilleas to be a bit garish, but the juxtaposition between the cool stone and brightly colored bracts creates an interesting contrast.

 

 

A burst of color can make even the most mundane features exotic – in this case, a bright blue wall turns a sign pointing the way to the bathrooms and the beach a work of art.

 

 

Elsewhere on Isla Mujeres, we explored an odd little property that contained a restaurant, museum, private club and gift shop specializing in custom jewelry. While I’d seen plenty of jewelry by this time, the colorful parrots halfway up the walk lured me in. The proprietor told me she had opened up the jewelry store because everyone walked up to see the parrots anyway so she might as well make some money—a good reminder that a punch of color in the right place makes a bold statement. (And a good marketing strategy; I’m wearing my new earrings even as I type this.)

 

 

Back at our hotel in Cancun, I spent several early mornings on the beach before most of the guests were down yet. My favorite view? This lone, red lifeguard tower—a spot of vibrant color highlighting and grounding the azure water and white sandy beach that stretches towards the horizon. This is probably my favorite image from the whole trip.

 

What will I do with all this inspiration? I’m not sure. Perhaps I should have taken a tip from my sister, who instead of wandering around Casa de Los Suenos snapping pictures, opted to hop in the infinity pool after lunch and simply enjoy the day. Yet even now I can’t help noticing, doesn’t her orange bathing suit look terrific against the smokey blue water and bright green palm frondse?

 

 

Book Review: Lawn Gone!

Not only is the lawn reform movement still going strong; I'm happy to report that it continues to gain momentum. Lawn Gone!: Low-Maintenance, Sustainable, Attractive Alternatives for Your Yard by popular blogger and garden designer Pam Penick  is the latest book to tackle the topic. Its soup-to-nuts approach, inspiring photos and emphasis on DIY solutions make it a must-have for anyone considering reducing or eliminating lawn.

The book is divided into three parts. “Part One: Beyond the Lawn” explores what to do with all the real estate eliminating or reducing a lawn makes available. Low-growing plant alternatives are discussed in detail, but Lawn Gone also makes a case for replacing lawn with new living spaces and garden features, such as patios, ponds and play spaces.

Mixed species lawn. Design and photograph by Rebecca Sweet

“Part Two: Out with the Grass, In with a Garden” gives step-by-step instructions on removing an existing lawn. This is an area where the book really shines, as Pam explores multiple methods, and provides the pros and cons of each. She knows her target audience of DIYers well, and also includes instructions on planning and creating a range of garden features, from how to edge pathways, to basics on bed preparation.

A welcoming space for entertaining. Photograph courtesy of Pam Penick

In “Part Three: The Politics, Health and Safety of Going Lawnless,” Pam provides tips on dealing with both man-made obstacles (think HOAs and city codes) and natural ones, such as lawn alternatives for fire prone areas.

Design and photograph by Kelly Kipatrick

 

What I liked

• The book is one of the most well-organized and thorough resources I have yet to read on on lawn alternatives. What isn’t addressed?  From removing lawn, to dealing with skeptical neighbors, Lawn Gone covers all your questions, including some you probably haven’t even thought of yet.

• I enjoyed the conversational tone of the book, which feels appropriate for both advanced and new gardeners. as even those with years of gardening under their belts don’t necessarily have experience with removing and replacing lawn.

• The inclusion of regional experts greatly broadens the Lawn Gone’s potential readership. In the final chapter, Pam taps garden experts from eleven regions of the country for suggestions on the best lawn alternatives for their specific area. Beyond that, throughout the book advice is regularly qualified as to what parts of the country the tips apply to.

• Lawn Gone paints an enticing picture of the lawn-free lifestyle without sugarcoating the realities of what’s involved to get there. While you may be thrilled to ditch the lawnmower, Pam makes it clear that a successful garden still requires an ongoing commitment.

 

Quibbles

No quibbles this time, but be sure to do your research before following any of the specific plant advice in the book. Many of the plants mentioned, in particular the ornamental grasses, are invasive in California and other regions of the country - I counted more than one plant  I would hesitate to recommend to my clients. This can’t really be avoided in a book geared towards a national audience, but follow the advice Pam includes in Lawn Gone, and be sure to check online or with your county’s extension program before choosing plants for your garden.

Confidential to California gardeners: The alternatives provided that most closely mimic a lawn are mainly those grown from seed or plugs. Since here in California we're addicted to the look of fresh sod rolled out in a new garden, I usually specify no-mow native grass mixes in sod form for my clients. Check out Delta Bluegrass for alternatives that work in a range of USDA zone 9 cultural conditions.

 A must read for anyone considering reducing or eliminating a lawn, Lawn Gone provides a thoughtful, well-researched mix of step-by-step solutions and troubleshooting tips.

 

I received this book as a review copy. Photos reprinted with permission from Lawn Gone! Low-Maintenance, Sustainable, Attractive Alternatives for Your Yard by Pam Penick (Ten Speed Press, 2013).

 

Lessons in Color Theory from the Northwest Flower and Garden Show

 

Last week I had the pleasure of speaking at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show on design strategies for small spaces. It’s always a bit hard for me to relax and enjoy the show when I know I have a talk coming up, so this year I played it smart. Flying in right before my presentation meant I had a full day and a half to view the show gardens and attend presentations after I spoke. For once, I was able to give my full attention over to new ideas.

 

Image courtesy of Billy Goodnick

The lesson for me this year was all about color. By far my favorite garden was Roman Holiday by the Washington Chapter of APLD. While the whole garden was well laid out, it was the sophisticated use of color in the plant palette that I found both engaging and inspiring. Coincidentally, during the show my co-author Rebecca Sweet gave two thought-provoking presentations on employing color theory to wake up a weary garden (she even used a color wheel in her presentation). The week after the show I attended an excellent presentation by Chris Grampp at Merritt College on the use of color in rendering. Clearly, the universe is telling me to brush up on my rusty color theory skills to get to the bottom of why the blue/purple/gold combination is so appealing.

 

The Itten Color Star

 

There are many ways to combine color, but the above photo of Johannes Itten's color star points out two of the most effective techniques. One option that ensures a harmonious result is to focus on the inner, lightest color values on the wheel. As Chris put it in his lecture, if you washed all your clothes 200 times, they would eventually fade to the point where you could wear anything with anything. He followed this with the excellent example of Gertrude Jekyll, who relied on this approach to achieve a seamless color effect, despite filling her famous borders with an army of unique perennials. Lesson: there's a reason pastels are so popular in the garden (not to mention the top pick of new parents everywhere when it comes to choosing a soothing color scheme for the nursery).

The other option, and one that is used less commonly in garden design, is to focus on the colors at the darkest end of the spectrum, those which live on the outermost edge of the color wheel. Roman Holiday caught my eye because the designers chose this less traveled path. I found the tapestry of deep, blue-violets and blue-greens they created with their plant selection mesmerizing.

 

Another sophisticated way to combine color is via a split complementary scheme.  In brief, instead of combining two complementary colors, such as red with green, a split scheme combines red with the colors to either side of its complement; in this case, yellow-green and blue-green. The result can be a combination that retains the vibrancy of a traditional complementary color scheme, but with more subtlety and refinement.

Split complementary color chart courtesy of Buzzle 

In the case of Roman Holiday, I’m treating the yellow-gold of the stucco walls and the yellow accents of the Euphorbia and tulip blooms as the main color, while the blue-greens and blue-violets of the rest of the plant palette provide the split complements. The power of this combination is reinforced by the complete lack of red in the palette (green is usually always present in some form of course – this is a garden after all).

 

The combination is easier to see in the colors chosen for the house, but it was the plants that mainly grabbed my eye. Whether the designers did this intentionally or would even agree with my attempt to turn their fabulous creation into a mini-design lesson remains to be seen. All I know is, as I gear up for a month devoted to garden design, the talented designers of Roman Holiday have inspired me to push the color envelope.

If you'd like to see more display garden images, professional photographer Mark Turner, who graciously allowed me to use several of his photos in this post, has a whole gallery here.

Small Space Design Lesson - Amy Stewart's Cocktail Garden

 

Fans of Sunset magazine, cocktails and gardening should count themselves lucky in February, because this is the month when they all converge. In celebration of her soon-to-be released new book, The Drunken Botanist, noted author, Gardenranter and cocktail aficionado Amy Stewart shares photos from her new garden filled with botanical ingredients and garnishes—and even a cocktail recipe, la vie en elderflower.

I had the great pleasure of helping Amy design her cocktail garden, and if you read the Sunset article, it may leave you wanting a few more photos and information on the garden itself. Accordingly, I'm sharing a few of the design strategies we used to make Amy’s very small garden come to life.

Although collaboration is at the heart of the design process, it is unusual for me to work with a client long distance, providing all design documents and advice based strictly on photographs. Working with Amy was unusual in another way as well. As an artist (and also just as someone with generally strong opinions), she had a fairly definite idea of what she wanted to accomplish. My challenge:  Making everything fit together in a way that honors the owner’s artistic, quirky vision, while still resulting in a garden that is cohesive and practical.

Here are four tips that work to minimze the cramped, bowling alley feel in any narrow garden.

Despite the deceptively spacious feel of the garden in plan view, at its narrowest point it is only 7' wide. Instead of a path running straight down the center, vary the width of the planting beds on either side to add some visual variety, and have pathways merge seamlessly with patio space - don't use a different material. Be practical, however, and avoid the temptation to make the walkway too small. At only 2’ wide, the original path was too narrow for wheelbarrows and other garden equipment and actually made the garden feel smaller. The new one is 3’ wide at its narrowest point.

 

A chair set at an angle (which can be easily pushed against the wall when more access is required) breaks up the rigid geometry on one side, as does the checkerboard pattern of the corner planting bed on the other side.

 

Mix in circular or unusually shaped containers to act as a counterpoint to the rectangular pathways and raised beds.

 

 

Draw the eye up by taking advantage of wall space. A mix of vertical planters, vintage windows and artistic touches turn an ordinary fence into an art gallery. Varying the height of containers also creates vertical interest. This shows the original drawing I made to help Amy with container and art arrangement, and the final result.

I'll be sharing more photos and design lessons from Amy's garden as part of my small space design presentation at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show on February 20 and the Boise Flower and Garden Show on March 22 and 23. Hope to see some of you there!

 

Ebook Giveaway – Everyday Feng Shui: A Plant Lover’s Guide to Garden Design

What makes a California garden designer, whose education and experience is firmly rooted in Western design principles, think she can write a book about Feng Shui?

The short answer is, she can’t.

Like many of you, however, I consider myself a life-long learner. And when the subject at hand relates to garden design, so much the better. I’ve been dabbling in one specific aspect of Feng Shui for several years now, and recently published an eBook on the subject. What sets Everyday Feng Shui A Plant Lover's Guide to Garden Design (On Your Own Design) apart from other books on garden Feng Shui is that rather than a complex system of space planning, the focus is on the plants themselves.

The Creative Cycle

I’ve concentrated on one of the core tenents of Feng Shui—the Creative Cycle. At the heart of the Creative Cycle is the belief that all things have their origin in one of the five elemental groups: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water or Wood. Just as Western garden principles strive to create balance in the garden, Feng Shui similarly focuses on harmony, teaching that for a garden to be truly welcoming, all five elements should be present. Now here is the fun part: each of the elements can be represented by specific plant characteristics! A perfect design tool for gardeners, as we already see plants as the heart and soul of the garden.

Here is a brief description of each of the five elements:

Fire – Symbolic of energy and aggression. Represented by the color red and triangular or jagged, sharp shapes.

 

Earth – Symbolic of harmony and balance. Represented by the colors brown and yellow and square, flat-topped shapes.

Metal – Symbolic of creativity and collecting. Represented by the colors white, silver and gray and by circular or domed shapes.

 

Water – Symbolic of meditation and reflection. Represented by the colors blue and black and by wavy, meandering shapes.

 

Wood – Symbolic of growth and trust. Represented by the color green and by rectangular shapes.

What makes this approach to garden design so appealing, is that rather than replacing traditional Western design principles, it enhances them. As an example, take the following photo:

From a Feng Shui perspective, this front yard is suffering from an excess of Earth (represented by the square shapes of the lawn, driveway and severely-pruned bushes) and Wood (via the color green). Peaceful to the point of boring. Zzzzzz. The key to bringing it back into balance is through the introduction of the other elements on the Creative Cycle. If this were my client, I would begin by removing the unnaturally-shaped shrubs, downsizing the lawn and adding curved planting beds. Budget allowing, I might even add a curved path from the street to the front door. These changes would bring in Water’s meditative influence. Next comes filling the beds with plants in a mix of colors and textures, making sure to include plants with variegated foliage to bring in a touch of Metal’s elegance as well as some sharply-textured New Zealand flax or aloes to channel Fire’s bright energy.

While similar conclusions can be reached without recourse to the Creative Cycle, of course, determining what is wrong with an existing garden is often more challenging than creating a new one from scratch. Why not add another diagnostic tool to your gardening toolkit? Not to mention it’s just plain fun to rethink an outdoor space through the lens of the Creative Cycle.

If you are looking for easy-to-implement ways to make your garden a more enjoyable space that is alive with positive energy, then Everyday Feng Shui provides a roadmap to achieving a new level of harmony in your garden. No need to redesign the garden’s entire layout or rip out and replace planting beds wholesale (unless you enjoy that sort of thing, of course). With a few additions or subtractions, almost any garden space can become more balanced, welcoming and harmonious.

To learn more, go to Amazon and download a sample of the book. Or better yet, leave a comment here or on my Facebook page. I’ll be giving away 3 copies, winners to be announced next Thursday, December 13th. As an FYI for those of you with gardeners on your Christmas list, if you’ve never given a Kindle book as a gift before, it’s incredibly easy. All you have to do is enter the recipient’s email address and voila! It’s done. Should you prefer to bestow your gift in person, simply have the gift certificate emailed to yourself.

In the unlikely event that you're not interested in this giveaway, check back next week anyway. I'll be giving away a copy of the just released Why Grow That When You Can Grow This?: 255 Extraordinary Alternatives to Everyday Problem Plants.

Update 12-13-12: The winners are in!

Chosen by a random number generator, congrats to commenters  #8 Loree/Danger Garden, #13 Sheila Schultz and #15 Judy Tilson. Keep an eye on your email for a message from Amazon!