Blue Planet Garden Blog

Front Yard Design Strategies

 

Photo courtesy of Rebecca Sweet

A few days ago I attended an excellent seminar presented by the Garden Conservancy titled "Front Yard Gardens Take Center Stage." As I am acquainted with most of the speakers, I was a tad concerned all talks would center on replacing lawns with gardens. While this is a worthwhile topic I often blog about, five hours of lose-the-lawn ranting is a bit much, even for a true believer like me.

Happily for me, the seminar instead dished up a broad range of information on how to transform a front yard, presented by speakers with very distinct points of view. It would take many more posts than this lazy blogger is willing to write to pass on everything that I learned, but read on for one big idea from each of the five presenters.

Gordon Hayward - Houses should be in rather than on the landscape

Photo courtesy of Saxon Holt

Gordon's presentation focused on classic design principles, amply illustrated with front yard photos from around the country. Much of his talk centered on the importance of the relationship between home and garden, with the central idea that a front garden should be designed to support the house. Examples from his talk include using trees to balance the scale of the home or soften rooflines, fences to create context and pathways designed to roll out the red carpet for guests. Gordon is the author of numerous garden books, but should you wish to further explore how to maximize the connection between home and garden (and not just in the front) I recommend Your House, Your Garden: A Foolproof Approach to Garden Design.


John Greenlee - Meadow gardens aren't just for large properties; even small landscapes have room for a "meadowette."

Photo courtesy of Saxon Holt

Despite owning a copy of The American Meadow Garden: Creating a Natural Alternative to the Traditional Lawn and having heard John speak on more than one occasion, I confess I've never created a meadow garden for a client. Many of the gardens I design are small, and figuring out how to include a meadow has always seemed too daunting a task to tackle. But John pointed out that meadowettes are a practical solution for small spaces, whether used as a transition between lawn and a surrounding garden, or in place of small lawns (which in addition to being dull, are often too narrow or convoluted to be irrigated efficiently). The best part about tackling a baby meadow? An exciting effect can be achieved with a much smaller palette than may be required for a larger space. Some of John's favorite choices include Carex pansa, Poa arachnifera and Sesleria autumnalis or  S. 'Greenlee' (a personal favorite of mine).

Vera Gates - Every landscape project should begin with a goal
At Vera's firm Arterra Landscape Architects in San Francisco, their goal is to create gardens that are beautiful, memorable and sustainable. I love this mantra, as it so clearly addresses the complex potential of a garden. At its best, a garden speaks to the senses (beautiful) and creates a unique experience for both the owner and visitor (memorable), while also doing its own small part to support the wider world (sustainable). At the beginning of each practice, my yoga instructor sets an intention for the class and encourages us to either follow it or to set one of our own. If you are about to embark on a landscape renovation, begin by setting your own intention - or borrow Arterra's philosophy.

 

Ivette Soler - Front yard food is here to stay

Part celebration of the spreading movement to grow food instead of lawns and part thoughtful design commentary, Ivette Soler shared her passion and support for the expanding number of front yard edible gardens that are popping up across the country. While she believes no one should shy away from growing food because of design considerations, she also provided strategies for making a space filled with fruits and vegetables as attractive as possible. Her most valuable tip: Corral edible gardens with hardscape materials substantial enough to contain the inherently raucous nature of veggies. As Ivette says, front yard food doesn't have to turn into a front yard farm. Read more ideas, in particular creative ways to mix edibles with ornamentals in her book The Edible Front Yard: The Mow-Less, Grow-More Plan for a Beautiful, Bountiful Garden

Evelyn Hadden - Less lawn means more life

Photo courtesy of Saxon Holt

Books and lectures on the lawn-free lifestyle often focus on the evils of lawn, but Evelynís talk reminded me of everything we gain when we swap out grass for garden: More scents, more sounds, more seasonal changes and more diverse wild life.  Who wouldn't prefer a garden that attracts birds and butterflies to a lawn that mainly attracts chemicals and lawnmowers? At the end of her talk, she asked for a show of hands from those considering giving up at least a part of their lawn and received an enthusiastic response. No-lawn gardens are sometimes considered a western-only phenomenon, but check out the range of photos in Evelyn's book Beautiful No-Mow Yards: 50 Amazing Lawn Alternatives and you'll realize that gardeners all over the country are equally interested in bringing more life into their spaces.

If any of these speakers wind up in your area, donít miss the opportunity to hear them in person. I'll close by saying that even better than what I learned was the chance to spend time with several of the speakers after the seminar ended. Thanks for both the lessons and the stimulating dinner conversation!

 

 

Book Review: The 50 Mile Bouquet

 

As a garden designer, the word sustainable has been a part of my lexicon for quite some time now, and as a dedicated foodie, I’m a regular at my local farmers markets, where I know the benefits to be had from choosing organic produce, cage-free eggs and grass-fed beef. But it wasn’t until I met Debra Prinzing and learned about her passion for seasonal, locally grown flowers that I thought to apply these ideas to the floral trade.

 

The 50 Mile Bouquet: Seasonal, Local and Sustainable Flowers is the result of years of interviewing and photographing sustainable growers, designers and florists from all over the country. Most of the book paints a series of individual portraits, whether it is a husband-and-wife team working 16 hour days to grow peonies and dahlias in Washington state, or San Francisco floral designer (and personal friend) Baylor Chapman, who transformed the unused edges of an asphalt parking lot into her own sustainable, outdoor "warehouse".

 

I now understand that the bulk of the industry is made up of “factory flowers”, bred to be shipped long distances and therefore doused with chemical preservatives to make the trip. Between the chemicals and the carbon footprint of transporting a flower hundreds - or even thousands - of miles, it’s easy to reach the conclusion that sustainable, local flowers are a far better environmental choice, not just for the planet but in our own homes as well.

 

Despite sharing sobering facts like these, the book is not a giant lecture on sustainability (and if you’ve read some of my past reviews, you know I hate being lectured to), but rather a celebration of the beauty of old-fashioned, seasonal blooms and the spirit of community. Many of those interviewed talk about the rewards of selling directly to floral designers and the general public, and the pleasure they take in sharing how their blooms are grown and should be cared for.

 

And the photos! The 50 Mile Bouquet’s co-creator is renowned photographer David Perry, whose beautifully realized pictures not only highlight the charm of an old-fashioned bouquet, but also capture the individuals who have dedicated their careers to, in the words of Diane Szukovathy “leaving the land in better shape than we found it.”

 

The 50 Mile Bouquet is a love letter to the joy that comes from a fresh posy of seasonal, local blooms. Lingering over photos of decadent, pastel-colored peonies or reading about the bride who picked and arranged the vibrant dahlias of her wedding bouquet will have you wondering how anyone could prefer an outrageously priced, chemically-doused box of long-stemmed roses.

 

 

Garden Designers Roundtable: The Visionary Ruth Bancroft Garden

Today the Garden Designers Roundtable is celebrating gardens from all over the world. And it just so happens that one of the most beloved public gardens in California is located right down the street from me.

In the 1950’s, Ruth Bancroft paid a visit on Mrs. Glenn Davidson, expecting to purchase some Asian collectibles. Instead, she went home with her first succulent, a hybrid Aeonium. Captivated by its allure, she proceeded to spend the second half of her life creating one of North America’s premier dry gardens. Located at the site of a former walnut orchard in Walnut Creek California, the Ruth Bancroft Garden inspired the founding of the Garden Conservancy and has become a national model for preservation.

 

 

 

 

 Ruth’s accomplishments are particularly notable when you consider that succulents were not at all chic when she started. Her garden aesthetic was completely at odds with the type of English estate-inspired garden design being done at the time.

 

 

 

Although she is not generally mentioned in garden history books or classes, I consider Ruth to be one of the early pioneers of regional design, as she took her inspiration from the beauty of western landscapes rather than importing ideas and plants from another state or continent - a design philosophy many of us are just now catching up to.  Ruth began creating her garden while in her sixties. In a few months she will turn 104 and it is only in the past five years that she has stopped working in the garden herself.

 

 

Truly, you are never too old to follow your passion and make your mark on this world.

 

 

This garden has been an inspiration to me for a long time. Twelve years ago I wrote a paper on Ruth Bancroft for a garden design class. Next month on May 22, I’ll have the honor of giving a vertical gardening presentation there. Who knows? If I'm very lucky, you may find me celebrating my own 100th birthday in the garden.

To find out what gardens have inspired other designers, including special guest Fern Richardson from Life on the Balcony, be sure to check out these roundtable posts:

Fern Richardson : Life on the Balcony : Orange County CA

Susan Cohan : Miss Rumphius’ Rules : Chatham, NJ

Scott Hokunson : Blue Heron Landscapes : Granby, CT

Rochelle Greayer : Studio G : Boston, MA

Rebecca Sweet : Gossip In The Garden : Los Altos, CA

Lesley Hegarty & Robert Webber : Hegarty Webber Partnership : Bristol, UK

Genevieve Schmidt : North Coast Gardening : Arcata, CA

David Cristiani : The Desert Edge : Albuquerque NM

Book Review: Beautiful No-Mow Yards

In 2007, I designed my first no-lawn back yard. I would have welcomed advice on design strategies or plant options, but at the time, a book like that wasn’t even a gleam in a publisher’s eye. So you can imagine how thrilled I am to have the opportunity to review Evelyn Hadden’s newest book,  Beautiful No-Mow Yards: 50 Amazing Lawn Alternatives (Timber Press 2012).

Following a wonderful forward by fellow Lawn Reform Coalition member Susan Harris and a terrific introduction where Evelyn eloquently describes how our changing definition of beauty doesn’t necessarily include a lawn and further encourages us to “return life to our landscapes,” the book is divided into three sections. The first section makes up more than 75% of the book and focuses on design inspiration. You won’t be surprised to hear that this was my favorite part. Set up mainly as case studies, Evelyn reviews in detail various strategies both homeowners and professional designers have used to replace lawn with garden.

There’s something for everyone here, as gardens from all over the United States that showcase a range of cultural and lifestyle situations are featured: woodland gardens, rain gardens and kids' play areas, just to name a few. This segment ends with a section called “smarter lawns,” perfect for the homeowner who is ready to eschew a chemically propped up, water-guzzling version of a lawn, but for esthetic or functional reasons, still wants their own little patch of green. (Or even blue!)

Prairie garden, photograph by Saxon Holt

Pond and patio instead of lawn, designed by fellow APLD member Kelly Marshall and photographed by Saxon Holt.

No-Mow Lawn

The second section is practical, with advice on removing existing sod, as well as planting, irrigating and maintaining a lawn-free garden. The final section is a comprehensive plant list, arranged by design intent. Categories such as ground-filling plants, mat-forming plants and minglers let you go right to the plant list that fits your garden’s particular needs.

Looks time consuming, but in fact there's very little effort in maintaining a lawn alternative like this one.

 

Stunning example of a tapestry of mat-forming plants

What I like

• Evelyn is hands down one of the best garden writers I’ve had the pleasure of reading. I have a large library of gardening books, most with excellent content, but few rival the elegant and graceful prose of Beautiful No-Mow Yards.
• I appreciate the level of detail provided about the gardens featured in the design section. Many of the descriptions go beyond the lawn alternatives used, and describe interesting details about the design as a whole. For example, I enjoyed learning that the designer of a woodland shade garden designed a stream with waterfalls facing different directions in order to maximize water’s effectiveness as a “light catcher” in a shady space. Brilliant!
• The book is very comprehensive, with a soup to nuts approach that covers design inspiration, practical advice on removing lawn and a list of plant options. If you’re thinking about removing all or part of your lawn, Beautiful No-Mow Yards serves as a convenient, one-stop shop.
• Evelyn doesn’t sugar coat her case studies, but shares stories of gardeners who have had failures as well as successes. I know from experience that no matter how much I educate myself in advance, remaking a garden is an imperfect process, and the smart gardener should expect to hit a few bumps in the road.

Quibbles

• While the book is filled with excellent photographs, the majority are close-ups that don’t easily convey the effect of a lawn alternative vs. traditional turf grass. Having struggled to find photos to explain some of the concepts in my own book, I can appreciate this can be difficult, but the detailed descriptions of several of the design strategies in the first portion of the book left me wanting more, and would have benefited from either additional photos, or ideally, a plan view of the overall design.
• Not so much a quibble as an observation: many of the same plants are referenced repeatedly, such as creeping thyme, sedum and dead nettle. This isn’t really a negative as it reinforces that certain plants are particularly tough and well-suited for no-lawn gardens, but if you already have an extensive plant palette, this book probably won’t introduce you to many plants you aren’t already familiar with.
• I wish it had been written five years ago.

Whether you are a designer, home gardener, wild-life enthusiast or an environmentalist, Beautiful No-Mow Yards is a must-have addition for your gardening library.

 Looking for more lawn reform inspiration? Evelyn's made it easy by gathering the links right here.

Unless otherwise indicated, all photos by Evelyn Hadden.

Book Review: Tomorrow's Garden

If you’re an active participant in the world of landscape design or gardening, you no doubt include the word sustainability somewhere on your business card, blog or website. The lectures I attend (and give) as well as many of the books and articles I read do a wonderful job of explaining the havoc careless gardeners can wreck on the environment, when water is treated like an infinite commodity and chemicals are casually applied.

Of course, like most people, I don’t like to be lectured at.

That’s one of the reasons I enjoyed Tomorrow's Garden: Design and Inspiration for a New Age of Sustainable Gardening by Stephen Orr. Instead of opening with a doom and gloom lecture on the perils uninformed gardeners pose to the planet, he begins with the story of his own evolution as a gardener, starting with his ignorant acceptance of the “coddling, fertilizer and fungicides” required to maintain the beloved tea roses and hydrangeas of his Texas youth to his gradual discomfort with the high-maintenance, under-utilized  gardens he toured and photographed all over the world as garden editor for House and Garden, Domino and currently Martha Stewart Living. Culminating in the lessons learned most recently as an upstate New York gardener battling deer, difficult soil and harsh winters, Stephen has written a book that is not a lecture on sustainability, but rather a celebration of gardens that connect with nature in both small and large ways.