GARDENWRIGHT: DESIGN

Showing posts with label DESIGN. Show all posts

GARDEN PATHS REDUCE LAWN AND WATER USE

Water conservation has become the hallmark of southern California gardening. Hooray! This approach can make a garden soooo much more interesting, as we look for alternatives to big flat lawns and single file flower beds.

Garden paths are a great way to reduce the lawn area. You can put a path in ANY size garden, even a tiny patio.

THIS PATH IS IN A 50 SQUARE FOOT CONDO PATIO! IT HIDES THE HVAC UNIT.
Bark, decomposed granite, pea gravel, stone, pavers, and flagstones all make a good path. Or, use faux grass, which now looks and feels much more natural.

For a path that won't get too much foot traffic, try a fragrant groundcover like thyme or mint. Or, plant herbs or sweet alyssum between paving stones so that you will get a hint of perfume whenever you walk the path.

Pictures are more fun than words, so here are some examples of what I'm talking about... all of the following are from gardens I've designed. The materials are inexpensive, super easy to maintain, and easy enough for any do-it-yourselfer to install.

BARK MULCH PATH LINED WITH LAVENDER

FAUX GRASS

DECOMPOSED GRANITE

NATURAL FLAGSTONE

CONCRETE PAVERS WITH RUBBER BARK MULCH

PEA GRAVEL

Linking up to

GARDEN DESIGN RECIPE OF THE WEEK: ALL SEASON COLOR BORDER

Shrubs, to me, are like See's candy boxes to a chocaholic.

The reason, in three words: Lushness, variation, dependability.

Using shrubs with varied colors and shapes of foliage, and with different flowering seasons, gives a mature, full garden border all year long. Leaving one foot gaps between the shrubs lets you add seasonal annuals, garden ornaments, or even decorative stones or gourds, to change the look around without a lot of cost or work.

INGREDIENTS (per 25 feet x 5 feet bed)

3 Pittosporum tenufolium 'Marjorie Channon' or 'Oliver Twist'

3 Rhaphiolepis indica 'Clara'

2 Phormium 'Bronze Baby' or 'Sundowner'

3 Coleonema pulchellum 'Sunset Gold'

2 Salvia leucantha 'Santa Barbara'

5 quarts of Lemon Thyme or Sedum confusum

9 Allium 'Globemaster' bulbs (or other large variety of Allium)

6 cubic feet of planting compost (four 1.5 cf bags)

7.5 cubic feet of shredded or micro bark (five 1.5 cf bags)

1 eight pound bag of GroPower Plus

DIRECTIONS

Add planting compost and Grow Power to existing soil.

Dig, stir, dig, stir, dig, stir, dig stir.

Dig planting holes the same depth as the plant pot and three times as wide.

Gently loosen root ball of plants and set in hole as per diagram below. Back fill and tamp down gently.

Create slight watering dam around plants. Water in well. For extra fluffy plants, add some Plant Starter (humic acid) to water.

Add layer of bark mulch around plants, avoiding direct contact with plant stems.

GARDEN DESIGN RECIPE OF THE WEEK: STONED, SUCCULENT, AND SPIKEY

TALE OF A TRANSFORMATION....
What's a black thumb to do?

My new clients pointed to the double level planter outside their front door and informed me that they had never, ever, grown anything there that survived.

Ha! I love challenges. Not only will I make it grow, I told them, but I will also make it verrrrrry unique... (which in a neighborhood full of all-green yards and pygmy date palms, wasn't that hard to achieve...)

Well, it worked out so well that I thought it would be worth sharing the recipe.

INGREDIENTS

2 Variegated pink/red Phormium (Evening Glow, Lancer Terracotta)

1 Burgundy medium height Phormium (Bronze Baby or Platt's Black)

20 Coleonema 'Sunset Gold' (dwarf gold Breath of Heaven)

3 flats of Gazania 'Pinata' hybrid mix

3 Salvia greggii 'Furman's Red'

3 flats Sedum 'Confusum'

6 to 8 assorted succulents (Aeonium, Echeveria, and Kalanchoe)

2 small to medium Three River stone boulders

1 decorative pot

DIRECTIONS

Pick a sunny spot (at least four hours a day of sun)

Amend well with a mixture of Cactus Mix and Planting Compost

Plant Salvia greggii in curved row at back of planting bed.

Plant Phormium in triangular pattern in center area, four feet apart.

Place boulders and pot in triangular pattern near boulders and pot.

Plant Coleonema in row around edge of planting bed, three feet in.

Plant gazania in row on outside of Coleonema

Plant succulents around boulders and in pot.

Plant Sedum throughout planting bed to cover any bare soil.

Water well daily for first week, then reduce water to give a good deep water twice a week (more or less, depending on rain/temperature.

WATCH IT THRIVE!

GARDEN DESIGN RECIPE OF THE WEEK: CHRISTMAS TREE FOR BIRDS

Happy Holidays! I don't celebrate any religious holiday, but I do love the festivities and sparkle of this season. This year I decided to splurge on a real tree, but hate to waste my artificial tree... so, I'm going to use it to decorate the front yard. But instead of using artificial decorations on it, I'm going to turn it into a Christmas tree for the birds! (Squirrels and field mice will also enjoy this.)

INGREDIENTS

1 Artificial Christmas tree in stand (you can also use a real cut or living tree)

Any combination of the following:

20 sprays of millet (available wherever pet bird food is sold)

Several clusters of hard berrries: Holly, currant, viburnum, etc.

10 small apples (Lady apples are perfect)

1 package of dried figs (make sure they don't contain sulfites)

1 cluster of red grapes

1 bag of rice cakes

1 bag of unsalted unshelled peanuts

1 large box of raisins

3 bags of raw cranberries

Several pine cones

Wild bird suet cakes

Mesh socks filled with niger seed

Dried ears of corn

1 bundle of green and/or red raffia

1 large package of soft moss (available at craft stores)

Pre-made bird food decorations (available online or at Wild Bird stores)

Optional for California and Arizona: 2 small tube style hummingbird feeders with clear nectar

DIRECTIONS

String the cranberries, raisins, peanuts and dried fruit into garlands or bundles with natural cotton twine.

Tie berries and millet sprays into bundles with raffia.

Poke hole through apples and rice cakes and string with cotton twine leaving hanger loop.

Stick clumps of moss among the branches.

Stuff pine cones with suet and place among branches.

LIGHTING: For lighting, its ok to use outdoor tree lights if they are not plugged in during the day. A safe alternative would be to use a low voltage spotlight to shine on the tree at night.

Replace materials as consumed!

A PLUMMET-MEASURED FACE: Garden Statuary

I always recommend adding a statue or some kind of sculpted object in a garden, for the following reasons:

BALANCE: A well designed garden contains balance of all its elements. Visual weight, textural contrast, layout. And too, the balance of hard and soft, natural and manufactured.

An elegant bit of sculpture gracefully introduces the manufactured element. It also gives the eye a place to rest amongst the multiple textures and colors of the plants.

DEPTH: Hedges and large shrubs stand their ground staunchly. The eye quickly dismisses them as a solid mass, a mere divider of a flat plane. But imagine, as you walk past the tall hedge, a gleam of white marble, and suddenly the block becomes a shell, and space curves.

SURPRISE: My childhood memories of gardens feel magical, because they are about surprise. A small tortoise under a bush laying eggs. An unexpected red bridge in a Chinese garden. As adults in a stern world, we need surprises, like a dragon in the apple orchard, to remember how the delights of magic.

CONNECTION: By housing a man made object, the garden is integrated into the overall home both symbolically and stylistically. It becomes another room in which to express your taste.

FOCUS : Similarly, our interior rooms have focus: A fireplace or television, a dining table, the kitchen counter, the bed. Garden rooms benefit from having similar focal points.

Fountain and garden design by Modular Garden UK

PURPOSE: Water features attract birds and provide soothing sound to block unwanted noise. Carved stone benches provide resting spots. Wrought iron arches guide you through the garden. Dramatic pots hold plants in spots where they might otherwise not grow.