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!

 

GORGEOUS EUONYMUS

I REALLY SCORED yesterday at the garden center.   This is a one gallon size, believe it or not!   A Monrovia plant like this, for only $11.00   Yoohooo!

Isn't it gorgeous?  Its a Gold Spot Euonymus (Euonymus japonicus 'Aureovariegatus')

I like to keep shrubs in pots like this, but this would also be a fantastic hedge. 

IT ABSOLUTELY GLOWS IN THE SUN!

100 SQUARE FOOT ITALIAN VILLA GARDEN

INGREDIENTS


SPLASHING FOUNTAIN.


BOXWOOD TOPIARIES.

LEMON TREES.

LAVENDER and JUNIPERS and ROSES.

FLAGSTONE PATHWAY.

And it's all in a patio twelve foot square.

This little condominium patio has all of the elements of a classic Italian garden.  Well, not counting the villa that should go with it.  It took one day, and under $2,000 to create.  Here's what we used:

Fountain:  This one is concrete, by Giannini, and cost $750.  But there are a lot of wall fountains available for a lot less.

Concrete bench:  Also by Giannini, matching the fountain.  But I have one almost like it that I got at Target for $60.

Lemon trees in pots:   I used Meyer lemons, which are smaller scale.  If you can't find those in your area, a Eureka will do just fine, kept pruned.  Underplant it with sweet alyssum and thyme.

Gravel mulch:  Classic gray pea gravel from Lowes.

Flagstone path:  Its really fun, in a small garden, to create a "path to nowhere."  This one curves around the air conditioning unit (concealed behind an airy Pittosporum tenufolium 'Marjorie Channon) to the back corner of the patio walls.  Its only seven feet long, but since the terminus is hidden, it seems longer.  And a wall mirror was added to visually double the size of the garden.

THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE BEFORE

Topiaries:  Green Mountain boxwood and Blue Point juniper do well in pots.

Climbing Iceberg Roses:  This white rose blooms almost all year round here in southern California.  Its low maintenance, disease resistant, and has delicate canes that don't take up much room.


Dwarf lavender:    'Hazel' spanish lavender (lavandula stoechas 'Hazel') and 'Munstead' English lavender (lavandula angustfolia 'Munstead) fit into the 1.5 foot wide borders.

Creeping fig:  These photos, taken soon after planting, don't show the creeping fig that we planted to cover the concrete walls.  But eventually the garden will be enclosed with dark green walls, hiding the new construction.

Linking t  o

WHY I LOVE THIS PLANT: SALVIA

                                                  

                                     

ADDICTION CAN BE A GOOD THING

     WHY I LOVE THIS PLANT

• Every color of the rainbow. 



• Growth from one foot to eight feet tall and wide.



• Drought tolerant.



• Looks great when pruned once a year.



• Varieties available for both sun and shade.



• Wildly attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies.



• As sweetly fragrant as the coastline breeze.



• Easy to propagate from rootlings.



• Just so damn gorgeous!

In her wonderful book, The New Book of Salvias: Sages for Every Garden,author Betsy Clebsch says “Salvia is derived from the latin word salvare, "to heal."  For centuries, it has been used medicinally.  Commonly known as sage, it occurs in all forms, from perennial bushes to annual culinary herbs.

Salvia has only one request -- well drained soil.  The perennial varieties spread rapidly underground, and can fill an entire garden bed if left unchecked. But its easy to tug them up and transplant to another area, or give to other gardens.

The pitcher shaped flowers are absolutely guaranteed to bring hummingbirds into your garden. 

Salvia is related to mint, and its foliage has an herbal, spicy scent. One variety in particular, Salvia clevelandii (Musk sage) is common along the California coast, and will waft its clean sweet/salty perfume across an entire garden.  Dried, the branches are a great potpourri.  One varietal in particular, S. clevelandii 'Winifred Gilman' (pictured above) is particularly sweet scented, and its flowers are a deep indigo blue.

Here are some of my favorites (in addition to the foresaid Clevelandii:)

• S. chiapensis  :  (Chiapas sage, from the Mexican rain forest)  Magenta pink flowers, takes shade, flowers all year long.  This also grows well in pots, and I always keep one next to my patio sliding doors, to watch the hummingbirds feed from it throughout the day.

1. .

• S. pratensis  :  (Meadow sage) A low growing, deep purple flowered sage. Perennial, though it dies back in winter.  Super border plant.

• S. apiana   :  (Bee sage)  A highly fragrant, slightly sprawling salvia with silver fuzzy leaves and a white flower.  Dried, it is an exellent incense and is the traditional 'smudging' sage.

• 



• S. greggii  :  (Autumn sage)   Thriving in warmer climates, this salvia, which comes in a full range of color, creates solid waves of long blooming color in the garden.  Lightly fragrant, it is especially attractive to hummingbirds.

• S. elegans  :  (Pineapple sage)  Grown best as an annual, this sage combines an unusual chartreuse/bright red color combination with leaves that smell just like pineapple.  If you don't want to commit to a perennial, this fast growing salvia is perfect for attracting hummingbirds in summer.

S. Waverly  :   (Waverly sage)  A half-hardy shrub to five feet tall with pale lavender and cream flowers all year round.  Cut back hard in fall, it will grow back to full size within a couple of months.  With full, dark green foliage, this plant is a great space filler in a cottage or coastal garden.

•  

S. leucantha  :  (Mexican Bush sage)  If you want a swathe of bright purple in your garden, this salvia can't be topped.  It flowers all through summer and fall, with long, velvety branches of blossom.  Another hummingbird favorite  For a smaller garden, the 'Santa Barbara' dwarf variety is best.

 

• S.guarantica  :  (Big Blue sage)  :  A garden superstar! at six to eight feet with deeply saturated indigo flowers.  It looks great when underplanted with billowy plants such as Artemesia, Yarrow, or the chartreuse S. elegans

And for you fans of Food Porn, you simply cannot forego culinary sage, S. officinalis . Think of me fondly when you're eating lightly toasted sage leaves tossed on buttered Portabella mushroom ravioli.

GLIMPSES INTO MAGIC

Gardens allow us glimpses of magic. 


As in, May I Present! The garden equivalent of a rabbit from a hat, or, "I don't remember planting that."  An eight foot sunflower in the herb bed, one year.  A forest of Queen Anne's lace in the rose garden, another.  Always a surprise!


or...BEST OF ALL....delightful glimpses into the world of other creatures.  Some are obvious, like watching the blue jays shove peanuts under your roof shingles, or Gulf Frittilary butterflies playing tag through the passionflower vine. 


But the truly magical ones happen when you focus on the most minute of worlds.


One of the best bits of magic, to me, occurred when I was sitting one afternoon next to the Iceberg rose hedge.  The blossoms are lovely in a mass, but individually, there's nothing particularly arresting about a spent iceberg flower. That is, unless you are a teeny, teeny wasp.


A bit of sunlight sparked his wing and it caught my eye as he hovered over the center of the rose.  Suddenly, I could see through his eyes -- not boring limp petals, but rather a vast ampitheatre of rich golden pollen and nectar! 


He hovered another second, perhaps ruling out the presence of danger (praying mantis? housefly?)and then delicately landed into the center of the rose.


I held very still to watch him move from one miniscule stamen to the other, taking his fill of nourishment.  What a treasure this was to him!


I was reminded, yet again, of how a garden supports life in ways we don't even imagine.  For that infitesimal speck of life, my tattered rosebush was all he needed to keep flying through the vast world of Wasp, to perform his chores.  When he moved to the next flower, he pollinated it.  A rose hip formed, which fed the mockingbird (or became a nutritious toy for my parrot.) 


This is magic. 

















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