Monthly Archives: March 2023

Design trends

Gardening Trends for 2023

DIY gazebo

Will spring ever get here? Usually at this time of year we are enjoying mild weather and have spring fever big time. This year it seems the rain and cold weather will never end. That’s all good for the trees and shrubs, not so good for starting new perennials or changing the garden layout.

This year’s gardening trends will be right up your alley if you approach your landscaping in a way that’s natural. Think unfussy wildflowers, romantic arbors, meandering gravel paths, edibles, mixing styles and you’re there. What could be easier as we wait for the rains to lessen up?

A fellow designer I know built a gazebo for her garden from downed branches. Maybe shorter branches can be fashioned into a rustic fence. This year there’s no shortage of branches so start collecting now. If carpentry isn’t your thing you can put together a raised vegetable bed from 2×6 inch lumber and stacked planter wall blocks available at most building supply stores. Be sure to use gopher wire at the bottom of your new raised beds if you have these critters.

Most of us garden with a backdrop of mountains. Nature is all around us even if you live in a neighborhood with curbs. Some of the new trends will appeal to those who grow edibles while some will appeal to the gardener who loves their garden but doesn’t have time to do a lot of maintenance. What’s new this year is a return to some old fashioned ideas.

Embrace the smaller garden. You can create an instant meditation garden that encourages you to stop and sit for a couple minutes by placing a small bench where you can view something interesting in your garden. Small gardens are not only compact they are easier to care for. Containers on the patio or deck allow you to grow plants for food as well as for the birds and the bees. There are more new dwarf vegetable, herb and flower varieties being introduced every year.

Combine ornamental plants with edibles. Your veggies don’t have to be in a special raised bed or plot but can be planted throughout the garden. Think tomatoes, pole beans and other vining veggies trained on a metal obelisk within a perennial bed. Or compact versions of beans, eggplant, chard, hot peppers, tomatoes or edible flowers like nasturtiums planted among your other plants or along path borders.

Rustic fence from downed branches.

To create a sense of privacy, peace and quiet, enclose your garden. When a fence isn’t possible or preferred, plant a deep bed of mixed low water, low maintenance shrubs as a screen. Vines, like clematis, grown on a trellis provide nearly instant privacy and enclosure. If the front of your house faces the street, a few well-placed shrubs can block the view into your home.

Many of us are removing overgrown shrubs and replacing them with water smart, easy-to-care-for plants that will stay the right size in smaller spaces. There are new compact and dwarf versions of old plants that have been garden favorites for a very long time. The reason they have endured is because they are reliable. Good reason to look again at some old favorites.

Even if you’re not redoing your whole garden you can plant a small section or vignette using a more toned down palette. Whether it’s shades of pink or white or blue this look will give your garden a calm feeling. Add a place to sit and you’ll want to relax there with a book or beverage.

While experimental gardening in popular right now, some of the biggest landscaping styles in 2023 include focusing on the environment, natural wildlife gardens and kitchen gardens which are all sustainable. And that’s a good thing.

Design trends

California Arbor Week

Plant an ornamental tree for yourself and for the future.

My little garden bounced back pretty quickly after our recent snow. Other than the calla lilies that are none too happy now but will recover the rest of the plants seem just fine. The native and ornamental flowering trees are coming on like nothing even happened. Nature is resilient.

California’s Arbor Day is actually a whole week. A State resolution in 2011 proclaimed March 7-14 as our Arbor Week. Arbor Day is a celebration in honor of famed horticulturist Luther Burbank’s birthday. The day is celebrated on different dates around the world because one of the features of Arbor Day is the planting of trees which is best done at certain times of the year. The simple goal of this day is to inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees.

We are fortunate to live in a temperate rain forest with lots of trees. Our redwoods are especially important in our biodiverse watershed as is all flora and fauna in the forest. Redwoods and many native trees keep our environment moist. Let’s make it a priority to protect them and pass the baton of stewardship to our children who will inherit this place.

So whether you’ve been thinking about planting a redwood, heritage oak or other native tree, a fruit tree to feed the family, a shade tree to save on summer cooling, a flowering tree to attract pollinators, or a tree to hang the hammock on, this is a good time to plant as well as nurture and celebrate all trees..

Trees are remarkable in how they grow and adapt to their environment. Some trees, like redwood, ponderosa pine, sycamore and madrone have especially beautiful bark. This is the tree’s protection from the outside world. Continually renewed from within, it helps keep out moisture in rain and prevents the tree from losing moisture when the air is dry. Bark insulates against cold and heat and wards off insect enemies.

The inner bark, or phloem, is the pipeline through which food is passed to the rest of the tree, It lives for only a short time, then dies and turns to cork to become part of the protective outer bark.

The next layer in is the cambium cell layer which is the growing part of the trunk. It annually produces new bark and new wood in response to hormones that pass down through the phloem with food from the leaves. These hormones are called auxins and stimulate growth in the cells. They are produced by leaf buds at the ends of branches as they start growing in spring.

Inside the cambium layer is the sapwood or xylem which moves water from the roots to the leaves. Sapwood is new wood. As newer rings of sapwood are laid down, inner rings lose their vitality and turn to heartwood.

Finally, the central supporting pillar of the tree is called heartwood. Although dead, it will not decay or lose strength while the outer layers are intact. A composite of hollow, needlelike cellulose fibers bound together by a chemical glue called lignin, it is in many ways as strong as steel.

Leaves make food for the tree. Their shapes help them reduce wind resistance, shed rain that could decay the leaf if left standing and produce chlorophyll. The narrow needles of a Douglas fir, for instance, exposes as much as three acres of surface to the sun.

Be kind to all trees. They are a valuable asset to your home and our environment. Earth Day is next month on April 22nd. Let’s continue to celebrate the natural beauty of our planet and learn what we can do to keep it healthy.