Category Archives: Design trends

Design trends

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day & Spring Equinox in the Garden this Week

Fatsie japonice aka False Aralia displaying many shades of green.

Everywhere I look, it’s green- forest green, apple green, olive green, fern green, sage green, chartreuse green. Even all those showy flowering trees blooming now will soon be sporting bright green leaves. Since moving to the Santa Cruz Mountains in the late 80’s I have always lived in the forest, first in Felton, then Bonny Doon or now Boulder Creek. The green backdrop of redwoods, oaks and firs make us appreciate all the other colors around us. The calendar says it’s spring and I have “Spring Fever’ like everybody else.

On Tuesday, March 19th at 8:06pm the day and night will be almost equal. That’s why it’s called the Spring Equinox. Some years it falls on March 20th. It would occur on the same day every year if the Earth took exactly 365 days to make a complete revolution around the Sun. But it takes the Earth 365.25 days on average to go around the Sun once. Whatever the exact date and time it’s spring and with St. Patrick’s Day also in a few days I plan to add something green to my garden and tick off a few tasks on my to-do list.

There endless shades of green in nature because color is dependent on light. Humans can see more shades of green than any other color. This is an evolutionary trait handed down from our ancestors who needed to differentiate the shades of green in order to know which plants to eat and which to avoid. Wearing something green on St. Patrick’s Day has been a tradition since emigrants, particularly in the United States, transformed the holiday into a largely secular event celebrating all things Irish. Cities with large numbers of Irish immigrants staged parades going back to 1737 in Boston and in New York City since 1762. Although blue was the color traditionally associated with St. Patrick, green is now commonly connected to this holiday with shamrocks high on the list of things to wear on this day.

I often get a request for green to be in the color palette of plants that go into a garden. There are green flowers that you can grow and of course, many shades of green foliage. The low wavelength of green promotes calm, relaxation and restfulness.

If you’re looking for a heat, drought and deer tolerant plant that attracts birds, butterflies and hummingbirds you should grow Golden Leaf Salvia (salvia officinalis icterina). The fragrant foliage is good to flavor soup, sausage, dressings, cheese dishes and stuffing. The young leaves can even be eaten fresh in salads or cooked in an omelet or with beans, cabbage and garlic.

Another great greenish flowering shrub to try is Safari Goldstrike Conebush. This leucadendron is a vigorous compact grower to 6 feet tall and blooms during the winter and spring. Its bracts are excellent as a cut flower and foliage harvesting. They grow in full sun and have low water needs.

This chartreuse green hosta can take more sun than other varieties and the thick foliage resists slug and snails.

Some of my favorite plants that have green flowers or shades of green foliage are green hydrangeas, green hellebore, lime green coral bells, Lady’s mantle, Sum & Substance hosta, fats japonica, green gladiolas, Mediterranean spurge and Bell of Ireland, of course

So besides all that clover that is flourishing with all these spring rains, enjoy everything green in your garden. The Irish have observed this day for over 1,000 years and so can you.

Design trends

Arbor Day in California

Plant a Strawberry tree like this one. My neighbor Grace loves to sit in it.

California’s Arbor Day is celebrated on March 9th this year. It’s actually a whole week n 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 in your area. 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.

Design trends

Early March in the Garden

Forsythia ‘Kolgold’

Almost overnight, although maybe I’m judging by rain storms, spring is upon us. The birds sure know it is and I’m seeing trees in bloom and new growth on the perennials. The tree frogs are croaking and looking for mates, the weeds are happily trying to grow and set seed before we notice them. But whether you want them to or not all gardens change with time. It’s part of nature that the fittest survive. Possibly you have different ideas of what you want your garden to look like but it’s hard to fool Mother Nature.

I don’t have my Blireiana flowering plum anymore but it was a tradition for me to pose next to it with my birthday presents in late February. It was one of my favorite early spring blooming trees with double pink blossoms and a sweet fragrance strong enough to scent the garden. We look forward to the earliest flowers of the new season knowing that winter will soon be over. Spring doesn’t officially begin until March 20th but hey, we live in California.

Old fashioned shrubs like flowering quince and forsythia figure prominently in many old gardens because they are tough plants able to survive neglect and still look beautiful. The bare stems of forsythia are completely covered with deep golden-yellow flowers in late winter and early spring and become the focal point of the landscape when in full bloom. The showy stems of this easy-care shrub are great for cutting. Forsythia are native to eastern Asia but a chance discovery in Germany by a grower who specialized in breeding for the cut flower industry led to the especially vivid variety ‘Kolgold’ in the 1800’s. Forsythia has long been used in Chinese medicine. The flower petals contain powerful bacteria-fighting properties which make it an important dressing.

Flowering quince is another old garden staple providing early color. They are easy to care for and nearly indestructible in almost any soil that is well drained and not overly fertile. Once established quince is a very drought tolerant plant and their spiny branches make them an excellent choice for hedges, screening or as a security barrier. There are red, pink, orange and white flowering varieties. The Toyo Nishiki cultivar even has pink, white and solid red flowers all on the same branch.

Clivia

What would a shade garden be without a bright orange clivia? Every year I look forward to their huge flower clusters that emerge from between dark green, strappy leaves. Even in dark shade they will bloom and brighten the winter garden although they would do fine in morning sun. If you have a north facing window you can grow them as houseplants. Clivia are hardy to several degrees below freezing but mine, under an overhang, have survived temps of 23 degrees without damage. Clivia breeders have produced gold and peach colored flowers also but I still like the standard orange ones.

Hardenbergia ‘Happy Wanderer’

A beautiful vine that blooms in late winter is hardenbergia ‘Happy Wanderer’. In the pea family, this evergreen vine looks like a small wisteria when in bloom. Pinkish-purple flowers cascade in clusters on twining stems that reach 12-16 feet long. It requires little water once established and is hardy to about 23 degrees. If you have an older, tangled plant you can rejuvenate it with hard pruning in early spring after flowering. Never prune in late summer or fall because you will cut off the wood that is going to bloom the following winter.

The last plant I enjoy at this time of year is Fragrant Sarcococca. The tiny white flowers of this plant are easily overlooked but you can’t miss their scent. I used to have one near the front door that greeted me with that vanilla fragrance every time I walked in or out. The flowers are followed by a bright red fruit. Sweet Box forms a natural espalier against a wall and if you have a problem spot in dry deep shade where other plants won’t grow give this plant a try. They are easy to grow, deer resistant and trouble free.

Enjoy yourself in the garden at this time of year when everything is waking up.