Category Archives: Design trends

Design trends

How to Make a Garden your Own

Adding personal touches makes a garden your own.

The cry for help came from a new homeowner. She loves her lovely new home but feels everything in the garden is in the wrong place. She wishes to create “a haven for birds and bugs and give it a sense of life.” The plant palette here is far different from Tennessee where she’s from but she describes herself as enthusiastic and willing to learn. Boy, do I have lots of ideas for her.

Outdoor spaces are just more inviting if they feel like a real room with a ceiling, walls and attractive flooring. An arbor or pergola is a good way to provide a lid on your outdoor space. If you have natural trees in your garden they can shield you from the sky in some areas and open up other areas to passing clouds and sun. You can achieve a similar effect with groups of potted trees that shade your sitting area. Japanese maples, ornamental plums, cherries or crabapple are just a few of the trees that do well in pots. If you like to grow edibles plant a fig in a pot to provide some shade.

Creating an outdoor room with vines will make your yard feel cozy. They readily provide the walls to enclose a space. Views from one part of the garden may be partially open, framed by vines or blocked entirely. Shrubs can also be used to create garden rooms but vines form a thin living wall that is quickly established. Creating boundaries with vines also adds vertical design elements to an otherwise flat landscape. By adding walls and a ceiling to your garden, you’ll be able to enjoy another dimension in addition to more color and fragrance.

The sounds you hear while in the garden are part of the experience, too. The atmosphere just wouldn’t be the same without the sound of rustling grasses, wind chimes or birds splashing about in the bird bath or fountain. Auditory elements can even come from the sound of gravel crunching underfoot as you walk or the wind in the trees.

Texture in the garden refers to the overall visual texture of the plants. Large, bold foliage like Flowering Maple, Pride of Madeira, rhododendron, viburnum, oakleaf hydrangea or hosta make a large garden appear smaller. Soft, fine foliage will make the garden appear larger by giving it the allusion of more space. Examples of finely textured plants include ornamental grasses, Breath of Heaven, ferns and asters. You might use different textured plants in different parts of your garden to get the affect you like.

Create an interesting path experience with color & fragrance

Blur the garden’s boundaries to make it more interesting. You won’t be able to see the whole garden at one glance if you curve the path behind some shrubs, tall plants or sheer, see-through perennials. Leave some wild areas for the birds and bees to join you. Garden organically and mix in native plants wherever you can to keep the garden healthy.

Garden lighting is another easy way to add atmosphere to your garden. As inviting a space a garden might be during the day it becomes magical at night when lit. Solar lighting has come a long way. Walk your property and decide the most effective spots for lighting. Pathway lighting can illuminate the driveway, walkways and steps and mark the edges of areas like ponds and patios. Accent lighting can define a space and show off plantings, benches or illuminate a pergola. Spotlights direct the eye up into trees, show off garden art or accent a focal point.

Sound is important too. Ornamental grasses rustle in the wind or add a fountain with running water. An urn fountain with pebbles and plants at the base would be a simple choice. A drilled basalt column fountain or basalt dish fountain would look natural in the forest here.

Your sense of smell is important also to create atmosphere in the garden. In the spring the smell of ceanothus fills the air. Then the stargazer lilies start to bloom followed by lily-of-the-valley, daphne, flowering crabapple, carnation, iris, heliotrope, lavender, alyssum and a couple of roses. By enjoying the fragrance of both flowers and the foliage of salvia, lavender and breath of heaven as I walk the garden I’m able to add another dimension to the garden.

Creating atmosphere in the garden is the art of combining space, time and light to make a garden that reflects who we are. It’s different for every gardener. One person might like straight rows of vegetables while another scatters poppies and nasturtiums randomly. Whatever appeals to you it should be close to your heart and that’s the atmosphere in your garden that’s right for you.

Design trends

Dahlias

It’s that time of year when the dahlia exhibitions are held. I missed a couple already but the Santa Cruz County Fair is still going on this weekend and there’s always a huge display there. Last year a dark magenta cactus dahlia was my favorite. These mammoth flowers take longer to grow, I’m told and fewer are produced by each plant but boy, are they worth it.

I’m envious of those that have the right conditions in their garden to grow these awesome flowers. According to the American Dahlia Society, dahlia culture is similar to growing tomatoes. So if you can grow tomatoes in your garden you can grow dahlias.

Dahlias are often referred to as the queen of the autumn garden. They are native to the mountainous regions of Mexico with history that dates back to ancient times. The Aztecs cultivated these remarkable plants for their edible tubers. Spanish explorers and botanist encounter dahlias during their journeys to the New World in the late 18th century. The first recorded description of the dahlia by a European was made by Francis Hernandes, Spanish physician in 1615.

The name dahlia honors Swedish botanist Anders Dahl, who studied them in the late 18th century. Over time, dahlias made their way to Europe, where they were cultivated and by the 19th century, dahlias had become a symbol of elegance and refinement in Victorian gardens across Europe.

Over time, dahlias made their way to Europe, where they were cultivated and by the 19th century, dahlias had become a symbol of elegance and refinement in Victorian gardens across Europe.

Dahlias need good drainage, fertile soil and at least six hours of sunlight per day. When planting, provide adequate spacing, usually around 18 inches between each plant to ensure good air circulation. They do well in pots, too.

Watering is crucial for dahlias, especially during the growing season. Apply mulch to retain moisture. Regular deadheading encourages continuous blooming throughout the growing season. Fertilize regularly and stake taller varieties.

Small dahlia plants are susceptible to slugs damage. Bait with Sluggo or remove slugs manually. Japanese beetles can eat dahlia blooms. Remove and put in a bucket of soapy water. Earwigs like dahlias, too. Trap them using rolled up newspaper.

Dahlia exhibit an astonishing array of shapes, sizes and colors. They are classified into cactus, pompous, anemone and ball dahlias. Popular dahlia varieties include the Dinnerplate Dahlias with gigantic blooms that can reach up to 12 inches in diameter. There are even tree dahlias that grow to 13 feet tall.

I was able to visit Beeline Blooms Dahlia Farm in Ben Lomond last Friday. This is a place you don’t want to miss. Karla and her sister are extremely knowledgeable You’ll come away inspired, educated and with a huge bouquet of dahlias.

Design trends

What to Do in the Garden in September

Abutilon bloom nearly year round and are relished by hummingbirds.

Summer is winding down. Already. Seems it barely started two months ago. Who doesn’t love these long days and warm nights? The calendar might say fall is near but Indian summer is one of the our best seasons so I love this time of year, too. But then I get all excited when spring rolls around and everything is in bloom. It’s all good. I have a check list of some garden tasks I need to do at this time of year so I better get to them between hiking and trips to the beach.

Fertilize shrubs lightly one last time if you haven’t already done so last month. All shrubs, especially broad-leaved evergreens such as rhododendron, pieris, camellia, hebe, need to calm down, stop growing and harden off to get ready for the winter cold. Some plants have already set next year’s buds.

Roses especially appreciate a bit of fertilizer now, encouraging them to bloom another round in October. To keep them blooming make a habit of pinching and pruning off old flowers. Always cut back to an outward facing branchlet with five leaves. There are hormones there that will cause a new rose to grow much sooner than if you cut to one with only three leaves. You can always cut lower on the stem if you need to control height.

Deadhead flowering annuals and perennials in the ground as often as you possibly can. Annuals like zinnias and cosmos will stop blooming if you allow them to go to seed. The same is true of repeat blooming perennials like dahlia, scabiosa, echinacea and lantana. Santa Barbara daisies will bloom late into winter if cut back now.

These plants know they’re on this earth to reproduce. If they get a chance to set seed the show’s over, they’ve raised their family. Try to remove fading flowers regularly and you’ll be amply rewarded. If you want to start perennial flowers from seeds this is the time so that they’ll be mature enough to bloom next year.

Now through October, divide summer blooming perennials like agapanthus, coreopsis, daylilies and penstemons that are overgrown and not flowering well. You can also divide spring blooming perennials like candytuft, columbine, astilbe, bergenia and bleeding heart but sometimes they don’t bloom the first spring afterwards due to the energy they use re-establishing themselves. If you’re on a roll out in the garden, though, go for it now.

It’s still a little hot to plant cool season veggies starts in the ground. They appreciate conditions later in September when the soil is still warm but temps have cooled. It is OK to plant seeds of beets, carrots, spinach, arugula, mustard, leeks, onions, peas, radishes and turnips.

If you aren’t going to grow vegetables in the garden this fall consider planting a cover crop like crimson clover after you’ve harvested your summer vegetables. Next month I’ll talk about how to go about doing this and how this benefits your soil.

Cut back berry vines that have produced fruit. Canes of the current season should be trained in their place.

Spider mites are especially prolific during hot, dry weather. Sometimes you don’t even know how bad the infestation is until all your leaves are pale with stippling. Periodically rinse dust and dirt off leaves with water. Spray the undersides of infected leaves with organics like insecticidal soap switching to neem oil if they build up a resistance to one of the pesticides.

Now that you’ve taken care of your chores reward yourself by adding perennials to your garden for color in late summer through fall. Take a look at the garden areas that aren’t working for you and replant. Good choices include aster, chrysanthemum, coreopsis, and gaillardia. Abutilon also called Flowering Maple come in so many colors that you probably need another one in your garden. Petite Pink gaura looks fabulous planted near the burgundy foliage of a loropetalum. Don’t overlook the color of other foliage plants like Orange Libertia and Japanese bloodgrass in the garden.

One last to do: Make a journal entry celebrating the best things about your garden this year.