Category Archives: Design trends

Design trends

Tips for Planting Success

New Zealand Tea tree ‘Apple Blossom’ blooms in late winter and spring.

With our gardens coming to life at this time of year we are hopeful that each plant will achieve its full potential during this growing season. But that doesn’t always turn out to be the case and sometimes it’s hard to figure out what exactly went wrong. Growing plants isn’t an exact science. What works over at the neighbor’s yard doesn’t always apply to ours. What are the different factors that makes a plant thrive or just mope along? And how can you plan when one source shows the plant’s size at 6 feet tall while another has that same plant as 8-12 ft tall and just as wide? What’s a gardener to do?

When designing a garden, I take into account the growing conditions such as soil type and fertility, winter low temperature, space and light. All plants need water to carry moisture and nutrients back and forth between the roots and leaves. Some need more water than others to do this but all have their own levels of tolerance. Too little or too much water can be harmful to your plant’s health.

Choosing the right plant for the right spot is another important factor. How do you determine how much light your garden has? In our area a good rule of thumb in deciding if your plant is getting enough or too much sun is to note how many hours of full sun, part sun or bright shade your area is receiving during the middle of the day. it’s not as important what’s going on during the winter but knowing the summer conditions is crucial. Too little light can make plants weak and leggy with few flowers or fruit. Too much sun for a particular plant and the foliage will burn.

Omphaloides look like Forget-Me-Nots but are well behaved.

Most plants enjoy morning or late afternoon sun. But if your area gets no winter sun and your soil is heavy clay that sun-loving native plant might not survive. Sometimes it’s complicated. Sorry, but it’s true.

Allow enough space for your plant to grow. Plants can become stunted without enough room to grow and overcrowded plants often get diseased when air doesn’t freely flow between them. There’s a difference in a plant that just needs a little time to kick in and really start growing and one that is not thriving. Be patient.

Healthy soil provides an anchor for plant roots and helps support the plant in addition to providing nutrients. Healthy soil contains micro organisms and adding organic matter in the form of top mulch will increase your soil’s fertility.

Plant your new addition correctly. Dig the planting hole at least twice as wide as the container but no deeper than the depth of the root ball. You can loosen the soil around the planting hole even wider if it’s compacted. Leaving the bottom of the hole undisturbed helps prevents the plant from settling too deep .Planting a bit higher than the surrounding soil also allows for a 2 inch thick layer of mulch. Don’t bury the crown of the plant and keep mulch away from the stem or trunk. In soils containing a high percentage of clay, score the sides of the planting hole with a shovel to aid root growth outward.

It’s best not to add soil amendments or fertilizers directly to the planting hole. Wait until new growth is several inches long before applying fertilizer. If you’re planting a bed of annuals you might amend that bed but unless your soil is extreme sand current research has shown that trees, shrubs and perennials do not benefit from soil amendments. Because their roots quickly outgrow the planting hole anyway amended soil could hold too much moisture and rot new roots or the plant roots will just stay within the amended planting hole and not grow wider. After planting don’t till the soil again allowing the beneficial organisms to re-establish.

If you have a steep hillside, a super sunny, deep shade location or problem soil, the above tips are even more important for your planting success.

Happy Planting.

Design trends

Rethink the Lawn

Water is a precious and vital resource. Our bodies are about 60% water and our brain – a whopping 70%. Less than 1% of the water on the Earth, however, is suitable for human consumption. With the population increasing and the water supply staying the same, water conservation indoors and out is important. A well planned landscape makes water conservation outside the home even easier. Since up to 70% of summer water use comes from landscape irrigation it’s a good place to start.

Both San Lorenzo Valley Water – http://www.slvwd.com – and Scotts Valley Water Districts – http://www.svwd.org – offer many tips and incentives to conserve water. Scotts Valley Water District has a great list of low water-high performance plants. Check out their website for rebate information.

This garden sitting area looks inviting after the lawn was removed.

The fun part begins when you redesign the area where you took out the lawn or modify the plantings in other beds to include same water use plants. It doesn’t make much sense if you have some plants that require more water than others in the same bed. You have to water to the highest water-use plant to keep everybody happy.

Hydrozoning is the practice of clustering together plants with similar water requirements to conserve water. A planting design where plants are grouped by water needs improves efficiency and plant health by avoiding overwatering or underwatering. And as you move farther away from the water source your plantings should require less water.

When redesigning your landscape start with simple things. Rock, stone, and permeable paths and driveways add visual interest to the landscape and don’t require irrigation. Improving your property’s soil quality aids in saving water regardless of the plants grown there. Organic materials added to the soil help establish a strong root system for plants. Nutrients in the soil allow the plants to become stronger, too. Adding a layer of mulch increases the plant’s efficiency by retaining moisture and keeping the soil temperature stable.

Choose the right plants for your location. California natives or plants from similar climates in the world are low maintenance, low irrigation plants and usually need less tending, fertilizer and pruning. Your choice of groundcover can make a big difference, too, in how much water the landscape saves. Keeping grass areas to a bare minimum reduces the amount of water needed to keep the landscape looking green and fire safe.

Replace an old lawn with edibles.

Your method or irrigation helps conserve water. Hand watering where possible, especially new plantings, directs the water exactly where it needs to go and you can shut off the hose as soon as the plants receive enough water. A soaker hose is another efficient option that reduces evaporation during the watering process. An automatic irrigation system with a rain sensor, weather based controller or soil moisture sensor are the newest way to save water.

There are lists of drought-tolerant plants and water smart grasses, as well as replacing lawns with drought tolerant or native plants on the Scotts Valley Water District website. Permeable landscape materials such as mulch, decomposed granite, permeable pavers are other ways you can keep your yard looking beautiful and also be water efficient.

Now is the time before it gets hot to look at your irrigation system, plant choices and rebate options to save water and money and recharge our aquifers.

Design trends

What’s Blooming Now?

Blireiana Flowering Plum

Seems like overnight the flowering plums are in full bloom. Even though we had a stretch of warm weather and many think it was a false spring, this is about the same time as usual for their bloom The saucer magnolias (magnolia soulangeana) have been flowering for a couple weeks, too. What’s not to love about this time of year in our area? What else can you plant that is sure to bring spring fever to your garden?

Winter Daphne will fill your entire garden with a powerful honeysuckle/nutmeg scent.

I don’t have a variegated winter daphne anymore but this is one great shrub for under natives oaks as they don’t require much summer water.There’s something special about a plant that will bloom in late winter, hold up to rain and scent the garden all at the same time. With beautiful rosy-pink flower clusters and attractive yellow-margined variegated foliage, winter daphne make a great foundation plant for dappled shade gardens. They are deer resistant and have low water requirements. These gorgeous little shrubs get a bad name for being finicky to grow. Less is more when it comes to their care. They thrive in partial shade in humus-rich soil with good drainage. Don’t keep them soggy during the summer or they succumb to crown and root rot. They don’t transplant well but are quite deer resistant. Daphne are not long lived, usually lasting for 8-10 years but what a life they live.

This double hellebore is just one of hundreds of varieties.

Here in my own garden the hellebore flowers are holding up well. One of my favorites is called Cinnamon Snow but I have a couple that bloom with spectacular double flowers and they are beautiful also. All of the varieties of this buttercup relative accept wind, rain, cold and less than perfect soil while getting by with only moderate watering in the shady summer garden. Deer aren’t attracted to them either.

Lily-of-the-Valley Shrub

Another tough plant that can take weather extremes is the Lily-of-the-Valley shrub (Pieris japonica). There are many varieties of this winter bloomer. Some have pure white flowers, other sport various shades of pink or dark rose. Mine is the smaller variegated foliage model with dainty, drooping clusters of pure white flowers in early spring. Right now it is covered with flower buds so dense that you’d think it was already blooming. The new growth in the spring has a beautiful pink tint. This shrub will hold up to the wildest weather. Another plus for the Lily-of-the-Valley shrub is that is useful for fire-scaping in the landscape and it isn’t on the menu for deer either.

A favorite of birds and indoor floral arrangers is the evergreen mahonia. Plant a mahonia if you want to attract winter hummingbirds. They are blooming now with bright yellow flower clusters that will last for months. Each flower will set a purple berry looking like a cluster of grapes. The edible berries make good jelly, too. There are 70 varieties of mahonia including our own native Oregon Grape which grows in the understory of Douglas fir forests. Mahonia aquifolium is resistant to summer drought, tolerates poor soil and doesn’t create a lot of leaf litter.

I’m a push over when it comes to striking foliage plants. I find them every bit as vibrant as flowers. Bright flowers may be the frosting on the landscape but brilliant foliage is the cake. Here is one of my favorites that will add color to your garden this month:

Leucadendron Jester, a sport of Safari Shine is a drought tolerant shrub that’s especially showy this time of year when the flowering bracts turn deep red. Growth is slow and compact to maybe 3-4 feet. It looks like a striped carnival has hit town with its broadly edged creamy white to buff yellow leaves that take on coral pink tints in cold weather, especially towards the tips. It’s hardy to 20 degrees.

Other winter blooming plants include abutilon, euryops, witch hazel, edgeworthia, michelia, loropetalum and grevillea.