Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Garden Design’ Category

Battle of the Pond

Posted in Garden Design, Habitat Gardening on April 22, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

I wanted a natural-looking artificial pond: an elaborate lie, difficult to achieve. To create this illusion, I envisioned an irregular shape, lush ferns, towering granite boulders (I wish). Roughly fourteen feet long and one-third as wide, it would echo the proportions of the backyard. Up behind the pond, a modest cascade of recirculated water would flow down atop wide, flat stones.

Lessingia, ceanothus, grass above pond

Lessingia, ceanothus, grass above pond

Along one edge of the water would lie a sloping beach of rounded river stones, so that humans and birds could approach without muddy feet. Half-buried rocks would stabilize other edges. Thick, high-tech black plastic (EPDM, a very durable and strong material) was specified for the liner. However, the liner edge would ruin the illusion I craved unless it was carefully hidden. (more…)

Read Full Post »

A Crooked Path to a Native Garden

Posted in Garden Design, Gardening Tips, Miscellaneous on December 20, 2012 | 5 Comments »

Under the huge, leaning Monterey pines, we stumbled over a tangled mat of weedy vines. Juicy snails slumbered under broken clay flowerpots. Agapanthus flower stems stood headless above the tight clumps of strapping leaves; little piles of deer droppings told tattletale nearby. Ancient, treelike camellias grew in the dry shade beneath the pines, blooming red and pink, their double flowers browning with petal blight. This was my big backyard in Oakland Hills (Sunset zone 16) the project I had wanted for so long. I saw a perfect native plant garden in-the-making. My spouse foresaw sunburn, sweat, and big chiropractor bills ahead. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Gardening for Butterflies

Posted in Garden Design, Habitat Gardening on September 26, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Coronis fritillary Quercus chrysolepis

Coronis fritillary and Quercus chrysolepis. Photo by Laura Camp.

by Lori Hubbart

Butterflies are the colorful heralds of summer, as welcome in our gardens as flowers on the wing.  Nectar-bearing plants will bring butterflies, but all-around butterfly gardening means living with caterpillars, chewed leaves and some untidiness.

A butterfly garden should be sheltered from strong wind and feature larval food plants, nectar flowers and other foods for adult butterflies.  Most butterflies feed on flower nectar, though a few have some rather surprising eating habits – more about that later.  Being cold-blooded creatures, butterflies depend on the sun’s warmth for mobility.  Hence, their nectar flowers tend to grow in full sun. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Why the Fountain Grass Must Go

Posted in Garden Design, Invasives, Miscellaneous on September 26, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Bunchgrass in southern California

photo by Roger Klemm

Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum) is a bunchgrass from Africa that is widely planted as an ornamental plant in portions of the United States with warm winters.  It is a tough, vigorous plant that will tolerate adverse conditions of heat and drought.  It does not appear to suffer from any pests or diseases, and many people appreciate its graceful seed heads produced in profusion over the spring and summer months.

The downside is that in California, Fountain Grass has no natural enemies and readily out-competes other plants.  It is invasive, and if you plant it in your yard, you will soon have seedlings of Fountain Grass popping up wherever there is bare soil.  It will even grow vigorously in the gaps between sections of concrete and bedrock of natural slopes.  Its seeds are carried long distances in the wind, so if your neighbor has it in their yard, it will eventually end up in yours, and the nearby natural areas.  If you are in a fire hazard area, it is especially dangerous, as it dries out early in the summer and becomes extremely flammable. (more…)

Read Full Post »

My Custom Chaparral

Posted in Garden Design, Gardening Tips, Seasonal Gardening, Uncategorized, Wildflowers on September 26, 2012 | 3 Comments »

by Carolyn Longstreth

Mimulus aurantiacus (Monkeyflower)

Mimulus aurantiacus (Monkeyflower). Photo by Laura Camp.

Like many California homeowners, we have a steep slope on our property. When we bought the place in Northern California in 2006, I was baffled how to create a garden there. It’s an informal area but too steep for a cottage-style mix of roses and perennials.  But the area turned out to be the sunniest part of our yard, despite its northwestern exposure and some large trees growing near the top. The gardener in me was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. We terraced the steepest spots and continued to ponder the challenge. (more…)

Read Full Post »

The Big Rains of December

Posted in Garden Design, Seasonal Gardening on March 30, 2011 | 2 Comments »

By Vince Scheidt

It’s raining!

Why did this Arctostaphylos 'Howard McMinn' tolerate the saturated ground? Probably because it had been planted the year earlier, so had lots of time to develop expansive roots.

Most native plant gardeners in the dry southwest get excited just thinking about it. The purists – those who do not irrigate at all – wait patiently through the spring, summer and fall months for the first winter rains to awaken their dormant and thirsty native plants and begin the cycle of life. Foliage explodes out from withered stems, and flowering and seed production soon follow. For the hard-core native plant gardener, this is what it is all about. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Are you thinking SPRING yet? by Pete Veilleux

Posted in Garden Design, Seasonal Gardening on November 24, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

You probably should be.  I’ve been thinking about spring, or more accurately called:  next year’s flower season.

Clematis lasiantha - Chapparal Clematis; All rights reserved by pete@eastbaywilds.com

I use photos a lot to help me think about how plants look throughout the seasons and it helps me to sort and re-sort them by season, or ecosystem, colors, sun/shade requirements, etc… which is why I really like using flickr.  it helps me think about the possibilities for combinations that I might not have seen yet.  I just put this set together of spring blooms which might be of interest to some of you:

SPRING BLOOM

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Feeding Frenzy-Manzanita and Friends

Posted in Habitat Gardening, Seasonal Gardening, tagged , , , , , , , on November 2, 2010 | 6 Comments »

Every year in my garden, and in the garden at Tree of Life Nursery where I work, and maybe in your garden, too, the earliest Manzanita to bloom is Arctostaphylos refugioensis.  Last year it had plentiful flowers at Christmas, but this year it’s quite early and in full bloom in time for Halloween.

Arctostaphylos refugioensis, Refugio Manzanita, late October

On Saturday, October 30th, I attended a talk by pollinator and native plant expert Bob Allen at the nursery, and in the course of a talk about gardening for butterflies he mentioned that manzanitas are good nectar plants for adult butterflies and moths. When I arrived home later that afternoon, lo and behold, two Monarch butterflies were fluttering high around my front yard, and further observation showed that their target was the profuse blooms of my Refugio manzanita. Guru Bob strikes again! (more…)

Read Full Post »

California Coffeeberry

Posted in Habitat Gardening, Seasonal Gardening, tagged , , , on September 28, 2010 | 11 Comments »

by Vivian Mazur, Inverness Garden Club

California Coffeeberry (Rhamnus californica or Frangula californica)

On a recent hike on Inverness Ridge in Marin County, we came across a particularly large and handsome coffeeberry adorned with fruits in all stages of ripeness—from green to red to black. I was reminded of what an attractive plant the California coffeeberry is and how often it is overlooked as a garden subject.

It is a member of the buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae) as is its cousin, ceanothus. Its botanical name used to be Rhamnus californica but was recently changed to Frangula californica. However, nurseries are more likely to know it by its former name. The common name, ‘coffeeberry’, comes from the appearance of the ripe berries and not their edibility, though several species of birds and small mammals relish the fruit. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Greening Your Garden — Literally!

Posted in Garden Design, Seasonal Gardening, tagged , , , , , on September 18, 2010 | 5 Comments »

You want to do the right thing for the environment by planting water-wise native plants in the garden, but you also want the garden to look appealing during the long, dry California summer. No matter the season, we humans like our gardens to look green. The color green evokes lushness, fecundity, life. Is it possible to have a California garden that stays green through the summer sustainably, without relying on an endless supply of water?

Yes, indeed, it is possible — through a careful selection of plants. Among California’s dizzying array of native plants, there are many that stay green through summer naturally. Here is a short list, covering the range from perennial to groundcover to subshrub, shrub, vine, and tree.

Think about introducing these to your garden and, once established, cutting back on the water. For contrast, combine them with blue-, gray-, silver-, and tan-colored plants to create an inviting display in the garden.

Plants With Summer-Green Foliage

Coastal gumplant

Coastal gumplant likes full sun and blooms in early summer

An early summer blooming perennial is the coastal gumplant (Grindelia stricta platyphylla). It grows 6” tall and 3’ wide, and is a good edging plant for full sun. Yellow daisies in June through August attract butterflies, skippers, and other insects. Contrasts well with large plants such as deergrass (Muhlenbergia rigens). (more…)

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.