garden
Plant low to high. Position low-growing plants, like herbs and strawberries, toward the front of a bed, and taller ones, like chard and tomatoes, toward the back. Planting in height bands not only looks good, it also makes it easier to keep track of crops and keeps them from shading each other as they grow. Plant vining plants, such as cucumbers and pole beans, against bamboo trellises at the back of the bed.
Small edible gardens can benefit from an orderly layout as well. In this urban garden the designers used galvanized stock tanks drilled with drainage holes as planting beds for greens, herbs, tomatoes and other crops. The tanks, arranged on either side of a gravel and paver path, provide order to the design and make watering, checking for pests and harvesting a cinch.
Fresh herbs are highly fragrant, beautiful garnishes, and they offer potent flavorings for food dishes and cocktails. For this reason, herbs are the first thing a culinary gardener should start with. Herbs can be grown in containers, as seen here, or directly in the ground. I grow my herbs about 12 inches apart where they can flourish with plenty of soil, sun and stress. That’s right, stress. Stress — such as heat, little water and little fertilizer once the plants are established — releases herbs’ aromatic oils, which contribute to their flavor. This can sometimes mean my herbs aren’t lush, but the trade-off is I have rosemary, basil and chive plants with a concentrated flavor and aroma that I can smell when I merely brush past.
Minty hint. The mostly paved backyard of a fiction writer in Portland, Oregon, takes many design cues from the nearby Portland Japanese Garden, including the pattern of its concrete pavers with planted joints. “In essence we paved the whole thing but softened it with these moss elements in between,” says Michael Howells, the project’s architect.
1. Succulent steps. In Southern California, concrete steps lead visitors up to a secluded outdoor seating area and edible garden. An 8-foot-tall redwood and steel fence surrounds the garden, enhancing the feeling of privacy while also keeping grazing animals out. This threshold, lush with sprawling vines, offers another planting surprise: colorful echeveria succulents growing in soil between the steps. These rosette-forming plants thrive in warm, dry and sunny locations and will appreciate the concrete’s reflected heat. Should the succulents develop offsets or tall stalks that impede foot traffic, simply cut and reroot the offsets or rosettes. New echeveria will sprout from the stock
Try a tree allée. If you have the space for it, planting a line of trees on either side of a garden walkway in a classical allée can instantly define a sightline. While longer lines of trees make more dramatic allées, you can make use of this classical planting scheme to direct a view in a smaller garden.
Create a pinch point to home in on a sightline. This idea works for gardens of nearly any size and isn’t dependent on having a stunning vista. By narrowing the view, you can more clearly direct a viewer’s gaze just where you want it and emphasize a focal point. Place a pair of midsize structural evergreen plants — like clipped boxwoods, pittosporum or privet — on either side of a sightline. You can do the same with walls, hedges or fences. In this Mediterranean-style garden, two mature boxwoods framing the path help define the sightline to the cafe table set on the terrace.
Pathways laid out in a straight line are easy to incorporate as linear features and capitalize on sightlines since the center of the walkway is, by default, kept clear. Remember to place an object or plant as a focal point at the end of the sightline so your eye is drawn to something.
Add linear features. Straight lines going away from you tend to draw you forward in the landscape. You can take advantage of this quality to visually stretch a space by aligning linear features along a sightline. Looking down this water rill to the spillover water fountain, for example, one’s eye is drawn down and across the garden, giving the illusion that the space is larger than it is.
Noelle Johnson Landscape Consulting Email Save For these heading cuts, prune back to one-quarter inch above a new bud that faces outward whenever possible.
A bud scale scar is seen on the lower left side of this small branch, or stem. This raised circular area marks the start of the previous year’s growth, which extends to the tip of the branch. The other raised areas along the stem are leaf scars, from which new buds will emerge. Before pruning, it’s important to determine how much each tree branch grew in the previous growing season. You can do this by looking for a raised circular area around each branch, located near its tip, which signifies the section of growth that occurred in that year. This bud scale scar, as it is called, can be found anywhere from 4 inches from the tip of the branch to 4 feet down. Once you have found the circular area, make your pruning cut about 25 percent of the way from the tip of the branch to that raised area, removing a quarter of last year’s growth.
The top branch has been pruned back incorrectly, leaving a “stub,” which makes it hard for the tree to heal and provides an entry for rot. Even if the stub is old, go ahead and remove it. The lower branch shows the right way to prune: up to the branch collar, which is the circular tissue that surrounds branches.
Save Email 7. Bloedel Reserve Gardens Year: 1986 Designer: Richard Haag Location: Bainbridge Island, Washington Richard Haag may be most well known for his reuse of a former gas plant at Gas Works Park, but his designs at Bloedel Reserve Gardens draw from his studies of zen gardens in Kyoto. Designed as a series of three gardens, including what he called the Moss Garden and Garden of Planes, on what originally was a 160-acre estate, the reserve also includes this Reflection Garden. Its pond was completed earlier by modern landscape architecture Icon Thomas Church, and Haag chose to enclose it in a 12-foot-tall yew hedge, creating an isolating and contemplative experience. Visit Bloedel: Open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; 7571 N.E. Dolphin Drive, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110. More info
Save Email 6. Alexandra Road Park Year: 1980 Designer: Janet Jack Location: London, England This project aimed to create a more integrated approach between the architecture and landscape of postwar housing developments springing up in Britain. Instead of tall towers, Alexandra Road features three parallel rows of shorter buildings, bringing the structures closer to the landscape. Five parks run among these rows, built on fill from the development’s construction and connected with zigzag pathways. Plants and trees shield park-goers from surrounding apartments and other parts of the park. The park is thriving and was restored in 2015 with the help of the development’s residents, a new design team and the consultation of Janet Jack, the park’s original designer.
4. Nærum Allotment Gardens Year: 1948 Designer: Carl Theodor Sørensen Location: Nærum, Denmark Denmark’s allotment gardens date to the 1600s, but it’s the Nærum Allotment Gardens by Carl Theodor Sørensen that elevated them to landscape architecture art piece. Each of the 40 oval garden patches is 80 feet long and 50 feet wide (based on the golden ratio), separated by a common area lawn. The aerial view of the round gardens, called de runde haver in Danish, shows that while all the allotments are equal in size and shape, how they’re laid out — including the house location — are different. While Sørensen provided guidelines and suggestions for the residents, they were free to design their allotments to their preference.
Save Email 2. Sissinghurst Castle Garden Year: 1930 Designers: Vita Sackville-West, Harold Nicolson Location: Kent, England Author Vita Sackville-West and her husband, Harold Nicolson, a British diplomat, bought this 450-acre estate in 1930, but the property dates back to the Middle Ages. The couple prioritized the landscape when they moved in, clearing and designing a 5-acre garden around the buildings and ruins, including the Elizabethan tower still standing. When designing the landscape, the couple looked to prominent British architects and garden designers for inspiration, including Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll. This photo shows the famous White Garden, which showcases ordered outdoor rooms and abundant planting that inspired many gardens after it. Visit Sissinghurst: The garden is closed for the season but will reopen
1. The Huntington Botanical Gardens Year: 1919 Designer: William Hertrich Location: San Marino, California Industrialist Henry E. Huntington founded the botanical gardens on his 600-acre plot of land in Los Angeles in 1919, and in 1928 he first opened them up to the public. Horticulturist and garden superintendent William Hertrich spent decades on the property, building the lily ponds, Palm Garden, Japanese Garden and Desert Garden. The Huntington now houses a world-class collection of plants. The Desert Garden, shown here, features more than 2,000 desert species on 10 acres. “More than the other gardens, which highlight plants and styles from around the world, the Desert Garden celebrates the American Southwest and shows that its deserts are anything but barren wastelands,” Hill writes. Visit The Huntington: Open Wednesday through Monday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108. More info
It’s possible to create grand-looking scenery even in a confined space by using only small lanterns and stones. Features where stones represent ponds are called kareike (dry ponds). One of their advantages is that they’re easier to create and maintain than ponds with real water. Adding waterside plants, such as sweet flag, makes the illusion even more convincing
Darren Patt Construction Save Email 4. Give your porch planters a fall update. Mums in rich fall hues are a classic choice for porch flowerpots, but if you’re looking for something a bit different, consider ornamental grasses instead. These feathery fronds give planters a lush look and bring fall color to your porch all season long. 10 Ornamental Grasses to Plant This Fall
Slab seat. Every garden should have a spot for sitting and enjoying the view. Make a pausing place into a fabulous feature with a custom bench, as these homeowners have done. A stone slab supported by bronze-colored iron branches may not be the most comfortable seat in the world, but it scores highly for organic good looks.
Steady as a rock. The presence of rocks in a garden is calming and restful. Surrounded by seasonal changes of plants and weather, rocks stand firm. For some, this steadfastness promotes a meditative environment and a strong connection with nature on a spiritual level. Creating a rock garden as a place for reflection is possible in even the smallest garden, using existing materials and virtually no water. Sitting in a quiet corner contemplating plants growing in harmony with rocks is a respite from the busy outside world.
Choose pale colors. Bright colors like reds, yellows and oranges shine in a sunny situation but tend to look dull in shade. Colors that work well and reflect the limited light under trees are whites, pale pinks and blues. As foliage beneath trees tends to be lush and green to capture the maximum amount of light, the whites and pale shades stand out even more against the green. Good whites to try in this situation are the many varieties of hydrangea suitable for shade, including Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Madame Emile Mouillère’, H. arborescens ‘Annabelle’ and the panicle hybrids. Hybrid anemones also come in cool white. Try ‘Honorine Jobert’ or ‘Whirlwind’.
Opt for containers. A shady space can also be a place to plant outdoor pots and planters. These containers have a rough concrete finish and are filled with shade-loving plants. Ferns have wonderful textures and are particularly lovely when their fronds start to unfurl in spring . You can really appreciate them up close here, combined with hellebore, another wonderful spring-flowering woodland plant. Soft mosses around the edges complete the picture — a shady garden in miniature.
Plant lots of bulbs. Spring bulbs are woodland plants that evolved to take advantage of the period in spring when growth has started but the leaves are not yet on the trees. A woodland garden can have color from the moment the first snowdrop or crocus appears to the last daffodil, especially combined with hellebore, brunnera and other woodland perennials. Here, ‘Actea’ daffodil (Narcissus ‘Actaea’), in the foreground, and deep violet-blue grape hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum) have popped up from under the cover of ‘Spring Symphony’ foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia ‘Spring Symphony’), an excellent shade-tolerant semievergreen plant.
Look at little details. In a small shady garden, the little plants are important, as you will see them up close. You can create a lot of interest by layering shady plants like a mini woodland. Here, lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) grows beneath northern maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum). The subtle variegations of Hosta sieboldiana ‘Frances Williams’ form a strong textural background and contrast the finer foliage of the other plants. All these plants will thrive in shade once established
Create a fernery. There’s a vast variety of ferns, all interesting and special. It’s no wonder the Victorians loved them so much. Most ferns love a shady woodland environment and, once established, will provide a lush and natural understory to your space. Combine them with woodland shrubs, such as holly and magnolia or, if your soil is acidic, azalea and rhododendron, to create layers. Then underplant with bulbs.
Architectural Plants Ltd Save Email Bring on the boxwood. Another plant that grows naturally in woodland, boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) is happy in a shady area as an informal ground cover or pruned into shapes to contrast with other textures, as the neatly clipped boxwood balls do here with the tree fern Dicksonia antarctica
. Rest stop. Side yards and paths are often some of the most tucked-away, private areas of the yard, and yet they also tend to be overlooked and underused. Including a bench or pair of chairs alongside a path provides a place to sit during a stroll, and it can be a lovely way to encourage visitors to slow down and savor the entire garden, not just the more obvious lawn and patio.
Boulder upgrade. With the addition of a pillow or two, a naturally smooth boulder can make a surprisingly comfortable seat that virtually disappears into the landscape when not in use. While you probably wouldn’t want to settle into this seat for a long stretch, a boulder-plus-pillows situation can be just right as a gardener’s break spot.
Burke Brothers Landscape Design/Build Save Email 4. Woodland gazebo. Calling to mind a fairy-tale structure that wouldn’t look out of place in Tolkien’s Rivendell, this rustic gazebo is sure to enchant garden wanderers of all ages. And while it is romantic, a gazebo’s usefulness can extend beyond cozy tête-à-tête chats: Consider it a lovely meditation or yoga pavilion, teahouse, or spot to take shelter from a sudden rainstorm.
. Dazzling perennial border. The deep floral borders of this home in Sussex, England, celebrate the transition of summer into fall in all its glory. The blazing color palette of ruby red, deep purple, orange, gold and lavender creates a high-contrast display where the colors nearly vibrate in close proximity. Two red-leaved deciduous shrubs, ‘Grace’ smoke bush and ‘Lady in Red’ ninebark, stand backlit at the center of the bed, their leaves glowing like translucent jewels. Perennials such as dark purple ‘Ostfriesland’ sage, bright gold woolly sunflower, pale purple cranesbill and hot orange avens fill in the bed with saturated hues. Plant combination: ‘Grace’ smoke bush (Cotinus ‘Grace’, USDA zones 4 to 9, find your zone) ‘Lady in Red’ ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Lady in Red’, zones 2 to 7) Common woolly sunflower (Eriophyllum lanatum, Zone 3) ‘Ostfriesland’ sage (Salvia nemorosa ‘Ostfriesland’, zones 4 to 8) Avens (Geum sp.) ‘Rozanne’ cranesbill (Geranium ‘Rozanne’, zones 4 to 9) Water requirement: Moderate Light requirement: Full sun
Oxalis and goosefoot grow vigorously in fertile soils. Goosefoot is also known as lamb’s quarters and wild spinach.
Here we see a mixture of three legumes — crown vetch (with lavender flowers), white clover and black medic (with yellow flowers) — growing together. This combination indicates low soil fertility. Poor soil. Soils that are of low fertility due to nutrient leaching or overuse are low in one or more of the nutrients needed for plant growth, particularly nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Clover (Trifolium spp.) and other legumes are common in nitrogen-poor soils since they are able to convert nitrogen from the air into a form usable by plants, called nitrogen fixation. Other weedy plants that show up in low-fertility soils are common sheep sorrel, plantain, common mullein (Verbascum thapsus) and mugwort. In forests, western brackenfern (Pteridium aquilinum) is an indicator of low fertility.
This common sheep sorrel is growing through a bed of wood chips. It is particularly fond of dry or acid conditions. Dry soil. Overly dry soils may be because of excessive drainage (sandy soil) or a lack of moisture due to drought or being in a rain shadow or covered area, such as under the eaves of a house. Some weeds that are adapted to such conditions are common sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella), black medic (Medicago lupulina), prostrate pigweed (Amaranthus albus), common yarrow (Achillea millefolium), mullein, common gypsyweed (Veronica officinalis), rabbitfoot clover (Trifolium arvense) and sweetclover (Melilotus albus).
Quackgrass spreads rapidly by underground runners, shown here. It is particularly successful in soils with hardpan. Hardpan and crusty soil. Hardpan is a dense layer of soil that occurs a few inches to a couple of feet below the soil surface. It blocks both drainage of water and penetration by roots. It may be caused by the mineral composition of the soil or by mechanical compaction. Crusty surface soil is often associated with hardpan. It is the result of water acting on unprotected soils and breaking down the soil structure. When this finely dispersed soil dries out, it forms a hard, dense layer that cracks into plates, much like what you would see in the bottom of a dried-up pond. These conditions are also associated with salty soils. Weedy plants that are commonly found in these soils include mustard, disc mayweed (Matricaria discoidea), bindweed (Convolvulus spp.), horsenettle (Solanum spp.) and quackgrass (Elytrigia repens). These last three perennial weeds spread by underground runners (rhizomes) through the soil layer between the hardpan and the hard upper crust of these soils.
Common yellow oxalis is a common weed native to North America. It will concentrate in acidic soils as well as in soil that is fertile and high in clay. Acidic soil. Soil pH is a measure of its acidity (sourness) or alkalinity (sweetness), with a pH of 7 being the neutral point. Plants can grow in a range of soil pHs. In general, shrubs and trees prefer more acidic soils, below 6.5, and grasses and perennials prefer neutral conditions, 6.5 to 7.5. When the soil pH reaches much below 5.5, the growth of lawns and many garden perennials is stunted. Weeds that do well in acidic soils are sorrel, plantain, spotted ladysthumb, common yellow oxalis (Oxalis stricta), moss and mullein (Verbascum spp.).
Wet or poorly drained soil. These are soils that are almost always wet, either from a constant influx of moisture or because of some impediment to drainage like clay, hardpan or bedrock. In consistently moist lawns, yellow nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus) is a very common weed. Other indicator weeds of wet sites include spotted ladysthumb (Polygonum persicaria), smartweed, ground ivy, violet, moss, chickweed, sorrel and other kinds of sedge.
Compacted soil. This may be from foot traffic or heavy equipment. It is particularly bad if soil was wet when it was compacted. Weeds found here include plantain (Plantago spp.), dock, chicory (Cichorium spp.), dandelion and chickweed. Except for chickweed, these plants have very tough root systems that are able to penetrate through compacted soils.
Aloe Designs Save Email 7. Urban Farm Galvanized livestock water tanks (available from feed stores), drilled with drainage holes, make excellent raised beds for smaller lots and urban gardens. They’re deep enough to grow larger vegetables like tomatoes and artichokes but don’t take up too much square footage.
Alma-nac Save Email 5. Don’t forget the side yard. Make the most of narrow side yards and the exterior walls of your home by installing trellises and planting espaliered vines. Side yards also are a great opportunity to continue curvaceous planting beds and create interesting focal points, like a path leading to a gate. To make use of our minimal side yard, we incorporated espaliered clematis and climbing roses against our exterior brick walls, along with plants like hydrangea, lily of the valley and hellebore to create a lush foundation.
French marigolds line a garden bed. How to use it. Use as an edging, a border or in drifts in flower beds. Incorporate into edible gardens to add color and repel whiteflies. They also work well planters and flower boxes.
French marigolds line a garden bed. How to use it. Use as an edging, a border or in drifts in flower beds. Incorporate into edible gardens to add color and repel whiteflies. They also work well planters and flower boxes.
plantings on triangle
19. Focal point. What a difference a cheery sunflower makes. All eyes are on this one as people walk along the side of this house. Choose a striking feature that adds a special touch to your garden.
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