Places to visit Archives - Christiane Holmquist Landscape Design

Starting my new life in Montana

December 20, 2017 By Christiane Holmquist 7 Comments

A favorite past time in these parts: Floating down one of the many rivers.

Dear Friends,

I’ve done it! I have taken the big leap and arrived at our new home in Dixon MT, a small town in easy reach of Missoula on the Clark Fork River, one of “America’s 10 Best River Towns” in western Montana. Getting here was an adventure, not being used to driving on snowy roads; carrying and pushing my piano and our belongings through the snow into the new home was another challenge.

The snow has melted away, and out of my window I see the barren trees along the Flathead River. I’m enjoying the play of sun and shadows on the hills across the water and the snow-capped peaks of the Mission Mountains in the distance. I hope that the mild weather will hold as long as possible and I can begin getting a feel for our new property and the lay of our hilly terrain.

In Tizer Botanic Gardens, Jefferson City MT

What brought me here is my family, but also the beauty of Montana’s open plains, valleys, and the emerald green waters of the Clark Fork River that merges with the Flathead River a few miles away. There are so many creeks, rivers, and lakes here that it would take me another lifetime to see them all. Add to this the excitement over discovering a new plant palette and the desire to master the challenges of gardening in the Rockies.

I look forward to designing gardens that survive the winters here and the many other challenges of deer/pocket gophers/squirrels, extreme heat, difficult soils and limited rainfall. One question in particular is on my mind when I look at gardens: What are the design secrets to designing a garden that holds its visual interest even under several inches of snow?

In Missoula, I’ve noticed a distinct appreciation for durable, naturalistic plantings in private gardens and public and commercial landscapes. The design at my local grocery store, in particular, caught my eye by its use of boulders, comfortable stepping stones, long-flowering hardy perennials, shrubs, small trees and ornamental grasses. The whole has a very relaxed and naturalistic feeling, and from Lori Parr, its designer, I learned that her goal was a sustainable plant composition that uses beautiful, low maintenance xeriscape plants of the Mountain West that give the whole a distinct Rocky Mountain feel. (Lori goes by the name of “Lavender Lori” because she now grows hardy Lavenders and makes various products with its oils.)

A very relaxed and sustainable design by Lori Parr at the Good Food Store, Missoula

As I’m looking around to see what other local designers are doing, I talked to Will Grant of Grant Landscape & Design of Missoula. His use, too, of indigenous plants, his stated preference of water-conserving plants and his way of incorporating local stone and rocks in pleasing ways impressed me. Both Lori’s and Will’s supportive and easy sharing of their experiences enforced what I learned in Southern California: Gardeners everywhere love their work so much that they are willing to share secrets and experience and always support those who want to know…

Grant Landscapes, Missoula: Low maintenance, water-wise gardens, beautiful rock work and native plants and materials. (quoted from their website)

Gardening and Sustainable Design

So I invite you to follow my next blog posts. I’ll share what I have learned about gardening and sustainable design in Western Montana. I’m really excited to see which tricks are employed to keep a landscape interesting even under several inches of snow! I will share with you what I learn here.

For my new gardening friends in Montana although working now in a different environment, my “eyeball” is still good and I bring my design passion and experience that brought me awards in Southern California. I look forward to working with you and to helping you articulate your ideas, to interpreting and transforming them into reality. And to make you feel what this client of mine wrote: “Every day I am thrilled to open the front gate and walk through the first garden you designed. Sometimes it is late afternoon and the light is glorious in the garden.”

Thank you so much for your continued reading of my posts From Montana. I appreciate this support and hope you’ll follow me on this new adventure.

I wish you the very best for the new year and a festive holiday season.

Along the Clark Fork River, a few miles from Dixon MT

Fun Things To Do In The Spring Landscape

April 23, 2015 By Christiane Holmquist 1 Comment

(Early spring edition of Garden Design magazine)

With my latest edition of “Garden Design” in hand and another beautiful spring just begun, I thought I’d let you know about this exciting magazine and share some ideas and finds that I hope will energize and enthuse us for many months to come.

(Pitcher Sage in full glory at Santa Barbara Botanic Garden)

After a break of several years, Garden Design has been re-launched in a much improved version. The sheer volume of the latest and hottest plants, examples of contemporary outdoor furniture and amazing garden art, must-reads about design- or plant-related literature, fascinating interviews with design experts and beautiful photography makes me enthusiastic about my profession, and many ideas in this magazine can be applied in the garden or spring landscape. Here are a few that I picked up this time:

(A working concept drawing)

Landscape designer Rob Steiner muses about the “Rules of the Game” of garden design. He makes the point that although we all have very individual ideas of what our dream garden should look like, and that although one could assume that garden design is too much a personal expression of one’s likes and dislikes, there are fundamental rules of how to organize the space, enclose it, find the right proportions, determine the right size of plants, and take into consideration that gardens evolve.

Although I myself was taught these rules, it is easy to treat them in a theoretical way, or assuming that we can tweak or ignore them, and so it’s helpful to reflect on them again once in a while. His first rule is “Obey the ‘law’ of significant enclosure”, and he calls it not only a rule, but a law: It “is absolutely critical in creating a sense of refuge and of feeling oneself within nature’s embrace”.

(A working concept drawing, in colored version)

For me, this rule is very important as it’s rooted in my personal experience: It was in the tall hedged seclusion and privacy of my parents’ garden that I fostered the deepest emotional connection with nature that allowed complete abandon to a fantasy world.

Rob goes on to postulate that “we feel enclosed when the vertical height of an elements is at least one third the length of the horizontal space”. He then describes how he applies this rule to a patio that needs screening from a play area: As the patio is 17 ft wide, he determines that the screening hedge needs to be at least 6 ft high.

Another few pages that I flagged in the latest edition showcase “Great Gardens Across America”. Here I find plenty of examples of contemporary design style: Outdoor spaces used as extensions of the home and seamlessly connecting them; “simple and refined” spaces; emphasis on beautiful accents and details, in materials and garden art; distinctive and unfussy furniture and accessories, and successfully blending different styles.

(Great flowering meadow at Santa Barbara Botanic Garden)

For those shopping for exceptional, modern, perhaps whimsical furniture, there are plenty pictured here: The almost retro-looking /mid-century modern chaises by William Haines Designs; also Hive Modern; or Design Within Reach.

Malibu Chair from the collections at William Haines Designs

I also enjoy the “unfussy”, succinct interviews with designers from different parts of the country who talk about their design inspirations and share their favorite new things, what to read, or what’s going on in their part of the gardening world.

There’s an Earth Day at Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge on April 25; there’s the Butterfly Festival at the Water Conservation Garden El Cajon on May 9; also the Spring Garden Festival on April 25 at Cuyamaca College across the street.

Over 40,000 blooming bulbs will be on display including Allium, Camassia, Cardiocrinum, Cyclamen, Muscari and more at the Blooms and Bulbs Festival in Salt Lake City, UT, April 10-26. These are only a few picks from a much longer list of fascinating events in the design and gardening world.

Mt. Cuba Center, Delaware, created by Doug Tallamy

To me, most thought-provoking in this edition was the article, “Professor of Biodiversity; Doug Tallamy teaches America how to restore habitat for wildlife – start in your garden”. The main photo shows a sun-lit pond where the surrounding trees and wildflowers at the water’s edge are reflected. This is a scene in Mt. Cuba Center in Delaware, where Doug Tallamy has created a habitat for wildlife.

Trees of varying heights create a protective, delightful canopy under which chairs have been placed, in viewing distance of the shore, where water tumbles, through a stone bed, into the lake, past stands of wildflowers and patches of meadow. The hand of the designer is definitely visible, but the setting is so carefully created that is feels like each design element has been carefully investigated before execution to assure the least interference with nature.

(Beetles on California native milkweed)

Here, Mr. Tallamy has restored several acres to their natural beauty, by removing all “aggressive alien plants” and replacing them with local, native trees, shrubs and wildflowers that, within a decade, have lured back a thriving population of graceful, boldly striped swallowtails and native birds, their songful predators that in our traditional gardens, filled with many exotic and nonnative ornamentals, provide neither food nor shelter for animals.

(A bird perched on a branch of Rhamnus Redberry)

The message is clear, and Mr. Tallamy repeats it on lectures and even in his writing: You can do a lot to conserve and restore biodiversity in your own garden.” The secret is the recognition that it is the native plants that are eaten by the local native insects, and once their food sources have been restored, the birds will follow!”

Mr. Tallamy’s current research focuses on the “impact of non-native plants on the terrestrial food chain”, quantifying how much alien plant species are reducing populations of native insects and the creatures that depend on them. “Grow the native plants that insects in your area depend on”. (See also his book ‘The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden’, Timber Press 2014, co-written by Rick Darke).

(Bee on Live Oak flower tassel)

(Monarch Butterfly on host plant)

His ideas make complete sense, and I feel motivated to make my message about designing with California natives stronger and more convincing. But that’s food for another article.

Thank Heaven for Little Trees, for Little Trees Grow Bigger Every Day! The Role of Trees in Landscape Design

June 28, 2013 By Christiane Homquist 8 Comments

Recently, on a hot Sunday afternoon, I noticed a curious thing: On a comfortable chaise-lounge in the shade of my Tipu tree, I was reading a good book when I felt drops of water or some other liquid falling on me. Was it raining? The drops were so tiny that I couldn’t even see them on my skin, but there was no doubt about what I was sensing. Wondering if I was experiencing aphid droplets falling out of the tree canopy, I examined the surrounding furniture on my deck, but there was nothing of that sticky substance that aphids exude and that is known as honeydew. What could these droplets be?

Knowing about how trees cool themselves, I imagine that it was the tree itself that sprayed on me: Evaporation (“transpiration”) of water from its foliage in the hot afternoon was extra fast and generous to form the minutest droplets that ‘rained’ on me.

A gentle spray to cool me off – how awesome!

Have you ever noticed how wonderful the shade under a tree feels, especially on a hot day? The lovely sensation on my skin made me think again about how important trees are in the sustainable landscape design, no matter which climate you live in. Consider the most obvious at this time of year: Beauty from bloom and form; shade and reduced energy cost, and an emotional connection that we all have to trees.

As I was lounging in the shade, I was wondering how big the temperature difference was that I felt there: In the full sun it was close to 100° F that afternoon; in the shade by contrast a comfortable 85° F! And the air that I was breathing under it was fresh and cool – the tiny droplets were just an added pleasure.

Numerous authors and organizations have made a valuable contribution to this subject and demonstrated to homeowners and planners alike, with hard numbers, the measurable payback of trees, even the increase in real estate value! There are many fun facts about the social, environmental, economic and communal benefits of trees at sites like these:

“Trees are Good”, by the International Society of Arboriculture; “Canopy”, a publication by a volunteer organization in Palo Alto that cares for trees; “Why Shade Streets? The Unexpected Benefit” by the Center of Urban Forest Research.

As gardener and landscape designer San Diego passionate about sustainable landscape design another benefit comes to mind that many gardeners have certainly noticed, too:

The canopy of an evergreen tree provides a perfect microclimate for cold-sensitive plants as well as for those that prefer the dappled shade over a sun-baked situation. This is particularly true of inland valley or desert situations where many plants, even the desert plant species, that tolerate full sun closer to the coast appreciate the reprieve that a tree canopy provides as too much sunlight creates problems with the plant’s ability to regulate photosynthesis (this is the chemical process by which plants convert water and carbon dioxide from the air into carbohydrates).

The shade also translates into lower water needs for everything growing beneath as well as prolonged growth and flowering: While many plants, even drought resistant plants, go limp or floppy in the mid-day heat of summer, the ones in the shade show more intense color and firmer foliage. (Some plants respond to the heat and drought by going dormant and dropping their leaves, such as California Buckeye, a California native plant.)

Drought resistant plants that actually prefer the dappled shade (or afternoon shade from a building) are many succulents, such as Aeoniums, Sedums and Echeverias, even Foxtail Agave Agave attenuata prefers this situation. Also many flowering perennials and soft-leaved plants such as Sundrops Calylophus drummondii, Copper Canyon Daisy (Mexican Marigold) Tagetes lemmonii, and Purple Sage Salvia leucophylla come to mind.

And then there are the strictly aesthetic-driven aspects of designing with trees, and I can’t even begin to consider a home landscape design without them, or any landscape design for that matter. (I wrote about it already in a previous post “Trees in my garden? No trees, please!”). They are a garden’s upright support and beams; they are the main structural elements around which all other plants are arranged. They feel to me like the “ceiling” and walls in the garden; shrubs and flowers are the furniture so to speak…

Trees also give a garden its mood: Compare the feel that a palm tree creates in a garden, with that of a deciduous Sycamore; or picture the branches of a pine tree and the “whoosh” of a breeze going through it, and compare it with the burning orange fall-foliage of a Crape Myrtle or Western Redbud!

Trees can mark a spot as focal point; they can denote a boundary; they can frame and enhance a view or screen out an unsightly one. Most important perhaps is the comforting, protected feeling that we experience: There’s something primordial about sitting under the canopy of a tree: It connects us with ancient, genetically anchored memories of our cave days, I imagine, and sitting in an open field has a very different, un-sheltered feel. A landscape without them is feels lifeless to me, depressing even; there’s not much shelter for birds so they stay away, and it doesn’t feel nurturing.

If all this makes you want to design your landscape and select the best tree for it, here are a few more resources specifically for San Diego homeowners:

San Diego Tree/Palm/Plant Pictures at http://www.geographylists.com/sandiegoplants.html

And perhaps the tree down the street that you have been interested in has already been identified and listed in our own San Diego Tree map?

This fun interactive map lets you search for a particular tree by neighborhood: Just locate your street, zero in on it and see whether the tree you are interested in has already been identified. Conversely, if you have identified a tree in your neighborhood and want to contribute to this database, just upload a photo and the information, and you’ll help your neighbors learn about it. This great resource also shows you some of those ‘hard numbers’ that I mentioned above as the trees’ “Yearly Eco Impact”.

To get a feel for the physical presence and characteristics of a tree, especially at maturity, nothing suits this better than a visit to any of the resources that we have here in San Diego: There’s the San Diego Zoo of which its founder, Dr. Harry Wegeforth said, “A luxuriant growth of trees and foliage was one of the chief features of the Zoo as I planned it in my mind’s eye.” (Read also “San Diego Zoo Gardens”).

Then there’s the San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas, and the Water Conservation Garden in El Cajon. Or the San Diego Safari Park that is home to 4 ac of California nativescapes, with more than 1500 individual plants representing 500 species, all of which historically call SoCal home. And then there’s their conifer forest with more than 1,000 plants representing 400 species of conifers..

And don’t forget San Diego’s Balboa Park!

Take a stroll one of these summer days and marvel at the beauty and cool comfort that the shade of the trees provide. Send me photos of our finds, share your landscape design ideas with me and let me know if there’s a resource that I didn’t think of!

The joys of winter – preparing for next year’s success and enjoyment of our drought resistant landscape

December 28, 2012 By Christiane Homquist 4 Comments

Reading yet another list of gardening chores for this winter (it does provide our best gardening season), I notice that there are a lot of ‘to do lists’ published online and in gardening magazines about how to prepare for the next year in our gardens. Feeling slightly guilty about wanting to stay indoors and relax a bit, I wondered ‘Why not write something about the fun stuff that can help us become better gardeners, enlighten and entertain us, without being a chore?’

Celebrate, entertain and learn

The San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas offers great cultural activities for visitors of all ages, gardener or not. Visit their “West Coast largest interactive Children’s Garden”, enjoy their holiday lighting displays, or participate in their classes, docent or self-guided tours, bird watching events. Not to miss is their annual “Sculpture in the Garden” exhibit.

Come to see their fascinating botanical plant groupings. One of them is designed like an amazing “underwater” garden where succulents and cacti evoke a fantastic world of coral reef marine life.

The Water Conservation Garden in El Cajon is a public garden that focuses on a fun, entertaining approach to education where the local homeowner, student or casual visitor can learn about water conservation in the xeriscape landscaping and “the sustainable use of related natural resources”. Classes and events provide landscaping ideas, and their next greatly enjoyable and family-friendly event is the Spring Garden Festival in April. (If you need help with water conservation in your landscape, or with fire prevention, composting techniques or seek your trees, this will be the opportunity for you to put your questions to various experts in their fields.) And don’t miss out on their seminars and classes, tours and events.

Sheer bloom

Cantua ‘Hot Pants’

If you love Magnolias, Roses, Silk Cotton Trees or exotics that you can’t grow in your garden, see what’s blooming month by month at the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden.

Combine a visit of the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino with a stroll through (and perhaps plant purchase at ) the 12 magnificent garden areas. “The Botanicals Gardens contain more than 14,000 different kind of plants in more than a dozen principal garden areas, including the Rose, Shakespeare, Camellia, Jungle, Palm and Chinese gardens. ” They offer a truly enriching experience, to be repeated at different times of the year to see what’s in bloom.

Floral wonders, and other fascinating things in the desert

At about one hour’s drive in the east county is the Anza Borrego desert that is famous for its spring wildflower bloom. Depending on rainfall and other weather conditions, you can visit the wild flower stands from mid-February through early April.

The Anza Borrego Desert State Park also offers educational events captivating at all ages. Organized hikes accompanied by naturalists, star gazing events, wild flower and bird watches begin as early as January 1. See here their Interpretive Schedule.

For the birds

Did you know that one of the best-known raptor watch sites of the country is located in this county? The Wildlife Research Institute in Ramona draws visitors from all over the world, especially in January when the watch (various hawk species, falcons and Golden Eagles) watch is on.

Learn about California native plants, buy some, and be inspired

One of the finest growers just over the county line is the Tree of Life Nursery in San Juan Capistrano. Not only do they grow a beautiful variety of California native plants, they also publish their availability and plant catalog online, with an outstanding amount of plant profiles, planning tools and ‘how-to’ recommendations.

Harvest your own winter-grown veggies

If you manage to get your winter vegetables (“cool season crops”) in the ground now, such as carrots, broccoli, beets, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, peas, radishes, spinach and turnips, you’ll be harvesting in due course. Learn more about vegetable gardening at the Vegetable Research and Information Center of UC Davis.

California wildflowers “for the picking”

Now is the time to sow our California native wild flowers; for extra good germination, sow seeds just before a big storm or between storms: California poppies, mountain garland Clarkia unguiculata, purple owl’s clover Castilleja excreta, baby blue eyes Nemophila menziesii, Chinese house Collinsia heterophylla, and farewell to spring Clarkia amoena.

Get ready for more entertainment in your garden

Perhaps it’s time to consider enlarging your entertainment spaces, or to put a roof over your existing patio, so that you can expand your outdoor activities?

Or is it time to add some ‘drama’ to your garden and let it come to life by night? Read here about some basic information about low-volume landscape lights that might help you select and build your system.

Look to these sources for help with your gardening questions or for great plants

Here are some suggestions of drought resistant plants that bring some color punch to your winter garden.

Waterwise Botanicals in Bonsall grow a wide range of excellent garden plants for the low water landscape. They offer detailed plant photos and descriptions as well as a newsletter and maintenance tips.

The newsletter provided by Walter Andersen Nurseries is always a great read.

San Marcos Growers grow “the best” in xeriscape plants and are always adding new ones; their plants are as great as their educational website.

Read here the very useful Green Thumb’s Nursery blog and month-to-month gardening guide.

Your garden is waiting – patiently.

There’s time now to plan for a pretty, satisfying garden next year. And while you diligently take care of all the chores in your garden, don’t forget to get inspired by visiting one or the other locales mentioned here, and add your own dream destinations.

In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying these holidays and wish all my friends a wonderful, prosperous new year.

Dear Friends,

Gardening and Sustainable Design

Christiane Holmquist

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