Christiane Holmquist Landscape Design

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A Matter Of Balance: Don’t Allow the Hardscape to Dominate the Planting

March 9, 2016 By Christiane Holmquist

Don’t allow the hardscape to dominate the planting

Part 2

In my last post I endeavored to put plants in the forefront of our gardens in order to make them softer and more welcoming: Under our southern sun pavements, structures and other built structures create glare and very deep shadows. How can we reduce the harshness of this bright white light in residential landscape design?

I think the primordial quality of a well-designed garden is its ability to let our eyes and minds rest. To that effect, I want to employ shade, light-absorbing textures, coolness, perhaps even the sound of water. I try to balance out the hard structures with drought resistant landscaping and let the plants play an equal if not greater role in the organization and feel of the design. Here are a few tricks how to employ plants to that effect:

hard surface balanced with softening plants

This entrance area can be extremely bright, but Redbuds and oaks add a “roof” to the approaching visitor and create shade.

Don’t let too much hardscape take the warmth out of your garden

No massive gate columns here: The framing of this garden entrance is done by the swollen trunks of Floss Silk Tree Ceiba insignia, which also provides shade; the young mimosa in the island has a very soft light-absorbing deep green foliage and will create a wonderful welcoming coolness.

Even in full non-day sun, someone sitting on that bench would be able to admire the cool blue of this beautiful Potato Bush.

Even in full none-day sun, someone sitting on that bench would be able to admire the cool blue of this beautiful Potato Bush.

Here, a low water and low maintenance clumping grass reflects light like an animal’s fur, and the shade of the shrubs beyond is in contrast to the bright patio on the right.

Here, a low water and low maintenance clumping grass reflects light like an animal’s fur, and the shade of the shrubs beyond is in contrast to the bright patio on the right.

grasses swaying in the wind

A boulder echoes the horizontal line of the eaves, while grasses repeat the vertical lines of the window frame.

Plants have many roles: They create the visual pleasure that changes through the seasons because of the seasonal bloom, and they offer a juxtaposition of delicate textures with the outlines of strict architecture or rugged boulders. Plants can repeat the dynamic contrast between horizontal and vertical lines already present in the architecture of a house. Leaning pine branches intersect with vertical grass blades, while vertical flower stems stand at a right angle to a boulder’s edge.

These dark bromeliads provide contrast to the lightness of the house’s walls, strappy irises play off of the low horizontal stone wall, and palms throw their interesting shadows on the walls.

These dark bromeliads provide contrast to the lightness of the house’s walls, strappy irises play off of the low horizontal stone wall, and palms throw their interesting shadows on the walls.

secret yet inviting garden

Although many “hardscape elements” are used here, plants scale down their proportions and make them soften until they almost disappear. Plants are employed to edge this stone path, and instead of an umbrella or arbor, the tree canopy on the left shelters a bench.

While the stone and wood create light and dark structure, plants soften the overall effect.  Even the light-colored pavers are more inviting when edged in grass.

While the stone and wood create light and dark structure, plants soften the overall effect.  Even the light-colored pavers are more inviting when edged in grass.

Here, the stone flower beds will start to look less heavy when the vines start to take over the arbor and the perennials and shrubs gain their mature height, cascading over the sides to soften them. While distinctly dividing the side of the house into different areas, each area becomes its own secret garden.

DSCN1697 (1)

Plants create suspense: Where is the path leading? Your eye bounces down the path from the Aloe to the pink flowering Rock Purslane to the yellow Mexican Marigold. They thus create the illusion of a larger yard.

A minimal structure for vines will soon create much-needed shade, while all around plants absorb some of the light. The purple-flowered tree is a Jacaranda; the white shrub on the left is Iceberg Rose.

A minimal structure for vines will soon create much-needed shade, while all around plants absorb some of the light. The purple-flowered tree is a Jacaranda; the white shrub on the left is Iceberg Rose.

Soon, the three Podocarpus trees along the back wall will be tall enough to screen out the neighbor’s house and all boundaries will be obscured, thus creating total privacy in a natural setting.

Plants help to separate this sitting area from the entrance and to make if feel more private.

Plants help to separate this sitting area from the entrance and to make if feel more private.

This design also creates the illusion of distance, giving the front yard a larger feel. The small deciduous shrub will provide more shade and privacy as it matures, and give an excellent opportunity to use creative landscape lighting to add drama at night by revealing its beautiful branch structure.

Instead of walls and doors, planter pockets serve to break up the pavement and to separate one usable area from another.

Instead of walls and doors, planter pockets serve to break up the pavement and to separate one usable area from another.

Getting away from hardscapes is a challenge; there are sexy materials that don’t need watering or maintenance, and will last close to forever.  Stone, wood, glass, metal, and even fiberglass or plastic are very versatile and lend themselves to a variety of different uses. Be it fencing or furniture, these materials can help us give places to ‘hang’ our plants, much like in a big wardrobe.

Many landscape architects and landscape designers in San Diego (and elsewhere) have been trained to use these materials as the back-bones and foundations to build around – and upon – with plants in secondary filler roles.  But plants can also serve this purpose; let yourself fall in love with the texture and structure of a plant, or your favorite tree, or a color, and design around that.

Tell your designer that this is the plant you want to showcase or use.  Say you want a great big hedge of something to serve as a fence.  Think about using our native Toyon Heteromeles arbutifolia, or a Silverberry Eleagnus pungens.  Both are tough shrubs with attractive foliage, colorful berries (Toyon) and fragrant flowers (Silverberry) that are very undemanding in soil, water or light and that can be sheered, pruned or trained into small trees or an evergreen screen.   If you prefer beautiful craftsmanship, think about how a simple perfect circle carved from stone, laid in brick, or made of wood can’t help but stand out best when surrounded by the chaos and asymmetry of plants.

Right now is a great time to look for California natives, drought-tolerant succulents and waterwise perennials, shrubs and trees at your local nurseries!

 

I believe this is a topic that will interest many gardeners, and I’ll talk about it in greater detail and colorful examples in a presentation at the Water Conservation Garden in El Cajon on June 11, at 9:30 a.m., in a class entitled “Balancing hardscapes with plants”.  Look for a detailed description in the coming weeks at the Garden’s website.  I’d be happy to greet you there!

Filed Under: Drought Resistant Landscape, Drought Resistant Plants, Gardening tips, Low Maintenance Plants, Low Water Landscape, Shade Structures, Special architectal landscape elements, Trees Tagged With: backyard landscape design, diy landscape design, drought resistant landscaping, landscape designer San Diego, low water landscaping, perennials

Balancing Plants With Hardscapes In Your Landscape Design

January 21, 2016 By Christiane Holmquist

When leafing through a landscape trade magazine recently, I noticed how much emphasis was placed on the “hard stuff”: Large patios and terraces paved with interlocking pavers and seat-walls around them in either stone or concrete block; sweeping staircases, luxurious zero-edge pools, massive built-in outdoor kitchens with the latest in outdoor cooking technology…

Obviously, the homeowners had invested a small fortune into their landscape and I imagined them rightly proud of their yard improvements.

Yet it struck me how little inviting I found these spaces; the hardscape seemed to overwhelm the warmth of nature, which had been defeated.

Uninspired landscape

Hardscapes such as these create a wholly uninspired landscape

Clarification: The layout and organization of a garden into ‘rooms’, or the ‘bones’ of a successful garden, is tantamount, but NOT dependent on hardscaping.

When I ask my clients to describe their home landscape design goals, one of the first things they mention is their dream of beautiful, lush plants that draw them out into the garden; they blame the garden’s unattractiveness on the lack of beautiful plants, and this may be quite true!

But I usually respond by pointing to other facts that make their garden uninviting: It is in most cases the poor organization of their spaces that doesn’t allow for smooth circulation. There may not be sufficient room for a comfortable dining table and a clear, logical way to serve food here…perhaps there’s no shade for the homeowner who wants to spend time outside without being roasted.

Frequently also, there’s not enough privacy for a family that likes to take their breakfast or dinner outside, in their PJs or swim wear (or naked, God forbid!)

all corners and edges

All corners and edges!

So I do pay much attention to the layout of a garden and devise outdoor spaces that can be used in comfort, preferably with the most beautiful materials. However, while hardscaping can be used in all aforementioned circumstances, so can “plantscaping”.

Plants should be used more often to solve these problems. I begin envisioning their garden coming to life with plants, color, textures; I see the wildlife drawn by them and begin feeling the mood of the garden.

oversized pool deck

This is an example of an oversized pool deck almost devoid of plants and atmosphere.

And I know that these plants will be substantially more than ‘the icing on the cake,’ but will also serve to organize the garden.

So what makes an outdoor space successful and inviting? What is it that draws us into them?

hard surface balanced with softening plants

Many hard surfaces in play with an interesting variety of drought tolerant plants.

I can think of several groundbreaking ideas in the last 50 or so years that shook the gardening and design world. They called for a new, sustainable appreciation of plants and their function in our gardens.

They use such words as “enchantment”, “romance”, and “plant personalities”…and they describe the variety of their sculptural, dramatic, and attention-getting forms that we should consider in our designs and substitute for hardscaping.

Also, it is important that we consider plants at the very beginning of the design process, so that their softness and drama can be the leading elements of the design, and let the hardscaping once again provide a supporting role.

Hedges can be clipped into formal green ‘walls’ to delineate areas, provide privacy, or simply act as a backdrop. Trees with interesting shapes can give not only shade but supply the columns where we need strong vertical movement.

Trellises covered with vines can also provide privacy or decoration, and plants of different structures, textures, sizes, and colors can let the eye bounce around, lead it through a garden, and provide interest and momentum.

Hardscaping then is scaled back to its more appropriate role, and plants can once again frame a scene or blur boundaries with nature.

grasses swaying in the wind

Grasses glow and sway in the wind while the pine breaks up the vertical wall of the house.

Numerous books and beautiful articles have been written about landscapes that make you dream and want to be in them.

Some advice that I’ve learned is to allow for change and growth in plants as well as in people’s responses, and to avoid creating “landscapes that demand that their plants stay in near suspended animation to fulfill the designer’s vision (and impose an unrealistic burden on their owners for upkeep)”. Let’s remind ourselves instead that, “At its heart a garden is a relationship, an ongoing dialog between people, plants and the place in which they both live and grow.” It is this relation with them that builds a garden.

-(“Plant-Driven Design,” pgs. 18 + 19, by Scott Ogden and Lauren Springer Ogden)

secret yet inviting garden

A landscape design that is inviting and romantic, secret and enticing. The plants are numerous and varied; they lead the eye around the landscape; the tree overhead frames the view and provides shade, and the fence is light and unobtrusive.

In my next post, I’ll give a few examples of the power of plants and examine how they can be used where we traditionally imagine hardscapes:

  • How big a pool deck do you really need?
  • How do you create boundaries or privacy with plants if not with walls and fences?
  • Will you need a retaining wall, or could plants do a better job?

These are some of the questions I look forward to examining, to help you create balance in your home landscape design.

Filed Under: Drought Resistant Plants, Landscape Design, Shade Structures, Special architectal landscape elements, Xeriscape designs Tagged With: backyard landscape design, garden design, gardening ideas, landscape design ideas, xeriscape landscaping

Successful Backyard Landscape Collaboration in La Jolla

January 23, 2013 By Christiane Homquist

How a homeowner with an artist’s love of beautiful details and a receptive landscape designer found synergy and fertile ground in the garden for a beautiful backyard landscape collaboration.

Successful Backyard Landscape Collaboration in La Jolla Sitting area by the pool

A couple of years after installation, this garden has matured beautifully.  I cherish the artistic collaboration with my clients; it contributes to very personalized and satisfying designs.  In this project, the teamwork was particularly fruitful, as Melissa F., entrepreneur, artist and singer/song-writer,  contributed an immense flow of creative ideas and suggestions.  The result is a garden that is beautiful and incredibly peaceful.

Melissa calls it her ‘outdoor home’ because it’s all here:  living room, kitchen, sitting room and lounge, and vivid plantings that make all come to life.

The previous backyard landscape design consisted of an uninspiring courtyard that a planter bed set in the middle made user-unfriendly.

Shade sails cool the dining area

Melissa and Todor love to cook and entertain outside.  To blend the outdoor kitchen seamlessly, we used bamboo facing, echoing the indoor flooring and the living bamboo hedge. Now, under the cool shade sails,  the outdoor dining area feels like it has always been there.

Despite of the many built elements the hardscapes do not overpower the garden and plants are allowed to soften all.

For each material selection we explored the idea of “weathering”, inspired by the mottled copper caps on eaves and fence posts and the home’s faded wood siding. The naturally rusted steel used for edging, planting troughs, fountain and gas lights provides that patina; matte concrete and exposed beach pebbles continue the theme.

Organized to allow for entertainment, relaxation and play, the garden creates a dynamic and sunny ‘outdoor home’ where plants add color, life and interest and prevent the built elements from overpowering the garden.

Bamboo hedge compressed

The bamboo hedge is a beautiful response to the construction of an oversized home in the neighbor’s yard that threatened the privacy and intimacy of this garden. The hedge helps focus the eye on the interior and defines the boundary of this backyard. It’s exciting to see how the black Bamboo stems echo the dark pavement in a wonderful contrast to the surrounding green foliage.

Most of the original overgrown “tropical” plants were removed and replaced with low maintenance plants, many of them from the sub-tropics.  This xeriscape landscaping was composed in colors of Melissa’s preferred color palette:

Forest Pansy Redbud, bronze Sedge and golden Kangaroo Paw, purplish Echeveria and in-ground Bromeliad with striking foliage. A few splashes of orange and red add highlights to the picture.

One of the landscape lighting ideas was to use steel “fire” troughs.  They provide light, warmth and entertainment after nightfall.  While their mottled rusty walls continue the theme of weathering, they also tie the different spaces together.

Rusted fire troughs illuminate the garden at night

The steel fountain complements the materials used in the landscape and has a calming effect on all senses.

The fountain is a highlight of the garden

If synergy is  “the ability of a group to outperform even its best individual member”, then this residential landscape design is a beautiful example of how two creative individuals with their own aesthetics found common ground in the garden and created a product that will satisfy its owners for years to come. (Landscape designer San Diego Christiane Holmquist).

Photography:  Patricia Bean Architectural Photography

Filed Under: Drought Resistant Landscape, Gardening tips, Landscape Design, Low Maintenance Plants, Low Water Landscape, Outdoor Kitchen, Shade Structures, Xeriscape designs Tagged With: backyard landscape design, landscape designer San Diego, landscape lighting ideas, low maintenance plants, Outdoor Kitchen, residential landscape design, Shade sails, xeriscape landscaping

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Christiane, your design is beautiful. Viewers love the design and color. Thank you so much for all your support while the project was being developed. It would have been more stressful for me had you not held my hand regularly.

Rachel Michel

CHRISTIANE HOLMQUIST LANDSCAPE DESIGN


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