xeriscape landscaping Archives - Christiane Holmquist Landscape Design

Balancing Plants With Hardscapes In Your Landscape Design

January 21, 2016 By Christiane Holmquist 1 Comment

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.

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!

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.

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 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)

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.

Getting Back To Nature – Xeriscape Landscaping with California Natives

June 16, 2015 By Christiane Holmquist 2 Comments

A flowery meadow at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden

A recent visit to the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden brought me much delight and revived my old love for a landscape type that we rarely see here in Southern California: An urban haven entirely dedicated to the cultivation and exhibition of a California native-scape.

This is a jewel of a garden situated south of the San Gabriel foothills which offers a great example of xeriscape landscaping. The 86 acres are beautifully designed and entirely planted with cultivars and wild species of native plants, whose exploration leads you through various habitats and a mosaic of vegetation patterns, such as desert, chaparral, grasslands, forest, and riparian (areas on the banks of fresh water).

(Truly) Majestic Oak Quercus agrifolia var. agrifolia

I had come to the Garden with several designer friends who, like me, were interested in refreshing our knowledge of California natives and finding inspiration for new landscape design ideas. And those we found! Conifers and oaks, Manzanita and Buck eye… Sage and Monkey flower, Anemone and Woolly Blue Curls, and on and on…

Smelling the flowers under a Palo Verde Parkinsonia aculeata

After wandering through the gardens the entire day, I was convinced that here are the drought resistant plants that can thrive in all of our gardens, no matter how tricky the situation. With these I can create any type of home landscape design, whether formal Mediterranean or California “eclectic”, whether modern restrained or flowery-cottage-y or romantic country, and create a feeling in them of satisfaction and being ‘at home’.

Here’s a selection of the Natives that I noted for their beauty, versatility and design interest:

California Buckeye Aesculus Californica

California Buckeye Aesculus californica

California Buckeye branch structure

Type: Deciduous tree. Mature trees can reach 15 to 45 ft with greater spread. Sun. Soil: Adaptable.

Water: Drought tolerant to regular.

Natural habitat: Woodland mostly away from the coast and below 4,000 ft.

This tree responds to heat or drought stress by dropping its leaves which reveals the pretty trunk structure and silvery smooth bark. In spring, branches clad with bright apple green foliage carry bottle-brush flower white (rarely pink) clusters, 4-12 inch long. The heavy round fruit ripens in late fall and splits to reveal shiny, 1-3 inch chestnut-brown seeds that gave the tree its name.

Design interest and uses: One of the showiest flowering trees: Grown as single or multi-trunked tree or large shrub with rounded crown which makes a complement or counterpoint to coast live oak, foothill pine and California Bay. It is an excellent choice to shade south or west side of a house.

Hummingbird Sage Salvia Spathacea

Hummingbird Sage Salvia spathacea

This herbaceous allergenic perennial is a pretty work-horse. It is chiefly noticed for its whorls of showy bracts and flowers with hairy, softly sticky pointed leaves that all exude a spicey and fruity fragrance.

Water: drought tolerant to occasional.

Goundcover: Only 10 to 30 inches tall, it spreads in a dense colony and is easily controlled by pulling up the new plants at the end of the rhizomes. In the warm season it flowers almost continuously with pagoda-like stalks bearing several dense whorls of dark maroon or ruby red bracts that offset the 1 to 1 ½ inch long magenta to salmon flowers. Deadheading the dried flower stalks keeps this plant tidy if desired (and the bloom coming).

Design interest/uses: Successful in the sun or shade, as groundcover or erosion control on banks or under the canopy of oaks and other trees where it contends with root competition and lack of direct sunlight. It draws bees, other insects and hummingbirds and works also as container plant. It mixes well with plants that won’t be smothered by its large leaves, such as bunch grasses, irises, manzanitas and coffeeberries.

Salvia Clevelandii ‘Bee’s Bliss’

Salvia ‘Bee’s Bliss’

Type: Perennial

Water: Drought tolerant to occasional.

When in bloom with lovely periwinkle blue flowers on 1-foot-long stalks, Salvia ‘Bee’s Bliss’ (hybrid of Cleveland Sage and purple Sage) draws insects and birds. This cultivar (hybrid between Cleveland and purple sage) reaches 1 to 2 ft tall and spreads quickly to 8 feet wide. It is subject to powdery mildew during cool weather, but the mildew disappears as temps heat up.

There are a couple of hybrids available in nurseries. Other cultivars are ‘Allen Chickering’ ; ‘Pozo Blue’, ‘Aromas’, ‘Mrs. Beard’ has masses of plae blue flowers and a similar form, and more reliable than ‘Dara’s Choice’ which grows in partial shade.

Design interest: Low, sturdy and attractive groundcover for sunny slopes where it is used as erosion control; rarely browsed by deer.

A Coyote puppy soaking up the warm sunshine.

To plant or not to plant (now) – that’s the question

Working with California native plants, I’ve learned that in some ways they are not that different from non-native species. Find the right plants for the garden’s soil, sun, and water, and they are easy to grow and maintain. The further you stretch out of a plant’s comfort zone, the higher maintenance it will require.

Here’s what the experts at Las Pilitas Nursery say:

“In years like 2013, if you have the water, plant from about December to February in the hot interior, plant all year in the rest of the state, particularly if you’re replacing a lawn or something else that needs a lot of water. If you’re replacing the lawn you’re going to save a lot of water in just a few months so do not feel guilty about using that water for change. New plantings need to be watered once a week for the first season in a dry year like 2013. So as long as you can do that, you can replace that dead looking non-native landscape.”

We are lucky that several local nurseries not only grow California Natives, but that they offer help with diy landscape design offering expert instructions and workshops. At Tree of Life Nursery, you can find many clear and useful planting and maintenance guidelines. Moosa Creek Nursery also makes guidelines available. Recon Native Plants grow California native plants for the landscape and the habitat restoration industry.

Powerfully fragrant : Matilija Poppy Rhomneya coulteri

Back in the Garden, as I was soaking in the sunshine that was bathing a large stand of Matilija Poppy, my eyes were drawn to the brilliant color splashes of yellow Palo Verde bloom, deep pink of Desert Willow trumpets and vibrant-orange blossoms of Desert Cholla. It struck me how harmonious the composition was, in color, texture and form, and I marveled at how appealing this scene was to me.

A flowering Palo Verde dancing with Desert Willow; Desert Cholla trying to get a foot in

What is then the essence of this landscape that so draws me? Is it the idea that this landscape has thrived without our pruning, watering and fussing, for millions of years? Is it because of this California flora providing such a rich source of beautiful, diverse and durable garden plants? Or is it that it is the only sustainable landscape design that feels “right” in our bright light, growing out of our rustling leaf litter under oaks or Sycamore, or in the fragrant shade of pine trees, or the between the crunchy leaf litter of our chaparral? For me, it is the only landscape type that I feel nurtured with, and that gives me the strongest ‘sense of place’.

Photos courtesy Koby’s Garden Alchemy and Christiane Holmquist

San Diego … Drought Proof Your Landscape, Part 2

March 26, 2014 By Christiane Holmquist 2 Comments

Xeriscape landscaping can be colorful, water-saving and rewarding

In my previous post, San Diego … Drought Proof Your Landscape, Part 1, I explained the term “xeriscape” and outlined several water-smart landscaping ideas and the first steps towards a water-wise landscape that is beautiful and yet sustainable. Here are the remaining steps a well as valuable resources.

5. Now that you are making voids in your garden (by eliminating certain unsustainable plants), perhaps it’s time to splurge on a few new hardscape elements (patios, walkways, shade pergolas)?

In my mind a garden is only a place worth caring for when it comes to life with plants. However, our landscapes need structure and good organization if they are to be enjoyable. And to enjoy them usually means entertainment, relaxation, rejuvenation, and also play and reconnecting with nature in the privacy of our home.

A shade cover allows daylong use of the patio

Patios, decks or terraces:

They have an immensely popular and well-deserved status in our landscape. If comfort and peace eludes you on your patio there’s no incentive to be out in the garden much…

it needs to be big enough to be comfortable;
it needs to be paved with safe and appealing materials;
it needs to be sheltered from sun, wind or the curiosity of our neighbors;
it needs to be comfortably accessible from the kitchen when food is carried outside to the dining or lounging table.

Walkways in the garden expand your enjoyment of it

If you find that any of these elements is missing from your entertainment/relaxation space, now might be the time to remedy these shortcomings and create a comfortable outdoor entertainment space design. Perhaps a new pavement is needed, or a shade device? This could be a pergola, an umbrella or shade sails, or (most practical perhaps or economical) a shade tree!

And new pathways? Imagine going on a discovery tour in your garden and enjoying your creativity, admiring what all the beautiful drought tolerant plants are showing off through the seasons. A discovery path that winds around your new planter beds, or a strolling path leading to a bench or comfortable seat at the rear end of your garden could be a long lasting addition that will pay off many-fold.

6. Mulch – too often overlooked

A good-looking mulch helps save water and gives it all a finished look

A thick layer of mulch, spread around all plants is so important! It should be 2-3 inches thick, or the kind that includes also small pieces (not the nuggets or the shredded lumber), and not smothering the root crown (the part where the roots converge into the stems just at/above soil level) to avoid fatal fungus disease.

A layer like this is attractive, makes your plants stand out, cools and enriches the soil, prevents erosion from rain or hard irrigation, and slows down evaporation. It’s a big water saver, and whatever has decomposed during the year, needs to be replenished in the following spring.

Some landscape are well served with an inorganic layer of mulch, made from decomposed granite or crushed rock. These materials are well suited to Southwest landscape designs or “desert-scapes”, and this type of mulch, although not enriching the soil, can help reduce evaporation and gives a finished look.

7. Know your soil

Knowing your soil texture helps determine what to plant, how to irrigate and how to amend your soil

Knowing whether you have sandy, loamy or high clay soil lets you determine whether to “condition” your soil (by adding compost, organic matter, or other ingredients such as gypsum), which irrigation system to use, how fast water drains into the sub soil and when to irrigate again. It also helps you determine which plants are best for your location. In my mind it’s not as necessary to add nutrients — most of the drought tolerant plants come from areas with nutrient-poor soil — as it is to have organic matter in your soil as this organic matter, as it decomposes, feeds more micro-organisms and creates a healthier environment for plants. So adding compost for example helps you improve your soil.

This Homeowner’s Guide to a WaterSmart Landscape Flipbook helps you determine this question.

8. Hand-watering; still a smart irrigation technique?

Hand-watering helps to “spot water” only the plants that you want to save

If you have a mature tree in your landscape that “never gets any (irrigation) water”, you might think you don’t need to water this specimen.

However, it’s important to consider that our winter was very dry, and that “established plants” can get by without extra water – only if they can tap into a reservoir of soil that was re-hydrated in the winter. With our meager rainfall this winter, there’s nothing much to tap into… I’d get a hose-end sprinkler device , one that you can set on the ground, at the end of your garden hose, and a simple kitchen timer, and give this so important asset in your garden a few deep soakings. It’s important to note that a tree that is stressed doesn’t show its stress right away; it might take a couple to a few years until the stress invites insect attack, tip dying, and eventual demise.

What’s deep soaking? Only a soil moisture measuring device, such as auger or soil tube, can prove that your water has sunk in deeply. For a tree that means 18 to 24 inches because in this layer of soil trees usually have about 90 % of their roots.

9. Investigate where your irrigation system might be wasting water.

Sad thing to see so much water land on the driveway

It has been shown in numerous studies that the traditional sprinkler heads and rotors have a mere 50% efficiency rate, and you can observe in your neighborhood (if not in your own garden), how much of runs off before it can get to the plants (such on compacted turf for example, or on slopes); or how much gets blown away by the wind, or how much of lands on driveways or sidewalks.

The modern low-volume spray systems or drip are much more efficient, and water used these systems go much farther.

10. Irrigate wisely – not miserly.

Most trees’ feeder roots are to be found in the top 18-24 inches

The word is “deep watering”, not frequent… This has to do with your plants root systems: For trees about 90% of their roots are in the top 1-2 feet; for larger shrubs a bit less, and for perennials about 6 inches. (These are very rough generalizations and can be fine-tuned depending on the plants that you want to water.)

To water a drought tolerant plant, you might think you don’t need to water much. That’s ultimately the goal, but it’s important to visualize the root system of this plant:

At planting time all the roots of this plant are in a small confined space – a 1 gal or a 5 gal pot, or larger – and if this plant is not allowed to stretch its roots out far and deep, it will never be ‘drought tolerant’! The establishment phase therefore is crucial: During this phase the water needs to be applied regularly and deeply.

To determine how long then your irrigation system needs to run, you will need to a percolation test.

11. Invest in a smart irrigation system

Not only is low-volume irrigation more efficient at watering your landscape and therefore wastes less water, it can be combined with a “smart irrigation controller”. This device is tied into weather stations (the better ones even have local sensors) that measure your local temperatures, even relative humidity, solar radiation, and water loss due to evaporation. Combined with your input of the type of plants that you want to water, your soil type and your type of irrigation system it calculates how much and when to water.

If this process is over your head, there are many local companies that offer help with this smart system. (check out the CLCA website for qualified landscape companies. Also the Irrigation Association and American Society of Irrigation Consultants)

Lastly, it’s very useful to locate any leaks or breaks that your system might have, and to do a pressure test: Pressure that’s too high can cause more wind-born water and runoff than you want to pay for…A pressure regulator can achieve valuable water savings.

Water Conservation Resources

This bench invites to rest here for a while

Here an EPA overview of ‘smart sense controllers’: www.EPA.gov/WaterSense

The San Diego County Water Authority has a very useful website. It lists numerous resources related to water conservation:
www.BeWaterWise.com

To see how beautiful water-conserving plants can be, the The Water Conservation Garden’s water-wise demonstration garden is a must-visit.

The Landscape Watering Calculator computes individualized watering requirements.

The California Friendly Garden Guide searchable plant database and other useful features.

San Diego County Water Authority 20-Gallon Challenge information.

On this website you’ll also find more educational resources for students and teachers.

San Diego … Drought Proof Your Landscape

February 28, 2014 By Christiane Holmquist 8 Comments

Orange blossoms draw lots of admirers

Here’s what you can do to protect your landscape during San Diego’s drought and to do it in style, incidentally.

Yesterday morning I stepped outside with my breakfast cereal to soak in the warm sunshine and see what’s going on in my garden. Following the buzz of the bees drawn by the sweet scent of Orange blossoms wafting through the garden, I found the Orange tree covered with flowers – what a joy to see!

Taking a deep breath, my eyes scanned the garden, and it struck me that the Plum tree also had started to bloom, and the first Cleveland Sages, and then, coming around my deck, I saw that the Wisteria, pruned barely a few weeks ago, had pushed out big buds ready to open at any moment! But winter is hardly over officially, or is it?

With all the delight over warmth and gorgeous spring bloom, I can’t help feeling concern about how soon summer will be here, and how my garden will fare with the watering restrictions that are sure to come?

If you, too, can’t help looking anxiously skywards waiting for rain, and wondering how you can protect your landscape from the effects of drought, read on: Here I’ll outline important ideas and tips to help you protect your garden investment and “drought proof” it through the months to come.

Xeriscape – the technique to garden sustainably and colorfully in a dry climate

A successful xeriscape brims with color

Like it or not, you’ll get to hear this word more and more often as people are discussing ways to create and safe-guard a home landscape design that is attractive and sustainable with limited or no extra applications of water. (BTW: People in consistently hot and dry climates such as Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada are already well familiar with these design parameters.)

As Wikipedia describes it: “Xeriscaping is landscaping and gardening that reduces or eliminates the need for supplemental water from irrigation. “ It most definitely does not mean ‘zero – scaping’ although it’s easy to pronounce the word that way.

So where does this process of transforming and protecting your landscape as a sustainable xeriscape start?

The following steps are very important and will help you preserve your landscape and safeguard it against drought.

1. Decide what to water and what not.

A young Tipu tree is worth protecting from under-watering

Water is scarce, and watering all of your landscape will be very costly and difficult if not impossible if San Diego goes back to specific days for irrigation. Also, if you have a traditional irrigation system, your irrigation cycles will be even more restricted.

It’s therefore wise to only water what’s really valuable in your landscape. It helps to be cold-hearted and examine each plant for its benefits and assets, as well it’s cost in maintenance, water, fertilizer. This is one of the most important steps on your way to water conservation. So how do you put a value on the plants in your landscape?

I always start “from the top down”, that is with the largest specimen, the trees. A young tree that has already been in the ground for a few years and that is showing promise is definitely worthy of special watering. A mature tree is hard to replace, and it has taken many years and much care to get it to that stage so deserves saving.

A mature tree in the landscape that provides lovely shade is hard to replace

But here, too, I recommend checking whether it really does what it’s supposed to do: Does is shade your house or patio, saving energy in hot weather? Does it provide fruit? Does it provide privacy or screen a bad view? Don’t forget also that if placed right, a tree is a design element that “anchors” your home to its environment and adds an important vertical element and a focal point to your landscape.

Now if your tree doesn’t do much of the before listed jobs; if instead it dwarfs your house, sheds needles on your roof or spiky seeds on your patio… If it threatens to drop its branches on your car or the neighbor’s yard… Perhaps it’s the first on your let-go-list?

2. And so you continue with the shrubs, and then the other smaller plants, and then perhaps the lawn.

Shrubs pruned into unnatural shapes likes these are a sad sight

In reality, we often put up with shrubs that are too big for their space and need to be pruned regularly; that easily get infested with white flies (such as hibiscus), need lots of water, and some of them are plain boring (imagine our ubiquitous Indian Hawthorne hedges).

If your shrubs have this problem or don’t do much screening or don’t provide privacy… Nor provide food for your family and don’t show a real asset to your landscape, perhaps they are next on the to-lose-list?

3. Can you imagine? (removing the lawn)

This turf hasn’t seen kid’s play for years…

Many of our urban lawns don’t deserve having: Nobody is using them really as the children have grown and need much larger spaces. Our pets don’t mind using the mulched areas for their ‘business’…

Turf needs frequent water and maintenance. It dominates the garden scene without ever being visited by hummingbirds, butterflies or other wildlife except for rabbits and the occasional mocking bird.

If you select to let go of the lawn also, and decide to create a more sustainable landscape, the rewards are plenty, as there many options for a more colorful, more interesting landscape with fascinating, drought resistant plants that will excite you year-round.

Tip: Many local water agencies offer rebates for the removal of lawn and the installation of low volume and smart irrigation systems. Check here: TurfReplacement.WaterSmartSD.org

4. Start dreaming

Drought resistant landscaping can be exciting and rewarding year-round.

Aren’t you getting excited yet about the new opportunities for a DIY landscape design that brings year-round fun and color in your garden (and incidentally substantial water savings)?

There are so many xeriscape plants that stay attractive year round even with very little extra water, that are colorful even when not in bloom, that entertain with fantastic shapes and textures, and that bring life and nature to your garden. These plants inspire landscape design ideas that could include a strolling garden instead of a lawn; or, fancy a discovery garden with exotics that only need a fraction of what you applied until now, whether California natives or from other Mediterranean climates.

This is the promise that drought tolerant plants hold. They alone, when chosen for your site and for your soil and microclimate, will not need no or only insignificant amounts of supplemental water.

The following links take you to plant and design discussions, all centered on how-to case studies, or exceptional plant suggestions. Here are a few suggestions of how to go about your design:

You can browse the UC Davis publication “Arboretum All Star Plants” that lists beautiful low-water plants by type and gives names, space and water needs, required exposure, and photos.

Read up on how to use the quiet winter months to prepare for this and next year’s success
The joys of winter – preparing for next year’s success and enjoyment of our drought

A colorful example of a lush xeriscape

In this post I show ways to breathe new life into your landscape design while keeping water conservation in mind. DIY Landscape Design: Breathe New Life into Your Garden

Or read up on the case-study of a transformation of a very traditional, lawn-centered landscape. Sustainable landscape design – celebrating California at its best

If you are looking for exceptional drought resistant / drought tolerant plants following this link. My Favorite Drought-Resistant Plants for Southern California

If you can’t get enough of exotic looking plants that fit well into the xeriscape landscape read this post. The eye-catching bromeliad – No tenderfoot in the drought resistant landscape

In this post I write about more tropical looking plants with exuberant color and tropical appearance without the typical water needs of a tropical plants. Xeriscape Design: Hot and lush yet waterwise – Tropical look-alikes for an arid land (Part II)

How to bring your irrigation system up to the task; the importance of mulching and knowing your soil, selection of materials – all these issues are crucial elements in your efforts towards protecting your landscape from the drought and enjoying it, too. Look for these and more Resources to help you in your work in the second half of this post to be published next month.

Successful Backyard Landscape Collaboration in La Jolla

January 23, 2013 By Christiane Homquist 8 Comments

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Hot tropicals on a water budget – xeriscape landscaping with brilliant color

June 22, 2012 By Christiane Homquist Leave a Comment

Bright summer light washes out the colors in the drought tolerant landscape

Bright intense light and June haze over drought tolerant landscape

What comes to your mind when you hear the term ‘xeriscape landscaping’? Drab, color-less expanses of thin blades, sharp spines, gravel and dusty mulch? Blue-gray foliage with some pale shriveled-up flowers?

I exaggerate of course. But have you noticed how in our lovely county, when it’s summer in earnest, and especially around noon, many plants seem to “hold their breath”? Their colors look faded and washed out in the glaring sunlight; some stop blooming, curl their foliage or actually shed it. In my garden, my very controlled watering régime is only half to blame (after all, I’m gardening with drought tolerant plants); for many of my Mediterranean plants it’s summer dormancy, their genetic response to the intense light, extended drought and heat.

So I was excited when I got an invitation from Waterwise Botanicals in Bonsall to visit their growing grounds: Tom Jesch introduced us to some traditionally considered “tropical” plants with their expected attributes: Lush foliage, glossy leaves and brilliant, intense color, but that perform, with clever irrigation practices, like drought resistant plants: After planting, you water deeply and then repeat the cycle on the same day or the day after. Re-water about 10 days later (or earlier, depending on how much water your soil retains). When the establishment phase is over (usually 6-9 months), you can stretch the period between waterings to greater lengths (again, this depends on how well drained your soil is or how much water your soil can hold; a good amount of organic matter increases its water holding capacity…)

If you are looking for some strikingly colorful additions to your low water landscaping, check these plants out. I, too, look forward to incorporating them into my landscape designs:

Royal Queen Pereskia grandiflora violacea drought tolerant tropical shrub

Royal Queen Pereskia grandiflora violacea gives a punch of color to the xeriscape design

Royal Queen is an attractive answer to our water crisis. With glossy evergreen foliage (that hides its thorns – it’s in the cactus family after all) and clusters of orchid-like purple flowers from late spring to fall, this shrub lends our low water landscaping a colorful and “royal” touch. It likes regular watering but is equally tough in dry conditions, partial or full sun. It’s partially deciduous in winter and tender to freezing temperatures.

Uses: With its size of 3 to 4 ft in height and width, I’d use it as center of a flower bed design, as specimen, (in winter, when it’s partially deciduous, I’d distract from it with other green or flowering plants); or I’d use it in mass plantings where its sparser look in winter is not a problem. I’d also use it in a container if it can be rolled out of sight in winter.

Variegated Brazilian Skyflower Duranta repens variegata as tropical addition to xeriscape designs

The Variegated Brazilian Sky Flower Duranta repens variegata lends a tropical touch

Shiny leaves with bright green and cream variegation, drooping clusters of lavender blossoms in spring to summer make the Brazilian Skyflower an attractive large shrub that grows to 12 – 15 ft tall by 8 ft wide but can also be trained into a small tree. It thrives in the heat, sun or part sun. It needs regular water (as in every 10 days or so), and it’s hardy to the high 20’s. A note to gardeners with children: This plant produces yellow berry-like fruits (the plant is also called “Pigeon Berry”) that are toxic if ingested.

Uses: I’d use it as screen, or train it into a small attractive evergreen patio or container tree.

I’m excited to have found more plants that are suitable for the drought resistant landscaping, and I look forward to using these when I need to give my xeriscape designs more punch. And there are quite a few more to cover – look for them in my next post.

Wow your mother with a plant that lasts – beyond Mother’s day

May 6, 2012 By Christiane Holmquist Leave a Comment

Browsing at my neighborhood garden center for a special Mother’s Day plant, I notice the pink and purple/lilac flower clusters of Hydrangeas strategically placed at the entrance. I’m impressed by their gorgeous petal ‘bombs’ and think that this old stand-by would probably wow my host, too.

But then a thought steels itself into my mind: How long will my gift decorate my host’s table? Will she throw it away when the bloom is over, or will she plant it? This frilly one wants much more water than our rainfall provides, and many of our local micro-climates and soils are anything but easy on it. The farther away from the coast it grows, the sooner it will require shading from the hot afternoon sun, and then it wants coddling with acid-forming fertilizer to keep its color, and regular and pricey water.

Matilija Poppy

As landscape designer San Diego that practices xeriscape landscaping and sustainability, I love plants that wow me AND have a good ROI, that are attractive low maintenance plants for the low water landscape. Check out these:

A Matilija Poppy Romneya coulteri in full bloom makes your jaw drop, and bloom is now starting, right in time for Mother’s Day. The fist-size flowers are carried atop 6-10 ft stems, for several weeks, exuding a strong fragrance of fresh apricots. This perennial shrub needs no additional water once established; it fits into all zones except mountains and deserts, likes sun or partial shade, and is adaptable to all soils except those that drain poorly. Establishment can be difficult, but once successful, it will send out underground stems in sandy or rocky soil and more slowly in clay soil and is thus difficult to contain. It is best planted along barely cultivated margins, on slopes as erosion control, in dry areas or along parkways. It should be cut down to a few inches above ground in fall to remove old foliage.

Consider also our native wild lilacs, the Ceanothus family that equally fit well into xeriscape designs. The members of this group can be evergreen groundcovers or small trees; some species have brilliant blue flowers, others range in hues of purple, violet and white. They keep their great form year-round, survive the greatest summer heat as true drought resistant plants; they make valuable contributions to any habitat garden by providing food (butterflies, insects, seeds) and cover.

Ray Hartman Wild Lilac Ceanothus arboreus ‘Ray Hartman’ is striking with glistening green leaves, a height of up to 18 ft, and with rose-colored buds and profuse clusters of sky blue flowers. It grows reliably in both interior and coastal sites.

California natives bring a sense of heritage and a connection to the future; they have an incredible potential in all sorts of garden designs if we understand which plants perform in which conditions. With lots of different foliage, flower colors and textures they’ll make your garden interesting in all seasons, and with careful selection you can get year round color because some plant will be in bloom any time of the year. With little needs to additional water or maintenance they are choice candidates for the residential landscape design that satisfy us for years to come and have a high ROI.

For other exceptional non-native plants for drought resistant landscaping, see my previous posts on My favorite plants for Southern California , on Gardens Exciting and Alive – Year round, Water-wise roses and more.

Check these links for recommended growing conditions, descriptions and sources:

Moosa Creek Nursery

Las Pilitas Nursery

Tree of Life Nursery

Theodore Payne Foundation

California Buckeye Aesculus Californica

Hummingbird Sage Salvia Spathacea

Salvia Clevelandii ‘Bee’s Bliss’

Here’s what you can do to protect your landscape during San Diego’s drought and to do it in style, incidentally.

Xeriscape – the technique to garden sustainably and colorfully in a dry climate

Christiane Holmquist

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