Category Archives: garden design

atmosphere in the garden, Garden art, garden design, garden inspiration, stone

A World in Stone

April 17, 2016 Jan Nelson

wall-fountain.1600 — Lion’s head wall fountain

There?s a reason that stone in a garden gives us the feeling that it has been there a long time. The rustic elegance of a dry laid stone wall, natural stone paver patio, huge stone slab steps, outdoor stone fireplace or flagstone garden path reminds us that we humans have used stone for over two million years when we first started making stone tools.

sauna_wall-closeup.1600 — Ocean Pearl sauna wall detail

Stone is much more than the Wikipedia definition of ?a naturally occurring solid aggregate of one or more minerals.?? Granite, for instance, comes from igneous rocks formed slowly as it cooled deep under the earth?s surface. Sandstone and limestone are sedimentary rocks formed by the compaction of grains or pieces of any kind of existing rock material then cemented over millions of years by the movement of the earth?s tectonic plates and sometimes contain fossils formed at the time of deposition. Then there is metamorphic rock like marble and slate that were formed at extreme high pressures and temperatures beneath the earth?s crust from other types of rock. The presence of swirls, linear patterns or banding is a key characteristic of this kind of stone.

wall_inserts_anchor_agate_shell.1600 — Whimsical wall detail- anchor, agate, shells

In Ben Lomond lives a stone advocate who has created a spectacular decorative stone wall, a stone shower and sauna room, stone patio, paths and slab steps and he?s invited me to come and view them at his home before he puts it on the market.

Jon Troutner has been in the stone business for a long time. He owned Antolini Masonry and Landscape Supply in Santa Cruz for 20 years until he lost his lease and sold the company in 2008. Afterwards he used his expertise and some choice materials he saved to use at his home in Ben Lomond and another in Aptos. Jon?s primarily a musician these days but his creative vision in stone is a magical experience as he walks me around his home.

eel_head_rock.1600 — “eel-head” rock peaking out of wall

Jon?s property is located near Love Creek up on a hill and has a lovely canyon view. When he bought the property 5 years ago the backyard was just sand but now it is fully landscaped. Ocean Pearl, one of his favorite stone types that he used in his whimsical wall and sauna, comes from a quarry on Vancouver Island that he used to own. Jon gave this this type of quartzite it?s unique name because of the subtle hues and shadings in the stone.

whimsical_stone_wall.1600 — “Where’s Waldo” stone wall

Jon?s creations in stone have a look of their own. Being a harmonica player he puts an old harmonica somewhere on each of his unique walls. It?s his personal signature and he pointed out one in the sauna and one in the ?Where?s Waldo?? wall as he calls it.

mermaid_in_wall.1600 — mermaid in stone wall

?What?s a ?Where?s Waldo? wall, I ask?” Jon just laughs and explains that this 1987 children?s book is about the travels of Wally where readers are asked to locate him hidden in an illustration and to re-explore each scene locating other objects too. Jon showed me three mermaids, five otters, two turtles, three seahorses and an eel-shaped rock poking out from the ?waves? of ocean pearl stone veneer on the showpiece wall he created to enclose the patio. There are also ship net balls, an anchor, abalone shells, fossils and his signature harmonica. ?I pictured this wall as the ocean floor,? Jon explained.

fossil_in_wall.1600 — fossils in stone wall

As we walk around, Jon points out the Vermont slate floor and the ocean pearl veneer sauna room, the basalt shower with rounded cobble stone floor, the Indian rainbow cut sandstone shady patio, the Connecticut bluestone slab steps, the ocean pearl columns, the tumbled Arizona gold flagstone path and the 125 pound crystals from Brazil that are lighted at night.

This place is magical and timeless. Jon?s creative vision will live forever in his stone creations.

drought tolerant plants, Garden art, garden design, Outdoor lighting, San Francisco Flower & Garden Show, succulents, water features

A Day at the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show

April 2, 2016 Jan Nelson

water_fall.1600 — water feature in a display garden

I remember my first San Francisco Landscape Garden show as it used to be called. The year was 1989- not long after the event started as a fundraiser for San Francisco Friends of Recreation and Parks. My father and I loved it. All those orchids and bonsai and beautiful gardens. It was held at Fort Mason and my father, a retired Army colonel, was quite familiar with the location. I was new to garden shows and was yet to discover that the display gardens are part theatre – part landscape design. ?Who would plant a shrub that grows to 6 feet tall in front of that little bitty flowering perennial?”, I said to Dad. Well, I?ve been to a lot of garden shows since including the Northwest Flower and Garden show in Seattle and the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show when it was held at the Cow Palace and now, in it?s 30th year, at the San Mateo Event Center.

Tres_Amigas_March2016 — Fellow landscape designers at the show

So this year I know what to expect. Or I think I do but there are always surprises. I?m with a couple fellow landscape designers and we have a keen eye for new plants in interesting combinations and design solutions for upcoming landscapes. In addition to the show gardens there are also hundreds of vendors selling all sorts of wonderful garden related items and vendors selling every type of plant you could possibly want. So much fun. Here are just some of the highlights if you weren?t able to attend this year yourself.

The display gardens offer inspiration from lawn replacement ideas to sustainable building methods to exciting new plant introductions. For five days each March, people from around the world are brought together to educate, encourage and inspire garden enthusiast of all ages and all levels of knowledge and experience. This year was no exception although I wish there had been more display gardens like in the ?good old days? of the garden show.

water_fountain_deer-scare.1600 — deer scare or Shishi Idoshi water feature

Who doesn?t enjoy sitting next to an impressive water feature? This year there were several incorporated in designs that also included low water use plants. A pondless waterfall can attract birds, butterflies and other pollinators to your garden. The soothing sound of the water can also mask street noise. One garden featured a Japanese bamboo deer scare or Shishi Odoshi. Perfect for a small space the bamboo spout fills with water and rocks forward to empty, then rocks back to create a gentle clacking sound.

Another impressive display garden featured succulents of every type and shape. Grouped by color and shape, large swaths of these modern looking plants created a living tapestry around columnar basalt landscape rocks. Other notable features of this garden were the brightly painted stucco walls enclosing the space and stucco-over-building-block retaining walls painted bright blue, red and terra cotta.

I probably got the most practical ideas from the garden created by the Association of Professional Landscape Designers than any other garden. Theirs demonstrated ways to re-imagine your garden without a lawn.There were cozy sitting areas. plants that screen out the street or next door neighbor, a vertical edible garden, lawn alternatives like Kurapia and vibrant planters filled with low water use plants. The whole garden was engaging and useful. I also saw a great idea for wall lighting that used a rusted metal screen in front of the light creating an interesting pattern. You had to be there to appreciate it?s unique design.

callistemon_Little_John.1600 — callistemon ‘Little John’

For me and my colleagues the plants and garden art both featured in the gardens and for sale are what keeps us at the show for a long time. There are so many new plant introductions to evaluate for future designs. From new and improved selections of old favorites such as variegated lavender ?Meerlo?, a soft mahonia ground cover, abelia ?Miss Lemon? to nandina ?Lemon Lime? and callistemon ?Slim Jim? there is a perfect plant for every garden.

Think about what you want to do in your front or back yard this year to save water and maintenance and enhance the beauty of your space.

edibles, garden design, gardening trends

Gardening Trends for 2016

February 21, 2016 Jan Nelson

Pieris japonica or Lily-of-the-Valley shrub

As a landscape designer I try to stay abreast of the latest plant introductions and trends in garden design. Many of these new plants work well with our backdrop of mountains and naturalistic settings. Some new trends will appeal to those who grow edibles while some will appeal to the gardener who loves their garden but doesn’t have time to do a lot of maintenance. What’s new this year is a return to some old fashioned ideas.

Many of us are removing overgrown shrubs and replacing them with water smart, easy-to-care-for plants that will stay the right size in smaller spaces. There are new compact and dwarf versions of old plants that have been garden favorites for a very long time. The reason they have endured is because they are reliable. Good reason to look again at some old favorites.

Vignette composed of Summer Wine physocarpus, Phormium ?Jester?, Elegia capensis, and Japanese Forest Grass

I’ve wanted to grow a Ninebark in my own garden but this beautiful deciduous shrub normally gets too big for my space. Sure I could prune it regularly but I don’t want the ongoing maintenance to keep it the right size. Several new cultivars of physocarpus opulifolius are smaller while providing just as much drama. The varieties Petite Plum and Summer Wine both have that rich, dark purple foliage all season that blends so well with lime colored foliage or pink flowers. This mounding, fast growing, deciduous shrub is adaptable to difficult situations. It’s easy to grow and tolerates drought once established. I can even cut the showy, soft pink flowers to bring inside. The flowers are followed by attractive seed pods making this plant attractive all season long.

A new version of the drought tolerant Grecian laurel bay tree is available now that will only grow to 6-8 feet tall in10 years. Laurus nobilis is the one that adds the classic Mediterranean flavor to soups and sauces. Little Ragu is compact and handsome in it’s natural form or you can clip it into a formal hedge or topiary shape. When I moved to this area 30 years ago I made the mistake of using our native bay tree for a spaghetti sauce. Now I can grow the real deal and not ruin my sauce.

Other trending looks in the gardening world are to combine ornamental plants with edibles. Well, maybe this isn’t new to you but it’s a good reminder that your veggies don’t have to be in a special raised bed or plot but can by planted throughout the garden. Think tomatoes, pole beans and other vining veggies trained on an metal obelisk within a perennial bed. Or compact versions of beans, eggplant, chard, hot peppers, tomatoes or edible flowers like nasturtiums planted among your other plants or along path borders. These can be planted from seed where they are to grow making them super easy to enjoy later on.

Even if you?re not redoing your whole garden you can plant a small section or vignette using a more toned down palette. Whether it’s shades of pink or white or blue this look will give your garden a calm feeling. Add a place to sit and you’ll want to relax there with a book or beverage.

Everything old is new again from old fashioned flowers, bicolor blooms, solar lights for the garden, sharing extra produce with neighbors and super fragrant plants.

destination nurseries, garden design, garden inspiration, Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens

Exploring Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens

January 7, 2016 Jan Nelson

Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens sign — Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens

What could be more lovely than spending Christmas Eve at a botanical garden? After a windy, stormy morning the clouds cleared and winter sun brought color to the golden heather, early blooming rhododendron and grevillea growing in the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. I’ve long wanted to visit this famous garden and here was my chance. I was not disappointed at what is described as 47 acres of beauty to the sea.

The mission of the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden is to conserve plants in harmony with the Northern California coastal ecosystem. Like your own garden this one provides interest year round. I could see the affects of the long summer drought on some of the rhododendron leaf edges but winter rains have turned every fern and blade of grass bright apple green. Mushrooms emerged from

damp earth and the Fern Canyon Creek looked more like a small river.

Dogs are welcome here at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden so Sherman, our Welsh springer spaniel, was overjoyed with the gardens, too. He seemed to favor the weeping Lebanon cedar and red-twig dogwood but the wild ginger was a big hit also.

It’s an easy half mile walk from the perennial garden to the spectacular vista at the ocean’s edge but with so many side gardens and side paths the journey is as long as you want. In the summer and fall the perennial garden is ablaze with blooming plants but even at this time of year there are many specimens that provide foliage color and structure.

euphorbia_lonicera-nitida — Euphorbia paired with lonicera nitida

I especially liked the combination of blue euphorbia paired with Baggeson’s Gold lonicera. This type of lonicera is not the familiar honeysuckle vine but an evergreen shrub called? box honeysuckle. It is hardy to cold and requires only moderate irrigation. Other favorite plants in this section of the garden were the blooming hellebore, pheasant tail grass, dwarf conifers, Hinoki cypress and a brilliant purple hopseed.

Further down the path, the garden’s signature plant, the rhododendron, made its appearance. Several varieties from the Himalayas including Pink Delight and the fragrant, Harry Tagg, are early bloomers and were covered with blossoms. Many tree-like rhododendrons, including the native rhododendron californicum and the Big Leaf rhododendron will put on their show in late spring.

Blooming also in the woodland garden large stands of bergenia cordifolia bordered the path, their bright pink flower spikes surrounded by huge round leaves. Helleborus take any amount of winter weather and the Corsican hellebore at the botanical garden were also in full bloom.

I’ve seen huge fuchsia shrubs before but never a fuchsia tree with flaky bark and a few brave fuchsia flowers growing right out of the wood. Fuchsia excorticata is the world’s largest fuchsia and in its native habitat, New Zealand, is can grow to 36 feet tall and form a trunk over a yard in diameter. The flowers are rich in nectar and visited my honey-eating birds there. The dark purple berries, known as konini by Maori, are edible and taste like tamarillos. In New Zealand, possums love this tree fuchsia and have eaten it out of many locations.

After passing through an ingenious deer fence gate made from woven tree branches on a wooden frame, the rest of the garden trails wind through pine forest, a fern canyon and a creekside path finally emerging at the Pacific ocean along the Coastal Bluff Trail. This area is open to black-tail deer and native plants like mahonia, salal, wild ginger, huckleberry and Pacific wax myrtle abound.

Sherman loved the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens as much as I. The gardens are located an on Hwy 1 just south of Ft. Bragg. If you are in the area at any time of year. take a stroll through. You’ll be glad you did.

Carmel gardens, drought tolerant gardens, drought tolerant plants, garden design

Save Water in the Garden like they do in Carmel

August 16, 2015 Jan Nelson

aeonium_echeveria_statice_agapanthus.1600 — Aeonium ‘Sunburst’, echeveria, statice and agapanthus grouping

You can sum up a Carmel garden with one of two descriptions – hot and dry or mild and dry. Closer to the coast the weather is mild year round while further up Carmel Valley it can get pretty toasty.

In either place, the people of Carmel are used to paying close attention to their water consumption. Monterey County water districts have some of the most stringent regulations around.

On a recent trip to this beautiful part of the world, I took the opportunity to study their beautiful low water-use gardens. What makes for a successful garden that doesn?t include a lawn and lush perennial border? Here are some of the plants and strategies that I admired while in Carmel.

Because many homeowners are replacing their lawns with low water-use landscapes a well thought out design is more important than ever.

libertia_peregrinans.1600 — Libertia peregrinans

Stone makes a garden look like it?s part of nature. Granite boulders are one of the go-to choices for accent rocks due to their lower cost and I saw many gardens with beautiful installations using granite. But it was the creamy yellow Carmel stone that caught my eye. It?s used for everything there from retaining walls and steps to veneer for homes.

Carmel stone is a Monterey sedimentary shale and can be found throughout the Santa Lucia mountain range. The best stone colors, however, come from quarries in Monterey County. With beautiful rust, orange, pink and caramel iron oxide striations it?s plentiful and relatively light by rock standards. That?s probably why it was the material of choice for the native Ohlone tribes who built the Carmel Mission.

In addition to the beautiful stonework and boulders in Carmel gardens, plant selection is often unique and bold as well as easy on the water budget. I wasn?t familiar with Globularia sarcophylla ?Blue Eyes? when I first saw it blooming. Covered with hundreds of button size flowers of cream with dark blue centers it really stood out. This showy little Canary Island shrub is very drought tolerant and hardy down to 10 degrees.

anigozanthos_Gold-Velvet — Anigozanthos ‘Gold Velvet’

Another plant that looked great paired with old fashioned shasta daisies was the medium sized Gold Velvet kangaroo paw. Flowering for most of the year this variety has more resistance to black spot, needs less trimming and is frost tolerant. Plant kangaroo paws in a well mulched garden using chunky bark chips and ensure the crown of the plant is above soil level. Remove older flower stems and cut back foliage every 1-2 years. Kangaroo paw offer drought tolerant color in the garden.

Dramatic purple leafed phormium ?Guardsman? accented one of the gardens. Leucophyllum frutescens ?Los Alamitos? -Texas sage – would complement this phormium. The gray foliage and pink flowers smother this plant in color from summer into fall. Succulents like aeonium ?Sunburst? and echeveria paired with agapanthus and statice made a nice vignette in another garden.

leucodendron_Ebony.1600 — Leucodendron ‘Ebony’

A visit to several nurseries in Carmel Valley shed more light on what customers are buying in these times of drought. One of the smaller leucodendrons called Ebony is a favorite. This bushy compact shrub grows 3 to 4 feet tall and a bit wider with lustrous blackish-purple foliage and burgundy red bracts surrounding the flowers from late winter to summer. One of the great things about this species is its ability to tolerate only occasional to infrequent irrigation once established.

Other low water-use plants featured at the local Carmel nurseries include California native Woolly Blue Curls, the stunning teucrium ?Azureum?, Velour Pink Mexican Bush Sage and Wyn?s Wonder Australian fuchsia.

Lots of awesome gardens, nurseries and plants – so little time. Take some ideas from the people of Carmel and embrace low water-use gardens.

California drought, drought tolerant gardens, dry river bed, erosion control, garden design, grasses, sustainable gardening

Dry River Beds – Beautiful & Beneficial

July 24, 2015 Jan Nelson

dry_river_bed1 — Dry river bed down a steep slope

With so many people replacing their thirsty lawns with low water-use plants, I?m getting lots of requests for ideas about what to do with all that empty space. The sky?s the limit when you have a blank slate. Let me get you started.

If your old lawn was in the front you might consider putting in a sitting area for a couple of chairs and a bistro table. Use simple crushed gravel or more formal flagstone underfoot and surround the space with a low seat wall to add a bit of privacy.

Adding a dry river bed is another good solution. A dry river bed can slow runoff, spread it out and sink it back into the soil. Connected to a downspout they keep even more rainfall on your own property. If we get the El Nino storms that are predicted this will be a welcome addition to your landscape.

A dry river bed is a rock-lined swale that uses rounded river rock in addition to vegetation to allow

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Dry river bed with grasses and deer resistant oleander

runoff to soak into the ground. Make sure there is a 2% slope from beginning to end to ensure that water is conveyed away from your house to the desired location. Non-woven geotextile fabric is often used underneath the rock.

You can create a depression or rain garden at the end of your dry river bed and plant it with plants that tolerate wet feet in the winter. Both a dry river bed and a rain garden allow water to sink back into the ground. The plants remove pollutants from the runoff from roofs or other impervious surfaces.

A rain garden might be a simple, shallow depression filled with plants that can flourish in both moist and dry conditions. The size and depth will depend on your how much water you need to capture in a winter runoff

Sometimes a dry river bed will receive so much runoff that a dry well or dispersal pit is installed at the end. If you have a high water table or clay soil the water may not always soak in fast enough and an overflow device like this is needed. The goal is to keep water on your own property and not in the street or the neighbors? yard.

There are good looking dry river beds as we?ll as bad looking ones. A quick Google image search will show you what I mean. Your goal is to create something that looks like it belongs right where it is. The plants, the accent rocks, the cobble, the location – all need to work together.

If your property has a natural slope follow the natural terrain if possible. You can install a dry river bed on flat land also by creating a channel for the river bed to follow. Keep in mind that even a dry river bed is more interesting if it is not all visible at once. Soft, flowing curves and bends create a natural look.

Start with the rocks and cobble. Rounded river cobble looks most natural for the creek bed. In nature, water flowing down a river would round off sharp rock edges to produce cobble of different sizes. A river never has just one size of rocks and yours shouldn?t either.

Accent rocks can be any type that you like as long as you get a variety of rock sizes and shapes. Use the larger stones to direct and channel water. Placing rocks on the outside of a curve creates a more natural look.

As in all gardens there is always a bit of maintenance to keep things looking and working great. Weeding in the first couple of months while plants become established is important. Replenish mulch as needed until the plants grow in.

Periodically remove leaves that have landed in your river bed and reposition rocks moved by runoff to keep your dry creek bed working for you when you need it. Also don?t start your dry creek bed too close to the foundation of your home if that area is flat. You can direct the water through a drain pipe connected to a downspout to a lower starting spot in your garden.

So whether you are adding a dry river bed to add interest to your lawn-free landscape or to double as catchment for winter storm runoff, make yours look like it?s always been there.

Gardening Tips for the Santa Cruz Mountains