Napa Valley View

A natural habitat is an expression of its environment.  There is logic and pattern to the scene.  The illusion of the natural or Arcadian scene that we might seek to create is based on an understanding of these natural patterns.   These patterns reflect the history of the site.

The geologist sees the rocks, the botanist sees the pattern in the floral structure and the relationship between plants, the dreamer and the weatherman see the clouds and many do not see anything.   The Designer sets a course and the Gardener brings it to fruition.

Often we do not see our environment because we know it too well.  By thinking of the garden as a static place we tend to not pay attention to its evolution and change. When you are in tune with your environment you will sense a pulse to the environment.

Many Architects seek space that is striking but static.  That is environmental sculpture.  These spaces can be wonderful; but for me I find that they are not environments I want to spend time in.

The experience of any space is from your vantage point.  As you move through the world your aspect is different.  You have passed from full shadow to dappled light from a small space with a nestled enveloping feeling to an open expanse of meadow or plaza.  The challenge for the garden designer is to envision both movement through space and the landscape through time.

Schematic Plan

Planting is part of the solution and not something to be added later to finish and furnish the project.  I do not start with a specific plant in mind but rather I focus on movement, space, and the experience.  I think of scale and comfort and whom the garden is for.    Most of this is intuitive.  I sketch, overlay, try something different, lay it aside and start again.  There is a moment when elements coalesce and a concept emerges.

The successful garden is one, which is memorable.  It has a strong sense of place. There is a vernacular, a consistent expression to the space and design as it develops.  A strong coherent design concept will blend the structural and the living aspects of a landscape so that the sum is greater than the sum of its parts.  The moment when the design coalesces is the moment a landscape becomes memorable.

If there is a structured element in the design your planting can reinforce it or add contrast and not follow the built elements of the site.   If you are planting an avenue of trees or Bosque you are treating each planting to match presumably.  Plants reflect their genetic potential, a habitat preference, their garden tolerance, and how they have grown.   You need to understand your palettes potential and limitations.

You have to know your plant, its seasonal character, its tolerances, and its rate of growth, water needs, structural integrity (i.e. brittle or limber), and independence.  What is the plant doing for your concept?  This gets to the issues of control.  To reinforce you design intent your plants have to be predictable and you have to be observant.

That is the essence of plant knowledge.  You need to have an idea of where things are going.    You can add complexity to planting when you can predict how it all is going to evolve and the level of care needed to maintain the illusion.

Think about the character of the garden as it relates to experiences you have had in the past.  What are you trying to accomplish these spaces?  Think about the time and resources you have for the garden.  Scale the intensity of the garden to match.   Most importantly enjoy the process.

]]> http://jonathanplant.com/blog/2011/07/reinforcing-your-design-intent/feed/ 0 http://jonathanplant.com/blog/2011/05/understanding-your-garden/ http://jonathanplant.com/blog/2011/05/understanding-your-garden/#comments Wed, 11 May 2011 19:49:04 +0000 Jonathan Plant http://jonathanplant.com/blog/?p=142 You may know your garden but do you understand it?   You may know the plants names or not.  You see it often but are you sensitive to the signals it is sending you?   Do you experience it or merely pass through it?   Can you read your garden?

When I first visit a site I intuitively absorb the area.  It is important to do this without judging it.  This may mean visiting it at different times of day or projecting what its character will be in different seasons.  The best garden to understand is the one you live in.  Having a garden sensitizes you to your surroundings.  

Why is that?  To garden is to interact and observe the world about you.  For me to create gardens is to first understand the dynamics or pulse of a garden that I am envisioning and secondly to anticipate the experience of it.

It all starts with nature.  Before I became a gardener I was moved by the experience of living in an oak woodland in the East Bay hills overlooking Orinda.   After spending my college years in the Redwoods at U.C. Santa Cruz, I spent almost five years outside everyday as a gardener in England.  I became very sensitive to the flow of time and season.  Each area has its own local rhythms within a regional context.  This involves light, water, aspect, frost, wind, and neighbors.

When I returned to California from Europe I took over the native collections at U.C. Berkeley and started collecting and growing California native plants for the native gardens at U.C.  I was struck by how classical horticultural training gave me insight in seeing the natural plant world about me.  Plants are plants and nothing is standing still.  The reaction of plants is the same whether they are in a wild plant community or the garden.  Life is movement and change.  

A garden has a dynamic or pulse that is framed by its context but driven by its care or neglect.  Understanding plant growth is fundamental to seeing the world and sensing its pulse.

Are you in charge of your garden or is it in charge of you?  Does the garden succeed at a cost in time and treasure that gives joy and is not a burden?  If your garden does not nurture you in proportion to your efforts then it is time to regroup.

The following are things you can address which will give you more control and satisfaction from your garden.

1. Have your plantings reinforce your design intent

2. Prioritize your garden in terms of horticultural intensity

3. Select your plants well

4. Control growth of your plants

5. Use water carefully

6. Create fertile soil and fertilize judiciously

7. Manage your microclimates

8. Maintain a clean garden 

9. Mulch

10. Time your garden tasks to complement the seasons  

11. Remove the evidence—own it—admit it’s your fault at  move on.

12. Spend time in your garden 

To a large degree, the evolution of a garden is the process of managing growth. The growth rate of a plant and its eventual garden size are among the most difficult factors to determine due to the many variables that affect a plants potential in a garden.

One must consider several factors.  What root pruning has occurred in its cultivation or containerization?  This will permanently affect the plants potential and rate of growth in the garden setting.  The quality of the soil, its fertility and porosity and of course, the care of the plant over time will all impact its potential growth.

We seek instant gratification so we naturally over plant.  There is nothing wrong with this as long as you anticipate thinning the plants in the future or you are willing to accept the natural dwarfing effect of root competition.

Close planting also tends to create a canopy of foliage that reduces water loss and inhibits weed growth.  I tend to plant closely with low shrubs and ground covers but space my trees carefully to avoid dense shade.

I have planted trees knowing that some will need to be removed in the future.  Naturally, this makes me indispensable over the long term!  In the case of shorter lived perennials and shrubs, their required replanting in 4 – 5 years will allow for this.

Trees planted from small liners will consistently overtake container or B&B  (balled and burlapped) trees. This would typically occur over a ten year period.  Ultimately, the smaller initial plantings will be many times the size of the nursery grown plants.  This is particularly noticeable with trees.  The smaller the initial plant size, the more fragile the plant and the more susceptible to damage or poor horticulture in its early stages of growth.  For most gardens, the inherent advantages of growth are offset by the need for immediate effect and the survivability of the larger root system.

The good news is that with most plants the slowing of growth will work to our advantage. We do not need the sixty foot tree.  If its growth is affected as I have described above, its potential in our garden may be closer to thirty feet and in a time frame we will appreciate.   I use many 2 – 4” caliper (trunk width) plants in my projects.  Because of the root pruning inherent in the process, these trees will grow more slowly.  If they are beautiful to begin with, this does not present a problem and is often an advantage.

How does this relate to plants grown in containers? These have also been root pruned by the nature of the potting process.  There are two issues that one needs to be aware of with containerized material.  The first is to get the plant from a reputable grower who has transplanted it at just the right time, avoiding circling or root bound root balls. The second issue is the type of soil in which the trees have grown.  Japanese maples grown in very light soil mixes and fed constantly will have a whip-like growth that is not natural to the species.  It takes a few years and good pruning to restore the natural character of the tree.  When removing a plant from a pot, if there are significant roots on the perimeter it is important to cut those vertically to help generate new root growth outward from the plant.  If this is not done growth can be stunted permanently.

When either field dug material or containerized plantings have been moved once, they are relatively easy to move again within a few years of their initial planting.

Until recently the average home ownership in the US was 5- 7 years. What does this mean for our recycled gardens?  For existing gardens it means that we inherit the planting decisions of previous owners – good and bad.  The “good” is the fact that the house and site spoke to you to begin with or you would not have bought the property.  Better still, you could see the potential of the garden as yet unrealized.

The result of the quick turnover in stewardship (or lack thereof) is that we have to assess the strengths of a garden and build on them.  Often this will mean strategic thinning or removal of plants as well as relocation.

If there is any theme that is consistent in my history of garden creation and renovation, it has been that I appreciate the ephemeral nature of the garden while understanding those elements which give lasting structure to the design.  I am not a sentimentalist when it comes to the garden.

If a plant is stunted or failing you must ask yourself how long it will take the plant to recover.  When you look at the plant, do you see a thing of beauty or is it a moment of guilt – a continuing indisputable mark of your failure as a gardener?  I have many failures in my garden.  The secret to no-guilt gardening is to remove the evidence and move on.

Late winter in California just before spring is the single best time of year to root prune and plant. In mid February the soils begin to warm and there is a definite feeling of momentum building in the garden.  Any root damage at this time is quickly repaired as the plants burst forth with their spring flush of growth.

The size of the plant, amount of foliage, and root structure are the determining factors in assessing the size of root ball to cut. Plants which have fibrous root systems such as grasses or perennials will be fairly shallow.  With many perennials this can be as little as six inches of depth.

One of the factors which make perennials such high maintenance plants is that their roots are so tightly packed that as the clump spreads, the roots in the middle of the plant are starved and tend to die out. Thus lifting, separating, and replanting are needed; typically on a 2 – 3 year cycle, depending upon the rate of growth and fertility of the soil.

This is particularly true of perennials which are fast spreaders.  We use these in the garden with great care because of the havoc they can create if left unchecked. I plant many of these types of plants in containers with the bottoms removed.   I am also careful to use a container that will give me 2 – 3 years of expansion before slowing down due to the constriction of the vessel.

Woody shrubs are rarely considered for relocation, but I have had great success over the years with moving shrubs as long as we do it just before the plants go into active growth.  The character and structure of the soil has a lot to do with the potential for this relocation. Very stony or sandy soils tend to not hold a root ball.  In effect this allows the root ball to collapse, almost always causing damage and negating the advantage of moving the plant.

If the soil will hold, then success will depend on the vitality of the plant to withstand root pruning and still have enough energy to respond to its new location.

Before moving a shrub you should remove a portion of its foliage by either thinning or reducing in scale. This will reduce water stress as the plant reestablishes its root system.

In the transplanting process it is very important to use a sharp shovel to cut the roots. If you pull sideways or lift with roots still attached, the root ball is likely to collapse.  It is also critical to lift from below and not by the stem in order to evenly support the root ball in moving phase.

If you have not ascertained whether or not the new planting hole has good drainage, all will be for not and you will lose the plant.  Mound the center of the hole somewhat so that the roots drape down slightly and be careful to moisten the soil that the root ball is being laid upon.

If you are using a drip system of xero flow type bubbler it is essential that the emitters or flow of water be on the root ball or it can bypass the plant and another effort will have been wasted.

Assessing whether or not to transplant a plant is always a process of asking yourself if the effort is worth the risk. When you realize that Camellia is getting too large for its location and that to buy a similar shrub might cost you $500 – $1000, it clears the mind wonderfully.

My discussion of the above has not been to denigrate the importance of good planting decisions or of design but rather to acknowledge a relationship with ones garden that is proactive and positive. Do not think of the winter as a time of quiet reflection and inaction but rather as the moment to leap into action in your garden.

Our mild winters give us the opportunity to be active gardeners on those days between seasonal rainfalls.  The time in this climate to step back and contemplate the garden is in the heat of summer when many plants should be slowing growth.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and prosperous gardening.

Jonathan Plant

What does this have to do with water?  We live in a time of increasing demand, cost ,  and decreasing  water supply and unpredictable weather patterns. Rather than starting with a list of water saving techniques I prefer to start with a discussion of the effect of water in your garden context.

Watch your garden closely and it will tell you clearly what is going on.  In the greater Bay Area for example we live in a regional context of a Mediterranean climate.  This is defined as a mild wet winter followed by a long dry season.  Within this context we have a myriad of microclimates that dramatically affect your garden.  These vary from coastal, interior valleys, foothills, mountains and desert to name a few.  Add to that the microcosm of your site, structures, existing trees, and slope aspect and degree of shade and you can see the danger of over simplification.

A garden ecology is another creature all together. We assemble plants from all over the world.  Ideally we group them together in compatible plantings, which have similar water needs.  But we do not really know the natural context of what we plant.  Typically we are relying on the garden tolerance of plants rather than their provenance or hybrids developed for increased garden tolerance, frost resistance, and flower size etc.

You can tell a lot about a plant by how it has adapted to water loss. Nature is a harsh mistress.  Plants have adapted with a variety of techniques to reduce water loss.  This starts with waxy leaves or resinous sap, includes the reduction of the size of the leaf or to the extreme of no leaves at all.  Blue and Silver foliages  reduce water loss.  Bulbs and annuals are the most advanced in this aspect.  They close up shop in the dry season.  With annuals this can mean lying dormant for multiple seasons until conditions are just right.

Plants also adapt to their seasonal variation and rainfall in how they time their flushes of growth. Plants are most susceptible to drought as their new growth pushes out.  I am sure you have noticed this in your own garden, as the first part of the plant to flag or wilt is youngest growth.  When the plant has hardened off later in the season it is the older foliage, which turns yellow and begins to drop.  One needs to recognize the first signs of water stress with plants.  This can include a dulling of the color of the foliage with curling at the edges.  Water pressure in the plant is critical to the structure as well, thus the entire plant will begin to droop.

When we push growth out of season with heavy fertilization and regular summer watering we increase the pulse of the garden. This is particularly true of summer dormant plants such as many of our Mediterranean plantings.  Lavender and Rockrose are good examples of plantings, which become short lived as a result.  We need to summer prune to reduce foliage and counter this effect.  If you get seven years with Lavender with regular pruning you have done well.

With woody plants where we put the water is an issue as much as the amount of water. Older trees such as Blue Oaks (Quercus douglasiana), and Live Oaks (Quercus agrifolia), are very susceptible to crown and bark infestations when regularly wetted by irrigation.  A good rule of thumb is to leave the soil dry as possible within three to four feet of the trunk of older trees.

Trees that grow in areas of high water table have their feet in the water.  Thus irrigation is not as much as an issue with them as long as the trunk base is kept dry.

In our Mediterranean climate water creates maintenance thus its application and timing is everything.  I even water Native Oaks during the winter  in a dry winter year.  I seek to make every year a ‘good’ year in the garden.

What is your vision of your garden? If it derives from an Arcadian vision of lush green meadows artfully framed by trees you will by definition be using a great deal of water.  The passage of seasons in gardens should be celebrated and not denied by trying to make the garden look lush and verdant in August.  You have only to look at the iconic view of the California landscape to see a different aesthetic at work.

In a smaller or contained garden this is not as much an option.  But I am of the opinion that most gardens are over-watered.  It has been my experience in evaluating existing gardens that they as often suffer from over-watering as lack of water.

This is usually due to a false sense of security created by our automated gardens.  Who controls the irrigation controller? We are either intimidated by it and tend to avoid reprogramming it or we delegate it to a gardener of ‘Mow and Blow’ qualifications.  What is wrong with this picture?

Irrigation technology has improved dramatically in the last twenty years.  In older gardens with historic and corroded piping, leakage, inefficient irrigation heads, and outdated irrigation controllers are working against all your best efforts to save water.  Usually it is better to start again with a new system than to continue the accretion addition of new generations of irrigation equipment onto older infrastructure.  Most of my gardens are a combination of drip, xero flow and overhead irrigation.

The cost of local weather stations or water sensors tied to your controller have come down in cost to a range that makes it cost efficient for larger gardens.  However, I am still suspicious of leaving the handing of your water use to the intelligent water computer.  Ultimately someone has to look closely at the garden at frequent intervals every two or three days.

Learn to accept seasonal variation and to a degree drought dormancy. I used to take care of the California Native Collections at the US Botanic Garden and found that you could water in the summer without generating growth while keeping a healthy and vibrant plant.  Manzanita’s will drop foliage and lose their rich foliage color in damaging drought.  The same plant will keep all its foliage and look great with one or two watering in a long dry season.

It comes back to environmental literacy. If you understand the dynamics of plant growth, and watch closely, you will save tremendous amounts of water and be more efficient with your time and garden.

Practical Suggestions for Saving Water in Your Garden

1.  Create a garden, which reflect your available resources of time and water.

2.  Prioritize your horticulture. Create garden areas with the highest pulse or growth dynamic in areas you will interact with most closely.  Gardens are not only drought tolerant or water demanding.  They can be a well-designed mixture of water demands that reflects your interaction with them.

3.  In peripheral garden areas avoid complex layered plantings. Natural woodland duft and beautiful trees can be sufficient.

4.  Plant seasonally. Do not expand your garden or infill with planting in August if you can help it.  New plantings tend to be in nursery soils, which are very light, and when inter-planted with existing garden plantings require additional water to establish.  Thus you tend to overwater the entire garden for the benefit of the few.

5.  Reduce soil compaction by forking or aerating the soil.  This increases water percolation and reduces water wastage.

6.  Mulch. This is the best thing to do in the garden with the most dramatic improvement for water conservation.  Mulching not only conserves water but reduces compaction, cools soil temperatures in the summer, and adds to the soil fertility when organic.  This also reduces weed growth and can give a presentation finish to the garden.

The important thing here is not to bury the crown the plant.  This can be avoided if the plant is planted slightly higher and then mulched immediately after planting.  With a one-gallon plant it may be as little as an inch.  Do not over plant in holes with a lot of imported soil under the plant as you get a lot of subsidence over time.  This in combination with summer water will rot the crown.

Mulches can also be rock or crushed stone. If you are using rock mulch remember to prepare the soil to fork in organic material before the mulch, as stone will not contribute anything beyond reducing weed growth, soil temperature, and water loss.

7.  Healthy well-proportioned root systems will create stronger plants thus be more drought tolerant.   Wet the root evenly.  When using drip use more emitters, inline emitters or stream flow emitters to more evenly distribute the water.  It is important with larger plants with rootballs that the emitters be on top of the rootball initially or the water can bypass the plant before it has a chance to put out new roots.  I recommend using soil penetrants on new specimen rootballs to initially thoroughly wet the plant’s root area.

8. If you raise the organic matter in the soil you will find that the soil will turn itself. More accurately the worms in the soil will turn it for you.  I like to use worm-casting compost mixed in with a fine aged arbor mulch.  A friable soil will retain much more water and create a vibrant garden.

9.  Make your irrigation efficient, evaluate your irrigation system carefully and upgrade.

10.  Set your irrigation clock for slightly less water than you think is necessary and give extra cycles as required.

11.  Add irrigation valves for added control. This allows you to water your landscape according to its relative value.  For example I always separately irrigate my trees from the rest of the garden.  This guarantees good establishment.  I later phase out this valve.

In some of my drought tolerant gardens I have used roses, which are surprisingly tough.  I put them on their own valve so I can give them more water without affecting shrubs near by.  This is done with drip.  With the extra water the flowering time is extended and the quality of the flowers improved.

With important screening you can put it on its own valve.  Often these plants are not given much attention since they are on the perimeter where it is easy to forget them.  Yet they may have a critical function relative to your enjoyment of your garden.

12.  Review the extent of your lawns. Since the lawn is the single most voracious user of water in your garden you want to start by questioning your square footage of lawn.  Lawns are great to have.  They simplify and present the view; they provide recreation, entertainment areas while keeping terraces to a minimum.  Lawns, which are there because that was the simplest solution, or to conform to the neighborhood will need to be rethought.  Managed meadows, verges, low bunch grasses, and prostrate groundcovers and just duft or mulch can all be in the mix as alternatives to classic turf.

13.  As long as you are standing there have a hose in your hand. To accomplish this you need to have hose bibs readily accessible.  I regularly hand water those plants, which benefit with just a bit extra water.  Lets face it we all break the rules as to the compatible planting regimes.  It is also important to wash the foliage in areas on drip irrigation, as the dust build up can be considerable in late summer.

This can also be done with manually set sprinklers.  The important thing with these is that they are used in conjunction with an automatic manual timer set on the hose bib.  We inevitably leave sprinklers on and forget about them defeating the purpose of saving water, which was our aim to begin with.

Problems that are spotted early can be dealt with before damage is done.  Similarly you will also make exciting discoveries in your garden otherwise easily missed by looking frequently at your garden.  Remember that a garden is an evolving illusion and unstable ecology and not something static to be “Maintained”.

14.  Focus your efforts and understand your limitations and resources.  It is better to do an area well than everything poorly.

If you do all of the above you significantly reduce your water use 30-40%, you would get to know your garden far better, and you would become environmentally literate.  Someone who sees the environment and understands the dynamics of plant growth, will be able to be more effective in striking a balance between garden perfection, change, and illusion.

Woodland

Nurturing a connection with the world around us is the underlying aim of gardening.  With resources such as time, money, and water dwindling, one must ask how the process in creation and stewardship of landscapes is affected.  We need to consider what is truly sustainable and reasonable in the landscapes we develop and maintain.

Stewardship is an important perspective to always keep in mind.  Is the landscape better as a result of our efforts to control nature and to create wonderful illusions?  Nurturing the landscape does not need to conflict with using resources respectfully.

Nature is a harsh mistress.  When you observe a natural plant community such as an Oak Woodland, you see that many of the plants are crowded, fighting for light, full of cavities, or simply stressed. Yet there is a matrix which makes sense – a pulse to the vitality of this woodland.  It is in motion, as nature never stands still.

Our vision of the garden is one in which every plant is at its peak of perfection.  We strive to create the diversity of plantings found in a tropical rain forest and transplant it to our garden.  However, our Mediterranean environment does not provide for the density and diversity of plantings found in a tropical locale. Look at the landscape around you and you will observe that nature finds what grows well and uses it plentifully.  We are seeing many degraded landscapes that we assume are natural but are actually a reflection of human impact over the centuries.  The golden hillsides of California had a very different look before grazing and imported grasses permanently changed the character of what we take to be “natural.”

Foliage and Mass Flowering

We also strive for perfection in foliage and mass of flowering.  All this culminates to create an artificial hastening of the garden’s pulse.

This quest for perfection runs counter to the seasonal patterns of the garden as well.  We gather plants from a myriad of habitats together and water them with abandon.  This intensity results in a shortened lifespan, briefer flowering periods, and more disease susceptibility with softer new growth; all in a season to which the plants may not normally be accustomed.

Here are a few things you can do to make the most of your resources, while being a respectful steward of your garden environment, and still create a nurturing garden.

Cut Garden

1.  Understand your garden. Have a sense of priority in your landscapes so that your resources are used to create the best affect.

2.  Protect and nurture trees. Time is precious.  It can take a generation to develop a beautiful tree.  Protect what you have but do not be afraid to address poor planting decisions made in the past.

3.  Manage your microclimates. These are sub zones which are constantly evolving.  Within your garden this can be as small as the shade of a particular camellia.  Cherish dappled light.Whenever you shape a plant you should be thinning it as well.

Dappled Light

4.  Prioritize the areas of your garden that have the highest natural pulse. The more intense the horticulture, the more resources will be required to maintain it.

5.  Choose plants for the framework of your garden that are compatible with your planting zone. Plants which are marginal for a particular area are often the ones we seek to grow because it is difficult to find them or grow them successfully.  These can add a wonderful dimension to the garden but should be used as accents in a more dependable framework of planting design.

6.  Your garden should not glow in the dark. There is no need for the cornucopia of chemicals that we are encouraged to use in our gardens.  
These chemicals, although effective in the short term, often kill the very life of the soil and have negative impact downstream from your garden.

7.  Use water carefully. Water is fuel for the fire, particularly in relatively dry zones.  It raises the pulse and rate of growth for all plants and encourages them to germinate, spread, and thrive whether or not you planted them.  Use water responsibly because it is the right thing to do.

Dry Creek Bed

8.  Pay attention. We live in a technological age and tend to think that if something can be automated we do not need to pay attention.  Automatic irrigation is a wonderful tool, but more often than not it is misused.  Set your irrigation clock for less water than you think necessary and then give an extra cycle as needed.  Attention should also be paid to lighting the garden at night.  A timer that turns lights on before it is dark or lights an unused area is of no use.  The more you look at your garden and truly observe, the more you will use your resources effectively.

9.  Use drip or deep root feeders. This will put the water where it is needed most and limit unwanted intrusion of other plantings.  In drought years I recommend deep watering native oaks once or twice during the long summer.  This keeps the trees from declining without forcing new growth out of season.

10.  Hand water. This has gotten a bad rap but is a very useful tool.  I spot water plants that need a little more than my irrigation clock is providing them.  I wash the foliage down periodically as well, which fosters a healthy garden and removes the constant dust which settles on the leaves during our long dry season.

11.  Mulch Mulch Mulch. We are creating our own forest duff when we mulch.  This retains moisture, fosters soil fertility and vitality, and reduces compaction.  One must be careful not to bury the crown of plants as this can lead to disease problems.  This is one of the simplest things to do to help maintain control of the garden illusion.  Mulching is also one of the quickest ways to dress up your garden.

Dry Landscape

12.  Reduce planting density. This only works with careful mulching to control growth.  Remember that mulching can also be gravel in the dryer landscape.

13.  Increase plant density. Wait a second – am I contradicting myself?  It is all about intent and control.  Increased planting density in a dry climate encourages the plants to knit.  This reduces the soil temperature and rate of growth, and can reduce maintenance of the area.

14.  Prune in the dormant summer months. Summer pruning reduces a plant’s rate of growth by removing foliage.  This can be accomplished by lacing the plant out as well as reducing the plant’s overall size.  The basic rule of pruning is that winter pruning stimulates growth and summer pruning slows growth.

15.  Reduce the square footage of lawns. Neither lack of imagination nor impressing the neighbors should be the impetus for planting a lawn.  There are many options for alternatives if we think outside the box.

16.  Have a strategy in mind for Horticultural Triage. It is inevitable that the landscapes we create are going to encounter hard times.  The weather is unpredictable and drought or water shortages are going to be with us on a recurring basis.  To grasp this concept you need to ask what is most important in the landscape around you.  Irrigation design should reflect this.  Irrigation valving allows you to water your trees, hedges, and specific microclimates separately.

Framed View

17.  In times of drought let your garden go partially dormant. Don’t shut off the water. You can use a fraction of the water you normally use.   The plants may look less than their best or the lawn might be yellow, but it will come back with the winter rains.

18.  Learn to be environmentally literate. Be sensitive to plant growth and read the environment around you.  If you see your garden clearly then you will be able guide it as it develops in a way that is ultimately more sustainable and environmentally appropriate.

19.  Borrowed scenery. Maximize the benefit of your surroundings.   Articulate and frame your views.  Be careful when focusing a view not to distract from it with what you do in the foreground.

20.  Practice appropriate horticulture. The closer your garden is to the natural pulse of your area, the fewer resources will be required to maintain the effect.

21. Garden yourself. Gardening involves you directly in the natural process, can supply you with the bounty of your own garden, and will keep you healthy.  If you’re not healthy you can’t tend to your garden.

Garden Yourself

Jonathan Plant

Cottage Garden

The most important thing about a garden is how it makes you feel.  It is hard not to like a garden that exudes vitality.  That is the secret of the Cottage Garden.  The shear exuberance and vitality of the plantings is forgiving of design.

Field Grown Japanese Maple

The business of the nursery trade is to grow plants at a fast rate and to sell them quickly. As a result, the intensity of growth is continually pushed by fertilization.  The light soil mixes also hold nutrients poorly and require constant renewal.  A Japanese maple grown on this regime will have whip like growths with a tuft of foliage on the ends.  A field grown tree which is transplanted will have a shape that reflects the grace and character of the Japanese maple.

If the plant is too lank or has grown too quickly you will see poor structure. Pruning and slowing of growth without stunting the plants during this period is critical.  The younger the plant the less this is an issue, but be aware that the planting will also have a smaller buffer.  The slightest drought or stress will be magnified on a small two or four inch planting.  In Northern California the ideal planting time for most plants is between November and April.  By early May we may have initial heat spells which take their toll on the recent plantings.

Balled and Burlaped specimens have the same issue with quality.  This is reflected both in the plant itself and in the soundness and craft of the nurseryman’s wrapped root ball.  Handling these heavy balls is critical to the percentage of success.  I have a 95% success rate with root balls from reputable sources which are planted carefully soon after arrival and in the correct season.

Even more vulnerable are bare root plants.  How reputable is the source and how have the bare roots been handled to date?  What is the quality of the plant?  Has it been root pruned properly?  The handling of these plants is paramount.  Bare root plants are the least costly option and you may have great success, but you must get them as soon as they arrive at your nursery and plant them forthwith.

New Shoot

In planting we want to regain a positive momentum of growth as soon as possible.  Keep in mind that you want the energy to go to new root growth and not fruits or flowers the first season.

Anything short of sowing seed or placing bulbs involves trauma for the plant. It is important to remember that you are dealing with living organisms when planting. Growth has momentum.  When it is interrupted it requires twice as much energy to regain and settle into a natural rate of growth.

It is remarkable that any plants survive nurseries, let alone our ministrations.  I do not sacrifice quality when specifying plants, as I can reduce quantity.  If you space your plants further apart, you have a larger area over which to maintain control.  This is exacerbated by overhead spray.  Closer plant spacing can greatly reduce maintenance in the establishment period and reduces seed and sucker sprouting, thus reducing weeds and water requirements for the garden.

Plant Spacing

I like to think that a garden should be an abundance of riches after five years.  After that time, you thin and build on your strengths.  The secret of a successful garden is to find out what grows well and use lots of it.   Plant spacing is determined by the massing of the spaces we move through, the immediacy of desired effect, the intensity of the horticulture, the need for control of the planted effect, and cost.

One way to reduce cost and maintain the quality of your plants is to reduce the size of the garden.  More dense plantings give way to widely spread plantings and transition back to nature.  We are fortunate in the Napa Valley to have many opportunities to transition to nature via surrounding Oaks or Chamise or the farmed nature of a vineyard.

Even in a contained space you can reduce the garden by reducing its pulse or horticultural intensity.   Variety increases the complexity and amount of care a garden will require.  The secret to diverse plantings is to match their horticultural needs and choose plants that will do your bidding and not spread by their own volition. All gardens are an illusion maintained by our continued attention.

If you have a Master Plan for your garden you can plant it incrementally.  Always start with the most important decisions first.  These are usually tree selections, followed by screening or framing plantings, thematic plantings that tie the garden design together and finally, the accent plantings.

Specimen Apple

You can buy time with planting.  I utilize specimens strategically located throughout my gardens and smaller material around it.  Some of these large shrubs and trees can make a garden by themselves.

I once designed a small viewing terrace adjacent to a home office that was enclosed with a wall for privacy.  My client had two large dogs who often utilized this space, which created a challenge.  The solution was to plant in a raised planter (a beautiful spreading Japanese maple Acer palmatum ‘Dissectum Garnet’), place large pots with plantings near the door, and plant Boston Ivy on the wall.  When you entered the office and looked out it was an “Oh My” moment.

Not all areas of your garden have the same value experientially.  There are “million dollar spots” of focused views or areas that get intense scrutiny – resources used here make sense.  The rarely seen area behind the shed obviously gets less attention.

Garden Courtyard

In prioritizing my garden I avoid the curse of the front garden, side garden, and back garden divisive mentality that afflicts so many.  If the house feels like it is swaddled by the landscape and the attention to detail is experienced throughout, it allows the garden to coalesce into something greater than the sum of its parts.

Let me return to where I started.  The most important thing about a garden is how it makes you feel.  It has to be growing well to even begin to coalesce and create that “Oh My” moment.  It starts with the quality of the plant, followed by the quality of the horticulture, followed by the quality of the design.

The Pulse of a Hummingbird

We need to think of a garden as having a garden ecology that is greatly influenced by what we do with it.  A classic example is the garden design that is based on maximum plant diversity.  A garden show installation transplanted to your garden.  Within months it is chaos as plants overtake each other.  It is like a fast boiling pot of water.  Perennial borders, or rock gardens can have the same attributes.  It takes a lot of work to maintain the illusion.

By contrast a garden which is sympathetic to its context will have a slower pulse.  A Mediteranean planting in a Mediternaean climate is a good example.  This is not to say that you only do certain kinds of gardens in various settings.  My point is that you have to  realize and balance the degree of instability with the resources you  want to expend on the garden illusion.

The Pulse of a Sea Turtle

The pulse of the your garden is also influenced by your selection of plants. Plants that spread of their own volition such as seed, or Rhizomes or bulbils create their own dynamic.  In designing the garden you use them carefully or let them loose with intent.

An example of a problem plant would be the New Zealand Feather grass.  It quickly spreads by seed and what is initially a wonderful soft beige feather duster becomes a mass of confusion.  It can be used very effectively if contained.

Water is a loaded gun.  I see more problems in existing gardens from over watering than any other single source.   Water is also our most precious resource.  If water is applied year round by definition you have turned up the flame on our Mediterranean context.  You not only foster growth of everything including weeds, you shorten the life of many plants.  Plants such as lavender or Rockrose are short lived under the best of conditions in captivity.  You can extend their life by pruning seasonally after flowering but you still need to think of them as 5-7 year plantings.

You also have to assess the cost to the existing landscape when you change the garden dynamic.  A good example is using lots of water under a mature Quercus agrifolia (California Live Oak).  You will shorten its life dramatically. It may take a number of years but you will hasten its decline.   A young Live Oak will be far more resilient and can grow successfully with more water.  You will also shorten its life.  But in this case it may not be evident for years.

You must learn to prioritize your horticulture.  The intensity of the horticulture or rapidity of its pulse should  be carefully assessed relative to the degree with which you interact with it.  Thus plantings should be more rich and involved where you spend time to enjoy them.

When you begin to feel the pulse of your garden it will add greatly to your  appreciation of it.  That is what excites me.  It is to feel your garden.  Your garden should not be a burden but a joy.  If you see it as living and evolving you will truly understand the nature of a garden.