A landscaping project is never done...

Landscapes are ever evolving. Plants die and circumstances or tastes change. It is one of the reasons I like landscape design but I also see that, for some folks, it can be a source of frustration. “I just spent all this money on plants! Why do I have to spend MORE money on plants?!!!”

You don’t HAVE TO but it is awfully nice to go in to a mature landscape and fill in little gaps or just see what has worked and what has not worked. Plants are living things and, as such, can be squirrelly little shits. One plant thriving and the same plant, two feet away, has died a painful death. Maybe there is slightly less light in that spot or maybe the irrigation clogged and the plant wasn’t getting enough water for months, or a gopher moved in, there can be all kinds of reasons.

I’m thinking about this because we have visited a couple of our installed gardens this week. I swear we started designing this, like, back in 2017. I post about it several times before here and here.

These are the two concept sketches I made probably in 2017ish.

The tree I posted about in that last post ended up NOT bouncing back and spent several years looking like shit and making everyone sad. I’m so sorry we failed you sweet tree! :( We decided to replace it with a 36” box Arbutus marina. Here is the loyal little Ditch Witch bringing the chonky new tree in.

There are a couple of other spots in this landscape that just need a few more plants to fill in. There is also one-planting bed that is like, half sun, half shade under a big tree. Everything in that bed seems to fail and I’m just not sure why... Root competition? Dogs running rampant? Gophers? Compacted soil? IDK, but I want that bed to look as nice as the other areas in the landscape. Sadly, also, one of the counters in the outdoor pavilion kitchen cracked. It just wasn’t on a stable enough surface and was flexing too much. so that also has to get replaced. A TOTAL BUMMER!

Here are some nicer shots of areas that are working. Check out those crazy Senecio Skyscrapers! And in the 4th picture you can see the happy, relocated palm! That bed needs a few new plants though.

I have never been a dog person but since starting this profession I have come around. I could never be a dog owner but I do love meeting everyone’s dogs! Please behold this absolute sweetie face of a German Shepard puppy!!

Picture of a german shepard puppy with big, soft ears lying on concrete in front of a pretty garden bed.

Here’s a pavilion shot. Obviously, you can see the kitchen is back under construction. :(

Bay Area Trees for Fall Color

I grew up mostly in the south in place without a lot of fall color. It got cold but the trees were mostly tall pine trees. They always seemed kind of depressing and dour. but I did like braiding the needles when I was little.

The Bay Area is not exactly know for fall color either. But there are several trees that can really bring it! Every fall I think, oh yeah I should document what trees are doing what right now and that time has finally come! This thought often occurs to me as I am driving through a particularly colorful street. And, yes, I did stop in the middle of the street to get this shot.

Street lined with colorful orange, red, and yellow Pistacia chinensis trees in the fall.

Pistacia chinensis - Chinese Pistache is a great tree for a streetscape or a residential setting. It doesn’t get too big, grows at a decent rate, provides a nice dappled shade and this amazing fall color. Here you can see an example of a 24” Box Keith Davey specimen at the nursery.

Lagerstroemia indica x fauriei 'Muskogee' is a nice crape myrtle that does well in this area and has gorgeous fall color.

Also consider this non native Buckeye - the Aesculus Early Glow. See some better pics here.

Next we have the Liriodendron tulipifera. This tree is in the magnolia family and has a really cool flower! I feel like I don’t actually see this tree very often. It does get HUGE soft may be that it is just too big even for the larger suburban neighborhoods in the East Bay. It is really pretty though!

Nyssa silvatica - Black Gum tree. This is another great tree for fall color. I’ve never spec’ed this tree but every time I see it I wonder why. Here is one in the background of this lovely patio at one of our projects.

In the nursery you can see this one has some set fruits. I don’t think it is a super messy tree though.

There are a million different Prunus varieties. When I first moved here the Prunus leaves fallen in the streets all yellow and red and spotty madame take up watercolors and sketchbooking. I don’t have the patience to figure out which ones these two are but I love how the leaves look intermingled on the ground!

Okay, one more. This Cercis is just looking very lovely with it's yellow leaves spread out under it!

All the Acers and Cornus trees have great fall color too.

The Madonna Inn Secret Garden

This was my first time staying at the Madonna Inn. I’m a fan, for sure now. So pink! So over-the-top opulent! We stayed in The HideAway Room which was a tad dank, if I’m honest. But who cares?! I got to shower in a pretend grotto!

The pool was great.

We only stayed at the hotel for like under 16 hours. We had to check out and rush off in the morning to go tour CalPoly. But I did jump out and take a few pictures of the Secret Garden.

I dig this entirely secret garden that literally no one knows about!

I’m always paying attention to color combinations in plantings. Peachy pink with purple, pink with dark maroon, dark red and yellow. All super pretty for a lovely cutting garden.

Mission San Juan Bautista and Mission San Miguel

My son and I headed down to Southern California lat week to visit colleges.

We took the 101 down and went to a couple of CA Missions. The first one was the San Juan Batista Mission. There was a lot going on! Live music and Mass outside, I think. Someone there is having a blast making succulent containers.

Visiting California's missions is always pretty interesting. I didn’t grow up here so I never had the elementary school missions curriculum that so many here tend to have. Instead, I had mad amounts of Texas history shoved down my throat. I really like visiting old historic sites in general. The missions do make me feel pretty sad though. I can't help but feel unsettled by how the missions' darker history is often glossed over. While they do often have exhibits about the pre-mission cultures the devastating impact these institutions had on indigenous peoples and their cultures should be more prominent.

This visit was a tad different from my previous visits as it was Sunday. It was CROWDED! And, I have to say, the activity and joyfulness of whatever was happening was really nice to see. Like, the past was some pretty horrific treatment of the indigenous population but now, at least, they seem to be vibrant centers for local community celebrations.

The other mission we visited was the Mission San Miguel. This mission has a larger museum and it was also very busy! There was live music, immense amount of tacos being made, and a quinceañera or two happening as well.

Baskets! I love basket weaving. They had a really nice exhibit of the different plants that were used and a display case filled with examples of baskets from a variety of indigenous cultures.

Some architecture and church pics. I only took one picture in the church because a girl was having her quinceañera photoshoot. I wanted to take a picture of her and her amazing fluffy purple dress but I did not! Every picture I took I was secretly seething because they just put signs everywhere and on every wall and door. So ugly! I tried hard to get the least amount of ugly signs in my photos.

Atlanta - Day Four

Day four was the day of the wedding but we had some time beforehand to take a walk to the Jimmy carter Presidential Library. I gotta say, I was underwhelmed. The map and descriptions made it sound better than it was. And it was hella hot out. Here I am looking sweaty yet pretty obviously Presidential. Hahahaha.

There were some nice, serene moments in the garden.

We walked to and from the library on the Freedom Park trail. There were many squirrels. I was unsure what this tree with the bean pod looking things was.

Then off to the wedding where we looked very cute.

The wedding venue was really pretty. The bride had, hands down, the best wedding dress ever. Some silliness with old friends. The flowers were all hand picked by the bridal party and arranged for the tables. So pretty!

I’m sorry to say that it all went downhill (in a good way) after the bride and groom left in their Georgia Tech themed car. :P

Exploring Atlanta - Day Three

Day Three!

We decided to walk to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens

The greenway walk on the way there was pretty nice with lots of people out and about. Also, seen... a dog restaurant with a hilarious promotional photo I did not photograph. There was a huge open air market getting set up and what looked like an epic bouncy house festival with a million huge bouncy houses.

The Botanical gardens were setting up their Alice in Wonderland exhibits. Some are there all the time and some are new for this event.

It is always inspiring to see gardens in places you are not familiar with. I loved all the sculptures. the first one was this pair of wire birds sitting in really pretty swathes of green grasses. I just love how the color blocking draws the eye to the birds and the water feature.

I don’t think we managed to see all the Alice in Wonderland themed sculptures. This Earth Goddess woman is part of their permanent exhibits.

Some of the more specific Alice ones were the Cheshire Cat, Alice falling down the well, the queen playing crochet, and the shaggy dog (also in the permanent collection) made out of Carex testacea.

Oh man, there’s just a lot! There was a little conifer collection. I love confers ever since touring the conifer garden of the President of the American Conifer Society in maybe 2016-ish(?). A few pictured here in hypertufa pots making me want to try making hypertufa pots again…

We headed in to the Conservatory next.

They had a really great cloud garden. I’m embarrassed to tell you how many times I have attempted to insert one of these into a clients garden. LOL. At this point I should just try putting one in my own tiny backyard landscape.one can buy round pruned plants from many nurseries. Cloud pruning - or Niwake style pruning - is just pruning hedges into cloud-like shapes. I feel like I want to make joke about all the CA native plants I see horribly box pruned around here. A video about cloud pruning in case you are wondering how this is different from box pruning.

Anyway, check out these balls.

More plant pics incoming. I almost didn’t go into the orchid garden for some reason. I am glad we did.

There were many nicely designed containers all over the gardens. I love this cobalt blue and peach color combo! I really want to spend more time designing containers. I have a couple in my yard that are in sore need of replanting.

We were so hot and exhausted at this point. We ate at the fancy restaurant there and then on the way home we rented those Lime scooter thingies. My first time doing such a thing and I was terrified. But it ended up pretty easy to pick up how to do it and we made it home. I will say those, money-wise, it was way more expensive than just getting an uber or a ride share.

Then, we were off to the beer garden party for our friends’ wedding. I kinda wish I had a pic of my dress because it is my new favorite. I wore it with sneakers because my feet were tired from walking all over the garden!

Exploring Atlanta - Day 2

We are within walking distance to a place called Ponce City Market and I see they have a breakfast restaurant called Pancake Social. It did not disappoint. Behold the custom tiled floor. Pancakes were a bit gluey but still good.

After exploring the market a bit we we attempted to take the bus to Fernbank. We failed and ended up calling an Uber because the bus never came. Fernbank is a Natural History Museum with some attached gardens called Wildwoods and Fernbank Forest.

First, dinosaurs!

Y’all, it’s hot out okay? I am pink and frizzy.

On to the other garden walks. This portion is a raised wooden walkway with some really lovely cathedral like structures. In some of these photos you can see stone walls. Those are part of the original land granted to the museum by the Harrison family. After the raised walkway , there are more paved paths and then you can walk through the rest of the old land on some rockier trails. I was not wearing the correct shoes. And I swear I took photos but… I don’t see them in my photo roll. I might actually have been too hot to take many photos.

We headed back into the museum to see the show about polar bears but first we stumbled on to my favorite natural history museum thing… dusty old dioramas. I swear, I just love them. I don’t know why. Again, where are all my pictures?!

This whole series of sequential dioramas of a dinosaur dying and being buried was epic.

A dusty ground squirrel and two raccoons harassing a turtle. Heh.

Exploring a bit of Atlanta - Day 1

We made it to Atlanta!

Is it just that I am old now that a flight across the US utterly knocks me out? It ends up being an entire day of travel, and then I am left feeling grubby and dehydrated.

Before traveling, I tend to do a lot of googling of the location, and I made a saved places list in Google Maps. After I figure out the hotel, I google to see if there are any gardens close by or any gardens/landscapes in the city that are noteworthy that I think I might want to see. In this case, I settled on the Hotel Clermont - a refurbished motel and apparently a local iconic establishment. There is a local neighborhood shared garden just around the block! Perfect! What else looks good? The Atlanta Botanical Gardens and some place called Fernbank. That is really all we'll have time to squeeze into this visit.

Anyhow, we made it here, and I LOVE our hotel. It is so freaking cute. Great details, lobby is super nice, a bar and a restaurant, and a rooftop bar as well. Did I steal a Clermont Hotel pen? Yes, yes I did.

two happy looking people relaxing in a hotel lobby holding plastic cups of champagne.

We arrived, checked in, dropped our stuff off, and headed to the bar where we had some delicious cocktails. Then we walked down to the Atlanta Goddess Garden - https://www.goddessgardenatlanta.com/about. The weather here is... sultry. It all feels sort of primally familiar even though I am no longer acclimated to this kind of humid heat. It's nice to have a warm evening walk though.

This garden has a wild and overgrown feeling. Walking along the paths, there are many small shrines, seating areas, and spaces for growing edibles. There are also a lot of rats scurrying in the undergrowth, so I'm unsure how they can sustain any veggies or herbs!

Here is the description from their website:

"Created by Shasta Zaring in 1990, the Goddess Garden Atlanta is an urban wilderness habitat and healing sanctuary nestled in the heart of the City of Atlanta. It is a sacred space dedicated to the Divine Feminine in all religions, paths and cultures. Altars to Goddesses from various world cultures adorn the paths and are tended by the Garden's keepers.

This one-acre private preserve, open to the public during daylight hours, is cultivated without the use of pesticides and herbicides and is a certified Audubon Society Wilderness Habitat. Located just off the Atlanta Beltline, the Garden is in walking distance to many city attractions, such as Ponce City Market, Historic 4th Ward Park, Carter Center and Little Five Points."

So it is privately owned but publicly available space. I wonder if they have to worry about insurance. Apparently, they have classes there, an attached AirB&B, and does seem like a nice place to go and chill in some lush green space! i can see that it is def. a labor of love for people in the neighborhood!

After our stroll we headed back to the hotel, drinks on the rooftop bar, and some dinner.

Project In-Progress

Oof, projects in-progress can look like a mess! There is some order to this chaos, I swear! Although, I will say that I prefer less chaos. In my ideal installation EVERYTHING gets done and then, like a week later, we come in with the plants, place them, ponder everything, and then plant. If contractors leave enough wire with their lighting fixtures we can then adjust those at that time. In this install we just din’t really have control of that. I can also see here that the sheet mulching is…. not great. I need several layers of OVERLAPPING cardboard. what happened here was that they literally planted the plants BEFORE they sheet mulched? It didn’t make a lot of sense.

This very small backyard was very boring. Why have a boring backyard when you can have color, and texture, and useable space?

Before picture. Photo is a long narrow lawn with a house on the left and a retaining wall on the right.

Currently, It looks like this. You can see we have added a new path and meanders through the middle of the landscape rather than crammed uncomfortable against the house. We’ve got some colorful plantings, a few small trees to help the absolutely scorching heat, and towards the far end there is a small patio with some raised beds, some really cute terracotta pots for herbs, and a self-contained ceramic water feature. We also bought a nice trellis from Terratrellis to help break up a very large and boring hot wall.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing how this turns out!

Garden Design Styles

When I tell people I am a garden designer, they often ask me what style of garden I design. The answer is usually that I design (to the best of my ability given a million variables) the garden that my client desires. The garden needs to work for the client! I know many designers prefer to design in one style or another, and so their portfolio reflects that, and then people wanting that style seek out that designer. I have not really reached that point and I probably never will.

I did name my business Wild Things, in part, because I love a wild and unruly garden with lots going on and colors and wildlife and fun garden elements and nooks to explore. That kind of garden is great but not always practical. I ALSO love designing super modern gardens with clean lines and architectural plants just as well.

A lot of what I love about designing residential gardens is the space planning aspect of it. I spend an inordinate amount of time imagining what my clients might want to do in the garden, how they will move about in the garden, what will happen at different seasons, what they say they want/need vs. what I think they might actually want/need, etc. Of course, I'm just imagining all this, and what I really need is for the client to be as articulate as possible about THEIR OWN garden imaginings.

There is a business plan activity that I have encountered several times now that wants you to describe your perfect client. One of the items on my list is a client that is really engaged and curious about the possibilities. They will have a Pinterest or Houzz board with ideas, they will have memories of gardens from their childhood, and they will have some practical views on what they and their landscape can manage.

It's actually a tall order. If someone has never designed a landscape, it might be hard for them to come up with all of these ideas. That's why Pinterest and Houzz are actually such good resources for folks. Just diving in and getting a feel for what might be possible and what you find visually intriguing is a great start. I do often have to sit down with clients and dive into WHAT about a picture they are drawn to. Is it a specific plant, the style, a color combination, etc.

So the job of figuring all this out is really what draws me to this vocation. I do, of course, love plants, but plants come much later in the design process.

I was thinking the other day about how I played as a child. And I basically sat around in my room with my dollhouse decorating it and redecorating it. I had a million of those glass or ceramic animals you could buy at the Hallmark store (there was one just outside my neighborhood), and they were the inhabitants of my dollhouse. Mainly because I thought most human dolls were creepy. So, that's a lot like what I do now. LOL.


Pottery and Beyond

I live right near Pottery and Beyond in Emeryville so I like to stop by there now and then to see what they have in stock. Seeing containers and water features in person can be really useful. They do give a small industry discount, so that is nice. Most, if not all of their stock is from Pacific, Home, and Garden. You can just get their catalog or look online there to see the entire catalog. To order from Pacific, Home, and Garden you do need to have a wholesale account AND they are in Stockton (way, way… way out there). I don’t think they will deliver small orders.

So, for me, it’s worth it to go peek at items in person and determine if it is worth it to order from the wholesale company.

This visit I am looking at self contained water features for a small backyard client. These are nice because you don’t have to dig a giant pit like for the other types of pondless features. These contained fountains are easy to set up and really do have a nice water sound.

I thought this was a really nice one! It’s not a design I have seen before and I like the tall narrow design and the pattern.

The above video gives you a nice idea for how they sound. They are definitely less natural sounding because you can hear the ceramic echo. I don’t mind that and think they are just a great solution for small spaces, patios, and are just no-fuss kind of water features.

Pottery and Beyond also has a fair amount of hilarious ceramic or cement garden features. Please behold this hilarious sad fish. Why did I not buy this for myself?! I may have to go back.

Behold this sad fish. LOL.

Landscape Sketchbook - Vignettes

I like to do little landscape vignettes. Not a whole landscape design but just a bed or a small area. It’s fun to use these informal, made-up sketches to explore color and texture and layering of plants.

Here is one with lots of maroon, red, orange, and yellow plants.

Another one with some red and adding in some boulders and gravel, IDK, I find drawing these fun and soothing!