Sustainable Materials 101: Urbanite

Urbanite. It's all the rage these days in sustainable design and I guess we can see why. Urbanite is simply a fancy word for broken up concrete, often times from old patios, driveways, etc. that up until recently was commonly hauled to the dump. What's so great about it? It's plentiful, economical, ecological and is an all purpose hardscape material. Thanks to recent trends and internet forums, craigslist, etc. it's becoming more and more common practice for construction companies to leave their urbanite from jobsite demolition to be picked up by sustainable landscaping companies or DIY home owners. And everybody wins- they save tons of money on dump fees, people get an affordable hardscape material and the earth gives a great big sigh of gratitude... also I'd like to think that the concrete is probably happy to be reincarnated into something lovely and have decades more use in a new garden. I've collected a few images below of creative uses of urbanite, although the sky is the limit. Enjoy.

Contemporary. Below urbanite and pea gravel are a perfect marriage. Left: industrial modern elements blend seamlessly with the ubanite and gravel patio. Right: Narrow saw cut concrete strips may seem an awkward shape to deal with and utilize in design, but this garden artfully paired and placed the urbanite strips with pea gravel to create a contemporary clean geometric design that looks as though the strips were intentionally poured in place!

Pathways and Patios.
Below the rough edges of broken concrete are softened and warmed with plant material. Sweet cozy and inviting.

Planters, Benches and Raised Beds.

 Left, urbanite is mortared and capped with poured concrete top to create permanent custom seating. Foundation Design in LA.


Below drystacked urbanite vegie beds are super fantastic... what better thing to do that rip out the concrete, keep it on site and reuse it to GROW FOOD. What's not to love about that. Dry stack beds below are by Terra Nova Landscaping here in Santa Cruz. You gotta love their keyhole planter (bottom)

So there you have it, a lite crash course in urbanite.

To find creative ways to re-use materials in your garden contact your local landscape designer, or hey- how about me, Andrea Doonan Horticulure + Design at www.AndreaDoonan.com

7 things better than your lawn

It's a new year and it's a new chance to rethink our garden spaces and what we're getting out of all that square footage beyond the front and back doors all the way up to our property lines. I'm always shocked at how many people spend hours a month watering, fertilizing and mowing a lawn they never use that provides no benefit to the environment (quite the opposite in most cases), and is so visually UNinteresting it makes the street trees yawn in indifference. And on top of that even more people are letting the backyard go to weeds- putting off enjoying their outdoor real estate another year. I'm here to tell you that there are lots of design options to reclaim that water loving, mower demanding, often unused space of yours. Here are just a few thoughts on taking back the lawn... and trust me there's much more where this comes from.

1. NO MOW GRASS. Now true, this is still technically a lawn- but this is the best option for those of you who still want the low open airy mono-swath of green without any deadheading, trimming or mowing. No mow blends require much less water, especially since the water you'd be removing from regular mowing is allowed to percolate and absorb. Depending on your micro-climate and the chosen blend, one could get away with anything from weekly, monthly or as needed in the summer. The texture of no mow lawns are much softer, finer and airy and I think look especially great in part shade landscape dotted by trees. Imagine this: a simple grove of interesting white barked trees, a soft no mow lawn and a few large boulders. Simple elegant and aside from supplemental summer watering and fall raking, low maintenance. There are also native grass blend sods and eco-lawns (blends of yarrow, grasses, clover, etc) available that are mowable but cut water use in half if not more- for those that have reason to keep a piece of lawn in their yards. I've worked on projects where lawn was replaced with groundcovers such as low growing thyme chamomile, dymondia, yarrow as well as projects where the lawn size was drastically reduced and replaced with  a "hard as nails" turf blend to keep a space for children and dogs to roll around.

2. MIXED MEADOW: NATIVE GRASSES, WILDFLOWERS & PERENNIALS. Imagine hiking through our native grasslands, chapparal or coastal sage scrub- now imagine a slightly more tidy tame version in smaller scale in your front or back yard. Native grasses of blues, golds and greens, orange poppies, monkey flowers, lupine, etc. This is a less manicured look for a garden, but can be made more streamline by creating groups of similar plants in repetition and  tidy borders. Initially it can take some work establishing a native mixed meadow, but once it's established it will take care of itself, aside from the occasional weeding and deadheading. I always say we don't have to get STUCK on all natives. Personally I think it's fine to throw in other Mediterranean region (Australians and South African included) plants with similar water and soil requirements such as lavender, rosemary, etc. Benefits include- little to no water required once established, attracting pollinators, butterflies, birds, and lots of color.

3. MIXED PERENNIALS, SHRUBS, AND TREES. Great for front gardens especially. Do people EVER use their front lawns? Plenty of us have use for back lawns with children, dogs, croquet, soccer, etc- but FRONT lawns? The sky is the limit when redesigning the front yard for curb appeal- depending on style, use, function and climate. This photo of a Ventura garden from an article in Sunset is a great example of a lawnless front yard design.

4. GROW SOME FOOD. Sheetmulch over that lawn and put in some raised vegetable beds, spiral gardens or how about a mini orchard? If you're willing to put in the effort, the reward will be bountiful. Get your community involved and see if your neighbors want to help in exchange for some of the harvest. And contrary to popular belief, edible gardens don't have to be unsightly. With a little thought and planning (possibly from your local landscape designer / horticulturist) your edible garden can be a beautiful space to not only garden in, but sit in, entertain in, etc.

5. ENTERTAIN SPACE. I'm all for enjoying the garden. Reclaiming our unused lawns is ALL about that. I live for a client calling me to tell me how grateful they are that they're actually spending time in and enjoying their garden. Lawn is negative space- but sometime we need negative space for a firepit and adirondack chairs, a bbq, outdoor bar and dining table or maybe a bocce ball court (see DIY bocce court link). Or how about a covered party deck/porch with twinkle lights and lounge seating to enjoy wine on the evenings? I say do it where the lawn is and replace with a flagstone patio or gravel- preferably a surface that is permeable- then surround that new space with awesome plants.

6. SECRET GARDENS. Other thoughtful uses of spaces is carving out a portion of the lawn or planting areas for seating and secret garden areas- different vantage points as to enjoy the garden, or little play structures- such as cloth tents or bean teepees for the little ones to explore their imaginations. Secret garden spaces are also great for retreating from our day- such as a meditation / prayer space, possibly including inspirational statuary or lighting. 

7. OTHER OR ALL OF THE ABOVE. Landscaping is like cooking, not baking. You can add a little bit of this and a touch of that. So take some from all columns stir and enjoy- If it tastes good, it works. It's all about getting the right balance. I just encourage you to NOT default to lawn.

For further ideas and design consulting, contact Andrea Doonan Horticulture + Design.
For more information visit www.AndreaDoonan.com
 

From Front Lawn to Santa Cruz Edible Gardens Tour

Chard, strawberries, daylilies, orange sedge and loropetalum.

On August 25th, I was fortunate enough to be involved with Slow Food Santa Cruz's first annual Edible Gardens Tour which toured 15 private and public gardens of varying styles, applications and uses. There were several showcase gardens, homespun eclectic gardens, a massively producing food forest, a tomato garden with tomato tasting and poetry reading, and a couple community gardens to name a few. It was a huge success with a fantastic turnout. Over 200 tickets were sold and the tour was very well received. There are several slideshows, blogs, and a pages I can direct you to as so I will provide some links at the end of this blogtastic story. As I've probably mentioned before, I'm from the school of integrated edibles and enjoy integrating fruit trees, herbs, fruits and vegies in the existing landscape while keeping with the aesthetic. The garden I designed that was featured was in this vein. Here is a short photo story of the transformation of building this garden.

BEFORE. The front yard had this lawn that sloped, was never used and never looked good due to all the wacky grading. So we cut out and graded a semi-circle area to enlarge the existing front walk into a patio. Creating a drystack feildstone retaining wall and (soon to be lush combination of edible and ornamental plants).
 
 

MID. As you can see even right after installation, it looks miles better and created a special space for the homeowner to sit and relax. In just a short 6 months, the garden is lush and bountiful. Chard and strawberries spilling over lilies and grasses.

AFTER. Now you can see it's all grown in. In the picture to the left there is a fig tree, apple tree, pomegranite, madarin, oregano, creeping thyme (in flagstones), carex, daylilies, parsley, tomatoes, euphorbia, loropetalum and leucodendron to name a few. Gemstones of color and edibility in a Santa Cruz Garden, all watered by drip, mind you.

Easy & affordable custom water feature.

  And what's a sanctuary without the sound of running water? Contrary to popular belief, not all water features run thousands of dollars. We hand selected a beautiful pot at Pottery Planet and their subterranean basin (water feature kit) and with a little instruction reading, voila- there you have a beautiful water feature! What's great about the sub-terranean basin and recirculating pump features is that they are safe to have around young children or gardens where critters frequent- as there's no standing water. Also in feng shui, having running water at the entrance of the house is supposed to bring prosperity as well as create a harmonious tranquil space.

Installing the basin for water feature.

You can join the facebook Edible Gardens Tour page by clicking here: https://www.facebook.com/SantaCruzEdibleGardensTour
And a great little blog article written about the tour can be seen here: http://www.imagesforrenewal.com/general/slow-down-and-garden/
Oh and lastly, the pre-tour article from the Sentinel (where both Homeless Garden Project and my biz gets a little shout out): http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/food/ci_21369899/slow-down-and-see-whats-growing-slow-food

A story about a beautiful "naked" lady

Amaryllis belladonna (Italian: "beautiful lady") is one of my favorite short botanical rant topics. Native to the Cape of Good Hope it has naturalized in our similar Mediterranean climate (here, in California). Currently in the Bay Area you can see them in their green winter mode- out on the trail, roadsides and in the garden- and so is my great opportunity to rant away:

Amaryllis belladonna, or as it's more often affectionately known, the "naked lady" is a plant that has many layers of stories. Firstly, of course, it is so often the butt of many a joke as us plant folk don't have enough silly named plants to work with, so we tend to exploit the few ones that are around for a few good laughs... from "blue dicks" to "naked ladies". Often times this is where the story for most end, an excuse to get a rise after saying you have naked ladies in your front yard. This I can appreciate. Although to delve deeper one would learn that the reason they are referred to as "naked" is because they exhibit a  strange form of botanical....ness called hysteranthy (sidebar: another notable plant that shares this phenomenon is saffron). This is when the flower comes before the leaves. Basically the bulbs that stay in the ground shoot up the leaves in mid to late winter . Strappy vibrant green. Currently you can see them in the bay area in their less flashy appearance. I like to think of them as "clothed ladies" and what better time to be clothed than at winter. It all just seems so appropriate.

Photo taken at Fremont Older

Around Spring the leaves yellow, dry up and translocate the nutrients back to the bulbs. Several months later, in late Summer, pop up these beautiful "naked" ladies. Letting it all hang out with flower stalk and pink blossoms.

The Etymological: Some sources claim the name belladonna was given due to the flowers resembling the complexion of a beautiful lady. Amaryllis in Greek means fresh and sparkling, although originally Amaryllis was a Greek nymph who has her own story of love and tragedy where she pierced her own heart to make a flower to win the one she loved.

The Ethnobotanical: Amaryllis belladonna was used by women in Italy back in the Victorian era to dilate pupils in order to appear more attractive*. And even today the amaryllis belladonna is used for similar purposes: atropine, an alkaloid of belladonna that blocks certain nerve impulses, is used by ophthalmologists to dilate the pupils for eye exams. That's a pretty cool lady.

Fall Color Explained.

Leaves from the CA Native Vine Maple (Acer circinatum)

Being a Californian, I experience what people from other parts of the country call "Fall Lite". Oh yes, these people make fun of us and our lack of "real" seasons but their poorly masked envy of our mild Mediterranean paradise (and all kinds of awesome at arm's length) doesn't phase me one bit. Besides, I've learned to grab my share of fall color and get it every place I can.... from the big leaf maple lined creeks of Skyline, to the dogwoods and poplars of the sierras to the wide spectrum of garden and street trees that show off all hues from that fiery warm slice of the color wheel.

Chinese Pistache: a common Bay Area street tree.

Despite our mild version of the season, Autumn is still my favorite time of year. I soak up the changing colors with an intense joy like welcoming an old dear friend who comes around each year to usher in a time of lovely memories, scents, sounds, tastes and adventures. Like mom's minestrone wafting down the hall to a hot cup of tea by the fire with a good book, the changing of the leaves marks a sweet shift from the go-go crazy fun of summer to harvest, reflection and introspection.


So what makes leaves change color? In order to discuss color, we must first discuss the pigments responsible. Contributing Autumnal pigments from nature's paint palette go as follows:

• Chlorophyll- the green pigment that rocks photosynthesis (converting light to sugar)
• Carotenoids- such as xanthophylls or the more familiar carotene, responsible for yellows, oranges, and brown pigments (as seen in as carots, corn, apricots, narcissus, bananas, etc)- and function to absorb light energy for use in photosynthesis
• Anthocyanins- as the suffix "cyan" suggests, is the red and purple pigment that gives it's color to apples, berries, grapes, cherries, violas, cabbage, etc. They are water soluble and appear in the watery liquid of leaf cells.

Both chlorophyll and carotenoids are present in the leaves throughout the growing season. But most anthocyanins are produced in the autumn, in response to bright light and excess plant sugars within leaf cells as a means of photprotection during nitrogen translocation (or as I look at it: a kind of natural sunscreen while the plant relocating nutrients away from the leaves for storage and food).

In a nutshell, Fall color happens due to two factors: 1.) the breakdown of green chlorophyll (in response to shorter days), which unmasks the already-present orange and yellow pigments (carotenoids) while 2.) the red is from a simultaneous process going on which I mentioned above with the anthocyanins being produced in response to light.

Why are some years so much better for Fall color than others? 

Lagerstroemia (Crepe Myrtle)

It all has to do with temperature & weather during the period of season shift (but overall weather of the entire year contributes as well). Warm, sunny days and cool but not freezing nights bring on the most dramatic fall color. Reason: During these warm sunny days, lots of sugars are produced in the leaf but the cool nights and the gradual closing of veins going into the leaf prevent these sugars from moving out. These conditions bring on production of the brilliant anthocyanin pigments, which tint reds, purples, and crimson. Because carotenoids are always present in leaves, the yellow and gold colors generally stay consistent. So the variability of the temperature/weather create the different gradations of yellow to red to orange that change from year to year.

Ginkgo Biloba

The endless variables of weather patterns of the year will effect the timing and drama of the fall show, just like it will effect the bloom times and crops. The ideal year for a killer Autumn show is a wet rainy winter & spring, a good "normal" summer and warm sunny fall days with cool nights. Of course, us being in this mild climate we love so dearly, those cool nights are still relatively mild. Therefore no technicolor Fall madness like I've heard tell of on the East Coast. Still we've got quite a bit of lovelies that put on a good "last hurrah to summer" show. Start gazing at street and park trees or plants while hiking through the hills and you'll start to see and admire them like I do. A great one to admire (from afar) is poison oak. It decorates the landscapes of almost all plant communities in California and when in masses, creates a brilliant tapestry of color with the existing landscape.

Poison Oak in Fall

So whether or not we completely understand why the colors are the way they are, we can all sit back in admiration of nature's paint mixing party. And on a larger scale, watching the leaves drop, recycle nutrients and break down into a humusy soil layer- feeding fungi, plants and an entire ecosystem (including many critters invisible to the naked eye) while the woody tissues seal themselves off in protection from the cold... as the seasons cycle. Well it's all pretty awesome to soak in. I dig it. Happy Autumn.

Plant Companions

Greetings fellow plant friends. I was in a client's garden today prepping their beds for winter veggies when I remembered this old resource I thought I'd share regarding plant companions (from Common Ground in Palo Alto). Great stuff. All this this info is also available in John Jeavon's book (How to Grow More Vegetables).

Check out the link below:
http://www.commongroundinpaloalto.org/vegetablecompanions.htm

Who's this Douglas Guy? and what about that Menzies Dude?

Many of you, whom, like me, are into CA native plants and/or identifying flora on bay area hikes may have wondered: who's this Douglas guy? He's got a fir, iris, artemesia and whole slew of other California plant species all to his name. For years I spouted off the words Iris douglasiana without even thinking. But today, well I finally decided to explore further and found the honorable Mr. Douglas of the Douglas Fir (which sidebar: is neither a fir <abies> NOR a hemlock <tsuga> but a psudotsuga- translation "kinda a hemlock"- menzesii- named for a rival botanist, Archibald Menzies, another Scottish dude- I find this humorous that the common name can shout out to one botanist while the botanic name can to the other) is (I'm quoting wikipedia now) David Douglas (25 June 1799 – 12 July 1834), a Scottish botanist. He worked as a gardener, and explored the Scottish Highlands, North America, and Hawaii, where he died. A cool resource for further information: http://lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=487. Interesting short article for the name drops of other botanists (Torrey- i.e. Torrey Pine and Nutall- i.e. Cornus nutalli, or native dogwood- he's also got a woodpecker and viola to his name). See below for photo of Mr Douglas.

On top of having a good several dozen native shrubs, sub-shrubs, perennials and bulbs to his name, he also boasts several species of American oaks and pines. Douglas is a mysterious kind of guy. So I'm having issues finding out more about him. But hey. He's another Scottish naturalist, like John Muir (what's with these Scottish naturalists coming to CA?). Although it looks like Mr Muir took over the shift as his reign was from April 1838 –  December 1914.

Okay now I'm going to side bar into a whole other rant. Because I'm wondering- who is this Menzies dude? He's got an herb and hey, even one of CA's coolest trees, the madrone named after him. Well here's what I found. Now if I found out that Douglas and Menzies where friends like Van Gough and Gaughan, well that would be totally awesome. Well I didn't find that, which doesn't mean it isn't true but I did find he lived from 15 March 1754 – 15 February 1842 and was a Scottish surgeon, botanist and naturalist. With a name like Archibald Menzies, he was bound be a rockstar. Dude even has his own genus of shrubs in the ericaceae (the bell shaped flowered family of blueberries, arbutus, erica, etc.) family- Menziesia. The lovely Mr Menzies below.

Bottom line to this rant: all plants have meanings- the cooler ones are of Latin or Greek derivations with awesome myths to boot... the less cool ones have old dead botanists to blame. More so, I hope to have a plant named after me before I die. Is this a self-serving desire? Perhaps. But I see it this way: some people want kids to carry on their name and legacy. Me? I'll take some dogs and an awesome Ribes or Aesculus... perhaps Aesculus californica 'Andrea's Red' or Ribes sanguineum 'Miss Andi's Choice' or maybe even Arctostaphyllos 'Kickass Andi'. Interested botanists can inquire with me for further classifications and questions.

Also, along the vein of plant meanings, etymology and derivations- I challenge you, the reader of these rambling words to play stump the horticulturist. Try me. For ex. Cupressus macrocarpa - Cypress- big seed. Let's play. We'll all learn a little Latin, a little plant geek and have a little fun.

Happy plant geeking.