A Gallery of 3 Before + Afters

Springtime is a busy time! New gardens to create, consultations to be had and checking in on my gardens to see how they've grown. Here's a few of them to hopefully help serve as ideas for some of you to conserve on water while getting more use out of your outdoor spaces.

SUNNY SANTA CRUZ FRONT COURTYARD  

BEFORE
Bindweed, overgrown garden space and fieldstones.

Conceptual sketch (which was then drawn into CAD and bid and built upon).                              

DURING

AFTER

We reused their existing fieldstones and created raised drystack sonoma fieldstone beds and flagstone paths and seating areas with integrated edbiles CA natives and friends. I was happy to see the seaside daisy, yarrow, cleveland sage and friends growing so well alongside herbs and edibles planted by clients. A true delight to see them enjoying and using this cheerful space.

MODERN SANTA CRUZ XERISCAPE

BEFORE.

In this Eastside Santa Cruz backyard we swapped out miles of lawn (yes, they got a lawn removal rebate from the city) for gold gravel, succulents and edibles (including a fruit tree espalier, raised vegie beds and a few citrus trees).

AFTER

The custom concrete bench creates a great accent and destination in garden and we had fun designing new geometric poured concrete and poured steps to imitate flagstone.the variegated Pittosporum 'Marjorie Channon' planted against fence perimeter will fill in to create a nice 8' tall screen. These photos were taken just after installation completion and I will be posting photos on my web once plants establish and concrete is sealed.

 LIVE OAK SANTA CRUZ WOODLAND FRONT YARD

BEFORE

Across the street from a native open space area, what was previously ivy, lawn and volunteer trees underwent a major transformation. We brought in soil to create a soft raised berm, built a patio at porch for seating space, introduced boulders, CA native and mediterranean plants that blended well for this woodland inspired garden.

AFTER

Easy Australian fuchsia lines the border with variegated mirror plant, Cedros Island verbena and reed grasses. Toyon line the fence and CA flowering currants, ferns and heuchera occupy the planter areas. For specimen plants we have a native dogwood, a forest pansy redbud and a native vine maple. Instead of repouring the driveway- we used cobble stones to continue the line of the driveway flare.

                                                                                                                                             





Happy Gardening! Keep your eyes peeled on my website for a new Before + After page. I will be posting photos of the above designs on my website within the next year once they become more established. And follow me on Facebook for more current news. Cheers!
www.AndreaDoonan.com
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Chihuly in the Desert

I had the pleasure of visiting the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix this month and the icing on the cake was getting to see the Chihuly art exhibit. I have seen Chihuly's glass work in museums, hotels (famous Belagio ceiling) and even his exhibit at the D Young several years ago- but nothing compares to seeing the grandness of the installations in the outdoors. The juxtaposition of the colorful bold glass in the stark desert landscape created a kinetic kind of dance and made me question what was the sculpture and what was plants. Cacti and succulents have a very architectural and sculptural habit and like art, beg to stand alone and be admired for their form. Their sharp thorns (and competition for water) keep them at bay from disturbers- both of the mobile and plant variety. One large piece, a squiggly fiery burning sun made me sweat even more than I already was- reminding me of the dry hot exposed heat I was trekking through- and I gained a stronger admiration for these tough tough plants. Pictures being a thousand words and all, here you go...

 Titled white belugas, these looked like stranded milk bottles washed ashore.

Barrel cactus and yucca blanketed by Palo Verde blossoms

Yellow glass art with lavender in foreground

The wildflower section showed many plants we see here in Santa Cruz and the bay area, including our CA poppy.

Container Gardening!!

Gateway drug to gardening... Containers! ANY body can do it, it's easy, economical, manageable, less risky... and really, we can do a lot with pots. Containers are great for renters (not permanent / easy to take with you), condo/apartment dwellers (with lack of soil), and/or people wanting to jazz up their porches, patios and balconies. They are also wonderful for: adding depth, height and interest to a landscape, working with and creating microclimates for frost tender plants and, for water wise gardens, allowing us to still have our favorite water loving plants- just in their own happy zone... really pots are simply awesome. And don't even get me started on all the fantastical styles, colors, materials, shapes and sizes they come in. So here are some sketchy illustrated and wordy pointers on container gardening.

Make it Pretty. For cozying up and bringing lushness to an outdoor space with too much hardscape and bare walls- well yeah, containers can do that. As the design rules go, groups of odd numbers are best (unless they are flanking an entry way or focal point, in which case 2 works)- 3 being the golden number for a cluster of pots, especially in a corner- I like to go with similar or same exact style/color pots in three varying sizes- though varying colors in the same material and color story can have a fun impact as well. For choosing plants in a pot I usually stick with three (or 5) and like to refer to a term I WISH I coined, but heard from a nurserywoman, who surely heard it somewhere else (ah yes, the derivation has yet to be tracked down)... anyway, rambling aside, it goes like this: The Thriller, The Spiller and The Chiller (See sketchy and 100% original ADh+d drawing, right). Your thriller- she is the star of the pot- the tree, the specimen, the tallest and brightest. Then your spiller- she's a cascader- for example, your ivy, bacopa, campanula, creeping jenny, or sedum. Finally you got your chiller. He's, well... chillin... anchoring the pot-scape together between the pendulum swings. Together, when done right, the three sing.  Succulents are especially great for this as they do well with part sun and won't hate you if you neglect watering- a good succulent triad as illustrated on the far left is aeonium, echeveria and a cascading succulent, such as a sedum. Go-to "thrillers" include Japanese Maples, Citruses, Abutilons, and Cordylines/Phormiums to name a few. And remember When choosing plants be sure to select contrasting and compatible colors and textures (not all the same shade of green).

Make it Edible. Edibles will grow in your container like a boss. Some invasive ones like mint, you may

even prefer to keep strictly in the pot. Some tried and trues: Herbs, Lettuces and Chards (great for part shade), Annual Veggies (I grow tomatoes in containers every year with excellent tasty results), Berries, Dwarf Fruit Trees and Citrus, and Perennial Veggies (many peppers, including serranos are a great "perennial veggie" for containers in the bay area).

Make it Both. So long as plants are grouped by like-requirements and they all get along and are respectful of one-another, there's no reason we can't mix and match the cutting flower with the herbs, the fruit tree with the spilling succulent. Try it out and if something doesn't work, try something else. Nothing is permanent in container gardening.... although happy plants can last a whole lot longer potted up than you may think. I have a client with lemon and lime trees which have been planted in the same pots for over 15 years and still continue to bear fruit prolifically throughout the year. Plus there are bonsai plants that are FAR older than you and I living their lives in containers. Fun Fact: The oldest living bonsai is a 5 needle pine residing in the Tokyo Imperial Palace collection and is approximately 550 years old!

AND Since a picture is worth a gazillion words AND Miss AndiPlants is Miss SuperBusy + TiredofTypingPants, I'll leave you with these few drawings AND these short words of encouragement to throw some soil and plants in your pots this fall. What have you got to loose (except maybe a few plants?)!


Cheers, and happy gardening!!

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.