Fresh Dirt

A garden hat for guys

2008-05-12T08:00:00-07:00

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

You have to admire a man who doesn't take himself too seriously.

Chris Lutz obviously doesn't. Though he was voted the best gardener in all of Orange County by the area's garden clubs, the title hasn't gone to his head, as you can see.

Or maybe it has?

Lutz was a host on the Laguna Beach Garden Club tour and made himself this tillandsia-adorned hat for the occasion.

In theory at least, Lutz could keep this amusement growing with nothing more than occasional misting.

I found this photo on Cindy McNatt's blog and thank her for letting me share it. McNatt is the garden and home writer for the Orange County Register.

A more conventional way to use tillandsia

2008-05-12T07:58:00-07:00

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Or you could attach them to driftwood or bark as a hanging or free-standing ornament. Or let someone else do it for you. These examples are from Rolling Greens Nursery in Culver City.

The well-contained garden

2008-05-10T08:38:12-07:00

By Jim McCausland, Sunset senior garden writer

Working as a Puget Sound-area nurseryman, John Spurrier realized that he really loves pots. They make a terrific impact in the garden, on the deck, or indoors, and they come in an infinite number of colors, patterns, and sizes.

If only they weren’t so expensive.

Spurrier met that last problem head on by opening Half Price Pots, headquartered in Bellevue, and with branches in Seattle, Edmonds, Bothell, and Renton. Each store has huge quantities of Asian and Italian pottery, plus the lights, pumps, and accessories (like pot feet) that you’d expect. When I visited, the staff offered a few tips for container shopping.

•Use your cell phone or digital camera to photograph the place you plan to put your pots, then bring it to the store when you shop. It's an easy way to remember the colors and spaces involved, so you make a better decision about exactly what to buy.

•Learn the code: “Indoor pot” means the container isn't frostproof; “outdoor pot” means it is.

•Buy an undrilled pot if you want to make a fountain or one-pot water garden, or a drilled pot if you want to use it for flowers or vegetables. If you find the perfect pot for a water garden, but it's drilled, you can close the hole with Bondo as easily as you can make a new hole with a masonry drill (or the store can make either change for you).

•Even half price pots are expensive, but colors are common up and down the size range. If you aren't sure which colors will go with your house and garden, buy a selection of small pots—they're easy to carry—just to see whether the colors work. When you decide, return the ones you don't want and apply the refund to larger sizes of the containers that come in the colors you want.

For locations, go to www.halfpricepots.com or call the main store in Bellevue at 425/635-1100.

A gift for mom: a front yard makeover

2008-05-09T11:31:00-07:00

By Julie Chai, Sunset associate editor

Reader Tony Jansen of Mountain View, California wrote to us about how he transformed a sprawling lawn into a dazzling flower-filled rock garden.

And he did it all for his mom, Jeanette. An avid gardener, Jeanette grew up in Indonesia and Holland where she developed a love of plants. But after Tony’s dad passed away several years ago, Jeanette lost her interest in gardening. To help restore her spirits and draw her back outside, Tony set out to makeover the front yard.

With no professional experience, Tony bought books and magazines for inspiration, then got to work. He brought in soil to build berms, laid landscape fabric to minimize weeds, and spent countless hours hand selecting the exact rocks and plants he wanted to fulfill his vision.

After laboring for six months, the garden is now an oasis filled with wispy grasses, groundcovers, and colorful blooms. And Tony’s hard work paid off—Jeanette loves the new landscape, and now they can’t get her out of the yard. Every mother should be so lucky.

Mickey Mouse Plant

2008-05-09T08:28:00-07:00

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

POT-TED in Atwater Village is, as its name suggests, a great source for interesting containers. Also trendy patio furniture and other garden accessories. They don't carry many plants, but the few they do have the same witty edge many of their products do. Take the prickly pear cactus shown below which bears a distinct resemblance to a famous Disney character.

POT-TED is located at 3158 Los Feliz Boulevard; 323/665-3801. They now also have a second store in Santa Monica. 1021 Montana Avenue; 310/395-7687.

What else you'll find at Pot-Ted

2008-05-09T08:27:00-07:00

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Here's some other things I liked at POT-TED:

Patio furniture that looks plastic but is made of powder-coated aluminum. Low chairs and side table/ottoman shown here. Dining and side chairs also available. Lots of other jazzy colors, too.

Custom-made tiled tables

Lovely Lewisias

2008-05-08T08:09:45-07:00

By Jim McCausland, Sunset senior garden writer

Among the prettiest and toughest Northwest native perennials, Lewisia (named for Meriwether Lewis) comes in many species and innumerable varieties. But what you’ll find most in nurseries this month is L. cotyledon, which is native to Northern California and southern Oregon. Its large, popsicle-colored flowers (mostly purple, pink, apricot, or red) cover the plant this month.

You can grow Lewisias easily in cold-winter parts of the West (but not high desert) and along the coast clear to Point Conception, always in a sunny spot, and only in soil with perfect drainage. This small plant’s finger-thick root and fleshy, strap-shaped leaves get it through summer with no extra water. To guarantee good drainage, grow Lewisias in a rock garden or in a pot full of gritty, sharply draining soil.

At Iseli Nursery in Oregon, we found one Lewisia sharing a pot with a bonsai ‘Jacobsen’ mugho pine (top), and another growing with sedums in a hypertufa trough (below).

Bay area garden tour -- Beautiful Gardens Beyond the Garden Gate

2008-05-07T08:22:14-07:00

By Julie Chai, Sunset associate editor

The Ross Garden Tour, a fund-raising event benefitting the Fine Arts Program of Ross School, will be held this Saturday, May 10, from 9 am to 3 pm. It's an opportunity to see five grand gardens -- a sweeping Mediterranean estate surrounded by majestic views, the former country home of the Ghiradelli family, a grand Tudor estate garden, and more.

The tour begins at the Marin Art and Garden Center. Vans will shuttle visitors between gardens. Tickets are $35. You can purchase them ahead of time on-line or at the Center the day of the event. An alfresco picnic lunch ($15) will also be available from 11 am to 2:30 pm. Procrastinators also have a chance to buy their Mother's Day present. Artisans and shops will offer one-of-a-kind gifts at the MarketPlace.

For purposes of planning, the tour takes approximately three hours to complete, the last van leaves at 1:30, and the gardens close promptly at 3 p.m.

See the Tour's website for a preview of the gardens and additional information.

Setting a good example: it's never to late to go "green"

2008-05-07T07:52:00-07:00

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Margaret Fast is like a lot of us. She worries about the planet and believes we all have the responsibility to do what we can to help it, including gardening sustainably. Yet, despite not believing in it philosophically or being tied to it emotionally, the front yard of Fast's home in Riverside was still all lawn. And there was a lot of it--4,400 square feet. But Fast needed a little nudge to make the change she knew she should.

It came when she attended a garden club talk by landscape designer Nan Simonsen. "The lawn has to go," insisted Simonsen. "Okay, let's do it," said Fast to Simonsen shortly thereafter. And this is what the same space looks like today.

Fast loves the look of the space, the butterflies and bees the flowers are drawing in, and the satisfaction of having improved her little corner of the earth. Her only regret is not making the move sooner. Fast, you should know, is in her early 80s. If she's still willing to invest in improving the planet, what are the rest of us waiting for?

Northwest inspiration: Columbia City Garden Tour

2008-05-06T08:30:00-07:00

By Jim McCausland, Sunset senior garden writer

In the hills on the southeast side of Seattle, Columbia City has that lovely-old-neighborhood feel: small- to medium-size city lots, a few newer houses interspersed with many original ones, large old trees and shubs, vegetable plots, and some excellent rock gardens.

Good gardeners have done wonders here, making room for everything from chickens to tree-shaded ponds. You can see some of their best efforts on this year’s Columbia City garden tour Saturday, June 14, from 10 to 4.

The tour covers 17 gardens scattered throughout this relatively small neighborhood. Bring your digital camera to help you remember exquisite plant combinations, garden art displays, gates, ponds, paths, and a few choice collectibles whose names (like Dasylirion wheeleri, pictured at right below) are as forgettable as the plants are memorable.

Advance tickets are $5 from:

KC's Flower, 4873 Rainier Ave. S.
City People's Garden Store, 2939 E. Madison St.
Flowers on 15th, 515 15th Ave. E.
Wells Medina Nursery, 8300 N.E. 24th St., Bellevue
Minter's, 13043 Renton Ave. S.

On the day of the tour you can buy tickets at Columbia City Gallery, 4864 Rainier Avenue South. For more information, contact Joan Jevnikar (206/722-1557). The tour is cosponsored by Sustainable South Seattle.

Book talk and signing at Flora Grubb Gardens

2008-05-06T06:04:00-07:00

By Julie Chai, Sunset associate editor

Jill Nokes, Austin landscape designer and the author of Yard Art and Handmade Places: Extraordinary Expressions of Home, will be talking about her new book at Flora Grubb Gardens in Bayview on Thursday, May 15. The talk is co-sponsored by The Garden Conservancy.

In her book Nokes profiles twenty homemakers who have turned their yards into oases of art and personal expression and describe what this transformation has meant to them and their communities.

Wine and hors d'oeuvres start at 5:30 pm; the talk begins at 6:15 pm. Cost is $25 if you register before May 8; $30 thereafter. To register or for more information, call (415) 561-7895 or visit the Conservancy website.

If you've never been to Flora Grubb Gardens before, we suggest you go early. There's a lot to see in this hip new nursery. Take a peek at the story we wrote about the nursery awhile back.

Cool combo

2008-05-05T19:56:00-07:00

Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Nothing earth-shatteringly new about this combination of coleus and succulents and something short and grassy. But I came across it on a hot, dry day, it was my last stop on a day of scouting that hadn't produced much, and I was feeling distinctly grumpy. But this container looked so cool and composed sitting there at the entrance, just looking at it restored my mood. Proves containers don't have to elaborate or be planted with something unusual to be effective. I wanted to take this one home with me.

Find the unusual and wonderful at Far Reaches Farm

2008-05-03T08:00:00-07:00

Jim McCausland, Sunset senior garden writer

Far Reaches Farm in Pt. Townsend, Washington, is one of those places that only gradually comes into your consciousness. Somebody shows you their prize Ranunculus ficaria 'Brazen Hussy' and says "I got it at Far Reaches." Somebody else talks about the biggest cardiocrinum they'd ever seen, one just loaded with bloom, and it was at Far Reaches.

Finally (and this is what did it for me) a nurseryman mentions that he orders plants by the truckload from Far Reaches, taking whatever they send because it's mostly unusual and all wonderful.

When I stopped by for a visit, owners Kelly Dodson and Sue Milliken (who met on a plant-hunting expedition in China) were just emerging from a display garden in a giant shade house.

I turned them around and we walked through a gallery of woodland plants, some which were familiar, others known to me only by genus, and a few that were completely new. The effect of this living display is to make you yearn for more, and indeed Dodson and Milliken are building another large shade house beside the first. They also have tables full of potted plants outside and greenhouses jammed with the choice and the rare—everything from ferns to Arisaemas.

Whatever your degree of love for plants, Far Reaches will only stimulate it and move you on to better and more lovely things for the garden. Open most Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 10 to 4, it can also been seen by appointment. Contact www.farreachesfarm.com, or call 360 385-5114.

Dog patch: Here's a lawn that has a purpose

2008-05-02T08:00:00-07:00

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Awhile back I posted a gripe about lawns that served no purpose. Here's one lawn I found in Riverside, though, that is truly worth the water it takes. This tiny patch of red fescue was installed for Lynne Seymour's dog, Barney. Though Barney — a shaggy, mixed-breed dog — is nearly as big as a bear, this area-rug-sized lawn is large enough to satisfy his lounging needs, says Seymour. "He loves this space," she says.

Here's what the rest of Seymour's yard looks like. It used to be lawn, too.

Design by Nan Simonsen of Nanscapes

And here's Barney

2008-05-02T07:59:00-07:00

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Lynne Seymour found Barney wandering the streets, obviously abandoned, and rescued him. Barney's one lucky dog.

Great plant sale for California's Inland Empire gardeners

2008-05-02T07:16:00-07:00

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Hundreds of water-wise plants will be on sale Saturday, May 3, from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m.at Western Municipal Water District’s Landscapes Southern California Style water conservation education center in Riverside, Calif. The Inland Chapter of the California Association of Nurserymen will conduct the sale with proceeds going to a horticultural scholarship.

Western’s water conservation education garden will be open during the sale, and volunteers from the University of California Cooperative Extension’s Master Gardener program will be on-hand to answer questions. Admission to the garden and the plant sale is free-of-charge. Experienced plant sale veterans recommend arriving early for the best selection.

Driving directions are available here or by calling 951.789.5087.

Landscapes Southern California Style is located at the corner of Alessandro Boulevard and Mission Grove Parkway in Riverside.

Take the the self-guided tour while you're there to see more than 250 species of plants in a natural setting as well as irrigation systems that contribute to maximum water-efficiency. By following the techniques demonstrated in the center, consumers can save 25 to 40 percent on water used in their landscapes.

This Seattle yard is approaching greatness

2008-05-01T08:00:00-07:00

By Jim McCausland, Sunset senior garden writer

This great old Seattle house is built into a slope where it has terrific views of Lake Washington and the Cascades, and where it once had equally terrific access problems. Landscape architect Barbara Stock of Stock and Hill (425 487-1664) tackled the problem in a couple of stages.

To make the entry more accessible (imagine!), she tore out a narrow zigzag staircase and replaced it with the inviting, broad stone staircase pictured above.

The next problem area was the side yard between house and lot line. Guests had to walk up a skinny concrete walkway to reach the stairs that led to the main entry porch on the second floor. Stock replaced the concrete with a Pennsylvania bluestone path, with irregular edges that break up the bowling-alley feel of the walk.

She placed lovely raised relief plaques and a narrow hanging fountain on the adjoining wall to give the approach a gallery feel and draw the eye to the side.

Stock also specified a wooden fence that edges the front lawn and elegantly gates the path to the street below.

Nifty storage structure you can make, too

2008-04-30T07:48:00-07:00

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Handy husbands are a blessing. Nina Mueller has one. When she saw a storage device for nursery pots and other small garden paraphernalia on page 48 of the most recent issue of Smith & Hawkin she liked but didn't want to pay the price for, her husband Steve offered to build her something similar. Below is what it looks like. The upslanted edges of the shelves that keep everything neatly in place were inspired by chicken coops.

Nina's friends in her Lake Forest Garden Club all covet her new chicken coop cubbies structure. And I bet everyone that tours through the Muellers' garden on May 3--it's on the Mary Lou Heard Memorial Garden Tour--will want one for themselves as well. So we asked Steve if he would share his construction plans and he was kind of enough to comply. If you have a handy husband, he can take it from here.

Download Chicken_Coop.pdf

Aubrieta for spring color

2008-04-29T08:10:34-07:00

By Jim McCausland, Sunset senior garden writer

Sheets of red, lilac, blue, or purple flowers cover common aubrieta (A. deltoidea) in mid spring—and common aubrieta covers just about every low thing that surrounds it all year. At 4 to 6 inches tall and 18 inches wide, this spreading ground cover is a spring classic. Let it spill over rocks or out of walls.

This planting is in Marilyn Munro's garden in Sequim, Washington.

A loose interpretation of an aerial hedge

2008-04-28T07:28:00-07:00

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Bordering a garden with pleached trees or an aerial hedge is a centuries-old horticultural practice. In both cases the trees are closely spaced and the effect, above the trunks, is one solid mass.

In pleaching, side branches of adjoining trees are intertwined in one flat plane and all the rest of the branches are removed. You get a similar effect from selecting trees with a dense habit and keeping them closely clipped to the shape of the tree; that variation is called the aerial hedge.

Both practices create a distinctively formal look, which is probably why you don't see them much in American gardens, especially our casual Western ones.

But Irvine landscape designer Carole MacElwee used a variation of the aerial hedge in the front courtyard of Mirit and Joseph Konowiecki's garden in Long Beach. A row of Arbutus `Marina' trees were planted along the courtyard wall spaced only five feet apart. Obviously these trees will never be able to develop full canopies, but MacElwee has no intention of letting them turn into the sheared box look of traditional aerial hedges either.

"Gil De Santos [her Silverado-based landscape contractor] is a wonderful arborist," says MacElwee, "and he'll keep these trees pruned so they remain feathery and somewhat separate." They'll be open enough for light to penetrate and natural looking shadows to form on the hardscape, she says.

Arbutus `Marina' is a great tree for this effect , says MacElwee. It stays small, it has big, handsome leaves, and, of course, there's that great rich red bark. "I love the way those trunks look when I'm inside looking out at that space," says Mirit.

Metrosideros excelsa (New Zealand Christmas tree) is another good candidate for close spacing and a similar effect, says De Santos.