Designed By Julie Orr, installed by SouthBay Design and Landscape

"Before" Julie Orr Design's Express Garden Service

For various reasons throughout the cycle of your garden, you may find that your new plants simply are not thriving or that your older plants are looking tired. If the bones of your yard (the hardscape paths, patios and general places you walk on) look great, maybe you just need a plant makeover?

This client in Los Altos asked me to do just that. He had a terrific layout from a previous designer that looked good but the plants were suffering and never achieved their full potential even after the client waited 10 years for things to “fill-in.” I stepped in along with the guidance of a landscape contractor and we diagnosed several key issues. First there were plenty of drainage issues which were only exasperated by irrigation problems (too much water) and to add insult to injury, the client had too much maintenance to handle on his own, so we put him in touch with the right experts.

Here are some of the pictures of the finished results just shortly after the makeover.

"Before" Julie Orr Design's Plant Makeover

By Julie Orr and Stephanie Morris

1) Winnifred Gilman Salvia, Salvia Clevelandii ‘Winnifred Gilman’ – This cultivar related to Cleveland Sage is evergreen and shoots out sprays of tall blue-violet flowers drawing delicate hummingbirds, butterflies and helpful insects.

2) Saint Catherine’s Lace, Eriogonum giganteum – The evergreen is valued for rapid growth, gray foliage and white blooms.

3) California Fuchsia, Epilobium canum- Easy to grow, this flower is most alluring to hummingbirds. It has red flowers and sweet nectar.

4) Deer grass, Muhlenbergia rigens – This excellent accent plant features long seed heads, and you can enjoy seeing them sway under a gentle breeze.

5) Ray Hartman Ceanothus, Ceanothus ‘Ray Hartman’ – A popular California lilac, this small tree makes an excellent focal point for tiny gardens. Also looks amazing against a wall or fence as an espalier.

6) Western Redbud, Cercis occidentalis- This treasure features heart-shaped leaves and gives off a breathtaking winter show of hot pink buds.

7) Bush Anemone, Carpenteria californica– The joyful evergreen native features dark green leaves year round and surprises all with white fragrant flowers blooming from spring to summer.

8. Paradise Manzanita, Arctostaplyos parahoensis- This is considered a great plant because of its year round appeal with evergreen foliage and nice red bark. Hummingbirds love its bell shaped flowers.

9) Pacific Coast Iris, Iris douglasiana ­­ ­­- A spring blooming small scale plants tolerant of part shade and moist or dry soils, with showy flowers in the spring.

10) Seaside Daisy, Erigeron ‘Wayne Roderick’- It is one of the few that flowers in the spring, summer and fall as long as you keep deadheading the spent flowers. Perfect along the edge of a pathway.

Did you know that even the careful use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides may cause illness in some people or their pets? By using organic methods of landscaping, you can reduce the health risk to you and your loved ones, save money and contribute to the well being of your local ecosystem/environment.

Organic gardening protects all of us

Here are five organic techniques you can use on your lawn and in your garden.

1. Wherever possible, use native plants or plants from similar environmental conditions, to make organic gardening easier.  Natives frequently require less water, fertilizer, and care than non-native, exotic plants. Click herefor more benefits while gardening with natives.
   

   California native front yard garden

2. To keep your lawn healthy and resistant to weeds, use organic methods to care for the soil and the grass. Organic fertilizers, compost materials, and worm castings may be more expensive to purchase than chemical fertilizers, but they do not need to be applied to lawns as frequently, making the actual costs even out over the long term. Using the appropriate amount of water by staggering your watering intervals, will also keep your lawn healthy and stimulate long root growth.
3. Use aeration, a technique of punching small holes in the lawn, to allow air, water and nutrients to reach more deeply into the lawn’s root system. Not only will your lawn be more beautiful, a healthy lawn will be weed and pest free. You can also use a 50:50 mix of sand and organic compost spread in a thin layer over your lawn as top dressing to strengthen your lawn.
4. Collect leaves, pine needles and weed-free plant clippings to create compost that you can use on your lawn and your other plantings. Leaves have an appropriate name because it’s ok to actually ‘leave’ them where they land in your yard.  For example, oak leaves make excellent mulch around the base.
   

   Fallen leaves look natural in this lawn-free front yard

5. Hire a landscape maintenance company who also practices organic methods. Again, the initial expense may be higher than your typical mow-blow-and-go type service, but it’s not worth it to have you or your garden’s health compromised.

Practicing organic gardening techniques can save you money, reduce your exposure to harmful chemicals, and improve the planet.

Creating a garden that stimulates all of your senses using water-wise plants, can be very rewarding.  Enjoying not only the sights and smells of your garden, but hearing, touching and tasting it is a matter of choosing just the right plant and locating it where it will deliver the most enjoyment to your senses.

Touch A garden pathway is an ideal place to locate touchable plants such as New Zealand Wind Grass, Stipa arundinacea or native Deer Grass such as Muhlenbergia ngens.  They invite visitors to linger while gently passing the foliage or flower over their hand.  Using walk-able ground covers such as Yarrow, Achillea tomentosa on pathways instead of stone or grass will provide your feet with unexpected sensation.  Kids love the deceptively soft foliage of Lambs Ears, Stachys byzantina; it’s like having a petting zoo in their own backyard.

Stachys bizantina, Stipa arundinacea, Rosmarinus prostratus

Sound Instead of depending upon wind chimes to add sound to your garden, add trees or shrubs that attract song birds or humming birds to bring in natural sounds.   Nectar producing shrubs such as Ava’s Hummingbird Mint, Agastache ‘Ava’ attract hummingbirds.  To enjoy the gurgling sound of water slowly running over stones, add a water feature or a pond-less urn-style fountain.   Capture the sound of the breeze rustling through the grass by adding tall clumping Feather Reed Grass, Calamagrostis acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster.’

Water feature surrounded by edible strawberries designed by Julia Konye, Green Willow Gardens

Smell By spreading roses throughout the garden rather than grouping them all in one area, visitors enjoy their intoxicating scent repeatedly. Heirloom roses, found at specialty stores like Roses of Yesterday and Today, have the best fragrance.  Adding plants that have scented foliage such as Cleveland Sage, Salvia clevelandii and Lemon thyme, Thymus citriodorus to areas around pathways, smell wonderful when brushed against.  Consider growing perfumed vines to add even more fragrance.  While the Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata’ is a popular choice for its sweet perfume that can fill a garden, remember that it is also toxic to pets.

Sit on the bench and enjoy the fragrant apple blossoms and lavender. Design by Julie Orr.

Taste You can look beyond your vegetable garden for edible plants, your ornamental garden can offer its own tasty delights. New varieties of artichokes, cabbage and lettuce offer distinctive foliage colors and textures that fit well with perennials.  Edible flowers such as nasturtiums and pansies can be added to salads or used as garnish.  Culinary herbs such as oregano, sage, or rosemary can be mixed with perennials.

Echinacea purpurea, Echinacea; Delta Sunflower, Helianthus annuus, attract pollinators. Garden design Julie Orr

Sight Creating a pleasing visual picture can be done by varying the height, form, color and texture of your plantings.  Placing ground covers in contrasting colors under taller perennials will add sparkle.  Adding outdoor lighting will illuminate your garden at night. Use a neighbor’s tree or other element as a center of visual interest for creating a frame of your own. An element of mystery can be added by having garden pathways disappear behind larger plantings.

What sensory experience do you want to add to your garden?  A well designed sustainable sensory garden can provide long term enjoyment of earthly delights.

Thank you Maureen Decombe, Green Willow Gardens, for permission to use your pictures as design examples.

This garden shows that sustainable landscaping can be accomplished through DIY talent and on a shoe-string budget when working closely with a professional landscape designer. The Craftsman home said goodbye to its water-thirsty lawn and concrete hardscape, and now features a dry creek bed that drains rainwater away from the house, marked by a rock fountain surrounded by California gray rush. The old concrete path was resurrected as decorative urbanite walls for native bunch grasses, Pacific iris, evergreen huckleberry and woodland strawberry.   Shrubs include ceanothus,  coffeeberry and manzanita.  Island alum root fills a large window box. A natural rock fountain and metal “cat-tails” birdfeeders encourage birds to visit the garden often.

Clay and Lisa already prided themselves in living a sustainable lifestyle, but this was not reflected in their garden. The water-loving lawn and impervious concrete had to go.

Before Julie Orr Design

Whether you are planning a new garden or giving your current landscape a face-lift, outdoor lighting brings everything to life. Here are the top design tips for getting the most value and enjoyment from your lighting.

Select your light fixtures and placement based on function, not appearance. Think about function from both a safety and aesthetic perspective. Fixtures come in many different styles including path lights, up lights, down lights, spot lights, and specialty lights (step lights, etc.). Each style provides a wide array of light outputs (wattage, beam spread, luminosity) to suit particular lighting needs. With the exception of your pathlights, most fixtures will disappear into the landscape as plants mature, so choose a fixture color that complements your design.

Just as your garden grows, so will your lighting needs. Consider a light fixture with an interchangeable lamp (light bulb) so that you can increase the watts as needed when you plants mature. In other words, when your newly planted 12 foot tree reaches 30 plus feet in height, you’re going to need more light. This requires forethought in both your wiring and transformer size. Also, if you are planning to do lighting in a future phase of construction, make sure you plan for the infrastructure now rather than later.

We all know that you get what you pay for in landscaping but this is especially true for lights. Buy high quality fixtures and transformers with manufacturer warranties because the landscape environment can be harsh on lighting. “Inferior product quality only leads to failure, especially where electrical connections and water are concerned,” says Mike McPherson from Vista Professional Outdoor Lighting.

Lastly, when you consider lighting, also be considerate to neighbors. If you live in a neighborhood that promotes ‘dark skies’ be sure to read your city’s lighting ordinance and adhere to all lighting restrictions. Remember that down lights create a more natural appearance than up lights because it mimics moonlight. Other glare reducing techniques include adding frosted lens and honeycomb louvers to the fixtures. Of course hiding the fixture within the landscape design so that you cannot see the actual light source adds the most realistic effect.

The 6 California Native Sod products offered by Delta Bluegrass are a great choice for clients wanting to conserve water while saving time and money on maintenance.

Once established,  healthy turf can be achieved using 50% less water than traditional sod varieties. Native Bentgrass™ and Delta Grassland Mix™ are cultivated to become the first native lawns available that withstand mowing for urban landscape areas.

For bio-swales, roadsides, medians, irrigation canals, erosion control, and environmental mitigation areas, we have developed our Native Mow Free™, Biofiltration Sod™, Delta Native Heartland Sod™ and Native Preservation Mix™.

If you are looking for a meadow effect at a good price point and don’t feel like mowing but once a year the Native Mow Free is a great choice.

Lyngso
19 Seaport Blvd. Redwood City, CA 94063   650.364.1730     Hours: Mon – Sat 7 to 5, Sun 8 to 4

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