Question from Cat:

Answer from Pat:
Thank you so much for this enquiry. About seven years ago my insurance company informed me that they would need to greatly increase my homeowners insurance if I continued to open my garden to tours and visits from the public. That put an end to visits to my garden from members of the public. Now my garden is back to being what it was always meant to be in the first place: A happy outdoor space for my own enjoyment and for the enjoyment of family and friends. The time felt exactly right. There are many great gardens out there, far better ones than mine now is. It is time for younger folks to take over.

Since making that decision, I’ve been simplifying my garden and making it easier care and more drought-resistant. I got rid of all my tubs and containers or most of them, pulled out all overly-thirsty plants, covered the spaces with mulch, replaced some with natives, added new potted arrangements of succulents, and installed a huge succulent bank next to the drive. It hardly ever gets watered. I’m now saving about one hundred dollars on every water bill. I’m also trying to resist temptations that arise sometimes to add more plants. The main additions today are fun things for my great-grandchildren, like potted “fairy gardens” and a projected “dinosaur garden”. We already have a “pirate garden” and may make a hobbit house or two. Wandering paths and flights of steps I made of sacks of concrete, hardened under the hose, already create fun places for my beloved great-grandson Archer to run around on. But I have to tell you I simply adore all four of them: Archer, Anushka, Fable, and Jade.

Here are some photos of my garden taken last Easter by my granddaughter Rebecca Woolf.
http://www.girlsgonechild.net/2010/04/garden.html

She has posted some other ones also: Click on this link to a photo of the very simple “fairy garden” I made with the help of my friend Denise.
http://www.girlsgonechild.net/2009/11/treasured.html

Regarding Great Dixter, Christopher Lloyd and I were friends. He visited my garden years ago. I visited him with my granddaughter Rachel Woolf when she was 13 years old and I took her on a trip to Spain, Scotland, and England. Christo gave me the room in which he was born. Rachel had been in another room but after going to bed, crept in to join me, even though Christo had said very decisively “My house is NOT haunted!” (We didn’t say it was, but you know he was a character.) So while we were there we both slept in the bed in which Christo had been born. That whole long weekend was a great experience and we drank a lot of very good champagne. This photo was taken by a lovely visitor to the garden during one of our afternoon walks around the garden. (Please say hi to Fergus.)

Related posts:

1. Thomas Welsh
2. Multi-media Garden Mural: How to Create
3. Romancing the Garden: A philosophy of gardening Pt 4

From Kathy:

I thought maybe two bushes on the bottom in the slide area one aon  the top part of the easement on the bottom slope  and then put another one further down toward the street.  How many do you think I need for the upper part?

Answer from Pat:
To space plants properly, first measure the space, then look up the plants in Sunset Western Garden Book, or in paperback books on ground covers, or ask your nursery. Every plant has appropriate guidelines for spacing. (ie, how many feet or inches apart the plant needs to go.) Some landscapers put plants much too close together for quick effect.This is a bad idea since after a year or two the homeowner is always needing to cut back. You can figure out how far plants need to be put apart from each other, simply by knowing the eventual size of the plant, and doing a plot plan so each plant fills that amount of space and the edges touch. For small groundcovers. make a triangle of cardboard, each side being the distance apart. Use it for placing plants at appropriate distance from each other in a triangular, diagonal pattern.

Related posts:

1. Planting a Bank
2. Planting on a Bank & Best Substitutes for Lawns
3. Correcting Erosion on a Steep Bank in Encino

Question from Kathy:

I have a new problem and do not know what to do. I live on top of a steep hillside and have been here for 34 yrs. I have never had a mudslide. However, the hillside is in three levels and the bottom one had a some mudslide last winter. It was covered with the old heavy ice plant and the woman who lives across the street from my hill started pulling it out and planted red apple and some nasturtiums as she didn’t like the weeds in between the ice plant. Now I need to know how to fix this problem.

What is the best and toughest ground cover ?

I live in Rancho Palos Verdes. The slide is about 3 feet deep by about 4′ wide at the top and a narrow 9′ down to the street . It has thick red apple on one side and scattered old ice plant on the other side. Thank you so much

Answer from Pat:
Thanks for kind comment. Below are a lot of ways to fix a steep bank. I think I was considering a larger space than you actually have, but I have given you so much to chose from you can make it fit your needs. Also this advice may help others who read this site.

As you undoubtedly know landslides on the Palos Verdes Peninsula can be a serious matter since they might signal a problem with an entire strata of wet adobe soil slipping down over a harder layer of soil below. This kind of slide can happen when the “tow” of a hillside has been unwisely bulldozed or cut into. It might be wise for you to contact your UC Extension Home Horticultural Advisor, Department of Agriculture, or your local city officials before trying to do anything to correct the slide so you can first make sure there is no serious slippage problem in this case. In many cases in the past mudslides have endangered houses or even lives, though yours sounds smaller in scope than were those.

Once you have determined that this is not a widespread or potentially dangerous situation, then you can undertake some steps to try to correct the problem. First, ice plant is seldom a good solution for a very steep bank, since it can actually pull a bank down by its own weight. Nonetheless if it is growing there already and holding a bank it’s unwise to pull it out as your neighbor did since this can make the whole bank slide as happened in this case. A wiser way to make a change is to cut the ice plant short and leave the roots in place, then plant right through it. The roots will continue to hold the bank while the new plants take over. It’s too bad your neighbor didn’t know of this old-timers trick, a common practice in California gardens fifty or sixty years ago when people with new homes covered banks with ice plant quickly to hold them through winter rain then soon upgraded to something better.

Also, red apple ice plant is not a very good solution for steep banks since it needs a lot of water and calcium nitrate fertilizer to stay green. It’s far better to plant something more environmentally responsible. When trying to plant a bank for the purpose of stabilizing slipping soil, the very best way is to plant a mix of deeper- rooted larger plants along with shorter-rooted ground covers to cover the ground between them to hold the ground as the larger plants are getting going. Examples of shorter rooted ground covers are gazania or arctotis. Then you could dot such plants as shrubby bougainvilleas all over the bank, along with something like ceonothus ‘Concha’. I recommend bougainvilleas as one of the better plants for such an area. They will grow on a drip system and grab deeply into the soil. Once fully established they become very drought-resistant and you get a lot of bang for the buck. Another fairly deep-rooted bank cover plant is Acacia redolens ‘Desert Carpet’ or ‘Low Boy’. This too is very drought-resistant once established. Lantana montevidensis is hugely colorful with lavender flowers almost year round and also very drought-resistant, easy to grow and good on banks. Finally consider blue plumbago. For a gang busters combination on a bank and drought-resistant year-round color, plan yellow trailing gazanias to cover the ground, then use an equal number of the the following plants to send down deep roots and hold the soil: Bougainvillea ‘La Jolla’, Plumbago ‘Royal Robe’, and Lantana ‘Radiation’.

Another way to go and perhaps more exciting, but best planted in November: You could do the whole thing with native plants. You might try toyon or Calfornia holly (Heteromeles arbutifolia ) at the bottom of the slope. (Get the one from Catalina that has bigger berries.) For a native shrub requiring no water whatsoever in summer, plant flannel bush (Fremontedendron ‘California Glory’.) Or, for a compact one, try F. ‘Dara’s Gold’. Plant this next to ceonothus for a great color combination blooming at the same time in spring. I think natives are probably the way to go with this slope but you could get a ground cover going first to hold everything until fall. Matilija poppy (Romneya coulteri) is a great way to grab a bank but not a good time to plant now. I planted three of these last November and they are all growing and blooming. All natives are best planted in November but it would be all right to cover the bank now with some native ground covers though perhaps not California perfume (Ribes viburnifolium)—great on banks but might not survive planting now. But bear berry (Arctostaphylos urva-ursi) or coyote bush (Bacharis pilularis) I think might mostly survive along the coast even if planted now since we’re having cooler than usual weather, and then plant the bigger things in fall.

Related posts:

1. Erosion Control for Steep Hillside: Last Minute Installation to Hold the Soil
2. Correcting Erosion on a Steep Bank in Encino
3. Native Plants for Erosion Control on Steep Banks

Also, do you have some advice on peaches, nectarines, plums and cherries? I have trees that are two years old – they are nice and green but have zero fruit. And just a few fruits on the apple trees. I’m going to implement the horse manure fertilizing plan this fall. Is there anything else I can do to increase my chances of having fruit in the summer?

Answer from Pat:
When fruit trees fail to bear the reasons are usually one of three common causes: The first is planting and trying to grow trees not adapted to the region in which one lives. For example, there are no conventional cherry trees that bear edible fruit that are adapted to mild-winter Mediterranean climates, if that is where you live. The best home-garden Southern California nectarine is ‘Panamint’, but even it sometimes fails to bear on years when winters are warm and mild. Peaches and plums are also highly regional. Refer to the lists in Sunset Western Garden Book to make sure the varieties you are growing are adapted to your particular climate zone. It is possible also to plant a variety that is adapted to a mild climate but then a cold winter can freeze the flowers if they open at the wrong time.

Secondly, your trees are still young and might not have been pruned properly to bear a crop. Overly harsh winter pruning followed by too much nitrogen fertilizer can result in all leafy growth and little or no fruit. Deciduous fruit trees here require light fertilization only to be applied so it is active just as the flowerbuds open in spring. Also with two year old trees it’s too early yet to know how well they are going to bear. They are still young and your main aim at first should be pruning and training them into a good shape. Refer to pruning manuals for instructions. Each deciduous fruit tree requires different care. (Also please look at what I’ve written on this topic.)

Another reason fruit trees might fail to bear is because there were no bees to pollinate the blossoms when flowers opened, or you might have varieties that require a pollinator and have failed to provide the right one that blooms at the same time. Pesticides, especially Malathion, kill bees. Please read the sections on pollination and hand pollinating fruit on this blog, and please also look in the lists in Sunset Western Garden Book to see if your varieties require a pollinator. Graft the necessary pollinators onto your trees.

Related posts:

1. Vegetable Gardening and Edibles in a New Garden
2. Fruit Trees in Southern California
3. Sunset areas

As for vegetables, come to my lectures on that subject. I am covering it from the ground up this year both summer veggies now and winter veggies in fall. Put raised boxes in full sun.

Related posts:

1. What’s Wrong with Vegetable Garden Soil
2. Vegetable Garden Problems and How to Cure Them/Grow-Camp garden system
3. Lime, Peach, Nectarine, and Apricot Trees for Mild Climates

Question from Katie:

Answer from Pat:
It is fun having a question from England. I was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, England, and returned last year to visit. The North Yorkshire Moors are as unspoiled as ever. We also enjoyed the Lake District and the amazing Crop Circles in Wiltshire for ten days. Of course, some are hoaxes, but many are a genuine mystery. Some are mind-blowing in size and mathematical complexity, appear to have some kind of magnetic forces inside them, and contain exploded plant nodes where they are bent over as if from a microwave oven. There are also some very odd lights zooming around at immense speed. This phenomenon has been going on for centuries and is still unsolved. Fun just to see it and wonder at it. (We saw 28 formations on the ground and from the air in a helicopter.)

But now to your exposed, south-facing, ocean-front site which sounds as if it is located in a climate similar to our (Western USA, Sunset Zone 5), a zone subject to salt spray in Oregon and Washington, though facing west, not generally south, —unless on the north side of an inlet. But this should not make too much difference. (For your information, our Sunset Zones work better for us in the West than do the United States Agricultural Zones because we have so many climate zones here in the west and thus having many zones instead of just a few, makes it easier to choose plants that will work for each.)

Among plants that should survive and give a pleasant architectural look are hardy ornamental grasses (such as Festuca gautieri and Festuca amethystina that are not too invasive. It would be best to choose local varieties, making sure they are not invasive); heathers (Calluna’s) such as Scotch heather, but many improved varieties should be available in local nurseries; and heaths (Erica’s). Many of these are native to the English coast and by choosing various types available in your local nursery you could create a colorful mounded tapestry of different ones with long-lasting color. Heaths and heathers need moist acid soil, so you will need to amend your sandy soil with acid amendment such as peat moss (though this is not a renewable resource and it would be better if you could find another acid soil amendment such as well-rotted wood products, home-made compost, and pine needles.) You will also need to keep the ground moist. Heaths and heathers can withstand salt spray and wind and exposed locations but they cannot stand being soggy on the one hand or drying out on the other. If you can manage this, no lovelier plants can be found. Nestling them against artistically placed boulders can give them a cool damp place under which to hide their roots from drying winds and sun.

Rosa rugosa should thrive in your coastal location and makes a great barrier plant. Allow it to mound, plant it back from paths where its thorns cannot harm people or children and use foreground plants to hide its lower portions, which are less attractive as they grow taller. Several colors are available. Among trees, I recommend katsura trees (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) needs water, though, especially when young; holly oak (Quercus ilex) which can be clipped into hedges, if you want; strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo), which is drought resistant once established, and some palms such as Washingtonia, and windmill palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) which it sounds as if you you might have already discovered can survive there. (I saw it growing in Wiltshire last summer, and I’ve seen it along the coast.) Among shrubs, Pittosporum tobira, Rhaphiolepis, and Rosmarinus officianalis are some suggestions along with the heaths mentioned above. Among perennials, Yarrow (Achillea), Common thrift (Armeria maritima), Ground morning glory (Convolvulus sabatima), Pinks (Dianthus), Fleabane (Erigeron), and Our Lord’s candle (Yucca), should all survive. Also try sea holly (Eryngium alpinum and E. amethystinum.) Lovely to behold when evening sun shines through their silvery blue bracts. I’ve found these easy to plant from seeds and not overly invasive.

Using just the plants named above you can create a wonderfully interesting windswept look. Combine plants with rocks, boulders, and driftwood. Create interesting wandering paths to the beach. Arrange attractive shells, bottles, floats, flotsum and jetsum as ornaments. Even a partially-buried old rowboat overflowing with easy annual flowers such as sweet alyssum and nasturtium, can create a great look in a beach-front garden. Also visit seaside gardens in your area to see what has worked for others. Photos in books and magazines may also provide inspiration. With any difficult site, trial and error is the best way to go.

Related posts:

1. Plants for Beachfront and Seaside Gardens in Southern California
2. Right Mulch for Beach Plants
3. Native Plants for Erosion Control on Steep Banks

Pots, statuary, choose tasteful statuary and garden ornaments to add art and whimsy

• Bird houses
• Murals, mosaics
• Statues and design elements can hearken back to ancient times,
• other times and places.

But since a garden is all for fun, could be kitch Felder rushing shows us how:

• Some gardens have a sense of humor
• Shells, bottles, walls of color.
• Gnomes?
• Well-chosen signs

Practical aspects:

1. Work with nature, not against it
2. Be an organic gardener.

Before mankind invented pesticides everyone was organic and there were great gardens improve the soil with organic amendments release and attract beneficials. This kind of garden feels different than a dead garden where not even a beetle can survive!

How to do all this: make a list or create a design
o Let the space speak to you let the ground talk
o Don’t need to make a drawing
o Your garden can evolve
o Walk around, dream a little, get ideas and write them down don’t rush, there is time.
o Refer to magazines and books for inspiration
o Visit great gardens
o Nothing wrong with copying
o Keep a file of ideas and photos
o Choose materials with care,
o Best not to have too many materials.

And finally, once you have created this great garden,
Then live in it.
Go down there or out there,
Books to read,
Paintings to paint,
Letters to write, your friends
Family to be with.
Lunch under the arbor
Dinner and breakfast in the patio.
entertain in the garden,
Not always a barbque but out door.

First gardening is all about creation.
That is the joy of it
Making a painting
One works the dream is in one’s head
The joy is in making that dream come true.
There was a time—could not sit in my own garden
Always something nagging at me to be done
Could only work in it.

But eventually the beautiful romantic garden you create is for your joy, for the joy of your friends and family.

Also at one time there is a certain tension: the garden never looks quite good enough to satisfy!

That era wears off.

Finally the garden is no longer about constant work. Certainly not about looking like a magazine cover every day of the week. Not about perfection,

It’s about creating and then living in a retreat, a peaceful oasis in the midst of our increasingly urban hustle and bustle.

It’s about happiness and joy.

Related posts:

1. Romancing the Garden: A philosophy of gardening Pt 2
2. Romancing the Garden: A philosophy of gardening Pt 3
3. Romancing the Garden: A philosophy of gardening Pt 1

Question from Olivia:

Answer from Pat:
Feng shui is very useful in the garden when choosing and placing statues and objects. There are many experts on this. It is best not to use oriental statuary, however, unless creating an oriental garden or one inspired by the orient. Most experts say do not plant a tree directly in front of a front door. There are books on Feng shui in the garden that can be helpful and explain many ways to arrange things in a harmonious way. It seems to be some kind of science of arrangement and not pure superstition. Avoid books based on superstitious ideas and stick with those that offer positive and helpful ideas.

Many experts have said that wind chimes can go on the left of a door or window if one’s back is against the house wall or to the right of a door or window if one is facing the house. These are reputed to bring blessings and helpful people to the house. The tones should be pleasing, and never grating. Some people need to muffle wind chimes at night. The best kinds sound like temple bells and are arranged to give out special tones, like music.

Frogs are especially good next to water or near the front door and denote “Divine Supply” especially if they are a gift. St. Frances or St. Fiacre are perfect in gardens and add an air of peace and harmony of spirit, but take care to get truly artistic and pleasing examples. Statues make excellent focal points and places to which a path can lead.

Birdbaths and fountains are also excellent additions to gardens. I think every garden should include water in some form other than the garden hose. Water adds greatly to the atmosphere of a garden and brings birds. When water moves, it is important to arrange the fountain so that the water falls in the direction of the house and not away from it. Water flowing towards the house brings money and supply. Water flowing away to the house is said to make supply flow away. But if the water flows in all directions, just make sure a goodly amount flows towards the house.

An old birdbath can also be used for planting succulents as a focal point for a garden bed, such as under the shade of a tree where perhaps invasive roots make many plants hesitant to grow.

Related posts:

1. Romancing the Garden: A philosophy of gardening Pt 4
2. Multi-media Garden Mural: How to Create
3. Garden Design

Many spectacular trees and shrubs from mild regions around the world are well adapted to growing in our coastal Mediterranean climate. Nonetheless, when housing developments are originally landscaped, planners usually choose the most pedestrian trees and shrubs since they are non-controversial and easy to find in nurseries. When these original trees and shrubs die or are in need of replacement due to disease, invasive roots, or other problems, a unique opportunity arises to create a more exciting and colorful landscape.

Colorful trees and shrubs can be arranged in the landscape in a variety of ways. One can dot them throughout the landscape or, alternatively, create a more unified look by planting in drifts and choosing a specific tree variety for each street. We recommend a combination of these approaches to be accomplished by mixing shrubs on banks in attractive color schemes, using drifts in some areas, and gradually replacing street trees by planting solidly with one specific and different flowering tree chosen for each street. Thus you would have a white-flowered street, yellow-flowered street, purple-foliaged street, pink-flowered street, red-flowered, salmon-flowered street and so forth. The flowers also would occur at different times of year, thus lending color year-round.

Flowering subtropical trees and shrubs, once established, often become more drought resistant than the trees and shrubs they replace. Some of them are slow growing, others are fast, some take a few years to bloom, others bloom immediately and, in some cases, year-round. Flowering trees, once mature, can become a lasting gift of beauty and excitement for generations to come. It is with these ideas in mind that we offer the following plant lists and suggestions.

CURRENT GOALS:

• Replace trees such as carrotwood, pine, eucalyptus, camphor, liquidambar, and sycamore trees that need to be removed due to problems with invasive roots, height, or disease.
• Provide a list of alternative street trees as well as trees and shrubs for slopes.
• Recommend placement according to height and exposure.
• Take into consideration these factors:
  • Low maintenance
  • Drought tolerance
  • Colorful flowers or foliage
  • Pleasing appearance when seen from homes above
  • Basic color scheme: Pink, blue, yellow, white, lavender, with splashes of red

PLAN FOR FIRST YEAR:

Replace plants in front yards with better choices.

SURVEY OF AREAS:

Here is a survey of the landscape trees and shrubs. Below this survey, you will also find lists for banks that can be used as guides for all areas, arranged according to the heights of banks and of plants.

Remove stump and plant Chinese Fringe Tree (Chionanthus retusus) or Indian Hawthorne Tree (Rhaphiolepis ‘Majestic Beauty’) one of the best small trees ever developed, but needs to be on tall enough trunk.

Shiny Xylosma (Xylosma congestum) Tall camellia-like hedge is –Repeat planting wherever a dense green screen is needed with neat foliage. This plant is well adapted to west end of lower streets to screen fence and main road.

Problems that can occur on slopes:

Over watering can cause irregular growth and weakened trunks on Pink Melaleuca (Melaleuca nesophila.) Improve their look by cutting one or two trunks from each clump every year and rounding off the foliage.

Suggestions for sunny places on slope: Dwarf Bottle Brush –(Callistemon citrinus ‘Perth Pink’), Dwarf Pohutukawa (Metrosideros villosa ‘Tahiti’) close to top of bank/slope, Dwarf Tea Trees (Leptospermum scoparium.) See list below for varieties.) and Blue Plumbago (Plumbago auriculata ‘Royal Cape’),  Cherry Plum (Prunus ceracifera ‘Nigra’), an ornamental purple-leaved plum, bearing white flowers in spring followed by abundant small round plums, could be planted at base of the slope, as we discussed. However the best use for it would be as one of the chosen street trees. Reputed to be better inland than along the coast, there are nonetheless many beautiful specimens close to the ocean. A cold winter such as we just had makes this tree more eye-catching than usual. It is especially nice when seen against green backgrounds.

Chinese Flame Tree (Koelreuteria bipinnata), described in lists below, would make a good replacement for Carrotwood (Cupaniopsis anacardiodes) as a street tree.

What to do about narrow spaces between buildings:

Hawaiian Wedding tree or Sweetshade (Hymenosporum flavum): Tall, narrow upright growth makes this good for narrow spaces, where it even can be planted in groves. A massive display of single, yellow, fragrant flowers covers the branch tips in spring and early summer. Though reputed not to grow in wind there are excellent specimens growing within a quarter mile of the ocean.

Plant Weeping Bottlebrush (Callistemon viminalis ‘McCaskillii’ ) on banks. Choose and place this very large shrub according to height requirement. Improved bottlebrush varieties are more shrubby with better flower color. They can be purchased or trained into single-trunked, highly colorful, trees or allowed to grow as massive multi-trunked shrubs. (Both uses are discussed below.)

Large, high slopes

Make sure irrigation pipes such as white PVC pipes are covered with a thick layer of rough-textured mulch such as tree trimmings to improve look and encourage growth of ground- covers.

Plant Floss Silk Trees (Chorisia speciosa) and/or other colorful trees at the base of h ills, where height won’t destroy views. It is not necessary to purchase the grafted Floss Silk Trees.  Prominent thorns on green trunks of the species are ornamental conversation pieces.

Plant Tipu Trees (Tipuana tipu) on large slopes. Also plant a selection of colorful shrubs from list below.

Covering existing eyesores:

Plant Bottle Brush or Blue Plumbago (Plumbago ‘Royal Cape’) to cover stump of Pink Melaleuca (Melaleuca nesophila) which is good in coastal zones.

Replacing old woody plants that have been injured by improper pruning:

Remove Mirror plant (Coprosma) hedges and replace with Dwarf Indian Hawthorne (Rhaphiolepis ‘Ballerina’) on 3-foot centers. (Deadhead and fertilize after bloom. Pinch back tips after bloom, but do not sheer or heavily prune this plant until it spreads out and covers space. Do not allow gardeners to prune this plant into a round ball.) Retain the gray-foliaged Ballotta (Ballotta pseudodictamnus) and Lily of the Nile (Agapanthus) but remove straggely plants that spoil the appearance.. Retain Pigmy Date Palms (Phoenix roebelenii). Feed these palms annually in May with Scotts Palm Food and cut off damaged fronds. Given proper care, these elegant palms should become more valuable and attractive with age. Replacement at this time would be expensive and is unnecessary.

NOTE: If it should in future be necessary to replace these palms due to unsightliness or disease, then at that time, replace each clump with 3 Windmill Palms (Trachycarpus fortunei), but this action is not recommended unless absolutely necessary. (Windmill palms are hardy, i.e.: they can go through colder winters than most other palms. They are attractive when grown in the corners of beds, but are currently more difficult to find and more expensive to purchase than Pygmy Date Palm. They do not look good when grown in windy locations.)

Replanting of slopes to improve appearance and stablilize soil:

Remove Hop Bush (Dodonia viscosa ‘Purpurea’) Plant a tall flowering tree Markhamia Tree (Markhamia lutea, M. hildebrandii)– in a location at base of high bank so it does not cut into views of houses higher on hill. Cover stumps such as ficus stumps from removed trees by planting Bottle Brush (Callistemon citrinus ‘Improved’ or ‘Splendens’) as the large-size screen here, or New Zealand Christmas Shrub (Metrosideros collina ‘Spring Fire’) or choose from list below according to height and size needed.  Replace Pink Powder Puff (Calliandra haematocephala) Choose shrubs for bank from list below in order to fill smaller spaces and to screen bank and fence.

Beautifying intersections:

A prominent position such as an intersection might be a good place for planting a really spectacular tree, even if it took a few years to bloom.

In protected from wind, plant: Cape Chestnut (Calodendrum capense) Briefly deciduous, this stunning round-headed tree is magnificent in bloom but best out of wind. It can take as much as 5 years to bloom and needs regular water, but to plant this tree is to give a lasting gift to the landscape..

Care for existing bougainvilleas that are failing to thrive.

When bougainvilleas do not grow at am appropriate rate, cold weather in the previous winter might have slowed growth. If bougainvilleas do not grow well when the weather warms up, the cause might be that their needs have not been fulfilled. Certain specific varieties of Bougainvillea, (for example: ‘San Diego Red’, and Bougainvillea spectabilis )can become very drought-resistant once established in deep soils, but during the first three years they need plenty of irrigation plus periodic fertilizer to push roots down deep and get going. Good bougainvillea varieties for banks, besides the large selections above, include the more compact types such as ‘La Jolla’, ‘Crimson Jewel,’ and ‘Temple Fire. Large types include ‘Lavender Queen’, ‘Don Mario’, ‘James Walker’, and ‘Orange King.”  Bougainvilleas need a hot spot. Unfortunately, they often become infested with roof rats whereas most shrubs do not.

When replacing diseased pine trees I an area of low irrigation, consider Naked Coral Tree (Erythina coralloides). This coral tree, naked in winter, has often been used on banks and tends to keep everyone happy since it offers two different looks during the year. It is covered with large, light green leaves in summer, thus creating a screen and offering shade. These go yellow and drop in fall revealing a bizarre branch structure bearing black thorns, and bearing spectacular, spiky, brilliant-red blossoms at the tips of branches for a long season in spring. These eye-catching blossoms attract hummingbirds and orioles. Good on banks where its flowers can be admired but the thorns not encountered. Eventual size is 30 feet, but easily controlled by pruning. Take out any unwanted branches after bloom.

A colorful planting for a large slope at intersection

Add color on large slope with drifts of Pride of Madeira (Echium candicans), Lantana ‘Radiation’, and red Bougainvillea ‘La Jolla’.

Replacing pine trees

Marina Strawberry Tree (Arbutus ‘Marina’), is an evergreen, drought-resistant, Mediterranean tree that is appropriate for replacing pine trees that have died from beetle attack. It provides color from red bark, pink flowers, and ornamental red fruit. Rounded shape will make a good screen and compliment any surviving pine trees.

Another slope:

Replace dead trees with Tipu Tree

When choosing street trees, pick one that will work for an entire

street: Good choices: New Zealand Christmas Tree (Metrosideros excelsa) or Chinese Fringe Tree (Chionanthus retusus)

Plant colorful shrubs as large ground covers on slopes – Use Echium, tea trees, euryops, plumbago, and smaller bottle brushes from lists below.

Street and slope:

Plant Street trees, one for each property: Cherry Plums (Prunus ceracifera ‘Nigra’) . Trim hedges behind walls to 1’ higher than walls.

Slope: Screen with colorful plants from list below.

NOTE: “Spiral ginger” with red flowers died from frost. Judging by description, this was Lobster Claw (Heliconia pendula) Possible source: Kartuz Greenhouses in Vista or look on Internet by Googling the botanical name as cited above. In future protect from expected frost by covering with sheet on cold nights, remove in morning before sun strikes plant.

Excellent choice of vine to grow over sunny walls: Lavender Trumpet Vine (Clytostoma callistegioides).

REPLACEMENTS FOR REMOVED STREET TREES:

(Highly recommended choices are marked with asterisk. Those without asterisk are additional possibilities.)

SMALL TREES:

• *Bottle Brush (Callistemon viminalis ‘McCaskillii’): Purchase specimens pruned as a single-trunked tree.
• *Bronze Loquat (Eriobotra deflexa): Small, tough, evergreen tree with bronze new foliage and white flowers in spring.  Try to get single-trunked specimens for use as street trees. Easy to grow.
• *Cherry Plum (Prunus ceracifera ‘Nigra’): Ornamental purple plum with deep red, almost black foliage, briefly deciduous, bearing white flowers in spring followed by abundant small round plums. Though reputed to be better inland, beautiful examples of this tree are growing along the coast, especially handsome when seen against green foliage.
• Pineapple Guava (Acca sellowiana ‘Coolidge’): Self fruiting pineapple guava that can occasionally be found pruned up as a tree. Fragrant flowers with sweet, edible petals, are followed by good-tasting fruits. Beloved by most homeowners and brings birds. This tree is usually sold as a large multi-trunked shrub but occasionally one can find single-trunked specimens which make good small street trees, which will gradually grow larger and seldom if ever require replacement.
• *Rhaphiolepis indica ‘Magestic Beauty’ is the best choice when a very small street tree is needed. See this tree growing at the Lumber Yard, an upscale shopping mall on the right hand side of Old 101 going north through Encinitas. These specimens in the Lumber Yard shopping mall are 20 years old, and have a beautiful umbrella shape, covered with bright pink blossoms in spring. Sheer tops removing all spent blossoms and a little foliage once a year, after blooms fade, never before bloom.
• Sky Flower (Duranta erecta) Stunning blue flowers that attract hummingbirds and butterflies are followed by colorful show of yellow-gold, poisonous but very attractive fruits. Average to low water requirement. (Usually sold as multi-trunked shrub, but sometimes as single-trunked tree.)
• String of Pearls (Duranta stenostachya’Sarasota’) Larger leaves and flower clusters, are followed by long strings of attractive, hanging, golden “pearls”. Eye-catching conversation piece. Flowers are sweetly scented, but the highly ornamental fruits are poisonous. (Usually sold as multi-trunked shrub, but sometimes as single-trunked tree.)

MID-SIZE TO LARGER STREET TREES

(Variable situations of soil and space tend to influence size of trees. Eventual sizes do not differ hugely from that of the trees they are replacing, and in many cases are much smaller. Camphor tree, for example, that is being replaced, has an eventual size of 50 feet high and 60 feet wide, whereas the eventual size of Chinese Fringe Tree is only 20 feet.)

• *Bottle Brush (Callistemon citrinus ‘Splendens’ and C. citrinus ‘Improved’): A thick, compact head of foliage and plentiful masses of bright-red, bottle-brush-shaped flowers, blooming in waves several times a year make this a stunning street tree when pruned as a single-trunked tree. Brings birds. (Grows to 20 feet.)
• *Flamegold (Koelreuteria elegans, K. formosa): A virtuous, deeply rooted, 20-30 foot tall tree, adapted to growing in lawns or as a street tree, best bloom where protected from wind. May be evergreen, but usually drops leaves briefly in winter. (A similar variety, Chinese Flame Tree [K. bipinnata] is equally as beautiful but larger.) On both trees, insignificant panicles of yellow flowers in June are followed in fall by a magnificent, long-lasting show of orange to salmon-pink seed pods that look as if a bougainvillea had gotten tangled up into the tree and then suddenly burst into bloom. (It is very important not to get K. paniculata, which is a worthy, hardy tree in cold-winter areas of the Southwest, but lacks the fall beauty of K. bipinnata or K. elegans, since its seed pods turn an ugly brown, though one variety, called ‘Rose Lantern’ has pods tinged with pink.)
• *Chinese Fringe Tree (Chionanthus retusus): Clusters of  fringelike white flowers cover branches of this stunning, small—to 20 –feet-tall)—tree in spring. In fall leaves turn bright yellow before falling. (Reputed to flower better inland, but the parking lot of Salk institute is planted solidly with this tree, a breathtaking sight in spring.)
• *Evergreen Pear (Pyrus kawakamii):Though this tree is very subject to occasional die-back of branches due to fire blight, in recent years it seems to have been less prone to damage and has bloomed exceptionally well in our area. Leaves may hang on year-round but sometimes drop off just before the tree bursts into a glorious show of shining white flowers in February. Needs little pruning and stays small for many years. 15 to 30 feet high at most, usually smaller for many years. Best show of bloom when winters are dry.
• * Gold Medallion Tree, Crown of Gold Tree,  (Cassia leptophylla, Senna spectabilis): Round bunches of blooms on rounded, briefly-deciduous tree over a long period, spring to fall. A popular tree in our area, quite drought resistant, eventually to 20 feet tall but well-adapted as street tree and used as such in some areas.
• *Hong Kong Orchid Tree (Bauhinia blakeana): Strong fall into winter color from brilliant orchid-pink to rosy purple orchid-shaped flowers on a natural umbrella-shaped tree. Kidney-shaped gray-green leaves drop briefly just prior to bloom. Needs good drainage. 20 feet high and wide but tends to stay small for a long time making it a better street tree for Brisas Del Mar than the equally spectacular purple orchid tree (B. variegata), which is larger (to 30 feet) and blooms in spring. The latter however is the one most frequently planted as a street tree and it is glorious where springs are reliably warm. Prune bauhinias after bloom by trimming out crowded growth. Never prune before bloom.
• * New Zealand Christmas Tree (Metrosideros excelsa ‘Gala’): New foliage is gray green against dark evergreen tree with red summer flowers. This variety, if available, has bright yellow in center of each leaf and dark red flowers have bright yellow stamens. Good street tree, but not for crowded spots. The species itself is also good and often sold as a street tree. (To 30 feet.)
• *Pink Trumpet Tree (Tabebuia impetiginosa ‘Pink Cloud’): Once this tree has matured it gives an incredible display of pink flowers in spring. Planted in center front of Scripps Hospital. Fast growing to about 15 feet, then slower growing to 20 or 30 feet. Leaves briefly drop just before the tree flowers in spring on bare wood.  The older it grows the more beautiful this tree becomes.
• *Redbud (Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’): Purple foliage catches the sunlight in a stunning way. Deciduous in winter, followed by an early spring show of purple-pink, pea-shaped flowers that emerge straight from the bark, sometimes even from the trunk. Drought-resistant once established but can accept garden water. Slow growing to 20 or 30 feet.
• *Weeping Bottle Brush Hybrid (Callistemon viminalis ‘McCaskillii’) Waves of flowers year-round bring mockingbirds, orioles, and flocks of hummingbirds for their nectar.  Improved varieties, such as this one, are bushy with brilliantly colorful flowers. Though sold as shrubs, they can also be purchased as trees. These have been pruned up on a single trunk to become very attractive street or garden trees, that are not nearly as tall as the species.  Drought-resistant once established but adapted to garden water. Needs good drainage. Grows to 20 feet.

CHOICE TREE FOR GRADUAL REPLACEMENT OF PINES

• Marina Strawberry Tree (Arbutus ‘Marina’): Evergreen tree with pink flowers in fall followed by decorative, round, red, edible (though tasteless) fruits providing food for birds and year-round color. Drought-resistant tree with stunning red bark that peels like a madrone. (This fairly new tree might be suitable as a street tree but is untried. It may grow to 40 feet but probably much smaller.)

COLORFUL TREES TO PLANT AT THE BASE OF TALL BANKS

• African Tulip Tree (Spathodea campanulata): Reputed to have fast growth but yellow ones are slower and are being used as street trees in some areas. It has moderate water needs combined with bunches of large, spectacular flowers over a long season. Best out of strong winds. Choose either yellow-orange or red specimens, red being the most spectacular but perhaps larger and faster growing. The red variety could become invasive after a few years, so is better on open ground away from houses.
• Cape Chestnut (Calodendrum capense): Handsome dark green foliage may be briefly deciduous or may hang on through winter on this very showy, round-headed tree, that is magnificent in bloom and best out of wind. It can take 5 years after planting for this tree to bloom, which is why it is not often enough planted. It needs regular water but can survive on less. To plant this tree is to give a lasting gift to the Del Mar landscape. (Great example near flamingo pool, San Diego Zoo.) Flowers are feathery and arise in panicles as big as baseballs,  rosy-lilac to pink in color. They drench the entire top of this neatly shaped, rounded tree in early spring or summer.
• Floss Silk Tree (Chorisia speciosa): Spectacular fall bloom, orchid-colored flowers all over the top of the tree after leaves briefly drop, especially good bloom if you can let it go dry in late summer. Seed pods and flowers bring hummingbirds. Highly recommended on the tall banks. Grafted specimens have no thorns but thorny trunks are ornamental and these trees usually bloom young.
• Jacaranda (Jacaranda mimosifolia): One of our best flowering trees. Likes reflected heat.
• Lemon Bottle Brush (Callistemon citrinus ‘Splendens’ or ‘Improved’): The blooms are more upright than weeping. This selection is sold pruned up as a tree or it can be grown as a very large, multi-stemmed shrub or screen.
• Markhamia or African Trumpet Tree (Markhamia lutea, M. hildebrandii): Evergreen tree that is fast-growing, tall and narrow for 10 years, then spreading and slow-growing. Profusion of golden-yellow trumpet blooms from July to December followed by prominent hanging pods. Gaining popularity as street tree due to upright shape. Blooms best after dry winter. Likes well-drained soil.
• Weeping Bottle Brush (Callistemon viminalis): Evergreen, weeping tree that is drought resistant and brings hummingbirds, orioles and mockingbirds. Waves of bloom year round.

COLORFUL SHRUBS AND TREES FOR BANKS:

VERY LOW SHRUBS: (Up to 3 feet tall, not higher than 4 feet.)

Use these as fillers on banks or at the tops of banks.

(Sensitive to frost, but if you place these high on banks they should be in a frost-drained site, thus safe from frost.)

• Bottlebrush (Callistemon viminalis ‘Little John’) 3 feet tall and wide. Very colorful waves of flowers fall, winter and spring, on superior dwarf bottlebrush with weeping habit.
• Dwarf New Zealand Tea Tree (Leptospermum scoparium ‘Nanum Ruru’): 2 feet tall and wide. Dense growth. Dark-pink single flowers in winter, spring,  into summer.
• Dwarf New Zealand Tea Tree (Leptospermum scoparium ‘Pink Cascade’): 1 foot tall and 3-to 4-feet wide. Single pink flowers,  sprawling, weeping, cascading growth.
• Dwarf Pohutukawa (Metrosideros villosa ‘Tahiti’) (to 3-feet tall and wide): No pruning needed. Gray-green leaves and clusters of orange-red flowers in spring, with sporadic rebloom. (Sensitive to frost, but high on banks should be a frost-drained site.)
• Groundcover New Zealand Tea Tree (Leptospermum scoparium ‘Horizontalis’): 3 to 4-feet tall, 12 feet wide. Profuse show of white blossoms on drooping branchlets, spreading plant, makes good bank cover.
• Groundcover New Zealand Tea Tree (Leptospermum scoparium ‘Snow White’): 2 to 4-feet tall, 4 to 5-feet wide. Double white flowers with green centers on compact, spreading plant
• Shrubby New Zealand Christmas Tree (Metrosideros collina ‘Fiji’): is even smaller, just 2 feet tall and wide.  Available from Monrovia Nursery. Red powder-puff flowers, winter and spring, bring butterflies.

LOW SHRUBS: (3 to 5 feet tall)

(Use these on low banks and at the top of tall banks so that they create a screen but do not hide views.)

• Bottle Brush (Callistemon citrinus ‘Compacta’): Mounded plant to 4 feet wide and high.
• California Lilac (Ceonothus ‘Concha’): Good blue color. This one can take garden irrigation without dying
• Matilija Poppy (Romneya coulteri): Superior, drought-resistant yellow-centered white poppy flower for banks. Gray foliage should be cut down in November if possible and will spring again from ground to bloom in spring through summer.
• Radiation Lantana (Lantana ‘Radiation’): 3 to 5 feet high and wide and one of the better and most colorful lantana’s for banks. Drought-resistant with long bloom season. Flowers are yellow, orange, and pink. Looks good when mixed with blue plumbago and red bougainvillea.
• Yellow Bush Daisy (Euryops pectinatus ‘Viridis’ or ‘Green Gold’): Long-lived woody, drought-resistant, evergreen shrub, native to South Africa,  3-to 6-feet tall and wide bears yellow daisies over a long season, mainly in winter. Shear off faded flowers and a little of the green growth once a year in June.  (Provides good yellow color to go near blue Pride of Madeira and pink and white dwarf tea trees.)

MID-HEIGHT SHRUBS:  (5 to 10 feet tall)

• Bottle Brush ( Callistemon  ‘Canes Hybrid’): 10 feet tall, 15 feet wide. A big screen, measure so eventual height hits at the right level to see over. Narrow leaves and arching branches with pink-tinged foliage, soft pink bottle-brush flowers in late spring, early summer. Easily pruned to a tree shape. Can be kept smaller by pruning but why have that problem? Instead plant where it can grow to full size.
• Bottle Brush (Callistemon viminalis ‘Captain Cook’): Dense, rounded plant to 6 feet tall and wide.  For border, hedge, or screen. (‘Red Cascade’ is similar with large abundant rosy red blooms.)
• Geraldton Waxflower (Chamaelaucium unicatum ‘Vista’): Pink flowers for long season from fall to summer on rounded drought-resistant shrub, to 6 feet tall, for full sun. Cut back after bloom.
• New Zealand Tea Tree ((Leptospermum scoparium ‘Silver and Rose’): Dense growth habit to 4-to 5-feet tall and wide. Rose-pink, green-centered flowers with bright gray-green foliage. Excellent plant to use as screen high on bank.
• New Zealand Tea Tree (Leptospermum scoparium ‘Gaiety Girl’): Slow growing to 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide. Double flowers are pink with a dash of lilac.
• New Zealand Tea Tree (Leptospermum scoparium ‘Pink Damask’): Dense growth habit to 6 to 8 feet tall and 4 to 5  feet wide. Double ruby-red flowers red tinged leaves. Particularly good screen plant.
• Plumbago (Plumbago auriculata ‘Royal Cape’): Makes a mounding shrub 6 feet tall, 8 to 10 feet wide with large rounded deep blue flowers blooming over a long season. Excellent bank cover when placed away from paths. Give it room to spread. Named varieties are not invasive like the older unnamed type. Good mixed with lantana.
• Pride of Madeira (Echium candicans): (5 to 6 feet tall and 8 to 10 feet wide.) Blue spiky blooms on a gray woody shrub. Dot these around on banks. They will spread from seeds.

TALLER SHRUBS: (8 to 12 feet tall, including one to 20 feet high.)

• Bottle Brush (Callistemon citrinus ‘Pink Perth’): 8 to 10 feet tall, 5 to 8 feet wide. Weeping foliage, pink flowers in spring. Use low on banks as big, colorful screen.
• Bottle Brush (Callistemon citrinus ‘Splendens’ and C. citrinus ‘Improved’):
• Massive shrub, 10 to 15 feet tall and wide. Use low on banks as big, colorful screen. Brings birds.
• New Zealand Christmas Shrub (Metrosideros collina ‘Spring Fire’): 8 to 12-feet high, 6 to 10-feet wide. Gray-green foliage with a profusion of showy flowers in late spring to early summer bringing butterflies and birds. Makes attractive hedge, but is sensitive to frost. Use high on banks, thus safe from frost.
• Weeping Bottle Brush, (largest shrub form) (Callistemon viminalis ‘McCaskillii’): 20 feet tall, 15 to 20 feet wide. Flowers bring mockingbirds, orioles, and flocks of hummingbirds for their nectar.  Improved varieties, such as this one, tend to be thickly bushy with brightly colorful flowers. Drought-resistant once established but adapted to garden water.

Related posts:

1. Colorful Taller Shrubs And Trees For Banks
2. Colorful Low Shrubs And Trees For Banks
3. Colorful Mid-Height Shrubs And Trees For Banks

During the last few thousand years, in such places as China, Egypt, Persia, South America, India, and Europe there have been many eras when great gardens have been laid out and planted by the rich and powerful, but few times in history when, like now, almost every household boasts a small garden. Virtually every suburban home-owner today wants some kind of garden, but not everyone wishes to be involved with doing the gardening, and if one doesn’t like the process, why do it? Far better to hire someone else and spend one’s precious leisure time doing something one enjoys. Gardening is a hobby for those who love it. Those who don’t should take up golf or cooking or fishing or whatever else catches their fancy. Whenever someone says to me “Isn’t it a lot of work?” I know that person is not a born gardener.

Most things that are fun take time to learn and work to accomplish, but if one loves the process it’s not work; it’s play. The true gardener loves every step from the choice and cultivation of plants through their care. The very smells of moist black earth, old clay pots, and pungent leaves mean happiness. When I was young I often felt the most intense excitement while working in the garden and thinking ahead to what my project would look like in the end. It’s the same feeling that a painter may experience when painting or a writer when writing. The magic ingredient that can make hard work enjoyable is the inner vision of a good result. Planting seeds wouldn’t be any fun if we didn’t trust that they were going to coming up, but in return for each completed task, plants repay us many times over. The satisfying thing about gardening is that it’s filled with thousands of varied and pleasing rewards. When we plant a bed or finish building a wall, the sight of the improvement we’ve made is ample reward. And all the tips of plant care we pick up and use pay off, some within months and others within a few days. Deadhead a clump of annuals, and they continue flowering. Cut back a wisteria twiner to two buds, and it sports a bloom. Pour a kettle of boiling water down a row of parsley seeds right after planting, and they spring up in three days. Experiences like these can turn confirmed pessimists into optimists and make gardening a passion never to be given up by those who love it as long as strength and hope remain.

But before succumbing wholly to the passion of gardening, it’s necessary to define one’s practical needs. How does the space need to perform? And in what way might our needs change through the years? When the family is young we might want to create an outdoor space where our children or later grandchildren can play their games of imagination, perhaps with swings and slides, a tree house, a play house, or paths for tricycles. Other times the desire is to make outdoor rooms for entertaining, a central swimming pool perhaps, with places where people can gather, with comfortable furniture, fireplaces, and barbeques. Some folks love growing vegetables, or an orchard of deciduous or tropical fruits. Others desire a collection of plants, a sort of botanic garden. In this case it might not matter how the plants are arranged or if the paths go anywhere other than providing a way to get around and see the plant collection. I have friends who have an almost unquenchable desire for what’s new. They want to find and grow everything they can squash into every inch of available space, and the more exotic and rare a plant is, the greater their love for it. Most wonderful to them is the joy of finding a new plant that no one else knows and no one else grows.

When choosing a garden style, it’s well to remember that the style of the garden needs to go with the style of the house or it may seem grating and inharmonious. The style of the garden also needs to be sufficiently practical to fit one’s needs. For example a garden of hard surfaces, completely planted cacti won’t be practical for raising small children. Beyond these two limitations, in California, any style goes. Travelers create gardens to remind themselves of beloved places, immigrants fashion gardens reminiscent of countries where they were born. There are gardens made of nothing but seashells and others of fence-to-fence topiary. On the same block you can see a blousy English garden rubbing elbows with the austere all-green Japanese scheme. A South Seas paradise threatens to consume the drought-resistant, Spanish-style succulent garden next door. It’s all a matter of what makes you happy, and the very first step in creating a garden is to discover just what that is. I know of no other place where the choices of style are so many and varied as they are here in California.

I went on a garden tour the other day with two friends and one of them remarked to me, “I get so fed up when I hear people say ‘my garden is a Provencal garden, or it’s an Italian garden.’ Not all gardens in Provence are good ones, and many Italian gardens are a total mess! Why can’t gardeners say ‘This is a California garden!’” To some extent I agree with her, but not totally. I do agree that Californians, and Americans in general, tend to be too modest about their gardens not realizing what wonderful creations they have made. When Penelope Hobhouse was lecturing in Southern California a few years ago, she stayed with me in my house. In the course of one conversation Penny remarked how many outstanding gardens she has seen in the United States yet the owners often say ‘This is an English garden.’ “Americans aren’t yet quite sure of their garden talent,” she said, “but I have seen many great gardens in America that are every bit as good as English ones.”

But on the other hand, there is nothing wrong with imitating something good and worthwhile. The greatest gardens, both ancient and modern, always contain unique features you can’t see anywhere else, but some very good gardens have come about through taking inspiration from great landscapes that embody imaginative and original ideas. The memory of a marvelous foreign locale might suggest a way to frame a view. Handsome pots from Italy or Crete can set a tone. Olive trees and lavender remind us of the South of France. In my own garden I like to use natural materials such as bamboo and twigs cut out of the shrubbery for plant supports, but I got the idea while traveling in England and seeing the marvelous trellises that gardeners make there out of willow. The most important ingredient is creating a place that pleases oneself. By following your own heart and not caring too much about what other people think it’s quite likely you’ll end up pleasing the people whose opinion really counts.

Travel has influenced the style of American gardens since the 18th century, but since the 1950’s nothing has done more than color photography and printing to spread various styles of gardening and influence public taste. By studying photographs in the best magazines and books and by going on tours one can gradually develop educated taste and see what works and what doesn’t, what one likes and what one detests. One can look for ideas to adapt to one’s own space, see how other gardeners have terraced banks, or put in steps and paths and what plants they have chosen. For a gardener going on a garden tour is like visiting an art museum for a painter. Artists study the paintings to see how another painter got his effect, and gardeners do the same.

When people come to my garden they often say it is an English garden, but to me it’s not at all like an English garden. Like my friend who went with me on the garden tour last week, I want to demure, “It’s a California garden.” But if I wanted to honor the source of my inspiration, I would say it was California/Mediterranean, or perhaps French, since many French home gardens are thickly planted and more relaxed than English gardens.  I try to grow only those plants well adapted to our Mediterranean climate of plentiful sunshine, winter rains, and dry summers. To survive in the basic landscape of my garden, a plant has to be willing to go dry at times and not curl up and die. One thinks of the Mediterranean gardens one sees in Spain or Italy that are usually sparsely planted with many open spaces. I have open spaces in my garden also, but the beds are thickly planted, and I don’t like bare ground to show. To me, bare soil in a flowerbed is like a smile with a few missing teeth. If ever there is a patch of ground in my garden with no plant growing in it, I cover it with mulch. Years ago, I preached mulch with such vigor that one of our TV anchor-persons suffered a slip of the lip, “And now to show us how to plant potatoes,” she announced, “here comes Pat Mulch!” Today I’m beginning to temper these ideas because of concern for beneficials. I now leave some bare patches here and there in my garden because native bees need bare soil for survival.

Attention to details, such as the use of natural materials or allowing no bare ground, leads gradually to the development of an ideal or philosophy in gardening that goes beyond style. It could apply to any style or any climate just as Vita Sackville-West’s ideal of formal design with informal planting could apply to any strong design having formal aspects, including many unique modern gardens. My own ideal is to create a garden with a romantic atmosphere and then to live in it as much as possible. You could also call it a paradise garden, a “Garden of Eden.” But what do I mean by romantic? Here are some of the words I found in more than one dictionary to describe romance: “imagination, love, idealization, wafting one to another time or place, excitement,” and phrases such as: “adventure of the kind found in romantic literature, a romantic quality or spirit, to be fanciful or imaginative in thinking or talking, having some aspects of an imagined, though unseen reality, adventurous, idealistic, passionate, visionary, emphasis on feeling and originality, a suitable setting for love.”

I’ve known people who became so passionate about gardening, that it made them almost as happy as falling in love. Projecting one’s own feelings onto the garden is similar to an artist projecting feelings onto a painting or a lover onto a beloved person, and in return one’s own love is reflected back. But though gardening may become an obsession, it’s also very practical; it’s not all ideals and design, it’s mulch and it’s pea stakes. How does one actually carry out the plan and turn this nebulous idea of romance in the garden and romancing the garden into concrete reality without allowing the garden to completely consume or worry us?  It’s meant to provide happiness, after all, not stress. And how can anyone say what is good taste and what is not? Two people might look at the same landscape and one will like it and the other won’t.  Good taste in garden planting and design is one of those qualities about which we say, “I can’t tell you what it is, but I know it if I see it.”

Related posts:

1. Finding Your Garden’s Path
2. Garden Design
3. Formal Garden and Informal Plants