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Landscape Design
Edible Landscape Planning
Question from Dave: I have a friend at work who is planning on re-landscaping her yard. Can you recommend a book on edible landscaping? Also, do you have some advice on peaches, nectarines, plums and cherries? I have trees that are two years old –...
Native Plants for Erosion Control on Steep Banks
Question from Alin: I’m looking for native plants species for erosion ; many of the plants you mentioned are from Australian/S. Africa. Answer from Pat: You are correct. I have indeed recommended many plants as bank covers that are native to Australia,...
Fragrant Plant in Southern California
Question from Eileen: I am trying to identify the plant which perfumed the air when I made a recent trip to St. Louis Obispo, Ca. The fragrance was everywhere I went. It was delightful and was so persistent that it must grow wild. I would like to...
Beach Front Plants for English Seacoast Gardens
Question from Katie: Hi Pat, just found your www site and saw it said, “Send a Q to Pat”, so, here goes… location: seaside, south-facing (in England: the sunny side), sheltered terrace. Required: architectural, evergreen, “WOW!”...
Evergreen Trees for Median
Question from Lena: We live in Harbor City, CA. The majority of the trees planted on the median are I think some form of a pepper tree. The roots are invasive to plumbing not to mention the sidewalks. Where occasionally LA city comes around as slaps...
Romancing the Garden: A philosophy of gardening Pt 4
A garden may reflect a certain time or place, perhaps a country you love. 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...
Romancing the Garden: A philosophy of gardening Pt 3
The next step is: How do you carry it out? Mine in a nutshell is: “Create a romantic garden and then live in it.” A Paradise Garden The Garden of Eden Dictionary definition of romance: “Imagination, love, idealization, wafting one to another time...
Strawberries for Groundcover and for Fruit
Question from Stanley: I live in Nevada City, California. This is my latest landscape project. (I am a computer programmer, but try to knock out a couple of home projects a year to make myself feel useful and adequate.) I had intended to plant creeping...
Romancing the Garden: A philosophy of gardening Pt 2
To clarify the ideas in this book, I have illustrated it with photos from my own garden and those of friends and family. I am very keen on the idea that a garden needs to be in harmony with the architecture of the house it surrounds. My own house is 50...
Romancing the Garden: A philosophy of gardening Pt 1
One of the most basic instincts of many animals, including humans, is to mark and defend a territory. The parrot fish patrols his section of a coral reef, the tiger marks the edges of his range, the moose marks his chosen rutting field. Ants protect their...
Olive Trees VS Sidewalk
Question from Dave: We live in Lafayette, CA which is about 25 miles east of San Francisco. We have 4 mature (nearly 40 years old) olive trees in our front yard close to the street. The city is considering constructing a public sidewalk which would come...
The Magic Mural
Written and illustrated by Pat Welsh with photos by Betsy Schulz, published in 2005 by the Friends of the Del Mar Library, ($14.95) Tells the story of the Del Mar Library Multi-Media Mural, a 92-foot-long creation covering a formerly bare 4-foot-tall...
Formal Garden and Informal Plants
Great gardens have a breathtaking quality and the gardeners who make them always do so in coordination with a concrete plan or wholly mental dream. Whether they know it or not, these garden geniuses have a philosophy of gardening or an ideal, and they...
