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...

Adding Color And Excitement To The Landscape

Adding Color And Excitement To The Landscape  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...

Finding Your Own Style

The ideal garden is a place in which nature can revel within an artistically arranged design. Every garden can benefit from having a few formal aspects or well-defined boundaries—a few straight lines, a spiral or a square, a triangle, or a circle. Vita...

Finding Your Garden’s Path

So ephemeral and symbol-filled are gardens, they might be thought of as the stuff that dreams are made of. Dream of a fruit or vegetable garden, and it’s said your diligence in life will eventually bear fruit. By actually creating such a garden, you...

Evergreen street tree for Zone 14

Question from Tony: I am looking for a tree to plant along the front of my house next to the sidewalk, Sunset zone 14, clayey soil. Preferably evergreen, drought tolerant, carefree, not taller than 25 feet. From your website, I’ve found Rhaphiolepis...

Great Garden Combinations

Question from Susan: I am new to gardening and would like to know if you could suggest some good combinations of plants. I think I will eventually learn how to do this, but right now I don’t have a clue. Answer from Pat: I agree with you that when...

Steps From Concrete Bags

Question from Arline: Back from day two of jury duty…it is a most interesting case…thank you for the detailed response to my construction questions…i must ask… how long before you should step in these bag steps???? Answer from...

Making Garden Steps From Bags of Concrete

Question from Arlene: I need to make about 4 steps to go up a small incline to get to my fruit tree…I remember you telling about an easy way to make steps using cement bags….do you have those instructions??? I am also thinking of having...