The city loses its bustle in August, a time when many businesses are closed and people are relaxed. A main street running along the Seine river closes, transformed into “Paris Plage” a pedestrian oriented linear park. Gardens bloom, the Seine takes on a translucent viridian hue. We start our days with a café crème inContinue reading “Paris!”
Category Archives: General
Crust is great on baguettes. Not so much on tile and stone
Sometimes you have the space for a splash zone, sometimes you don’t. Following some simple guidelines can keep your water features less crusty and lower maintenance requirements. Some design guidelines can help to alleviate this kind of thing – something to consider when designing a water feature. This is kind of like a situation fromContinue reading “Crust is great on baguettes. Not so much on tile and stone”
New Concepts for a sloping front yard
The current synthetic deck is disintegrating, there’s not enough space for a table, and some excitement in the landscape will be welcome. This solution removes a major stairway (there’s an alternate path), clears out tall vegetation near the house and terraces the slope to extend the patio area, adding a (very) contemporary shade structure, aContinue reading “New Concepts for a sloping front yard”
Using orchid cactus and succulents to cover a wall
Typically designers use use trailing ground covers to cascade down walls, the most common plant probably being rosemary. But what about something more interesting, something that does not require as much pruning back? Something that will make people stop in their tracks and say, “wow!” Something like, say, orchid cactus (Epiphyllum)? Epiphyllum, true to theirContinue reading “Using orchid cactus and succulents to cover a wall”
Evening Primroses spring open after sunset
After the sun sets, these flowers spring open in seconds. The trick is being there when it happens, since they take their time getting ready. The flowers in the video were shot at normal speed, no time lapse, no acceleration. The entire sequence was over a a bit under 30 minutes, starting just after sunset.Continue reading “Evening Primroses spring open after sunset”
Easy living outdoor spaces… and a “bigger” yard
If you think a yard is too small, it might be due to a lack of organization more than tininess. Linking spaces, opening up views and being generous with patios give more useable space, all fit inside the formerly too-small garden. Some of these things might be a bit controversial: the front path isn’t theContinue reading “Easy living outdoor spaces… and a “bigger” yard”
A Fresh Start
A complete makeover adds useable space, outdoor living areas and brings an open look to this back yard Sometimes you leave as many existing elements in place as possible. Other times, you keep key items and eliminate the rest. And sometimes you clean everything for a fresh start. A too-small shade structure, a screen thatContinue reading “A Fresh Start”
A tale of two landscapes…
One client wanted a classic, contemporary look with minimal maintenance. The landscape should look good all year long, and color comes from foliage contrast, not flowers that have to be clipped after blooming. The other wanted a haven for birds, especially hummingbirds, something full of flowers and seeds, where seasonal maintenance was and accepted trade-offContinue reading “A tale of two landscapes…”
Resilient landscaping for Southern California
This didn’t start out as a laboratory for resilient landscape design. It was just a low-maintenance garden for aging people to enjoy. Then one person was no more. The other lost mobility. Parts of the garden received no irrigation. Pruning back and weeding likewise disappeared. Yet the garden survived, mostly intact.
The “Other” Japanese Maple
The full moon maple’s Latin name, Acer japonicum, actually seems more Japanese than the Japanese maple, Acer palmatum. It’s native to Japan, of course. To confuse things even more, there’s Acer shirasawanum, also called full moon maple, sometimes considered a subspecies of A. japonicum. The ‘Aureum’ variety is an incredibly beautiful tree that’s incredibly difficultContinue reading “The “Other” Japanese Maple”