The wildflowers are here!

With all the rains come lots of wildflowers. These are typical early spring wildflowers growing over much of Northern California. Most can be grown in gardens from seed, bulbs or plants… well, maybe not the poison oak… I don’t know which species all of these plants belong to. Maybe that’s good, since I can justContinue reading “The wildflowers are here!”

Prickly Pear Cactus Pruning: an update

It’s been two years since we visited this cactus and did some fairly major structural pruning. We removed trunks to simplify the plant’s shape to let its structure come through. This time, the goal was to keep the cactus’ size in check, removing peripheral pads to again show the branch structure. Prickly pear limbs tendContinue reading “Prickly Pear Cactus Pruning: an update”

Flannel Bush (Fremontodendron sp.)

These California native shrubs create quite a show when in bloom, but they require a lot of room to spread. The benefit? They’ll grow without summer water, and actually don’t want any. These flannel bushes are growing in a field without irrigation, and this year they really seemed to appreciate all the rain they received.Continue reading “Flannel Bush (Fremontodendron sp.)”

Trimming the meadow

The goal is to remove last year’s vegetation before it starts to grow back. The asters’ seeds have long since been picked over by the finches, and the sedges have not yet begun their spring growth spurt. Likewise, the grasses and other plants are just beginning to think about emerging from dormancy. It’s trim backContinue reading “Trimming the meadow”

Elements of design in nature | elements of nature in design

Line, form, color, texture, contrast, pattern, repetition, movement. All elements of design to consider when creating a built landscape. Finding and studying them in nature helps us recreate them in gardens and understand natural relationships of elements of a harmonious concept. These scenes juxtapose chaos (willow branches), pattern (grasses, water plants), direction (some willow branches,Continue reading “Elements of design in nature | elements of nature in design”

Design for time

Landscapes, unlike buildings, aren’t really complete until many years have passed. They go in the ground only as potential, the design something that will complete itself with time. The plants will grow, surfaces will acquire patinas, unexpected things might happen. These photos were shot around January of 1999. It’s now January 2016, seventeen years later.Continue reading “Design for time”