Blue Planet Garden Blog

Ebook Giveaway – Everyday Feng Shui: A Plant Lover’s Guide to Garden Design

What makes a California garden designer, whose education and experience is firmly rooted in Western design principles, think she can write a book about Feng Shui?

The short answer is, she can’t.

Like many of you, however, I consider myself a life-long learner. And when the subject at hand relates to garden design, so much the better. I’ve been dabbling in one specific aspect of Feng Shui for several years now, and recently published an eBook on the subject. What sets Everyday Feng Shui A Plant Lover's Guide to Garden Design (On Your Own Design) apart from other books on garden Feng Shui is that rather than a complex system of space planning, the focus is on the plants themselves.

The Creative Cycle

I’ve concentrated on one of the core tenents of Feng Shui—the Creative Cycle. At the heart of the Creative Cycle is the belief that all things have their origin in one of the five elemental groups: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water or Wood. Just as Western garden principles strive to create balance in the garden, Feng Shui similarly focuses on harmony, teaching that for a garden to be truly welcoming, all five elements should be present. Now here is the fun part: each of the elements can be represented by specific plant characteristics! A perfect design tool for gardeners, as we already see plants as the heart and soul of the garden.

Here is a brief description of each of the five elements:

Fire – Symbolic of energy and aggression. Represented by the color red and triangular or jagged, sharp shapes.

 

Earth – Symbolic of harmony and balance. Represented by the colors brown and yellow and square, flat-topped shapes.

Metal – Symbolic of creativity and collecting. Represented by the colors white, silver and gray and by circular or domed shapes.

 

Water – Symbolic of meditation and reflection. Represented by the colors blue and black and by wavy, meandering shapes.

 

Wood – Symbolic of growth and trust. Represented by the color green and by rectangular shapes.

What makes this approach to garden design so appealing, is that rather than replacing traditional Western design principles, it enhances them. As an example, take the following photo:

From a Feng Shui perspective, this front yard is suffering from an excess of Earth (represented by the square shapes of the lawn, driveway and severely-pruned bushes) and Wood (via the color green). Peaceful to the point of boring. Zzzzzz. The key to bringing it back into balance is through the introduction of the other elements on the Creative Cycle. If this were my client, I would begin by removing the unnaturally-shaped shrubs, downsizing the lawn and adding curved planting beds. Budget allowing, I might even add a curved path from the street to the front door. These changes would bring in Water’s meditative influence. Next comes filling the beds with plants in a mix of colors and textures, making sure to include plants with variegated foliage to bring in a touch of Metal’s elegance as well as some sharply-textured New Zealand flax or aloes to channel Fire’s bright energy.

While similar conclusions can be reached without recourse to the Creative Cycle, of course, determining what is wrong with an existing garden is often more challenging than creating a new one from scratch. Why not add another diagnostic tool to your gardening toolkit? Not to mention it’s just plain fun to rethink an outdoor space through the lens of the Creative Cycle.

If you are looking for easy-to-implement ways to make your garden a more enjoyable space that is alive with positive energy, then Everyday Feng Shui provides a roadmap to achieving a new level of harmony in your garden. No need to redesign the garden’s entire layout or rip out and replace planting beds wholesale (unless you enjoy that sort of thing, of course). With a few additions or subtractions, almost any garden space can become more balanced, welcoming and harmonious.

To learn more, go to Amazon and download a sample of the book. Or better yet, leave a comment here or on my Facebook page. I’ll be giving away 3 copies, winners to be announced next Thursday, December 13th. As an FYI for those of you with gardeners on your Christmas list, if you’ve never given a Kindle book as a gift before, it’s incredibly easy. All you have to do is enter the recipient’s email address and voila! It’s done. Should you prefer to bestow your gift in person, simply have the gift certificate emailed to yourself.

In the unlikely event that you're not interested in this giveaway, check back next week anyway. I'll be giving away a copy of the just released Why Grow That When You Can Grow This?: 255 Extraordinary Alternatives to Everyday Problem Plants.

Update 12-13-12: The winners are in!

Chosen by a random number generator, congrats to commenters  #8 Loree/Danger Garden, #13 Sheila Schultz and #15 Judy Tilson. Keep an eye on your email for a message from Amazon!

Garden Designers Roundtable: Memory and Plants

ET phone home.

Who can forget those heart-felt words uttered by the most appealing extraterrestrial in the history of film? Despite this clear warning, it took Elliott declining to the point of near-death and an entire squadron of hazmat docs in shiny silver suits to finally realize what we smart movie-goers had figured out long before:  ET simply couldn’t survive in an alien environment. Why then, do we insist on choosing plants for our garden that we know full well don’t want to live there?

There are plenty of reasons for this. Although my clients count on me to be firm in the face of zone denial when drawing up their planting plans, I confess I've been sedued by a flashy nursery temptress or two in my own garden. A far more common reason that they yearn for inappropriate plants happens to be the topic of this month’s Garden Designers Roundtable: the connection between gardens and memory.

I’ve been a California girl since the age of 11, and growing up I saw first hand how powerfully motivating the desire to re-create a familiar environment can be. Since moving here from the east coast, the first thing my mother has done at every house she’s lived in is to plant an insane number of trees, all in an effort to reproduce the dappled green light of the leafy, wooded landscape she left behind. No amount of tree planting will transform a sun-drenched, water-parched California vista into the humid, humus-y landscape of North Carolina, however, and over the years she has gradually come to embrace at least a few of the plants that make our local gardens unique. (But only a few. To her way of thinking, succulents rock, but ornamental grasses are simply a vast horticultural conspiracy to get gardeners to pay money for weeds.)

My mother includes old-fashioned favorites like iris and sweet William in every garden she plants.

If you also find yourself pining for the pines of your youth at the expense of plant choices that reflect your current cultural conditions, there is a way to bridge the gap. Simply look for plants that share the characteristics of your long-time favorites, and your garden can continue to be a haven for treasured memories--but without the need for excessive amounts of water, fertilizers or amendments to keep it humming along. The trick is to figure out what it is about the plant that makes it special, and choose something zone-appropriate for your new home that offers the same experience.

 

Lilac photo by Peter Roome

For example, with our mild winters here in the West, lilac shrubs (Syringa vulgaris) do not flourish. You can still plant them--simply brace yourself for a long term commitment to extreme life support, including mulching with ice cubes to replicate winter’s chill. Or, warm-weather gardeners can consider these replacements:

 

For color

If it’s the sight of vibrant violet flowers that makes you misty with memory, why not try one of the many California lilac varieties (Ceanothus sp.)? Covered with blooms in colors ranging from pale purple to the true blue seldom seen in garden flowers, Ceanothus has the added advantages of being evergreen, thriving on little to no water and attracting bees like…well…bees to California lilac.

 

Ceanothus Impressus 'Vandenberg', photo courtesy of J.G.

Alternately you can go lilacs one better, and opt for butterfly bush (Buddleia sp.). Just as lilacs put on a spectacular show in spring, only to lapse into slovenly ways later if not regularly groomed and pruned, by the end of the summer, butterfly bush has a deserved reputation for overpowering a garden with its large and leggy ways. But newer cultivars including those from the Buzz series sport the same over-sized blossoms on compact, well-behaved frames and bloom their hearts out from spring to first frost, long after a lilac’s flowers are a distant memory.

Buddleleja 'Buzz Lavender' available from Thompson & Morgan

 

For scent 

 Who can resist the legendary perfume of sweet-smelling lilacs? Although it blooms a bit earlier in winter, California gardeners should consider sweetbox (Sarcococca ruscifolia) a worthy alternative. Thriving in dry part-sun to shade, its shiny, dark green foliage is complemented by delicately scented white flowers in February and March. Plant it close to the front door to give visitors to your home a sweet surprise.

 

Another way to channel the old-fashioned charm of lilacs is to choose equally old-fashioned and deeply-scented sweet peas. To get that heady, springtime perfume, avoid six packs of newer cultivars and plant nostalgic varieties from seed. Opt for highly fragrant choices in shades of purple like ‘Mary Lou Heard’, which is available along with many other old-fashioned favorites from Renee’s Garden.

 

Images courtesy of Renee's Garden

 

If you're even more daring, go for a scent that will honor the past while creating a whole new set of memories. African blue basil blooms non-stop until first frost in mild climates, and will entice you with its intoxicating herbal aroma every time you brush past. Just remember you will be sharing the wealth with the bees. My one modest specimen continues to attract them in droves in late November--an astonishing eight months after I tucked it into a spare pot.

 

For the purist who must have the original

 If the only way to evoke cherished memories is with the real McCoy, then at least be judicious in how you add a favorite plant to your garden. Don’t follow Oprah’s example, who chose to honor her (mid-West) grandmother’s memory by planting 100 hydrangeas in the inappropriate, inhospitable environment of her Southern California estate. Settle for just one, and plant it in a pot so that any specialized care can be easily and sustainably managed. Or better yet, do your research, as there may be a cultivar more suited to your region. Syringa meyeri ‘Palbin’ not only will bloom in the absence of a pronounced winter chill, but tops out at four or five feet tall and wide, making it a good choice for more modest-sized California gardens.

 
Photo by Elke Borkowski for Monrovia

I've used lilacs as an example, but similar options exist for any number of plants. If you’re intrigued by this approach to bridging the gap between the past and present, I strongly recommend you check out Why Grow That When You Can Grow This?: 255 Extraordinary Alternatives to Everyday Problem Plants by fellow Garden Designer Roundtable writer Andrew Keys. Andrew offers substitutes for a huge selection of garden favorites that grow in a range of USDA zones. How do I know his plant choices are good ones? Because he also thinks California lilac and butterfly bush are solid alternatives to lilacs. But you’ll have to buy the book to find out his third selection…

To read what other designers have to say about memory and plants, check out these Garden Designers Roundtable posts:

Andrew Keys : Garden Smackdown : Boston, MA

Deborah Silver : Dirt Simple : Detroit, MI

Genevieve Schmidt : North Coast Gardening : Arcata, CA

Jocelyn Chilvers : The Art Garden : Denver, CO

Lesley Hegarty & Robert Webber : Hegarty Webber Partnership : Bristol, UK

Mary Gallagher Gray : Black Walnut Dispatch : Washington, D.C.

Rebecca Sweet : Gossip In The Garden : Los Altos, CA

Susan Cohan : Miss Rumphius’ Rules : Chatham, NJ

Thomas Rainer : Grounded Design : Washington, D.C.

Rochelle Greayer : Studio ‘g’ : Boston, MA

And to learn more about Andrew Keys and his lifelong plant obsesssion, check back in two weeks. Not only will I post the podcast of the recent grilling interview Rebecca Sweet and I hosted of Andrew, but I’ll be giving away a copy of his new book to one lucky reader!

Succulent Pumpkins! (Also Known as Pumpcullents)

You know that feeling of ennui that steals over you when you’ve gone too long without breaking out the craft scissors? While I don’t actually own craft scissors, I do enjoy projects, especially around the holidays. This weekend, I was inspired to get my inner craft diva on by creating some of the stunning, succulent-topped pumpkins I learned about from Laura Eubanks of Design for Serenity.

 The process is simple: Glue moss to the top of a bowl-shaped pumpkin to act as a base for your masterpiece, then glue on a variety of succulents, nuts, berries or seed pods.

This is the largest one I made and at 12 inches wide, easily has enough presence to act as the centerpiece of a holiday table. It’s intended as a prize for a charity auction this weekend.

 

The orange color makes this cutie the most traditional. I’ll be bringing her (him??) along as a hostess gift for Thanksgiving this year.

 

My favorite. I love how elegant the succulents look with the charcoal gray color of the pumpkin. I’m keeping this one for myself. As a bonus, this pumpcullent looks gorgeous in the evening when a few candles placed nearby highlight its contrasting textures.

 

 

You know how it is once you have a tube of glue in your hands – it’s impossible to stop! I decided to make 3 mini pumpcullents that I’ll mix with votives for a fall-to-Christmas centerpiece on my coffee table.

 

 

Everything came from my own garden, except the Magnolia seed pods, which I swiped from a neighbor’s tree. As you can see, my succulent collection is not particularly exotic, and my pumpcullent creations feature plenty of ordinary Hens and Chicks and Jade Plant. I also tucked in berries from a Paul’s Scarlet Hawthorn tree that grows in my front yard, as well as some straw flowers I recently dried for contrast. In this particular application, it’s more about the overall effect, and less about the individual succulent ingredients.

 

 

The glue hardens off their stems, and the pumpkins should last at least through the holiday season and potentially for several months with a weekly spritz of water and regular doses of sunlight. I may move mine outside on a few sunny days next month to keep them happy.

 

If you decide to try this project yourself, it’s better to start earlier than I did, as it was difficult finding pumpkins this late in the season. Local readers, Orchard Nursery in Lafayette still has a wonderful selection.

 

 

For step-by-step instructions, go here. Or easier still, see Laura’s how-to video from the class she held at Roger’s nursery here. And if you like the idea of a succulent Christmas but aren't in a crafting frame of mind, Laura offers a fabulous set of succulent ornaments in her online shop.

 

Happy holidays!

The Power of We - Celebrating Our Garden

For many of us, gardening is the ultimate solitary activity, a personal meditation where we turn off our electronics, reconnect with the natural world, and slow down and breathe. While we may delight in showing off the fruits of our labor to family and friends, gardening is a pastime we savor alone.

 

But there are exceptions. This year, Blog Action Day is celebrating “The Power of We,” and today over 1000 bloggers from 42 different countries will be interpreting this topic however they choose. For me, there is no more inspiring example of what a dedicated group of determined individuals can create together than my own local community garden.

 

“Our Garden” was created as a partnership between the Contra Costa County Master Gardeners in northern California and the Contra Costa Times three years ago. What began as a fun, new venue to educate the community on edible gardening has grown into a wildly successful project that delivers hundreds of pounds of fresh produce to local food banks annually, (as part of the Garden Writers Association “Plant a Row for the Hungry”) and educates the public on a wide variety of gardening topics, from sheet mulching to proper irrigation techniques.

 

Waiting for a class on lawn alternatives to begn

Master Gardener Janet Miller is one of the master minds behind the garden, and shares not only her astonishing expertise on everything from double digging to cover crops, but also donates space in her own greenhouse for plant propagation. (Thanks to Janet, Liz Rottger and the whole tireless team, the first annual tomato sale raised thousands of dollars and sold out in less than a day!) Other community members have pitched in as well, including CK Landscape, who donated irrigation supplies and expertise.

All that was left by the end of the first day

While volunteers can be found in the garden on any given day throughout the spring and summer, Wednesdays are when the public is invited to stop by and hear a lecture, help out in the garden, purchase plants or have their own gardening questions answered by the onsite help desk staffed by master gardeners.

Veggies for sale! Make mine arugula, please.

What has set “Our Garden” apart from similar endeavors is the support and commitment of the Contra Costa Times. Longtime garden editor and columnist Joan Morris was an enthusiastic partner from the beginning. In addition to arranging space on the CC Times property to plant the garden, her weekly column in the newspaper’s home and garden section not only introduced the garden to the community at large, but created a way for armchair gardeners to share in the project’s success. By reading Joan’s recap of each Wednesday’s lecture, even those unable to attend could learn more about environmentally sound gardening practices.

 

Joan Morris, ensuring no one leaves empty-handed, even if that only means a flyer.

 

In real estate, location is everything, and the same holds true when it comes to an edible garden. The first year was especially challenging, when it was discovered that the site of the garden was on top of an extended community of ground squirrels. I was one of many who read the weekly updates in Joan’s column chronicling the War Between the MGs and the Squirrels (FYI, the caps are my addition, as the weekly battle updates were quite exciting). After months of failed strategies, the combination of an extra secure fence and anti-critter electric wire resulted in—if not exactly victory, at least an uneasy truce, and proved that gardening is a life long learning experience, even for the pros.

 

 Volunteers prepping the new site

 

Destined for the new fruit orchard

 

Next year the garden will be relocating to a new spot in Walnut Creek, which will allow for more extensive demonstration and work areas, including an onsite greenhouse and small fruit orchard. I encourage local friends and readers to find time to visit on a Wednesday morning next spring or summer, and see first hand the amazing “Power of We” at work in our own community.

Wordless Wednesday: Marcia Donahue's Garden

 Recently I had the opportunity to visit Marcia Donahue's amazing Berkeley garden during the Garden Conservancy's Open Day tour. But you don't have to wait until the next one, because Marcia generously opens her Garden of Earthly Delights and gallery every Sunday from 1-5.

My one minute highlight reel:

 

If you'd rather linger, here's the gallery.

And if you want more photos and a thorough analysis of Marcia's vertical garden style, visit this Fine Gardening post by Billy Goodnick. Since its Wordless Wednesday, I'm letting someone else do the heavy lifting.