As we watch the Sun Belt’s water problems develop over time, we see varying responses to the issue. There is denial and acceptance, large expansive lawns in weird and inappropriate locales and some encouraging looks at adaptation in using more native plants as well as innovative and more miserly irrigation systems, servicing all this. It is called embracing reality.
Some projects have a certain stark beauty in being left sparsely-planted, if done right:
(click any image to enlarge hugely)
Other aspects then come into play, such as rocks or other features like mounding or even in representing a desert climate with – who knew? – a desert look!
The above and below pictures will certainly not be everyone’s cup of tea. Naturally, the plants here did and will get a bit larger, depending on how they are fed and maintained, but this particularly severe example of design is probably on the sort of “lunatic fringe” of acceptable for many people who have other ideas for landscaping. However, this particular place offers a minimum of maintenance and most definitely a piddling amount of water cost for a season. Indeed, this one uses barely any water at all. Overall, it does have a consistent theme and it does have the Feng Shui of meandering paths leading to new visualizations and the imaginary prospects of weather events like running water inside the dry creek beds. (which, I might add, are actually functional for that very reason).
On the lusher end of the scale, once again we confront ourselves with the mathematical certainty of water use in terms of quantity. Let’s use this picture as an example for what to expect from a garden at its maturity:
If you enlarge this picture, aside from all else that might gain attention, there are approximately 30 plants in all requiring water. 4 of them – the trees -require double of what the shrubs require. Some of the perennials, one half of that. Essentially, we have placed 2 gallon per hour emitters under the ground, feeding the roots of all the shrubs. Because of the far larger root bases, the trees have 2 – 2 gallon per hour emitters. The perennials all have a one GPH emitter. When this landscape was first run, we ran it for 20 minutes, twice a day, and we felt extravagant. Therefore, this particular section used up about 40 gallons of water per day, less than a bath. The entire yard – and it is rather park-like and large – used up about 200 gallons a day, the truth is. Having said that, this is hardly a normal place inasmuch as it was a higher budget scenario. Just the same, even using 200 gallons per day, we found we were able to cut the times when it was cooler and adjust it upwards for the heat. That amounts to 4 baths, according to the standard of 50 gallons in a bathtub.
Below is a more normal sized yard. I often feature this landscape because it was one of our best, in my opinion and also because, in many ways, our most successful adaptation to using less water than ever before. This one features perennials, most noteworthy. They tend to do marvelous things with little care and they also tend – depending on the species – to require less water in general.
This one, all-in-all, is a “2 Bath affair”. We used rock mulches to keep the moisture in and to shade the water access to prevent evaporation and to hold the humidity tightly within the plants’ parameters.
Another look.
This project is a water-saver deluxe, actually, in spite of its rich look. My point in all this – and it always is – is that water, placed judiciously and correctly, can be delivered in small enough quantities to be nearly insignificant. Not only are we being responsible citizens by using less water, but we get our cake too! And not only are we saving a precious resource, but we pay less “at the pump” as it were.
Here are just a few other 2- and 3- bath a day watering spectacles:
With the thought of conserving water borne foremost in mind, what does an unrepentant garden lover do to adjust to the new realities? How do we change the way we design gardens and landscapes? What fundamental changes are required in us to develop gardens in still-beautiful ways when we face so many hard decisions about social responsibility and in such a public way? Let’s face it – as I have said before, landscaping is the “Ultimate Cosmetic”. No one deals with a larger palette.
What do we do when we find out we have an actual budgeted amount of water use? As absurd as this question may sound, it is the height of design wisdom. Water auditing for existing landscapes and gardens have been and should take place prior to their installation or further development. A sense of how much water we have used in the past should reflect favorably on making changes to lessen them in some very specific ways. The methods are out there and the results for redeveloping existing lawns and gardens as well as for installing future ones can be and should be more than exciting, actually. There is much to learn but it does not have to be anywhere close to disastrous. The fact is, done right, we can literally make things better as opposed to merely settling for some dire end.
(click all images to enlarge)
What to do with grass lawns?
In the first place, the primary sponge for water in typical landscapes remains lawns. I have always maintained that cutting down lawn space actually can give a completely new and fresher look to an existing home landscape. While lawns serve a variety of functions, including a place for children to play (perhaps its most important role, IMO), they do not have to be a monolithic presence. Broken up appropriately, over time, a lawn can change into many things, among them an adjunct and contrast to new color and new features. Lawns do not have to be gigantic at all. Inasmuch as their cool characteristics make them so similar to water in a landscape design’s effects, leaving a pool or “lake” of green is wise and refreshing.
Cutting the size down to resemble a feature in their own right can include shaping them to reflect their “semi-aqueous” nature. It can set a lawn apart, actually and thereby take advantage of how glorious colors look as a backdrop to swaths of green.
Grass can be engineered to resemble a literal trail, or pathway. Instead of having a monstrous assembly of grass as a mono-colored foreground, it can lead to interesting places, offering a cool walk in bare feet to inspect the place better. At the same time we find it interesting in form as well as function. The gentle and most inviting curves of a lawn lead the eye on in a wholesome way, appreciating the structure and form of a landscape itself. It’s a bath in cooling and soothing color and texture – the perfect use of grass lawns to a designer.
Lawn grasses have been developed now which send their roots an insane depth, which require far less waterings and are virtually geared to a more responsible water usage. They stay just as green for longer during Summers- in fact, more so than Bluegrass – owing to their drought tolerant natures.
My bottom line is this: so far, I have not cut out the notion of grass lawns, simply because I happen to love them. Admittedly, they should be used far, far less in desert climates – among others – and there is a body of thought that has no need whatsoever for a lawn to make a garden beautiful. In fact, let’s visit some of them now.
How do we replace lawns in design?
This is a huge and interesting subject. It reflects all that is newest in landscaping, from the array and plenitude of hardscaping materials to even water features themselves. I realize how ironic it must seem to proclaim a water feature to be some sort of alternative method of landscaping with less water. But they do. And they do it well, indeed.
Water features recirculate water. Once filled, the same water does the same dance over and over and over – well, you get it. Yes, there can be evaporation loss and, yes, we install automatic fill mechanisms to “top off” the feature once it reaches a certain lowered level. But, even in hot and sun-drenched and hot Nevada, we rarely run a 3/4″ feed pipe more than 2 minutes a day on normal sized features, implying the use of about 30 gallons, or less than a shower a day.
Landscapes whose be-all and end-all in the past was a wide expanse of lawn studded with trees have now become far more complex and interesting. In place of the expensive water-thirsty lawn, we now have “features”, like this water feature and the pretty patio and walkway pictured here. Full of color and shape, the carnival atmosphere lightens the mood yet still provides a consistency of form and function. The ultimate irony of a landscape such as this is that, after figuring the watering costs for a lawn set ion the same place over time, this place will have comparatively paid for itself in three years. After that it is just beauty and money.
The home owner of this place below wanted lawn and nothing else. He owns a car dealership and he listened closely as we explained what the costs of lawns was and where they were headed. As a businessman, he investigated on his own as well, having some thinking fodder to work with. Delighted with his research, he assigned the water feature you see below which he thoroughly and absolutely relishes watching as it rushes along below his patio deck above. Lit up at night, the falls and the creek have phosphorescent appearances at three different falls locations. As with all well-installed features, such as lighting and waterfalls with pumps, it runs off a timer and stops automatically to preserve power. He also served good wine.
The source:
A different mind set in general accompanies all this increasingly complex designing, now that the monolithic lawn is out of consideration. Suddenly, things like more patio space are entertained. The notion of sculpting the actual land by creating hills and mounds studded with rocks and plants becomes a fascinating alternative, making the entirety of any landscape suddenly more riveting an event. More park-like, less boring, more interesting and livelier by far, suddenly we are actually released to play around a little bit. Art seeps into the equation at about this time and all designers, I bet, can trace the moment of this discovery. It actually gets a bit intimidating, the truth is, because designers become far freer to experiment and to entertain alternatives for the regular folks – instead of just for the wealthy. In fact, it becomes an imperative.
We arrive at features like Bubble Rocks.
We do new things – different things – things like inserting lighting, making vineyards, enlarging patio space and making walking platforms from natural stone – all of which I will show next as we consider what features we deem suitable for a water-conserving regime which retains beauty before all else.
Just a quick break from all the irrigation and blooming talk for a look at someone I always felt deserved a wider audience.
Joe Zawinul won Best Keyboardist in the Jazz magazine “Down Beat”, 30 times. A young prodigy who came to the US to learn music at the Berklee School of Music, he was told he was already so good he needed to “Go out and play for a living.”. He soon joined Cannonball Adderly, then wrote for Miles Davis and then formed the groundbreaking band Weather Report, with Wayne Shorter.
Joe liked melody and he liked his music up beat. He was a serious experimenter with electronics as this clip shows. But what he loved best was a red hot band he could play with. Famous for a world beat sort of lyrical weirdness – just try to figure any of the languages sung here – even the voices are instruments, including the lady in this song who began with Zap Mama. He always played with the best in the business and they enjoyed working with this hero of mine.
This song is insanely upbeat. The youtube synch here is bad but I really don’t care. The music wins this race – and it does cook. Enjoy, Joe Zawinul, a giant in music. Here’s what a 75 year old bopster does.
Which picture below is the landscape that has irrigation? One of these pictures is irrigated by buried pipe and the other has no irrigation supply whatsoever.
This? (click all images to enlarge)
Or this?
If you answered the second picture, you would be correct. The top picture – from Vancouver, British Columbia – is from a project we did many years ago, obviously, which has performed spectacularly and grown thanks to the local climate – which is quite wet.
The second picture is from Reno, Nevada – smack in the middle of the Great Basin high desert and not quite a year old yet at the time of this picture. It is very irrigated, by means of buried pipes in the ground and small emitters which produce a designated amount of water to each individual plant. One thing about planting stuff in Reno is that, if somehow the watering regime is not right, you will find out fast! A pounding and relentless Sun mixes with an utter lack of humidity to expose any deficiencies pretty much immediately. For the record, here are later looks at that project, 2 years later:
This latter property is completely irrigated. Yes, as time has gone on, additional emitters were added, adding marginally to the water bill. Many times and in many places, this is the case, especially in neighborhoods such as this which were subdivisions, completely terraformed by excavators and bulldozers to conform to planned needs. Other places in this dry region where drip is used – in, say, homes built on more established existing soils, sometimes the drip irrigation merely acts to get roots to a water table which literally takes over from there. In these cases, the irrigation system, at least for trees and for many plants, can take a hike.
Here is a picture of what a project looks like during the course of installing drip irrigation:
Notice the black pipe coursing throughout the plantings. Eventually, it will be buried, as will the smaller distribution tubes that carry a certain pre-allocated amount of water to the roots of the trees and plants. One can actually determine precisely how much water is used over a period of time by use of these regulated devices. Put on a time clock, we can say, for example, that this group of plants has 200 different plants on it. Of these, the trees will have 3 – two gallon per hour (GPH)* – emitters apiece. Otherwise, the plants themselves will have one 2 GPH emitter apiece. (Note: some of the smaller ones will actually have 1 GPH emitters).
If we run it for a half hour, our 40 trees and 160 plants will need a total of:
(Trees- 40 x 6/2 = 120 gallons and the Plants – 160 x 2 / 2 = 160 gallons. Total = 280 gallons of water).
Inasmuch as this big project had some 4 planting zones of a similar make up, we can see that it would use around 1,000 gallons of water per day.
A Caveat: (Once again, this is a 5 acre project, somewhat densely planted. Yes, it must be nice! Bear in mind, for this guy, he had his own well, too, so much of his water went literally right back down into his own water table.)
For the project above this one, where we compared irrigation versus non-irrigation, the numbers for one zone listed here apply to the entire yard. So what is 280 gallons? How does it compare to our daily uses of water, per se?
Bath: 50 gallons Shower: 2 gallons per minute (15 minutes shower = 30 gallons) Teeth brushing: 1 gallon Hands/face washing: 1 gallon Face/leg shaving: 1 gallon Dishwasher: 20 gallons/load Dishwashing by hand: 5 gallons/load Clothes washing (machine): : 10 gallons/load Toilet flush: 3 gallons Glasses of water drunk: 8 oz. per glass (1/16th of a gallon)
As can be seen, the “hardship” of water can be lessened by the proper use of the right irrigation materials. Put another way, if you let a hose run, it puts out around 8-12 gallons a minute. If you have your garden hose running for an hour, watering plants and trees, you will have used 2-3 times what that drip irrigation system supplied to all those plants and trees. The equivalent to using the drip system for 40 trees and 160 plants is to taking 2 baths, flushing 6 times, washing 2 loads of clothes and running the dishwasher.
Now, grass is thirstier. The project below had 12 sprinkler heads using 2 gallons each per minute. They often ran it for upwards of 10 minutes. Just this lawn alone, therefore, used 240 gallons a day! And that’s when they only watered it once. (Many times, they ran it twice.)
They asked us for a method of keeping some lawn but cutting down costs of watering. By using alternative materials instead of lawn, such as brick pavers and by creating planting beds, we were able to save them substantial watering costs. For one thing, we used low trajectory nozzles on their sprinkler heads which minimized how much sprayed water was lost due to wind – in Reno, this is a concern. For another, we placed them in better spots and used a nozzle that has been developed which uses less water in general, yet still delivers to the exact spots they are designed for. What we ended up with was a landscape which cost them 2/3 less money on watering and yet still had some lawn. Here it is:
Any more, we consistently convert what once were huge swaths of grass into more manageable and less water-hogging landscapes. What is most bizarre about the entire scenario is how friendly one can get towards plants and flowers and – frankly – how much more interesting they can be, done right. Irony of ironies, I suppose, even installing a water feature using water recycled by a pump can reduce a water bill.
There are design rules which have also adapted to the new realities surrounding watering shortages and wiser use of this precious resource. That’s what I will address next.
“Raising irrigation water efficiency typically means shifting from the less efficient flood or furrow system to overhead sprinklers or drip irrigation, the gold standard of irrigation efficiency. Switching from flood or furrow to low-pressure sprinkler systems reduces water use by an estimated 30 percent, while switching to drip irrigation typically cuts water use in half. A drip system also raises yields because it provides a steady supply of water with minimal losses to evaporation. Since drip systems are both labor-intensive and water-efficient, they are well suited to countries with a surplus of labor and a shortage of water.
A few small countries—Cyprus, Israel, and Jordan—rely heavily on drip irrigation. Among the big three agricultural producers, this more-efficient technology is used on 1–3 percent of irrigated land in India and China and on roughly 4 percent in the United States.
In recent years, small-scale drip-irrigation systems—virtually a bucket that relies on gravity to distribute the water through flexible plastic tubing—have been developed to irrigate small vegetable gardens with roughly 100 plants (covering 25 square meters). Somewhat larger drum systems irrigate 125 square meters. Large-scale drip systems using plastic lines that can be moved easily are also becoming popular. These simple systems can pay for themselves in one year. By reducing water costs and raising yields, they can dramatically raise incomes of smallholders.”
Drip irrigation increases the productivity of water usage to more than 70% over the above-listed current standards which apply in surprisingly many places. More importantly, in terms of landscaping, drip irrigation and adaptations of garden and landscape design, alternatives are being sought to limit the more water-hoggish elements of our landscaping past.
One very major beneficiary of attention is obviously the famous “English Model” – great wide expanses of gorgeous and green grass. In the more recent relocation of millions of Americans, for example, to thriving Western cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas and Reno, criticisms of desert towns having monstrous amounts of grass are completely accurate in their condemnation. Inasmuch as these water worries are local, it is even more the case.
Personally, I have prided myself on adhering to some of these tenets, then even enlarging on them. Yes, I have installed large pieces of grass for clients in Reno and in California towns where water is becoming short-handed. I have had my own issues with finding alternatives to grass, personally, especially since I so admire all a great lawn can accomplish in terms of literally changing the micro-climate of weather inside a home’s individual envelope. Grass lawns cool things down; they evaporate, of course, and push moisture into the air in non humid climates; they look fabulous and are fun to walk on, sit on, lay on and play on. And, having said all that, I know lots of dudes who are utterly macho about having “the most killer lawn in the neighborhood”, lol. I do know these men and they are numerous!
This is great for Kentucky, where taking one’s chances on rainfall irrigating such water-intensive stuff can generally be relied on. But. Even they are facing some drought conditions which have led to some scary fears. Atlanta, Georgia faces the results of their most recent drought with trepidation. They failed to allow for this possibility in their water-planning and now face huge issues. My point is this – we all have some responsibility in a wiser use of the resource of water.
Let’s Review – This is a Kentucky Highway
And this is a Nevada Highway:
Big difference. Note the lack of grass in the lower photo.
It would be useless asking Americans or Australians to not want gardens outside their homes. Them would be fighting words, anyway. The notion of beauty and of simple enjoyment is an issue which few would give over to any government body. For another thing, food gardening saves us money and grants us a known fruit or veggie with that famous maximum taste and which grows from fertilizers and nutrients and soils of which we are totally aware. When we bite into a Red Delicious Apple or into some gorgeously rich-tasting Yellow Grape Tomato – or when our asparagus finally makes it onto our tables after a few years of cultivation – we have a product of our own labors and a foodstuff we actually earned and which – by almost any criterion – tastes better than those mass-produced suckers we get from the store, sold by appearance in a small selection of variety.
So where do we all go? Nevada?
Next, I will show how landscaping is adapting to the newer realities and will provide an explanation of how simple and easy converting to drip irrigation can be. The uses of drip irrigation can surprise us, as well, including automated watering of such things as hanging baskets.
Irrigation is the process by which we relax and let Man take over the work of God. I realize this sounds dreadfully hyperbolic, but, honestly, it is what it is. If we waited for rain and natural elements to supply our watering needs, we’d soon face the fact that not much would make it. Gardening and landscaping are not like farming in Illinois and Iowa, where somewhat (!!) predictable rainfalls can be relied on to supply us with our liquid energy.
The current concerns of Global Warming and somewhat Apocalyptic thinking also takes issue with irrigation, concerned that it uses water which would be better used elsewhere. I think this is undoubtedly a truism. The Sahara could use more water. The Gobi gets pretty doggone dry. You can downright drown by going outside on the Olympic Peninsula in Winter.
Reasonable and very smart people have put themselves at this problem and have concluded numerous things. Some places should worry about water more than others. Some places get abundant water. We are not yet geared for transferring water from British Columbia (which gets too much) to California and Nevada (which, Lord knows, could use more). Nor are places like Atlanta, Georgia properly planned for the drought conditions they recently underwent, finding they had far too few resources in place for collection and storage of water. We so often, as a species, wait until the Worst shows up before dealing proactively with the problems facing our frantic expansion.
Having said that, I marvel at Reno, Nevada’s foresight now and then, with their excellent storage system of reservoirs, catching the always-needed snowmelt. Sure, when the snow is meager, they suffer a bit. But when it is average or better, they pack it in, big time. They also have implemented largely successful water-stretching plans consisting of policing the worst abuses of overwatering and waste and of educating the public about the ways to lessen the need for wasteful water practices, from low-use toilets to shorter showers to smarter plantings in the garden and wiser irrigation practices.
There are other positive developments in water usage – on site storage of rainwater and snow melt by use of catch basins and traps. Grey Water is a most promising area. And then there is common sense -
Water consciousness is a blooming (pardon the pun) field. The term “water auditing” is making its way into our lexicons and is the height of wisdom, especially for those who actually pay for water. It’s like accounting for grocery expenditures – it is a real and present cost, complete with ways of cost-saving – sometimes huge ones.
Irrigation practices have now officially made their way into the limelight as a method of actually saving money. It may seem odd to couple “saving water” with “irrigation” and it does presume that one already waters his yard and garden – there is that. If you have no garden whatsoever, why are you reading this?
But almost anyone reading here has a garden or lawn. We ask ourselves, how we can help and still garden?
Wise irrigation is a booming area. Irrigation companies are awarding big bucks for innovations and for ideas which help limit the wise use of water, including changing plants to more native varieties, changing the delivery systems of the water we use to more efficient ones and changing our senses of design and sustainability in ways which are new, different and actually very exciting. Did you realize, for example, that by changing – say – one half of your lawn to flowers and shrubbery, you can reduce your water costs by more than half? Did you realize there are now systems in place which accurately deliver the precise amount of water needed to plants, with little or zero waste? That this process can cut water use by up to 90%?
Watering our lawns and gardens were once just taken for granted as much as breathing the air around us. The dang stuff was everywhere! But times have changed – like everything else. Now we find ourselves searching diligently for methods of changing our ways so that we can not over extend what we once took for granted into some impossible-to-access corner.
I’m going to present a hopefully accessible look at irrigation from a user and installer’s perspective. As a contractor who has specialized in irrigating lawns and plants, I think I hold an interesting perspective from which we can all gain something. Watching the various reactions to the looming water shortages around the globe and here at home, I think I can present ways of maximizing the use of this precious resource while still allowing us to enjoy what means so much to us all – a good garden.
Yes, it is wrapping up. As if things were not rushing to the inevitable pushy behavior of Summer with more Sun and heat than we imagined possible in January, last night we got visited by near tornado conditions. Big huge winds, some hail, lots of pounding rain just beating the heck out of all those late-hanging blooms. Summer may be arriving with an exclamation point!
Nevertheless, I promised something – blooms of Spring, the “final days” – so, with that ominous designation, I will traipse forth with those remaining stragglers (don’t believe that for a second). They actually look pretty proud. I dare say, my ‘hood continues to kick bloom butt.
(click any image to enlarge)
The Exbury Hybrid Azalea above is one oversized sucker but whose random poke of itself over and above the mass below it, just begged for some photographic attention. So? I gave it some.
This charming small rhododendron sits at the front door of a local condo and I have always been captivated by its two color bloom.
For 11 months of the year, the rhodies featured blow bedecking this small home in a truly splendorous show of bloomage, are an unremarkable, if generally comely bit of green. But when it comes bloom time, these guys are in a class by themselves. This picture really needs enlarging to fully appreciate just how spectacular they can be.
Other yards as well had their shady rhodies still showing off – and in some of the more exotic colors which tend to bloom late..
The lushness is almost ridiculous, occasionally, such as this place, below. So easy to grow here, they just get bigger and more reliable yearly.
I was caught by the color of this baby last year. It’s a very cool orange and pretty much at its peak right there.
Here’s a happy rhodie!
The deep shade canopy allowed these dogwood trees to bloom later than normal. The pink in the foreground and a gorgeous white in the background make a stunning small tableau, hard by soime apartment complex parking lot.
Meanwhile, back to the local rhodedenrons -
It’s honestly quite a show.
Rhododendrons have adapted to the American North West like a native plant. They thrive and adore it up here. All those hybrids developed in England and now Canada and the US are paying huge dividends opf uncommon beauty. Yes, there are native rhodies here – typically purple-blooming. And, yes, they sure do well. But the ones we are seeing dosplayed here are almost all unviersally hybrids, most actually stemming from genetic permeations of Rhododendrons from Nepal and China.
Getting tired of these yet? OK, here;s one more. That’s it!
The 80 degree days are here. Portland’s legion of homes without air conditioning is about to experience Summer in often-grueling ways, including my own. After leaving Reno – where air conditioning or “swamp coolers” is the closest thing to automatic, my adopted town gets delirious when the Sun finally comes out and doesn’t even sweat their lack of A/C. They are all out somewhere, soaking up Sun like those insanely efficient Paper Towels.
But Spring has hung in like a dirty shirt, too. Rhododenrons, azaleas and Hawthorne trees are sending out their belated gifts even amidst the Solar carnage of heat and welcome sunlight. My neighborhood once again becomes the palette we gather our data from.
(click all images to enlarge hugely)
You’ll recall that Double File Viburnum I had my eye on for a while. It has expanded in marvelous and charming ways into a real bit of eye candy.
Big, nearly naturalized and untamed as heck, I am hoping they let this absolute gem grow even more wild as the years go by. It’s a perfectly delightful plant who is obviously more than pleased about its location.
And there are other weird gems abounding around here too! How could I leave this bad boy out? Honestly, I adore this behemoth of a Rhodie with its three colors and “in-your-face” style, sitting prominently on a corner. It always gets a smile!
All these “late arrivals” at the Spring Fest around here prolong the festivities in an incredibly satisfying way. They seem to buy into the notion that Spring is one of the Natural Wonders that make life itself exciting and optimistic. Here are other pretty doggone terrific blooms, suitable for smiling and all within 3 blocks of my place:
A Hawthorne Tree on a busy thoroughfare -
Pardon the intrusion but I cannot get enough of the process of rhodies bearing blooms and how they get there.
Early Peonies are busting out and flexing their substantial blossom muscles -
Gorgeous early Irises look absolutely spectacular this time of year -
This stunningly lush mismatch of Hawthorne and Maple and an Oak is a gift owed to a wonderful neglect! Enlarge this one and enjoy just a plain old luscious scene. Who cares about its supposed propriety? Sometimes, stuff is just plain pretty.
Here the little Clematis with an “I think I can” attitude.
We’ll keep a close eye on this Honey Locust this Summer season. Now this person is what I call someone who “pays attention”! Modeled after the English Model of garden design and care, I think it has a lot going for it. I secretly love these very attended-to gardens. (Driveway looks like heck, though
I have featured this home before. To me, this home may be one of the most typical examples of taking advantage of the local climate and Flora. The huge third growth Doug Firs and Hemlocks straddle and shade an otherwise extremely eye-pleasing and very pleasant garden. This place has balance, perspective and tons of color. The Spring Bloomers here are just the best there are.
I’ll wrap this up. In fact, I’ll do two parts. I have a bunch more I don’t want to waste and I am thinking more here would be overload.
