Archive for Shade Plants – Page 2

Garden Remodel in a Rose City Park’s Craftsman Home

Garden Remodel in a Rose City Park’s Craftsman Home

Entry to private patio garden in Rose City Park neighborhood, Portland, OregonKay hired me to design her garden remodel in the Rose City Park Neighborhood after she had a seismic upgrade done to the foundation of her old Portland craftsman home. The construction process destroyed much of her existing garden.

She decided this was an opportunity to make her garden the best garden of her life.

Designers site assessment

The house sits on a corner lot and the primary garden space is in the side yard. The patio and sitting area worked beautifully as is; patio tucked into a corner with close access to the back porch and kitchen. There were wonderful plants to work with but the proportions of the fenced side yard created a bowling alley feel. This was the opportunity to make a significant change.

Her side yard was a fenced in area 50 feet long and 15 feet wide with the patio on one end and a narrow strip of lawn in the middle.

Before Landscape Design in a Day side yard Rose City Park neighborhood, Portland, OregonMoving her fence and gate and incorporating some of the space into the front yard to create a more intimate space fixed 90% of the problems. Now her private patio garden was 15′ wide by 25’ long instead of 50’ long.

This was a huge improvement for experiencing the garden from the patio. It feels good to walk through the garden, pause and enjoy the journey to the patio.

We widened the planting area opposite her large dining room windows so we could layer multi season plantings for a year-round view and more drama.

Kay’s existing plants

We did an edit of her existing plantings, hanging the pink ribbon of death on a few plants and relocating others. Experimenting with plant material is what being a gardener is all about. Plantings get overgrown and crowded very easily when you’re having fun. Kay is a gardener, loves color and a cottage style to go with her craftsman era home.

Hypericum f. uniflorum 'Citrinum' for Rose City Park neighborhood garden, Portland, OregonHere are some of the fun plants Kay had in her garden that we kept. Several collector  varieties of Hellebore, Euphorbia x m. ‘Tiny Tim‘, Actaea simplex ‘Carbonella’ (purple leafed snakeroot), Hypericum x ‘Citrinne’, the “new” St John’s wort shrubs that are so wonderful for flower arranging,  Tricyrtis, toad lily, an exquisite fall flowering lily with multiple flowers on each stem, Eryngium, a variety of Sea Holly with its wonderful fall silver and blue toned flowers, many unusual varieties of hosta, a multi stem mature vine maple and various sword fern.

Kay’s New Plants

Here’s a list of some plants we added:  Maidenhair ferns, saxifrage ground cover, and native bleeding heart were planted en masse to help blend different planting areas together to give the garden a cohesive look.  Chinese camellia ”Yuletide’ was selected for its cherry red winter flowers, Daphne ‘Summer Ice’ for fragrance in summer and chartreuse Japanese forest grass, Coral bell ‘Lime Marmalade’, Hosta ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ were added for color contrasts.  Leptinella verdigris, a brass buttons ground cover was added to existing flagstone area to cover bare soil and since this plant is a very strong spreader, (warning), use appropriately.  The hot pink flowered Salvia ‘UC Pink’, which flowers all summer and into late fall was a replacement. Kay had lost one in the seismic construction and we found the perfect spot for a new one.

Entry garden design in Rose City Park neighborhood, Portland, OregonProportions Matter

Here’s what we did to improve the proportions of her garden room. We changed the straight lawn shape from a line to a curve. We removed 25 feet of fence and set the entry gate closer to the patio. Losing the long narrow shape completely changed from a bowling alley feel to an intimate and integrated garden experience. As much as we all love plants, plants alone cannot give us the impact that changing the space does.

We used my  collaborative Landscape Design in a Day process to create the re-design together.  Kay hired help to move the bigger plants but did most of the garden plantings herself.  She used my plant broker to get some of her plants.  The attractive fence was designed and built by Creative Fences and Decks.

Let’s remodel your garden together.  Contact me, https://landscape-design-in-a-day.com/contact/

 

 

Designers List of Shade Plants for Root Weevil Resistance

NE Portland Hostas with Root Weevil Damage

Root weevil damage distracts from an otherwise beautiful collection of shade loving plants.  

Designers List of Shade Plants for Root Weevil Resistance

Root weevil disfigure so many shade garden plants and can make a garden look ravaged. It’s disappointing to see hosta and other plant leaves looking all chewed up. Can we design a shade garden with beauty and style without using root weevil favorite snack plants?

“Well HELL that’s not much of a shade garden” is what I said after eliminating plants root weevil like to eat. I was disappointed in the tiny number of plants that would work and wandered off to write about something different, something a bit cheerier!!!! However, I’ve been thinking about it and yes, we have some great plants we can use. 

Evergreen Shrubs  

Fatsia japonica Spider's Web in SE Portland Residential Landscape Design

Sometimes choosing an interesting variegated leaf, such as this Fatsia japonica ‘Spider’s Web’ can hide the notching caused by Root Weevil (look close!)

Aucuba, Daphne and Fatsia are not root weevil favorites and if you select the variegated forms the notching doesn’t show as much. To be specific, Daphne odora ‘Marginata’,  Fatsia japonica ‘Spider’s Web’, and Aucuba japonica ‘ Gold Dust’ are varieties that I recommend.

I have never seen much leaf damage on our Native Huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) probably because the leaves are so tiny.  It doesn’t show which is what we are after.

Three Root Weevil Resistant Rhododendron for Part Shade 

Grant Park Garden Design Rhododendron with Root Weevil resistance

The fuzziness on the bottom of the leaves on some Rhododendrons reduce Root Weevil damage.

I’ve found  lists of root weevil resistant rhododendron less than helpful since most Rhododendron listed are sun lovers. Root weevil prefer part shade to shade loving plants.

Rhododendron ‘Clipiense’ is my best weevil resistant compact rhododendron for shadier situations. This rhody has fine hairs on the leaves so root weevil rarely bother it. It’s a slower growing variety and can take more shade than the other two I have listed but not deep shade.  Any rhododendron with a hairy or fuzzy leaf will be root weevil resistant.  Many of the hairier leafed plants are sun lovers but not all.

Rhododendron ‘Sappho’ is a tall white flowered w burgandy splotched flower.  Sappho does well in morning sun, dapples and afternoon shade.  

Rhododendron ‘Blue Diamond’ can take full sun but does well in full am sun and afternoon shade. It can get taller than wide.

Perennials   

NW Portland Sword Fern and Hardy Geranium in Residential Landscape Design

Sword fern (Polystichum munitum) and Hardy Geranium (Geranium macrorrhizum) do not show Root Weevil damage.

Sword fern (Polystichum munitum)  has a fuzzy frond (leaf) and root weevil don’t eat fuzzy leaves typically. Most fuzzy fronded ferns will be root weevil resistant and are an important player in a root weevil free planting. 

Hellebore argutifolius is perfect for NW Portland Landscape Designs

Helleborus argutifolius photo credit: Great Plant Picks

Hellebores are typically safe from weevil once they are mature plants. When the soft and munchable new leaves unfurl in February the root weevil have not hatched yet (here in Portland) so are not present until late April or May. The harder leafed hellebores like Helleborus argutifolius seem particularly impervious. 

Groundcover Plants   

Oregon Oxalis (Oxalis oregana) doesn’t seem to get a lot of weevil attention in my gardens and it is fun to add to salads. Same with our native piggy back plant Tolmiea menziesii. It has hairy leaves and is great for shade. For Saxifraga varieties, use the hairy leaved varieties for weevil resistance, the smoother ones are on the weevil munch list. Hardy geranium varieties that smell like cedar and have a fuzzy leaf are 100% weevil resistant – Geranium macrorrhizum for deep to moderate shade and Geranium x cantabrigiense for part sun areas. Another good bet is Sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum)

Last but not least, Euphorbia Rob’s spurge (Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae) is a tough evergreen ground covering shade plant. I consider it a thug but it’s great to use in gardens where I have a path that doubles as barrier to their creeping roots. This plants roots must be contained or it will march right over your hostas. I’ve never seen any root weevil damage on this plant.

 Know Thy Enemy?   

Root Weevil have no natural predator here in the Pacific Northwest so it’s rare to find a shade garden without them.  We can cut the population of root weevil down to tolerable numbers and thus get our beautiful shade garden back. Read my blog “Attack of the Root Weevils”  to learn what can be done to reduce their population in your garden. 

 

North Portland Residential Landscape Design for Shade

North Portland Residential Landscape Design for Shade

Chris and Jennifer of North Portland contacted me for help with their large shady back yard.

Problems

They were overwhelmed with the high maintenance of lawn under huge trees. They wanted a back yard for entertaining a large family (with lots of adult kids and future grand kids).  They wanted to DIY and had a strict budget, so spending 20 grand on a concrete patio was not realistic.Cedar chip patio makes affordable landscaping for North Portland home. Views over the fence included other neglected yards and they had a large (evil) tree of heaven that had to go. Many plants had died or looked leggy and sun starved.

The back yard was longer than deep and made creating a design on their own more difficult.

Solutions

My best contributions were getting the shapes of the new rooms to work with their long but shallow yard. Introducing them to the concept of using cedar chips as their primary surface for entertaining and paths was a perfect fit also. It looks great with their NW Natural style landscape, it’s affordable and it’s very easy to care for. If you get the right kind of chips you can even use a leaf blower on them and they don’t blow away.

We tucked different outdoor rooms into the perimeter of the landscape and kept the existing small concrete patio as a spacious entry to the house and the BBQ center. No more trying to fit a dining table on it as they had done before the design.

Crushed rock firepit patio makes for affordable landscaping in this N. Portland backyard.Selecting low water plants

Sword fern works well for the woodsy nature of this North Portland garden design.

Sword fern works well for the woodsy nature of this North Portland garden design.

The plant selection was also critical.  Shade plants had to survive on the water the big trees would let them have so our palette needed to be all low water plants. We used a lot of sword ferns and kept native plants wherever possible.

On the south end we used one of my favorite little evergreen trees, Boxleaf Azara – Azara Microphylla. They planted them up on a berm which made them taller and helped do a faster job of screening out the neighbors garage wall.  Planting Azaras up on a berm prevents root rot since these plants do not tolerate poor drainage.

DIY installed

Their DIY install of the landscape turned out fantastic. They loved their back yard. When change came along, and they had to put their house on the market, the yard was another major asset and selling point. These photos, which they took, are from their marketing page.

I especially love the hammock room. The fire pit patio is clearly the largest entertaining area and is used for lounging with or without a fire. Their fire pit patio is a crushed rock surface, not cedar chips.

low maintenance evergreen screens tall wall in Raliegh Hills garden design

Azara Microphylla has fine evergreen leaves that add texture to this wall in SW Portland.

The chips continue around to the side yard gate and match the rest of the now low maintenance landscape.

“Carol understood us and got our style for a NW Natural landscape design for our North Portland yard.  We were very happy that she surpassed our expectations for low maintenance, no lawn, great textured plantings, backyard design.  She understood that we wanted to do some of the work ourselves and helped us make a beautiful-yard-on-a-budget a reality.”

 

Native Plants for Drought Tolerant City Landscapes

Native Plants for Drought Tolerant City Landscaping

Drought tolerant plantings in NE Portland Salal, Salvia and low water native dogwood tree 'Venus'

Drought tolerant landscape plantings in N. E. Portland Salal, Salvia and low water native dogwood tree ‘Venus’ add color to this small city front yard.

People dream of a landscape that will need no watering.  Sometimes because they think it will be less work but more likely these days they recognize that water or the lack of it is an environmental problem that will continue to grow.  Like the Brits in World War II we want to do our bit to help with a very real problem.

One way to have a no water landscape is to use NW native plants that are drought tolerant.  Here are some tips to help you have more success growing NW Native plants for your drought tolerant landscape.

What size of plants to plant-size matters

Natives are a little more particular than other plants.  Use 2 gallon sized plants not 4 inch or 1 gallon for best results with native plants like Salal-Gaultheria shallon, Ocean Spray-Holodiscus discolor, Huckleberry-Vaccinium ovatum, Current-Ribes sanguineum or the favorite native of all, Vine Maple-Acer circinatum.  They will establish better if you start with a bigger root ball.  Expect 20 percent of your plants to fail even when using a larger sized plant.  I tend to plant an inch or two too high rather than too low with these plants or any that are drought tolerant.

Sword fern size can be smaller

If you are planting Sword fern Polystichum munitum, save your money and buy smaller plants, like a 1 gallon.  The two gallon rule does not apply because Sword fern establishes its roots much  more easily.  Unlike other natives it also can thrive in less than ideal soil with good results.  It’s the only NW native plant that doesn’t need careful soil preparation.  I’ve transplanted it from my woods and had it play dead for over one full year.  It came up the second year and was back to a three foot wide fern by the third year.  Fascinating.  This plant can be killed but one would have to work at it.  It can tolerate summer water and will look more attractive with regular water when planted in a sunny area.  In shady areas it has looked quite attractive without a drop of summer water by the third year.

Pacific Madrone for drought tolerant landscaping.

Pacific Madrone – Arbutus menziesii
has recently been approved for City of Portland street trees.

Madrone must be smaller

Madrone-Arbutus menziesii is perfect for a no water landscape and is very picky about how and where it is planted.  This is because unlike most trees it has a tap root so it does not thrive in a pot for long.  In the past I’ve only successfully planted a 6 inch tall plant. Recently friends of trees has found a way to grow them to about 5′ feet tall and plant them in parking strips.  They are a needed plant for hosting rare butterflies so if this succeeds it will be very exciting. Two important tips for success with your new Madrone; water sparingly the first summer, and do not ever fertilize.  After the first summer is over, never water your Madrone again.  Don’t plant anything else within ten feet that needs summer water and don’t prune your Madrone.  It’s a beauty that requires planned neglect for success.  At this time I do not have a retail source for the larger Madrone.  If you want one, buy the 6″ size at a native plant sale.  They grow surprisingly fast.  The size rule is also true for Manzanita because of tap roots.

Native Oregon drought tolerant Vine Maple with Single Trunk.

Vine maple with single trunk fits small city landscapes. Multiple stemmed trees will get too wide.

Vine Maple-Acer Circinatum

The most typical mistake I see in small city landscapes is multi stem vine maples horribly disfigured with poor pruning because they got too big. Most small city landscapes are not big enough for a multi stem or clump version of vine maple – Acer circinatum.  Instead I select a single trunk vine maple from one of my wholesale growers.  A single trunk tree will not get as wide. Single trunk trees are “made” by the grower so don’t expect to find them in the wild.

Plant NW native plants in the fall – Here’s why

Plant in fall for best results with native plants.  Planting in late winter works almost as well but depends on how extreme the cold is.  Planting in mid spring or summer will require more summer watering and some natives like California lilac, have an adverse reaction to summer water but their roots are not established well enough to go without water for the first summer so it’s a dilemma.

Avoid this dilemma when you can… by planting in the fall.

Native Huckleberry used in drought tolerant landscaping

Evergreen Huckleberry used as a screen Hillside Neighborhood in SW Portland.

Evergreen Huckleberry comes in two sizes (sort of)

Evergreen Huckleberry-Vaccinium ovatum is almost like two different plants.  Planted in a sunny area it grows slowly to 4’ tall and perhaps 3’ wide.  While it will continue to grow and get a little bigger each year, it’s very slow growing.  Compare it with the same plant in part shade to heavily dappled shade and it grows faster and is often in the 6 to 8 foot tall by as wide size.

People use the berries in muffins, pancakes and jam.  I’ve always believed the flavor tends to be mild from plants in low elevations and more flavorful in higher elevations.  Birds will eat them mild or tart but don’t tend to use them for baked goods.  I have huckleberry at a very low elevation and at the end of a very very dry summer, I sampled some and they were very flavorful.  I was surprised so now I’m questioning the old saying about high elevation berries.

Manzanita typically is a drought tolerant landscape plant for Portland residential landscapes

Manzanita-Arctostaphylos (maybe canescens subsp canescens) N W Portland street side plantings.

Soil Preparation

Most NW Native plants need well prepared soil.  Some need fertile soil, some need a low fertility soil but almost all of them need well drained soil.  I find most directions on how to prepare soil for NW natives quite complex.  It is doable.  If you are DIY, here is a web site that might be helpful.  http://plantnative.org/how_siteprep.htm

NW Native Flowering Current for drought tolerant landscaping.

Flowering current – Ribes sanguineum is a spring pick me up for people and nectar for hummingbirds.

How to kill your plants

Plant too deep – Dig the hole several inches deeper than the root ball of the new plant.  Or plant them in the lowest area of your property where they will be in standing water during the winter.

Here is a great way to kill your plants-Water them every day their first summer.  They might live through the summer but will probably die over their first winter even if you only over watered them in the summer.  This is probably not fair but if they did not go dormant properly due to overwatering or worse fertilizing… come May, you will be looking at brown woody stems with no buds or green leaves to be seen.

Best Practice-How to plant drought tolerant landscape plants. 

Dig the hole twice as wide but only as deep as the root ball of the new plant.  Plant 1” or 2″ high and bring soil or your mulch top dress up to the plants edges.  Water carefully and thoughtfully the first summer.  A slow long soak rather than daily light sprinkles of water is best.   Mulch the plant in the fall and spring, don’t fertilize.

Drought tolerant native Sword Fern Hillside Neighborhood Portland Oregon

NW Native Sword fern – Polystichum munitum has upright fronds in sun and horizontal low fronds in shade.

Mix of NW Native Plants and Non Native Plants

As a Portland landscape designer, when I have clients who want no water landscapes, I tend to mix other plants with NW native plants.  My list for a full sun area might look like this: Spanish lavender, dwarf manzanita groundcovers, oat grass, heather, California lilac, true dwarf pines, smoke tree, madrone,  manzanita trees, grama grass, dwarf fountain grasses, rosemary, hebe, stepables groundcovers like ‘Elfin Pink’ thyme.  Most of these plants will need irrigation initially and proper watering technique to develop a deep root system.  Plants with deep root systems handle the heat beautifully.  Ask us more about that when we work together to create your design.

Contact Us

If you are looking for drought tolerant landscaping for your Portland landscape, contact us.  Let’s create a landscape design that balancing your needs for an attractive landscape for your home that includes native plants,  and other low water plants that feed pollinators and provide color.

Modern NW Natural Landscape Design

Modern Low Maintenance Landscape Design

After shot of modern Portland area backyard landscape design.

Freshly installed Landscape Design in a Day. Emily says, “Carol got my desire for simplicity and my style both with the plant material and the hardscapes.”

My new client Emily contacted me with two problems.  One – she needed a landscape design for her new home that would be pleasing and fit her space and her style.  She wanted to enjoy being outdoors in her small backyard in the summer.  She knew she didn’t want lawn and she wanted entertaining space.  She had a small terrace outside the kitchen door which is certainly big enough for a cuppa coffee, but it didn’t feel naturalistic and certainly wasn’t big enough to entertain.

Two – no matter what sort of landscape design we did she would need regular landscape maintenance.  In addition to finishing school, she spends a significant amount of time in France with family.  Lots of people say they need low maintenance.  Emily really needed low maintenance and a professional gardener who would not trim her Japanese maples into lollypops in her absence.

Previous landscaping was overrun with weeds before Landscape Design in a Day added a modern touch.

Spring of 2016 Emily’s new landscape was overrun with weeds.

When she called me late spring of 2016 her landscape was completely overrun with weeds, and her plants (recently planted fall of 2015) were struggling.   Emily is an affectionado of minimalist design. Her ultra modern Westmoreland home is designed for renting out the bottom floor and she has a tenant. Emily loves ferns and Japanese maples. She prefers green leaves to the overly colorful variegated designer plants. She loves a woodsy naturalistic style for her plantings but wanted a minimalist modern style for any hardscaping.

Tough Environment for plants – Dry Shade

Three huge maple trees in neighboring landscapes created deep to dappled shade.  In summer they took all the water and in winter they buried the landscape in pounds of wet mucky leaves.   Fall clean up with Oregon Bigleaf maple starts in December.  It is not the romantic vision of a person wearing a light sweater whistling and raking up dry pretty leaves. You’re wearing rain gear and using a shovel lifting up pounds and pounds of wet muck.   Many plants would simply rot and die.  I would need to carefully select plants that can survive being buried by such a deluge of leaves. This was a tough environment for plantings.

Dziedzic acer-japonicum-aconitifolium Japanese maple chosen for modern landscape design in Portland.

Emily loves Japanese maples. We selected Acer Aconitifolium ‘Full Moon’ Japanese maple for her shaded backyard.

Design Decisions

On our design day we focused on the backyard. She had one window on the second floor (the kitchen window) and I selected a special Japanese maple, two king-size ferns and some small evergreen shrubs to see in winter. The Japanese maple has both a hot spring leaf color and strong red fall color.  It was a lovely if obvious choice.   Her downstairs tenant had an egress window so I kept the plantings low to keep all the available light.

Privacy Plantings

To create privacy between properties we used three small evergreen trees with tiny leaves to contrast with the Oregon Bigleaf maple.  The rest of the plants were selected for summer interest because they would not be seen in the winter from the house.

Materials create the style

Modern landscape design using pavers.

Brian of D & J Landscape Contractors placing HydraPressed concrete slabs for woodland modern garden.

When I am designing a modern landscape, materials are everything.  The new modern landscape design, which is actually not all that new anymore, can become a cliché of itself.  Straight line paths without proportional balance look uninviting and cold. We used a warm gray HydraPressed concrete slab that is the epitome of modern style and will last forever if properly installed. We created two patio spaces and connected them with wide paths.  It looks like one space with plants flowing in between. This is a lot of hardscape for a backyard so you might think it would look harsh. Plantings will cover every square inch of soil and create such a lush and full complement so that the patios are fully integrated visually.  It’s a balancing act between hardscape and planted space.  Another help toward a serene and simple look is the lack of lawn.  Lawn, patio and plantings in such a narrow landscape wood tend to create a busy feeling and of course lawn would not thrive in such a shaded woodsy environment.

100 shades of green

It was important to honor Emily’s love of green leafed plants but in order to achieve the lushness needed to integrate the design, I had to find a way to provide a variety of textures (leaf shape, sheen, shade of green, habit of plant branches, etc.).   My ideal for Emily’s garden is that you could take a picture of it with black-and-white film and it would still look incredibly beautiful because of the contrasting textures and varying shades of green.

Japanese maple was used in modern landscape design.

Japanese maple – Acer Palmatum ‘Shindeshojo’

Because Emily loves Japanese maples she will have a succession of seasonal color changes to entertain her from spring to fall. The plantings we used are fairly low water once mature but it would be difficult to establish the plantings without irrigation because the huge Oregon Bigleaf maples roots will steal water from the new plants. With Emily’s school schedule and traveling, an irrigation system was necessary for long-term success.  No one wants to saddle their tenant with the job of hand watering the landscape.

Emily’s comments

Using existing maple tree in modern landscape design.

August of 2016 was too hot to transplant Emily’s favorite maple. The contractor and I redesigned the hardscape layout so we could leave her existing maple undisturbed.

Emily is very happy with the design “I absolutely love the garden and am so excited about it.  It’s wonderful.”