True Low Maintenance Landscape Uses Synthetic Lawn

Posted by Carol

· July 7, 2014

Save Time and Money by Installing Synthetic Lawn

Low maintenance landscape design in St. Johns Portland

AFTER: Low maintenance can also be lush. The plants have filled in nicely 2 years after installation.

The synthetic lawn and Landscape Design in a Day was a retirement gift Bob and Norma gave to themselves. They were so sure about synthetic lawn they had already purchased it.

From the first phone call, I knew how many square feet of synthetic lawn we would use and where it would go. They were looking forward to a lawn that would stay green no matter what their boxer dog did. Mowing, fertilizing and watering would no longer be part of their new retirement lifestyle.

Before mid-century modern landscape makeover, St. Johns Portland, Oregon

BEFORE: Landscape Design in a Day, the synthetic lawn and all the homeowner’s hard DIY work

Plant Color and Diversity a Must
Norma especially enjoyed plants with a lot of color. The front landscape plantings needed to have year round color, and have interesting texture. She was interested in a very clean mid-century modern hardscape but wanted the plantings to add a softening effect.

The backyard could be completely devoted to summer color as few windows faced the back.

Norma’s New Plant Palette Includes:

Hydrangea paniculata ‘Pink Diamond’ (a sun tolerant hydrangea tree)
Dicentra spectabilis ‘Goldheart’
Weigela florida ‘My Monet®’

Norma used the popular design website Houzz to send me pictures of her style. This saved time and worked very well for us to zero in on the kinds of plants she loved.

Synthetic Lawn Installed in St Johns Portland Oregon front yard

AFTER: Photo taken just two months after the Landscape Design in a Day was completed

Colorful foilage lasts for months, flowers in summer.

Weigela ‘My Monet’ displays colorful foliage that lasts for months. Bell-shaped pink pearl colored flowers appear in late spring / early summer and attract beneficials to your garden.

True Grit
Bob and Norma intend to stay in this home for many years. I recommended they invest in my “true grit” soil prep process. It creates an environment for healthy plants, the plants need less water, and often grow bigger than in typically amended clay soil. It is a lot of work! We joked about whether Bob would still like me (since he was the one doing the heavy work) after he was done. The results are very exciting and satisfying for me – let alone my clients!

Our Clients Say it Best
Norma commented, “Thank you for all your help. Bob has been digging and digging and hauling 19 yards of crushed rock, compost and dirt. I have a feeling we saved a ton of money. It was worth doing it ourselves!”

She continued saying: “We are pleased with how our new landscape turned out. In fact, people are stopping in the street and taking pictures and giving us the thumbs up. Thanks again for everything.” – Bob and Norma, Vancouver, WA

Does Your Garden Need a Facelift?
Email or phone Carol today to schedule an appointment: 503.223.2426

Categories : Before and Afters, Customer Testimonials, Dog and Cat Friendly Gardens, Low Maintenance Landscape Examples, Synthetic Lawn and Dogs

Tags : Aging in place in the garden, curb appeal, entry walk, Gardens for seniors, Hardscape Design, synthetic lawn

Satisfy Summer Color Cravings with Easy Care Crocosmia

Posted by Carol

· June 20, 2014

Crocosmia at Merrywhether Farm

Crocosmia flowers mean summer has arrived!

Having grown up in Oregon I can’t really trust summer is here until I see those intense red, orange or yellow trumpets!

In Portland, they typically start to flower in late June into early July. The variety Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ is the local favorite because of the intense crimson hummingbird attracting flower. Plus it’s one tough plant that comes back even in adverse situations.

The Good News
Crocosmia are perfect for color cravers. The long, strappy stems are great in a vase and beloved by hummingbirds. They are tough and clients think they are extremely low maintenance.

So What’s Not to Love?
Crocosmia as a group can be aggressive spreaders – especially for small urban gardens. Lucifer reaches 36″-42” tall and has a tendency to flop halfway through summer. The corms need to be divided frequently to keep these issues in line. To me, that is not low maintenance. I have better, findable replacements to add to your summer garden before you give Lucifer the “Get thee behind me”! hiss.

This crocosmia mimics the color of a juicy tangerine.

Other Crocosmia Options
Better varieties are 10 to 15 inches shorter than Lucifer, don’t crowd out their own flowers and don’t flop to the ground. Lucifer lovers will complain that none of the other red varieties spread as fast as Lucifer . . . but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

Far Reaches Farm specializes in crocosmia. Check out their catalog to read more about some of these varieties.

‘Hellfire’ is 24″-30” so is smaller than Lucifer and is an intense orange red.

‘Walburton Red‘ is closer to the rich red of ‘Lucifer’ but will increase very slowly compared to ‘Lucifer’. This is where I compare cheap chocolate to real chocolate, by the way.

‘Golden Fleece’ is 24″-30″, an amazing color of deep clean yellow. It starts flowering late in the summer and will carry through to fall.

Crocosmia flower buds add fascinating texture and color.

Other good varieties that are hard to find but worthy of your garden
These corms (bulbs) don’t overcrowd and therefore continue to flower freely:

Bright Eyes
Burnt Umber
Little Devil
Little Red Head
Miss Scarlet
Walburton Yellow

Please don’t feel you have to rip out your Lucifer even though I have compared it to bad chocolate! Feel free to try a few of these other varieties and then if you are tired of giving up space to “Mr. Spread and Flop”, you won’t have any problem giving him away to a friend or containing him. Perhaps ‘Lucifer’ is a really great first crocosmia, sort of like a first love James Dean bad boy that you can’t part with.

We love to design colorful gardens with lots of pollinator friendly plants. Contact us and lets talk.

Categories : Dramatic Flowers, Garden Tips, Low Maintenance Landscape Examples, New Improved Plants, Parking Strips, Plants I Recommend

Tags : Crocosmia, cutting flowers, food for hummingbirds, garden tips, plants to attract birds

Long Lasting Wood for Raised Vegetable Boxes

Posted by Carol

· June 10, 2014

Juniper wood in the garden. Photo by Sustainable Northwest Wood.

I have clients who only want to build their raised vegetable planters once. Juniper wood is a great resource for gardeners who want their raised beds to last forever. Juniper wood can last 30 to 50 years in direct contact with moist soil!

Why Use Juniper?
Because Juniper is a hardwood, it is insect and rot resistant, and doesn’t require any special chemical treatments, its longevity is unmatched, outlasting redwood and cedar beds by decades. Though indigenous, Juniper has become an invasive species throughout Central Oregon, threatening grassland habitat and destroying the ecosystem.

Pre-built Options
Restoration Juniper Project (video from OPB) is a company that builds lasts forever planter boxes out of Juniper wood. It’s a triple win because:

1. Uses strong wood from the invasive juniper species and sales of Juniper wood helps restore threatened native habitat in Central Oregon.

2. Profits support Growing Gardens, a local non-profit, that teaches children and families how to feed themselves by building gardens and providing support during the learning process.

3. Wood can last 50 years so you only build once.

JuniPlanter
Growing Gardens recently unveiled a DIY planter box made from Juniper, JuniPlanter. In support of the Restoration Juniper Project, they’ve designed a kit that can be built in under an hour by DIY-ers. These boxes are not inexpensive, but they are made to last. The JuniPlanter has more than one model, but as an example, one of the boxes is $450.

This is a better investment for a person who knows they are going to be gardening for a long time, rather than someone just starting out.

Build Your Own
Finding the Juniper wood and building your own would be another option. I talked with Ryan of Sustainable Northwest Wood (SNW) in SE Portland, Oregon. Here are two options Ryan suggested for building an 18″ high 4′ x 8′ raised bed:

1. Make your box 18” high using three 2” x 6” (would take 9 boards). Each board at current prices would be $10.00 each so it would cost you $102.75 for the juniper wood for one planter at 4’ wide by 8’ long. They have a corner piece you buy for $12.75 that you can cut to create your corners so you only need one.

2. This option cost more when using 6” x 6” wood. You will need 9 boards at $28.00 each. The cost for one juniper wood planter will be $252. You won’t need a corner piece because the 6 x 6 is strong enough for corners and the whole planter is heftier and better for sitting on.

Ryan’s Construction Tips:

Pre-drill all holes.
Use stainless steel lag bolts to use for fasteners.

Designing three Landscape Design in a Days per week, raised planter boxes go in every one of my designs. Everyone wants them! Materials we prefer to use include:

Corrugated sheet metal with wood supports
Livestock water troughs
Stacked rock
Wood
Recycled concrete rubble

Schedule your Landscape Design in a Day consultation today with Carol.

Categories : Easy Edibles, Garden Tips, Gardening Green

Tags : juniper wood, materials for raised beds, planter boxes, raised beds, sustainable lumber for raised beds, vegetable gardening tips

Re-purpose your old patio table into a greens garden

Posted by Carol

· May 15, 2014

Carol Lindsay, Landscape Design in a Day with book “Gardening on Pavement, Table and Hard Surfaces”

Growing Greens Above Ground
I’ve been waiting for years to build my own salad table.

One of the cool things is being able to grow lettuce and other greens without needing to even think about slugs, let alone pick them out of my greens.

It’s also perfect for people with small outdoor living areas, for example I live in a floating home.

Factor in being able to re-purpose my mom’s old metal patio table and the fact that I’m using alot of greens for smoothies makes it just perfect!

If you love the idea of easy access to lettuce and other greens, here’s how to make your own:

Checklist

Bob Lindsay installing the sides of the salad table

Metal patio table with a metal mesh top
Aluminum roll flashing
Squeeze clamps
Tin snips
Filter fabric
Caulk
Pop rivets and a pop rivet tool or a drill, screws and nuts or bolts. Note: This requires more physical strength than I have!
Potting soil and plants or seeds

Construction Notes
First, cut the fabric to fit the shape of the round patio table. Measure the circumference of the table and then cut the flashing to the correct length so the ends overlap by about an inch.

Pre-cut the flashing with tin snips. For my table this was a 5’ length of 7” aluminum roll flashing.

Next we clamped on the flashing to the table edge. We used pop rivets to attach the flashing to the table. Caulk around the inside edge of the flashing where it meets the table. Set the fabric onto the table and into the edge of sticky caulk.

Let it dry and then add your soil mix and plant your plants.

Credit goes to George Schenk, NW gardener and author of Gardening on Pavement, Table and Hard Surfaces. I love this book!

Before: Salad table ready for soil and plants to be added

After: Freshly planted salad table

Categories : Before and Afters, Easy Edibles, Garden Tips

Tags : re-purposed patio table, slug free edibles, vegetable gardening tips

Backyard Makeover for the Love of the Dog

Posted by Carol

· May 2, 2014

Landscaping for Your Dog

This is what grass is really good for!

The shed was unattractive and too small for a home without a garage. Before Landscape Design in a Day.

Peanut was the only one using this back yard.

My client Susan wanted the back yard to be private, very simple and wanted to solve problems such as where to put her bikes, hide the garbage cans and create a mud room for Peanut to come and go from. We had finished the front landscape the year prior designing for a sunny, easy care garden that included her veggie beds, the design also added dramatic curb appeal. “I get a ton of compliments from my neighbors.” Susan M.

Peanut’s patch of lawn in front of the new tool shed.

So while we really were fixing up the back yard for the dog, everyone uses it now. The new stone patio entertaining area with raised planter surround makes it easy to care for the plantings and they are taller to boost the privacy effect. The new landscape is very low maintenance

Find Peanut the dog in her newly landscaped back yard.

Peanut likes her new back porch. She is in this picture, can you find her?

with a small lawn (for Peanut of course). The fig tree my client Susan had always wanted went up into the stone planter. The credit for the wood structures goes to Susan’s architect. The tool shed, the garbage can corral and the bike shed are a wonder of good design. I worked closely with Donna Burdick of D & J Landscape Contractors to install the hardscapes (basalt stone walls, the huge extra thick flagstone for the patio, plantings and irrigation). I love how this courtyard styled back yard looks. Best of all Peanut approves!!

If you are looking for Portland landscaping for your dogs, contact me for more information.

Categories : Before and Afters, Customer Testimonials, Dog and Cat Friendly Gardens, Low Maintenance Landscape Examples

Tags : flagstone in the garden, garden design with stone, Hardscape Design

True Low Maintenance Landscape Uses Synthetic Lawn

Save Time and Money by Installing Synthetic Lawn

Long Lasting Wood for Raised Vegetable Boxes

Re-purpose your old patio table into a greens garden

Backyard Makeover for the Love of the Dog

Landscaping for Your Dog

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